Rustic It's Halloween Witches framed leaning porch sign + FREE SVG

Rustic It's Halloween Witches framed leaning porch sign + FREE SVG

Make your own vertical rustic farmhouse leaning porch sign for Halloween. Bonus: grab the It’s Halloween Witches FREE SVG in my free to use resource library

It’s Halloween Witches! YES! I can’t believe how amazing this painted sign turned out. It has all the gorgeous elements of farmhouse basics but a not so common (on a porch sign) Halloween saying…which makes me extra love it! I could have went with a basic cutesy saying like “boo” or “trick or treat” but I wanted my porch sign to have just a bit of sass to it! And it totally does and fits my family SO well. We are a bit sarcastic and sassy lol!

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

And I kept the back of it blank, well I went ahead and painted it white, so I could make it a reversible fall leaning sign later on. I’m all about getting double use out of my décor. I’m a momma of 4, double sided or dual purpose décor is wonderful in my world. Less to store and less to change out when the seasons change.

I have actually had this piece of 1x10 pine hanging around forever! I stained it when I stained this round wood base for this last name sign a couple years ago and am just now getting around to creating on them. Life of a mom and entrepreneur! Here’s what it looked like before I smothered it in creativity. Just a blank stained piece of wood. You can’t see it in this pic but it had a ton of scratches and some gouges on it from being moved around so much in my craft room over the last couple of years.

If you don’t already have a Cricut I HIGHLY recommend getting one. I still create on my old Cricut Explore and create some pretty awesome projects to share with the world ;) Cricut newbie? Read this post on 10 supplies and accessories you need to get started with your cutting machine.

Side note… If you need the checkered rug that’s on my porch get this one. I looked for hours trying to find the exact one and this one is perfect. I don’t have OCD but I really specifically wanted one that had the same stripe on the top and bottom so that it looked even and this one was the only one I came across that that did in the size that I needed it.

How to make a rustic farmhouse leaning Halloween porch sign you will love

Here’s what you’ll need

• pine board, I used a stained 1x10x52 -sign

• 1x2x52 {x2} 1x2x10.75 {x2} -frame

• It’s Halloween Witches SVG , free in my resource library

• white paint, I used leftover wall paint from when we made this faux plank wall

• black and orange acrylic paint

• paint brush

• paint stands (trust me this will make painting a large board SO much easier!)

• oramask stencil film

• transfer tape

• xacto knife or sewing pin for picking the stencil

• vinyl squeegee

• stain- I used the color Kona

• stain rags

• gloves

• Cricut cutting machine

• Cricut 24” green cutting mat

• Cricut Design Space

• Ryobi miter saw

• Ryobi sander

• 120 grit orbit sandpaper

• Ryobi brad nailer

• lint free cloth

1.PAINT THE BASE

I chose to use a board that was already stained. This is not a must but I do like that the stain peaks through the sanded bits of my sign. I painted my wood sign with two coats of white wall paint. You can use acrylic paint too. I didn’t have white acrylic to use so I used the wall paint instead and it works just as great.

After my first coat was dry I applied a second coat of white paint then let that completely dry.

2. APPLY THE STENCIL

I cut my stencils out on my Cricut then weeded the letters out with a sewing pin. If you want to know how to make a reverse stencil sign be sure to check out this laundry sign tutorial.

Because this sign was so large I had to break it up into three separate pieces in Design Space.

I added masking tape to the sides and the seams where the stencils touch just in case I got paint a little too far outside of the stencil I wouldn’t have a big mess to clean up.

3.PAINT THE STENCIL

I used acrylic paint to paint the lettering of my stencil. The first thing I did was seal my stencil so that I would get minimal to no paint bleed. This isn’t a must but it does help to get super crisp lines.

I just painted of paint on the lettering. I painted IT’S and WITCHES with black acrylic paint and HALLOWEEN with orange acrylic paint.

4. PEEL UP THE STENCIL

I always peel up my stencils while my paint is wet. I started with the small lettering first then worked my way down the wood sign.

I used a sewing pin to lift out all the little middle pieces

If you love this tutorial be sure to check out how to make these super cute Halloween wood tags

5.CUT & STAIN THE FRAME

After my sign was dry I measured a 1x2 and cut pieces for my frame. Here’s what it looked like once I got my pieces cut and stained.

I had 2 pieces that were cut at 52” and 2 pieces that were cut at 10.75”.

Before I attached my framed pieces to my Halloween sign I distressed the 1x2’s with my sander and 120 grit sandpaper

7. ATTACH THE FRAME

I attached the two long side pieces first. I used a little bit of wood glue then used my Ryobi brad nailer to attach them to the sign.

Don’t worry if you miss cut your wood frame pieces. I do this ALL the time. Just use your miter saw to square it up after you get them attached.

Here’s what my sign looked like once I got the side frame pieces attached. I framed the sign so that the sign would be in the middle of the framed pieces instead of flush with the back. You can also see where I used my miter saw to cut off the uneven parts.

I did the same thing for the top and bottom pieces. Added the wood glue, my husband says to apply it in a squiggle line, idk if this is really how you’re supposed to do it or if he’s just messing with me lol but whatever it is this seems to work.

8.SEAL THE FINISHED SIGN

If you want to protect your sign from the elements I recommend sealing it with an outdoor sealant like this one. I did not do this step because I plan to paint a fall themed stencil on the other side of this Halloween porch sign. But after I finish the other side I’ll seal it with the outdoor spray.

Then you’re all done. I hope you enjoyed this DIY craft tutorial :)! If you have any questions please ask them in the comments below.

Happy crafting!

DIY craft kits- learn how to make your own

HOW TO PUT TOGETHER DIY CRAFT KITS

My best tips for creating DIY craft kits and how to package them for shipping

Craft kits are all the rage right now. I know when I started selling DIY craft kits for adults it took a little bit of trial and error for me to get them just right. I wasn’t sure what I should include, what I should leave out, how I should package the craft kits for shipping, and how I should write the instructions.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

If you found this post helpful be sure to check out my post on HOW TO SHIP MASON JARS WITHOUT BREAKING.

Over time I have not just figured out how to package them and what to include in them I have MASTERED it! And I want to share with you what I’ve learned so you can spread some crafty love and ship DIY craft kits too.

There really is no better time than now to send DIY craft kits to loved ones.

It gives people something to do, something to keep their mind off of the craziness of the world, and something to bring them joy!

If you are thinking about gifting someone a DIY craft kit, or maybe you want to start selling them I am here to share with you what I’ve learned over the years. My small business specializes in DIY CRAFT KITS. I can’t even begin to tell you how many I have sold even just this year. It seems like I’ve been making craft kits in my sleep these last few months lol!

But seriously, I have learned so much since the first DIY craft kit I boxed up and shipped out. Now, I have perfected my craft kits, gotten tons of amazing feedback from my customers and can’t wait to share so here I go…

Ps… We just moved and I have yet to find where to put all the things so things are a bit untidy lol! I almost didn’t post pictures/take a video of me showing what I put in my DIY craft kits but then I said to myself ‘Megan! Girl, this is real life, show the mess’ so here I am showing my mess of a crafting space.

1.KEEP IT SIMPLE

The very first thing is to decide what kind of craft you will putting together. Try to keep this simple. Something that seems easy, and may look easy too, but that is actually complex with a ton of steps might leave your recipient feeling frustrated. People love things they can accomplish relatively easily so keep it simple:)!

2. INSTRUCTIONS

Every good craft kit will come with written AND picture instructions. Something that my customers have raved to me about is that my instructions are clear and easy to follow.

My biggest tip for writing DIY craft kit instructions is to write them out like you were writing the instructions for a 6th grader to follow. That is in no way an insult either. If a middle schooler can understand what you are writing then an adult can too.

I know for myself, I don’t like instructions that are super politically correct anyway. I write my craft kit printables just how I would say them if my customer were standing in front of me. I also include pictures and a link where they can find my tutorial online.

3. WHAT TO INCLUDE

Here’s where I struggled a little in the beginning with my DIY craft kits. I wasn’t sure what I should include and what I should leave out.

Do I include every little thing? Brushes? Paints? Sandpaper? All the things? Really this is up to you. For me, I have some craft kits that include everything my customers need and other craft kits that just include the bases (the wood, canvas or any other type of base). I have a good mix of both in my shop and truthfully get the most orders for my hand cut craft blanks that don’t include any supplies.

Here are the absolute musts that you need to include in your DIY craft kits

• CRAFT BASE- this is a must. Examples of the base are: wood, stretch canvas, rocks, basically what your recipient will be crafting on.

• INSTRUCTIONS

Optional items to send in your DIY craft kits

• paint

• brushes

• sandpaper

• glue

• top coat finishes

• tape

• tools

• stencils

• etc.

You will need to decide how easy you want your craft kit to be for your recipient. Since I am in the business of selling DIY craft kits I do offer a variety of kits that range from blanks only to full on everything is included craft kits.

4. PACKAGING

If you aren’t shipping your craft kit then all you’ll need to do is put everything in a pretty bag with some tissue paper. But if you plan to ship your DIY craft kit to someone then you’ll need to do a little more work than that. Here’s how I package my craft kits up for shipping:

-I place all of my base pieces in a clear bag or wrap them in paper if they are too big to fit in the bags I carry.

-Then I place all the other materials in a separate bag and I leave a little air inside the bag, but not too much, so that the bag acts as it’s own cushion. That way the supplies don’t get smashed up during transit.

After everything is in a bag I place them inside a shipping box. I ship all of my packages via USPS and if I’m shipping anything over a pound it gets shipped USPS priority mail. I order all of my boxes in bulk online from the USPS website and have them delivered right to my door. It’s a wonderful thing to take advantage of!

Here are the plastic bags I use. I have never ordered from Ebay before but this was the closest thing I could find to what I use. They are cotton candy bags. Fun fact, my husband and I used to own a cotton candy machine and we would go set up at different locations, flea markets, auctions and things to make ends meet. Boy am I glad those days are behind us! We had thousands of these bags leftover after we hung up the towel on that and my husband had the genius idea to use them for packaging orders!

{So cute my 5th daughter, the furry one, made an appearance this snapshot!}

Most of the time I don’t have any extra space in the shipping box but if I do I will add either bags of air, thin packaging paper, or bubble wrap.

A little tip…if you order a LOT from online businesses like I do you likely have a TON of packaging materials. You can reuse those! I save all of the packaging materials that come in my packages so that I can reuse them for my online orders. There is no need to throw away perfectly good items when you can easily reuse them for their intended purpose:)!

Let me know if you have any questions about putting together a DIY CRAFT KIT in the comments below.

DIY painted & distressed laundry room sign + FREE SVG

DIY painted & distressed laundry room sign + FREE SVG

Make your own stenciled and distressed laundry room sign. BONUS: grab the FREE to use SVG in my free resource library.

Easy stenciled wood sign for your laundry room

Want to make a simple yet large sign for your laundry room? You’ve come to the right place! I’ve been making this exact LAUNDRY sign in my shop for a couple of years now and really wanted to share with you how I make it because it’s super easy and simple. Not a whole lot of fuss goes into making this larger than mat wooden sign using your Cricut.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

By the way…how cute is my little model?! This is the youngest of my four daughters and she always wants to help me work. She doesn’t care what it is she just wants in on all the fun and exciting things of momma’s business. She was absolutely thrilled when I asked her to hold the sign so I could snap a pic.

Look at that big cheesy smile! Melts my momma heart! Barefoot, girly dress with a unicorn hoodie over it and let’s not forget the wild hair. Oh the life!

If you want to DIY a wood sign but don’t have all the tools be sure to check out my DIY CRAFT KITS.

HOW TO STENCIL A SIGN FOR YOUR LAUNDRY ROOM

Here’s what you’ll need

• wood board, I used pine 1x8 measuring 40”x7.25'“x.75” (those are the exact measurements)

• white paint

• gray paint, I used pewter gray

• paint brush

• oramask stencil film

• vinyl squeegee

• transfer tape

• Cricut cutting machine, I use an Explore for all of my projects I haven’t upgraded to the maker yet

• green cutting mat

• Cricut Design Space

• LAUNDRY SVG (get it free in my free resource library)

• xacto knife

• paint stands (to keep your board up off the table)

• drop cloth (to keep your surface area clean)

• Ryobi sander

• sandpaper

• Ryobi miter saw
  

If you’re new to the Cricut world be sure to check out my Cricut newbie post.

PAINTED LAUNDRY SIGN TUTORIAL

1.CUT OUT THE STENCIL

I cut my stencil out using Oramask 813 stencil film. This is my go to for most all of the stenciled wood signs I make. If you plan to make a lot of wooden signs you’ll want to read my post on how to save money on stencil film.

Because I did a reverse stencil method, not a traditional traditional stencil methodmethod, I added lines onto my stencil to make it super easy to align on my wood base. Then I set my stencils aside till I needed them.

I used and xacto knife to weed the stencils. Be sure to leave the letters and remove the background of the stencil. Since this is a reverse stencil it will look different than a typical stencil does.

2.PAINT THE LETTER COLOR

Typically I would use acrylic paints for this but I was all out of white acrylic paint. Instead I used a white wall paint that is actually better than acrylic to use for this sign.

I painted the sides with one coat of paint and I painted two coats on the front of the sign. Letting it dry completely between coats.

3. APPLY THE STENCIL

I applied transfer tape to one stencil then reused that same transfer tape for the next stencil. Did you know you can reuse transfer tape till it doesn’t work anymore? You sure can!

After I rubbed the stencil with my vinyl squeegee I flipped my stencil over and removed the paper backing.

Then I flipped the stencil over so that the sticky side was down and I placed the stencil where I wanted it on my wood base. This is where the lines on the stencil come in handy. This allows me to center the lettering without any stress. I made my stencil to the exact size of my wood board, with the extra lines, so that when I went to apply the stencil I wouldn’t have to worry about letters being uneven.

Then I pressed it down with my vinyl squeegee to remove any air bubbles then removed the transfer tape. PRO TIP: rolling the transfer tape off of the stencil works best and it won’t lift your design up and off of the wood.

I did the same process for the other part of my stencil. Then I removed the lines on the tops and bottoms because I didn’t need them anymore and didn’t want them to be apart of my design.

3. SEAL THE STENCIL

The key to no paint bleed is to seal the stencil before you paint it. Essentially what you are doing is filling in any tiny air bubbles that paint could get under with the same color as your lettering. So in my case I sealed my stencil with white paint. It just takes a TINY bit of paint, you want to paint into the direction of your stencil. I let this dry completely.

4. PAINT THE SIGN

After the sealing was dry I painted my sign gray. I also paint the back because I think this gives pieces a more finished look but it’s all personal preference. I did two layers of gray paint. I let the first one dry totally before applying the second coat on top of it.

5. PEEL THE STENCIL

While my paint was still wet I peeled the stencil up. Some people choose to do this after their paint is dry and that is totally ok, this is just my personal preference after making thousands of handmade signs over the last few years. Using an xacto knife or a sewing pin works great for this step.

After I got all the stencil pieces removed from the wood base I let it dry.

6. DISTRESSING

This is totally optional. If you don’t want to distress your sign you can choose not to and be done. But if you do want to distress your painted wood sign I recommend using a sander for this step. Mainly because I really don’t like sanding anything with a piece of sandpaper. It’s so much easier to do this with a sander. Focus on the edges and anywhere that would naturally be worn. I also lightly go across the front of my pieces with my sander.

The last thing I do is to wipe it with a lint free cloth to get all the dust off from sanding. Super simple and easy! I told ya, it’s pretty much no fuss.

If you have any questions about this tutorial let me know in the comments below.

Happy Crafting!

Halloween wood tags, how to DIY your own set of cute spooky mini tags

DIY WOOD TAGS FOR HALLOWEEN

I just love these adorable rustic wood tags! Since they are so small they make such perfect little accents to your décor. Especially these Halloween wood tags. I made these adorable little guys and placed them in my Halloween porch décor. Oh my goodness they look so cute with all the orange, black, and rustic-ey decorations!

If you love this tutorial be sure to check out these mini wooden fall signs

If you don’t have all the tools/materials to make these little wooden tags from scratch you can grab a DIY CRAFT KIT HERE.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

This DIY HALLOWEEN CRAFT KIT COMES WITH

• 3 precut and lightly sanded 5” wood tags

• professional outdoor grade vinyl cut outs

  • HAPPY HAUNTING

  • spider web image

  • OCTOBER 31

• detailed picture instructions

• ****paint and brushes are NOT included

If you don’t need a DIY CRAFT KIT here’s what you’ll need

• black, orange, & white vinyl

• transfer tape, here’s one with gridlines for easy application

• vinyl squeegee

• black and white paint

• paint brushes or sponges

• sandpaper

• twine

• 3 wood tags 5”, I cut mine from a 1x4

• Cricut cutting machine

• green Cricut mat

• Cricut Design space

• HALLOWEEN SVG’s

• I also recommend using a drop cloth to protect your crafty surface

Want to know how I make my wood tags? Click here to read my post on DIY MINI WOOD TAGS, it also includes a video tutorial.

After you have your wood pieces cut out, sanded and your vinyl decals cut, weeded, and transfer tape applied you can start on the steps below.

If you want to learn how to cut out your own wood tags read this post. If you are new to Cricut, or the world of fancy cutting machines in general, check out my post on the 10 must have accessories and supplies to get for a Cricut newbie

1. PAINT

Paint 2 of your wood tags black, one coat will be fine for this, and 1 of your wood tags white, this will need 2-3 coats. Let dry. Letting your wood tags dry completely is a MUST. If your paint is still wet when you move on to the next step your vinyl will not stick to it.

2. DISTRESS

Using a piece of sandpaper distress the edges. You’ll want to focus on the edges and any area that you think would have a natural wear to it.

Then wipe with a lint free cloth.

3. APPLY DECALS

Be extra sure that your paint is completely dry before you start this step. Vinyl does not stick to wet paint.

Using your vinyl squeegee, a plastic rewards card will also work for this step, rub the front of your Halloween themed vinyl decal.

Flip it over and do the same thing on the backside.

Then peel the paper backing away from the clear transfer tape, your design should stay attached to the clear transfer tape.

Flip your vinyl decal sticky side down onto your wood tag. Don’t push it onto the wood tag until you are happy with the placement, then press it down. Use your vinyl squeegee for this step. Then remove the clear transfer tape.

Start on one corner then slowly peel your way to the opposite corner. If your decal comes off with the transfer tape just press it back down and slowly roll the transfer tape away from the decal again. Be sure you take your time during this process, especially if you are new to the decal game.

BLACK TAG: HAPPY HAUNTING decal

BLACK TAG: OCTOBER 31 decal

WHITE TAG: SPIDER WEB IMAGE decal

4. TWINE

Add some twine to make them even more adorable! Feed the twine through the hole in the top middle of the tag. Then tie the two twine ends together.

You’re all done! I hope you enjoyed this DIY craft tutorial. If you have any questions please ask in the comments below.

Happy Crafting!

Replacing outdated porch lights

REPLACING OUTDATED OUTDOOR PORCH LIGHTS ON A BUDGET

Outdated porch lights are such an eyesore. My husband and I bought a super old house, it was built in 1900, that we have been slowly updating. Our first project was putting up a faux plank wall in one of the bedrooms. Even though we’ve only been here right at one month we have accomplished quite a bit, including updating our front porch lights. The old lighting was not so pretty but we were able to fix that easily and super inexpensively.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

The old lights were these pointy brassy things that were just not for us. One of the old porch lights worked great and the other one flickered constantly even with new bulbs. But that’s not why we want to replace them, we just thought they were just plain ugly.

On our trip to the city, that’s what we call it since we live an hour away from the major shopping areas, we stopped by Home Depot and browsed the porch light aisle. I had no idea it would be so hard to choose a pair of front porch lights. There were so many beautiful lights to pick from. I finally settled on lights that had vintage looking bulbs and old looking glass.

Don’t get me wrong they had some gorgeous lights that I loved even more than these but they were way out of budget.

We were looking for fixtures that were under $50 and these were I believe $39 in our local store. What a STEAL! Of course we both loved the price! My husband really liked them because they are LED and they are dusk lights so they turn off by themselves every morning.

Due to liability reasons I won’t go into detail about how he rewired the new porch lights. There are SO many great tutorials out there if you need more guidance on that.

The first thing he did was turn off the breaker and then remove the old lighting.

The new porch fixtures came with mounting brackets. He used a level to make sure everything was straight.

He wired them in and attached the lights to the house.

These lights also came with light bulbs which was a selling point for me! I LOVE these vintage looking Edison style light bulbs.

Then he attached the old looking glass bulb to the porch light fixture.

I can’t believe the difference the porch lights make on our house. They are SO pretty!

I can’t wait to start decorating our new front porch. Especially now since we have fancy new lights hung.

DIY round last name established sign with a modern farmhouse look

HOW TO MAKE A ROUND LAST NAME ESTABLISHED SIGN

Wow! I am so loving this round last name established sign I made for our realtor! It turned out even better than I thought it was going to. Usually I distress my wood signs, like this bless our nest sign, even if its just a tiny bit to give it a little bit of it’s own original character. But this one I left completely un-distressed (yup I’m using that one as a real word lol!). It’s more of a modern farmhouse look to me, and holy cow I love it!

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

My husband and I bought our very first house, you can read about our first DIY home project here, and our realtor was AMAZING! Because she worked her butt off giving us such a wonderful first time home buying experience we wanted to give her a special thank you gift. I knew she loved personalized things for her home and I had a hunch she was more of a modern farmhouse kind of girl and not a chippy shiplap kind of girl.

I spent hours trying to find the perfect font for her gift and finally settled on one I found on www.dafont.com. Oh the anxiety of finding the right font. I swear I spend more time picking a font for my Cricut projects than I do actually making the craft…please tell me I’m not the only one who does this.

If you are on the fence about buying a cutting machine, no matter if it’s a Cricut or any other machine I am here to tell you to do it! Every crafty girl should have a fancy cutting machine. I still craft with the older model, the Cricut explore, mainly because I’m a super frugal momma and haven’t been able to justify a Cricut upgraded purchase.

If you’re new to the Cricut world these are my top 10 must have supplies and accessories to get started on your Cricut journey

I still can’t believe how amazing this sign turned out. I went back and forth on if I was going to add a burlap bow and lambs ear to this personalized round sign but I was instantly told no way by my four daughters and my husband. They all agreed the sign was perfect as it was! So I kept it a simply beauty!

How to make a round last name sign for your modern farmhouse decor

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own personalized round wood sign

• round wood base that is prestained, I bought mine from Home Depot

• Cricut cutting machine

• Cricut design space

• green Cricut cutting mat

• oramask stencil film

• transfer tape

• xacto knife

• vinyl squeegee

• painters tape

• paint brush for the base

• paint brush for stenciling

• chalk paint- here’s what I used

• acrylic paint

• matte finish mod podge

• drop cloth to protect your surface

DIY ROUND LAST NAME MODERN FARMHOUSE SIGN

1. STAIN YOUR BASE

I started with a pre-stained round wood base. If you are new to staining check out this quick video I made on how to stain wood easy without a giant mess. Be sure to let your sign DRY COMPLETELY for the recommended time according to the stain you use. If it’s not totally dry the stain will seep through to the paint and cause ugly unwanted marks.

2. TAPE OFF THE BASE

I chose to paint about 2/3 of my sign. I used wide painters tape to tape off my line. I just eyeballed this but if you want it to be super exact you can get out the measuring tape for this step.

To be sure that there were no air bubbles in the tape I used my vinyl squeegee and pressed along the seam of the tape.

3. PAINT A BASE COAT

I used chalk paint to paint my base, the color sheepskin (I know weird name but it’s pretty!) Chalk paint isn’t for all paint projects but I do like to use it when painting over dark stain because it has great coverage.

Since I didn’t seal this sign I was sure to paint downward pulling my brush away from the tape line. If you pull your brush up toward the tape you could risk paint bleed underneath the tape line.

I also painted around the outside edge of my round wood sign.

I like to paint a thin layer to start with, one you can still see the stain through. Then I let that dry completely.

4. SECOND BASE COAT

After the first coat is totally dry I painted a second coat. Be sure it is dry, if you apply a second coat of paint with the first layer is still wet your paint brush/paint will pull the first layer away from your base.

5. PEEL THE TAPE OFF

I usually always peel the tape/stencils while my paint is still wet. It’s all personal preference though. Some people wait till their projects are semi dry or even all the way dry before peeling but I have had great luck peeling while the paint is wet so that’s what I always recommend.

6. APPLY THE STENCIL

After my wood circle base was dry I stenciled on my design. I used oramask stencil film to stencil on the personalization. This is my go to material for doing most of my handmade wood signs. After I weeded my design I applied the transfer tape. For this wood sign I am using expressions transfer tape, I’ve tried several different brands and really like this one. Don’t forget you can reuse your transfer tape so don’t toss it when you’re done.

After I removed the paper backing I centered my stencil sticky side down on my wood base, I just eyeballed it.

Once I was happy with the placement I used my vinyl squeegee to rub it to the base of the sign so it would stick.

Then I peeled off the transfer tape. When you do this you want to start from one corner and work your way to the opposite corner. Be sure not to pull up when doing this, you almost want to roll it off of the stencil.

7. SEAL THE STENCIL

I almost always do this with any sign I make to help prevent paint bleed. I seal my stencil with a SUPER THIN layer of matte finish mod podge. Then I let that dry.

8. PAINT THE STENCIL

I chose a classic black acrylic paint my personalized wooden sign. You can use chalk paint for this but with thin lines, like in the design I made, chalk paint can something be too thick and cause your paint to peel up when peeling up the stencil. Acrylic paint works perfectly for this DIY stenciling project.

I painted a really thin layer of the black acrylic paint, you still want to be able to see the base color through the paint. Then I let that dry.

Once that was dry I applied a second THIN coat.

9. PEEL UP THE STENCIL

Just like with the painters tape I peeled the stencil up while the paint was still wet. Like I said above, this method works well for me but others like to wait till the paint is dry. I start at one corner and I pull up and across to the opposite corner.

To take out all the little middle pieces I use a sharp xacto knife to lift them up and off of my wood base.

10. LET DRY

Once I was done painting I let my sign sit and dry. The last thing you want it to ruin your design by moving it while it’s still wet, I’m speaking from experience lol don’t make my mistake ;) !

I am so excited to gift this special sign to our realtor! I just know she is going to love and cherish it in her home. And I can’t wait to make my own personalized last name sign for my own home.

I hope you enjoyed this super simple sign painting tutorial. If you have any questions please feel free to ask them below in the comments.

Happy Crafting!

Plank wall on a budget

FAUX PLANKED WALL DIY USING PLYWOOD

Are you planning a new planked wall project? Want to know how to DIY A faux plank wall on a TIGHT budget? See how we spent less than $50 to plank a bedroom wall and learn what not to do so you don’t make the same mistakes we did our first time around.

Recently my husband and I bought a gorgeous old home that was built in the year 1900. Of course we got an inspection on it before we bought it to make sure it was sound and the house wasn’t in need of any major repairs before we made an offer. To our surprise it was totally sound! The house was mainly in need of cosmetic repairs and since we got such a great deal on it we snatched it up decided we could tackle those on our own one project at a time. Our first project being a room that had 6 DIFFERENT prints of wallpaper on the walls. Because the house is so old, 120 years to be exact at the time I’m writing this post, nothing in the house aligns perfectly. We love the house but it drives my construction worker husband absolutely bat shit crazy that nothing is even. He likes walls that are square and I love all that old character!

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

See how I easily removed the old wallpaper using just my steamer

Once we started pulling off the wallpaper we realized the true reason why there was so much wallpaper and so many different prints. The wallpaper was just a band aid for the big cracks in the walls and it looked like they just put any scrap piece they could find to cover the walls. Honestly we expected the walls to be in rough shape because it’s such an old house but we weren’t expecting it to be that bad. Really we needed to replace all of the walls in the room with drywall but we were on a time crunch and opted instead to replace 2 walls completely for now and apply a bigger band aid than wallpaper to the other two walls. We thought making faux plank walls would be the perfect thing to use on the other two walls for right now.

Love freebies? Click HERE to get instant access to all of my free printables, SVG files, and more

One wall finish we chose was a faux plank wall. Working with a limited budget we knew we couldn’t opt for the premade planks you can buy at any home remodeling store or even this peel and stick wooden wall option. Instead we opted to buy a thin plywood and cut it ourselves.

We definitely made mistakes on this one but my hope is to share those with you so that you don’t make the same mistakes if you decide to do a faux plank wall too. Really it was because we didn’t fully prepare for this remodel. I honestly was just planning on taking off the wallpaper and before we knew it two walls were totally gone lol! So we had to finish what we started before my husband had to got out of town in two days for a job. Yeah…we were completely unprepared for this big project! But the good new is if we decide we want to change it later we can easily pop the planks off the wall and do something different.

Here’s how we made our affordable faux plank wall

First, I need to start off by saying this requires the use of power tools. If you are not comfortable with using power tools this project may not be for you. But it is a fairly simple project to tackle if you are just starting out using power tools. If you can cut a straight line and use a brad nailer you shouldn’t have too much trouble DIYing your own plank wood wall.

Like I said above we were working with a super short time frame. We had a weekend to get the bulk of this bedroom done and were working our butts off to meet that deadline. So we didn’t do things exactly perfect but at the end of the day we are overall happy with the outcome. And nothing is ever perfect so there’s that lol!

Here’s what we used to make our faux plank wall

• thin plywood, I believe we used 1/4” and purchased it from a local home improvement store

• circular saw

• miter saw

• jigsaw

• clamps

• brad nailer

• 2” brad nails

• pennies

• measuring tape

This is not the way it really should be done but to save time my husband stacked the plywood and cut them into strips that way. I wanted thicker planks so he cut them at 5” wide.

After he cut the strips I cut them down using my miter saw into smaller sections. I measured them anywhere from 6”-24” and looking back I would not have cut anything less than 12”. After I got them on the wall I realized the smaller ones just looked awful so I had to remove those sections and replace them.

Then I started attaching them to the wall starting from the bottom and working my way up. I used pennies as my spacers between my plank pieces. I have to say that worked out GREAT! You use the pennies just like you would any other spacer. Place them in between the wood planks so that you get the same even spacing between the planks.

I used my Ryobi brad nailer to nail the planks to the wall. We chose to use 2” brad nails so that it would hit the wood underneath from the lathe and plaster so they wouldn’t just fall off. And since the brad nails are not like a regular nail they come out of the wall easily if you decide you want to remove them later. This is also why we opted not to use any glue like I’ve seen on other tutorials. We didn’t want this to be a permanent fixture in the room, just a fun accent wall for now to cover the lather and plaster wall. Years down the road we will replace it with drywall but for now the faux plank wall is a perfect temporary fix.

Around the windows I had to cut custom pieces and I used my jigsaw for that. I am not a measuring kind of girl lol! It killed me to have to be exact with this and to use real measurements so that the pieces would come out right. Usually I eyeball my cuts and that’s that, it drives my husband nuts that I do this but it is what it is, I’m not a perfectionist lol!

Making our own faux plank wall saved us so much money! When we bought our plywood we paid $17 a sheet, a lot cheaper than any premade version. We bought 5 sheets total to redo 2 walls in this room and 5 plywood sheets covered it! Less than $100 to redo them. Granted we did have a lot more work to do but when you’re on a budget hard work is worth it to not have that extra money going out!

This was such a great option for us right now. It’s not as much work as drywall and definitely not as hideous as the wallpaper that had been on the walls. While it’s still technically a band aid it’s a much prettier band aid!

I hope this post helps you to DIY your own plank wall and learned what not to do with some of the mistakes we made DIYing our own plank wall.

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How to remove wallpaper, NO chemicals needed just steam

HOW TO EASILY REMOVE WALLPAPER WITHOUT A GIANT MESS OR CHEMICALS

Wallpaper…you either love it or hate it. If you aren’t too hip on wallpaper and need to remove it from your home like we did then you have stumbled on the right post!

My husband and I just bought our very first home! After looking for what felt like forever and getting discouraged when everything we found seemed way out of our budget we finally found our home. Built in 1900 this home has everything we were looking for and more! Seriously so exciting, and we did it without having a credit score! I plan to write a post about the process we went through to help other people just like us but for now I want to share with you how to remove unsightly wallpaper. When we did our initial walk through we noticed the current owner at the time had a bit of an obsession for wallpaper. She had it everywhere! We are talking wallpaper on wallpaper on wallpaper in some cases. Cut outs of wallpaper in random places on the walls, almost like she was decoupaging wallpaper flowers to the wall here and there. And my favorite, well not really lol, is the room that had 6, yes SIX, different patters of wallpaper on the walls! And even wallpaper on the paneling that was on the wall. And it all had to come down.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

For being a super old home it is actually in great shape and only needs cosmetic updates thank goodness! We decided we were going to tackle these updates one room at a time and we took on the 6 wallpaper room as our first overhaul.

I had been thinking about how on earth we were going to take down all the wallpaper throughout the house. Was it going to be a pain in the butt? Were we going to have to spend a ton of money on a bunch of products? I had this theory that maybe if I used my garment steamer that maybe that would help…maybe. To my surprise the second I started taking the floral, brick, and teddy bear printed papers it actually came off the walls so seamlessly! I rarely ran into an issue peeling it off the wall. I don’t know if it was the type of wallpaper or the way the previous owners had applied it but it was almost effortless taking it off of the wall.

I didn’t even use any chemicals just STEAM!

I couldn’t find the exact handheld garment steamer I used but here is one that is pretty similar.

Here is what the wall I used for this tutorial looked like before. I feel like I need to say again, this is how we bought our house with all this lovely wallpaper lol!

And here’s what it looked like once I started steaming the wallpaper off. A million times better! Because the house is so old we did find some issues which honestly we were expecting there to be something hidden behind all that glorious wallpaper. Those walls will be getting a lot more tlc and we ended up taking out two of the walls completely and gutted them back to the studs. Which in 120 year old homes they used REAL 2x4’s unlike the 2x4’s they produce today that don’t actually measure 2”x4”.

Here’s how I removed 6 different wallpaper prints from my 120 year old walls.

1. PREP

When I started removing the hideous wallpaper it was more of a spur of the moment kind of thing. I had just unpacked my handheld garment steamer then ran upstairs to test out if my theory would work. Once I got going on the removal process I didn’t want to stop. So nope, I didn’t prep or cover a darn thing when removing the wallpaper but if you’re worried about your flooring or any furniture I recommend covering it up just to be on the safe side.

2. WARM UP

I filled my inexpensive steamer with water, plugged it in and let it heat up. When the steam starts rolling out of the holes then you know it’s ready to start using.

3. STEAM THE WALL

I stood on my step ladder and started working from a top corner, placed my steamer against the wallpaper and held it there till the wallpaper was wet but not overly wet if that makes sense. The steam loosens the glue on the back of the wallpaper allowing it to release from the wall.

4. PEEL

Once the wallpaper was loosened up I started to peel it off. Then pulled the paper while steaming at the same time working my way down the wall.

5. REFILL

Because my handheld steamer is small it doesn’t hold much water so I did have to refill it often. But honestly I wouldn’t buy a giant steamer just to remove wallpaper in my house. I like that the steamer is the size of an iron so I can put it away easily and it doesn’t take up much space.

If you run into any issues with stubborn spots you can use a putty knife to help remove those areas. Or you can do what I did and use a spatula! Yes, I totally used that on my wall since I couldn’t find a professional tool so the kitchen utensil worked great instead! I placed my steamer over those stubborn areas, made sure the were good and steamed then they peel right off with the spatula.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful in removing old wallpaper in your home. If you have any questions please ask below in the comments.

Classic farmhouse tiered tray signs

Tiered tray sign bundle for your CLASSIC looking farmhouse decor

I am loving this tiered tray decor that’s all the rage right now. There are so many different seasons, holidays, and themes you can do. Or you can keep it super classy and simple with the classic black and white farmhouse colors. There is so much you can do with these simple color scheme. You can keep it black and white or add a couple rustic pieces that will give it a pop of color here and there. I love how versatile it is!

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

If you LOVE this crafty post be sure to check out how I made a mini house family number sign. Instead of using vinyl like I did on these rustic farmhouse mini signs I painted it instead.

If you’re in to the rustic farmhouse style how can you not love a mini wooden tag that has farm animals on it?! This one is probably my favorite of all the bundled pieces. I absolutely LOVE chickens! Well of course cows and pigs too but chickens are really my favorite farm animal! Every time I see one, whether that be a real life chicken or a picture of one, I smile! They are just too cute!

TIERED TRAY RUSTIC SIGNS

For this tiered tray bundle I incorporated different sizes and shapes to these farmhouse pieces mix it up a bit. I typically create identical bases for my handmade sign pieces, like these hilarious rustic looking cactus signs. Another example are these Easter mini wood tags. They come in a set of 3 but they are all the same sized wood base. While they are super cute I am really loving the mix and match look of the different sized and styled bases of these classic farmhouse tiered tray signs.

Here are the sign bases I used:

• MINI ROLLING PIN

• MINI WOOD HOUSE

• MINI WOOD TAG

• MINI WOOD SIGN

Since they are all different sizes and shapes they truly work perfectly for the tiered tray signs.

Unlike most of my signs I actually chose to use vinyl on them instead of painting the entire design. I have been one BUSY momma this year so I’ve been adding more simple designs and styles to my shop line up. I guess I always thought using vinyl was “cheating” in the sign making game but I have no regrets using the vinyl on these designs. They are quick to make, priced at a more affordable price point, and I can get them out to my customers even faster because it takes SO much LESS time to create.

While stenciling designs will always be my preferred method for making signs I do love how these vinyled signs turned out. So much that I have plans to add even more in my shop!

You can grab the FARM FRESH design in my FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY.

Want your own set but don’t want to make them? You can purchase your handmade signs from my shop, click here —-> CLASSIC FARMHOUSE STYLE TIERED TRAY SIGNS

If you are a DIY-er and want to make your own rustic farmhouse style tiered tray signs here’s what I recommend you use.

• matte finish black vinyl

• transfer tape

• vinyl squeegee

• white paint

• mini rolling pins

• paint brush

• xacto knife

• sandpaper

• Cricut

• Cricut Design Space

• green Cricut cutting mat

• HOME SWEET HOME SVG

• FARM ANIMAL SVG

• OUR NEST SVG

• FARM FRESH SVG

New to Cricut? Check out these 10 must haves to get you started on your crafty journey

I don’t have a full on tutorial on how I made these signs they were really pretty simple to make since there wasn’t any stenciling involved. Stenciling is a WAY more involved process. But this process is super easy.

Here’s how I made my rustic tiered tray signs

1. Paint each wood base white. Let dry. Paint a second coat. Let dry.

2. Once dry distress the edges. Wipe with a dry lint free cloth.

3. Cut out your designs using your Cricut, or other cutting machine.

4. Weed your designs using your xacto knife.

5. Apply your transfer tape and remove paper backing from your designs.

6. Place your designs on your wood bases. Rub with your vinyl squeegee and remove your transfer tape.

7. Add any twine accents.

8. Place on your tiered tray and enjoy!

It’s really that simple! No messing with paint bleed. No fuss with drying time between stenciling paint coats. No stress about paint peel up. I really enjoyed how quick and easy these DIY mini wood signs were!

I hope you enjoyed this crafty tutorial. If you have any questions please feel free to ask in the comments section below.

Happy Crafting!

See how I make my mini wood tags. Don’t have the power tools to create the tags from scratch? Grab the unfinished wood tags here.

DIY Tiered Tray signs for 4th of July with Rae Dunn inspired SKINNY FONT

DIY 4TH OF JULY TIERED TRAY WOOD SIGN

RED, WHITE, AND BLUE rustic mini signs… yes!! Tiered tray signs are all the rage right now. If you’ve been on Pinterest, Etsy, or anywhere in between then you’ve definitely seen these little farmhouse looking beauties! They are usually made using a simple design and just tie in perfectly with the whole clean rustic look that’s in right now.

If you’re wanting to make your own mini wood signs it’s actually pretty easy to do. I make my tiered tray signs from 1x4’s that I cut down using my miter saw BUT even if you don’t have access to power tool you can still make your own mini wood signs! I’ve put together this DIY PATRIOTIC CRAFT KIT you can grab online in my shop. It comes with everything (except paint brushes) you need to make your own Independence Day signs at home. No need to go out and buy any fancy equipment or tools, especially if you don’t plan on making a ton of DIY craft projects.

If you are wanting to take the sign painting world by the horns be sure to read these 6 must haves for painting wood signs. I share the basic must haves to get you started on your own sign painting journey.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional. This is just a way I can help add to our family finances to raise our four daughters. Please know I would never recommend a product or service I do not totally stand behind.

DIY 4TH OF JULY WOOD SIGNS FOR TIERED TRAYS

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own set of patriotic wooden signs

If you purchased the PATRIOTIC DIY SIGN PAINTING KIT your wood blanks will come pre-stained. You can skip to the step #3

• pine 1x4 cut into these lengths: 6”, 10”, 12”

• Cricut cutting machcine

• Cricut Design Space

• Cricut green cutting mat

• oramask stencil film

• transfer tape

• vinyl squeegee

• stenciling sponge

• red, white, blue, black acrylic paint

• paint brushes

• stain color of choice

• lint free cloth

• gloves to protect your hands when staining

• Ryobi miter saw

• Ryobi sander

• 120 grit orbit sand paper

• xacto knife

• FREE CRICUT 4TH OF JULY CUT FILE

1. CUT & PREP YOUR WOOD PIECES

If you purchased the 4TH OF JULY DIY CRAFT KIT you can skip this step. If not you need to cut your 1x4’s to 6”, 10” and 12”. I use a miter saw to cut mine then give them a quick sanding with120 grit sand paper using my orbit sander. I stain my pieces then let dry for 24 hours. Once dry I sand around the edges to give it a distressed look. Now they are ready for paint :)!

2. CUT YOUR STENCILS

Cut out your stencils on your cutting machine, I use an older model Cricut explore and it always does a perfect job! I highly recommend using Oramask stencil film to cut your stencils out of. This material is specifically made for stenciling and performs very well. Weed your design and apply transfer tape to it so it is ready to go. Get your FREE Cricut cut files here to use for this exact 4th of July project.

3. PAINT YOUR BACKGROUND COLOR

Using a dry brush apply a THIN coat of paint on the front side of your wooden bases. For a more rustic look apply the paint so that it doesn’t touch the edge of the wood base and so that it a little uneven. Let that dry then paint a second coat. Let the second coat completely dry.

4. APPLY YOUR STENCIL

Using your vinyl squeegee apply your stencil to your painted wood base. Once you feel it is adhered good slowly remove the transfer tape off of your stencil. The best way to do this is to start at one corner and slowly roll the transfer tape off of your blue stencil material. PRO TIP: you never want to pull up when removing your transfer tape, this will cause your stencil to pull up as well. Use your finger to rub the exposed area of the stencil to work out any puckers or air bubbles.

5. PAINT YOUR STENCIL

Cut your stencil sponge into 3-4 sections, depending on the number of different colors you plan to use. Lightly dip the end of one of your stenciling sponges into your paint of choice, dab off excess paint onto a scrap piece of cardboard (or something similar) then using an up and down dabbing motion dab it onto the exposed areas of your stencil. Your paint coverage should be super thin, you want to be able to see the background color at this point. Let dry. Once dry dab on a second thin layer. If you are happy with the coverage you can move on to step 6. If you want a little more coverage wait for the second layer to dry then dab on a third layer of pain

6. REMOVE YOUR STENCIL

Using a sharp xacto knife or sewing pin peel your stencil up while your paint is still wet. Be careful not to touch the wet paint. Let your painted wood sign dry.

7. DISTRESS

This step is completely optional. If you want a little more rustic look lightly go over the front of your wooden sign with a sanding sponge or piece of sandpaper. I personally like adding this touch to my signs to give it a more farmhouse look. Wipe off the dust with a lint free cloth and you are ready to display them on your tiered tray.

DIY How to make a RUSTIC UNICORN sign + FREE SVG

Unicorns…my third daughter is OBSESSED with these magical creators and has been for years. She was the inspiration behind these rustic looking glittery unicorn themed mason jars that we found on Pinterest and HAD to make our own. Everything is unicorn theme from her bedroom décor to her birthday party themes to her clothing. So, this year for her birthday of course she asked for…you guessed it UNICORN themed presents!

With all the craziness going on the world in the year of 2020 she couldn’t have a traditional birthday party. BOO! Instead she had a small but SUPER FUN day at home filled with a unicorn shaped cake made by her older sisters and LOTS of fun outdoor activities.

While she did get a few store bought gifts I thought it would be so fun to make her a rustic looking unicorn sign to hang in her unicorn themed side of the bedroom. She already has this gorgeous unicorn themed bedspread and SO many other purple glittery unicorn knick knacks I thought this sign would tie in perfectly with all of it.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

And she LOVED it! I was so happy because sometimes you make or buy something for your kid and you don’t always get the reaction you were hoping for. You know the one where they give you a huge smile and a thank you but you can tell deep down that it really wasn’t what they were expecting. Thank goodness my sweet girl BEAMED with unicorn excitement when she got her handmade rustic always believe in magical things sign from her momma! YAY a mom WIN!!

If you want to make this exact unicorn SVG you can get it for FREE here in my FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY. If you’re new to the blog my resource library is where I share all of my freebies. It’s all in one place so you can access it super easy. Just click here to get my password. If you already have the password click here and it will take you to my secure page.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own rustic unicorn sign

• always believe in magical things FREE SVG

• Cricut cutting machine, the MAKER or EXPLORE

• Cricut Design Space

• Cricut cutting mat

• Oramask stencil film

• transfer tape

• vinyl squeegee

• xacto knife

• premade pallet sign - DIY tutorial to build a pallet sign

• acrylic paints

• assorted flowers

• paint brushes

• stenciling sponge

• cone form

• floral wire

• hot glue gun

• gorilla hot glue sticks

• nail polish I used a glittery gold

• tulle

HOW TO MAKE A RUSTIC PALLET STYLE UNICORN SIGN

For this tutorial I’m starting with a pre built, stained, and painted pallet style sign. If you’ve never built a pallet style sign before not worries they are actually really easy to make. You can read my post on how to built your own pallet style sign here. I also used a weathered gray stain on this wood unicorn sign along with white paint for the background colors.

1. CUT OUT YOUR UNICORN STENCIL

The first thing I did was cut out my stencil on ORAMASK STENCIL FILM. If you plan to cut out a ton of stencils and want to buy stencil film even cheaper you must read my oramask stencil film post on how I dramatically my out of pocket on this material for my small business. I used my Cricut to cut out my stencil and weeded my unicorn themed stencil with a super sharp exacto knife.

If you’re new to the Cricut world here are 10 must have to get you started on you Cricut journey.

2. APPLY YOUR UNICORN STENCIL

Using transfer tape apply your unicorn stencil to your wood base. When removing the transfer tape it’s easiest to roll the transfer tape off your of stencil film. Use your vinyl squeegee to get your stencil good and adhered to the base of your unicorn sign.

3. PAINT YOUR STENCIL

To prevent tons of paint bleed you can seal your unicorn stencil first with the same color paint that you used for your background color. In my case I used white paint because my background is white. The wood I used to make my daughter’s rustic unicorn sign was EXTRA RUSTIC. Meaning it had lots of imperfections. The wood was very uneven, rounded on the edges, and had small and large gouges all over. I knew even with sealing my stencil I would still have paint bleed unless I took extra time to paint the sign very slowing. I’m a momma of 4, I don’t have time to be that perfect lol so my sign had more than usual paint bleed. When painting your stencil you can use a cosmetic sponge or a paint brush. If using a cosmetic sponge you want to make an up and down dabbing motion to paint the stencil. Do very THIN even coats and layer up to 3 THIN layers but no more than that. I promise the coverage will be darker once the stencil is removed.

4. REMOVE YOUR STENCIL

An xacto knife works great for removing stencils. Just be sure is super sharp. If you don’t have an xacto knife you can also use a sewing pin. You want to gently lift the stencil film up and off your wood base without causing damage.

5. DISTRESS YOUR UNICORN SIGN

I used a sanding sponge to lightly sand over my lettering on my unicorn pallet sign once my paint was dry. Just to give it a little more rustic look. I didn’t want my sign to be all gorgeously distressed and the lettering be crisp.

6. PAINT ON UNICORN EARS

I almost forgot to do this part…insert facepalm!… I freehanded the ears with a pencil then painted them in with light pink paint. I added a little detail with a little bit of gray paint while the pink paint was still wet just so they didn’t look so flat. Then I distressed them with the sponge sander.

7. MAKE THE HORN

I used a foam cone for this and cut it down to the size I needed. I used craft paint for this instead of spray painting it (check out my tips for spray painting Styrofoam here). Let dry. Once dry wrap it in tulle, I did this several times to get a good coverage.

8. ADD ACCENTS TO THE HORN

I only needed a small piece of wire for this project so I used what I had on hand. I only had silver or green floral wire so I painted a piece of the silver wire with glittery nail polish and let it dry. Then I wrapped it around the horn and secured the ends inside of the foam. This really made a big difference in how the unicorn horn looked overall. Without this piece of glittery wire I don’t think it would have turned out as cute.

9. GLUE ON FLORAL UNICORN CROWN

I picked up my floral accents from Walmart. It’s spring/summer so they had a great selection of florals that had a magical unicorn vibe. I used gorilla hot glue in my glue gun to attach them to my wood base. I highly suggest doing a dry run with the floral crown before you actually glue them down. You want to make sure you are going to like the placement before you commit to the glue. Don’t be afraid to cut down your florals. Sometimes you just need a small piece of baby’s breath instead of a whole piece of it.

Some of the florals I used on this unicorn crown were leftover from these DIY corsages I made from my youngest three daughters for the daddy daughter dance. I love that I could also incorporate them into this piece. They were such beautiful florals and my store was completely out of them so I couldn’t get any more for this sign.

Now you’re ready to give this gorgeously rustic unicorn sign to your sweetest unicorn obsessed little girl to hang in her room. I hope you enjoyed this crafty tutorial. If you have any questions please leave them in the comments below.

Happy Crafting!

DIY mini wood house family number sign

DIY how to make a rustic wood house sign for your farmhouse style home decor

How to make mini wood houses from a 1x4. Stenciling a wood family number sign. DIY rustic farmhouse decorations to make at home, easy

Have you seen those adorable tiered tray signs on Pinterest? They are oh so tiny and oh so ADORABLE! They tie in perfectly with any rustic farmhouse style décor. If you have a miter saw you can make these little beauties at home.

If you don’t have a miter saw but still want to DIY these mini wood houses no worries! You can grab these precut unfinished wooden houses in my shop.

I used a scrap piece of 1x4 to make mine. Click here to read more of my SCRAP WOOD PROJECTS.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional

Are you planning on making LOTS of signs using stencil film? You must read how I save TONS of money by buying my oramask stencil film this way.

Click here to grab your own rustic wooden mini house DIY CRAFT KIT

Make your own tiered tray mini house signs

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own mini rustic wood houses

• 1x4 or precut wood houses

• miter saw

• sander

• 120 grit sand paper

• Cricut cutting machine

• Cricut Design Space

• Green Cricut cutting mat

• oramask stencil film

• transfer tape

• vinyl squeegee

• white and black acrylic paint

• paint brush

• family number SVG

1. CUT OUT YOUR WOOD HOUSE

The first thing I did was to cut my wood house out of 1x4 scrap piece of pine. Well, my husband cut mine out because he was bored lol. He cut them using a 30 degree angle on the miter saw. Then cut them to the length you want. The one I’m making for this rustic craft tutorial measured approx. 4” in length. Then I sanded it down using my Ryobi orbit sander and 120 grit sandpaper.

2. CUT OUR YOUR STENCIL

I used my Cricut explore to cut out my stencil. I have yet to get a Cricut maker because my Explore is still going strong :)! I used a scrap piece of ORAMASK STENCIL FILM and this FAMILY NUMBER SIGN SVG. I’ve found that using an xacto knife to weed your designs works even better than traditional weeding tools. If you’re new to CRICUT be sure to check out these 10 supplies and accessories you need to get started with your Cricut.

3. PAINT YOUR WOOD HOUSE BASE

I chose to keep my mini wood house sign simple and paint it all white. I used acrylic paint and painted two coats for a decent coverage. Let completely dry.

4. STENCIL YOUR WOOD HOUSE

I stenciled a family number sign on my wood house and I love how cute it turned out. I applied my stencil using transfer tape and a vinyl squeegee. Then removed my transfer tape once it was properly adhered. If you don’t want any paint bleed be sure to seal your stencil. you can do this using the same paint as your background color. See how I also did this on a reverse stenciled sign to get crisp no paint bleed lines. Let dry.

5. PAINT YOUR STENCIL

I kept it safe and painted my family number stencil with black acrylic paint. I did one thin coat. Let dry completely. Then painted a second thin layer.

6. PEEL UP YOUR STENCIL

While your stencil paint is still wet use a sharp xacto knife OR sewing pin to peel up your stencil. Be careful not to guage the wood underneath. You want to carefully lift the stencil film up off the wood then grab it and peel away.

7. DISTRESS

If you like your sign without distressing then you are ready to display it once the lettering is dry. But if you’d like to add a little more rustic charm to it you can do so with your sander, after your lettering is dry of course. I use 120 grit sandpaper for pretty much all of my craft projects and it’s what I used to distress this mini wood house sign too. Focus around the edges and corners then lightly go over the front of the sign. I went a little crazy on my mini wood sign but I still like it. I think it just adds that much more character.

CLICK HERE TO GET INSTANT ACCESS TO ALL OF MY FREE SVG’S, PRINTABLES, AND MORE

Now you're ready to display it in your home. I hope you enjoyed this crafty tutorial. If you have any questions please ask them in the comments.

Happy Crafting!

Painting with nature, a creative and fun experience to enjoy with your kids

Painting with nature, have you tried this with your kids? If not you are totally missing out on a ton of fun and creativity! I’m a momma to four girls and I LOVE that my almost preschooler loved it just as much as my middle schooler. So this craft is truly one for all ages.

What made this even more fun was that the girls gathered their own materials. They each went hunting in the yard and selected some really cool pieces of nature to paint with. Some of the nature items they found were dandelions, tree leaves, clovers, broken acorn shells, seeds from inside of pods, tree bark, and I know there’s more I’m forgetting. They really enjoyed this part. Watching them pick up the different materials that nature was offering and thinking how that would look on their paint canvas was too cool to see.

If you want to paint with nature but you need a mess free option be sure to check out my post on how we painted with pine cones. I don’t think my girls got a drop of paint on them for that project.

After you read this kid friendly DIY craft be sure to check out my other fun projects that are kid approved. Click here to go to my kids craft projects.

 Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

This is such a great activity to do outside if you can. If you can’t no worries I promise it will be just as fun! We gathered our nature painting pieces from our backyard but if you don’t have a backyard you can take a stroll around the park or even just down the sidewalk. The kids are sure to find some useful nature pieces there, even just a twig and a dandelion are perfect for this craft.

HOW TO PAINT WITH NATURE, AN EASY AND FUN CRAFT FOR KIDS

Here’s what you’ll need

• pieces of nature, let them gather whatever their creative hands can pick up

• canvas, we used 4”x6” canvases we found at the Dollar Tree

• food coloring, we used these gel ones

• acrylic paint

• water

• paint tray

• paint brushes

• aprons

• table covering, I invested in drop cloths for my crafts and LOVE using these!

Let the kids get messy! Getting messy is all part of the creative process. We kept our nature painting outside. I put a drop cloth over our patio table and had my girls wear aprons. The older three daughters wear adult aprons like these that we tie up on the neck and the youngest daughter wears a kids apron. With all the crafting we’ve done over the years these aprons have held up really well.

We used a combination of food coloring and acrylic paint to paint our nature canvases. I thought a watercolor look to these would be really pretty but we didn’t have any watercolors paints to use. Food coloring on the canvases turned out AMAZING! They looked just like watercolors, well they did at first but then the girls kept painting over their masterpieces to get them just right lol! We also used food coloring during our TIE DYE experiment and those turned out way better than I thought they were going to. Read about how to TIE DYE with food coloring here.

Painting with nature process is overall pretty simple, here’s how-

ONE- Gather your pieces of nature, canvas, paint and other materials and prep your work area

TWO- If you’re using food coloring you can mix that in your paint wells on your paint tray. I used a medical syringe, like the kind you get from the pharmacy, to squirt water into the paint well, this way I didn’t overfill them, then added drops of food coloring. I used a paintbrush to mix the water and food coloring together and that worked great.

THREE- Get creative and start painting with nature. I just let my girls paint with whatever and however they wanted. The only rule I had was to not argue lol! Let’s be real here, crafting with multiple kids, especially preteens, isn’t always the most enjoyable when the bickering starts. My girls know that if they start arguing with one another there's a good chance momma will make them pick up and put everything away. It’s a wonderful way to keep the peace.

We found that painting on the leaves worked really great for making prints of them. The key was to not apply too much of the food coloring mixture/paint.

Then press the leaves, or other nature items, onto the canvas.

If you want a good print of it press gently, don’t push it around this will cause the paint/food coloring to smear and will not give a good crisp print.

Here’s a leaf print my oldest daughter, who’s in middle school, made. I was actually surprised at how much she enjoyed this nature painting craft. She took her time and carefully picked her nature pieces, colors, and placement of all the things.

Just remember, if their projects turn out to be a crazy dark blog looking painting embrace it! Tell them they did a BEAUTIFUL job and enjoy the time you spend together creating. These are special memories you’ll look back on <3!

Let me know if you have any questions about painting with nature. Happy crafting!

REVERSE STENCIL, the NO paint bleed method

How to paint a REVERSE STENCIL wood sign, easy tutorial plus video

Have you tried stenciling wood signs but keep running into issues like paint bleed or your paint peeling up? I completely understand your frustration when that happens when painting signs. I have been there and am so glad I learned how to paint signs without these issues now AND I’m happy I get to show you how to paint wood signs without the headache.

One of the easiest methods to stenciling painted wood signs is the REVERSE STENCIL METHOD. It’s the method I suggest people start with when they are just learning how to paint signs. No matter if you are wanting to learn how to paint signs for a hobby or you are wanting to start your own momma side hustle this is THE sign painting tutorial you need to start with. I don’t want to overwhelm you with too much sign painting lingo but this is also referred to as the PVPP method. Or in other words, Paint Vinyl Paint Peel. But I like to call it a reverse stencil because that just sounds better to me ;).

DIY REVERSE STENCIL WITH YOUR CRICUT, the NO paint bleed method

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

After making thousands of hand painted wood signs for my own business I think I’ve pickex up a thing or two about how to paint signs and I am so excited to be sharing my tips, tricks, and techniques with you. So hopefully you don’t make the same mistakes that I did starting out.

If you have a Cricut or Silhouette cutting machine you can purchase the SVG FILE for BLESS OUR NEST here. If you’re just getting started with your Cricut I highly recommend you read this list of 10 things you need to get started with your Cricut. .

If you’re planning to make lots of signs like I do you may want to consider ordering stencil film in bulk to save some money. Here’s how I save 40% on my Oramask 813 stencil film.

Watch the video below or keep scrolling to read the written sign making tutorial.

NO PAINT BLEED REVERSE STENCILED SIGN

Here’s what you’ll need

• Bless our nest SVG

• Acrylic paint

• Paint brushes

• Stencil film

• Transfer tape

• Vinyl Squeegee

• Xacto knife

• Wood base

Helpful tools

• Cricut cutting machine

• Cricut Design Space

• Cricut green cutting mat

• Ryobi miter saw

• Ryobi sander

1. CUT AND WEED YOUR DESIGN

The first thing you want to do is cut your design out. I use my Cricut to do this on Oramask 813 stencil film. After having issues with pretty much any other kind of “stenciling” material, I have found this stuff truly works and does the job it was made to do. Using things like shelf liner, aka contact paper, and oracal 631 they can cause so many issues and a giant headache. So now I just stick to what works and Oramask 813 works! Instead of weeding out the letters like you would on a typical stencil you will actually weed out the background, leaving the letters.

2. PAINT YOUR LETTER COLOR

I know this is going to sound super backwards BUT you want to paint your wood sign base whatever color you want your lettering to be. I have to add that if you are wanting your lettering/design to be multi colored this method will not work. But, if you want one solid color like the design I’m showing here this reverse stencil method is perfect. Let your paint dry.

3. APPLY YOUR STENCIL

After your letter color paint is dry you want to apply your stencil. This can be tricky to get on there straight at first. If it makes it easier you can measure or use tape as a guide line. Place your transfer tape over your design, use your vinyl squeegee to gently remove any air. Flip your stencil over and carefully remove the paper backing. Go slow you don’t want to rip your design. After you’ve removed the paper backing place your stencil down on your wood sign base sticky side down. Use your vinyl squeegee to remove any air bubbles then remove the transfer tape from your design, leaving your stencil film on your wood sign base.

4. SEAL YOUR STENCIL

This is THE STEP to do if you want ZERO PAINT BLEED. I don’t know about you but I’m a busy momma and business owner and I don’t have time to daintily paint around stencils then cross my fingers that it won’t bleed. Nope! Instead, I seal my stencils with the same color that is under the stencil. So in this case I sealed my stencil with black paint. You want to paint a SUPER THIN layer of paint over your stencil. Be sure it’s a thin layer, this step does not need a lot of paint.

5. PAINT THE BACK

This step isn’t a must but I always finish the backside of all of my signs. It gives my signs a more polished look. When the sealing step is dry just flip your sign over and paint the back the same color you are going to paint the front. I just do one layer of paint for this step. I also paint a layer of paint on the sides while I’m on this step.

6. PAINT THE FRONT

Once the front is dry flip your sign over and paint a SUPER THIN layer of whatever color you would like your background color of your sign to be. Let that dry completely. After the first layer is dry you can add a second layer if you’d like more coverage.

7. PEEL UP YOUR STENCIL

While your paint is still WET peel up your stencil. I find that a sharp xacto knife works perfectly for this step. It easily gets under the stencil film without damaging your wood sign so you can lift the stencil up and off your wood base.

8. FINISH

Let your sign dry completely. You can leave it as is or your can sand around the edges to give it a more distressed look like the Bless our Nest wood sign I made.

I hope you enjoyed this sign painting tutorial and it helps you on your sign painting journey. As with all of my tutorials, if you have any questions please leave them below in the comments.

Easily attach hanging hardware to your signs

Attach your own sawtooth hanger to your wood signs

Even if you’ve never used a hammer in your entire life you can quickly pick up this new skill to attach hanging hardware to your signs. You might enjoy this so much that you start using other tools. Not that long ago a hammer was pretty much the only tool I knew how to operate. I was deathly afraid of all power tools but over time I have grown a love, really an obsession, for them and now use power tools daily. You can read more about what power tools I recommend for crafty people and about how I’ve overcome that very real fear that a miter saw would completely chop me in half. Thank goodness that fear is behind me so I can make amazing projects and share them with you.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional. This is just a way I can help add to our family finances to raise our four daughters. Please know I would never recommend a product or service I do not totally stand behind.

When you’re done reading this tutorial be sure to check out my other tips for sign painting. Like how to save money on stencil film for sign painting, how to build a pallet style sign, and these 6 must haves for stenciling wooden signs.

HOW TO ADD YOUR OWN HANGING HARDWARE TO YOUR HOME DECOR

Here’s what you need

• wood sign

• hammer

• sawtooth hanger/nails

• masking tape

• tape measure

• pencil

1. MEASURE

Flip your sign so that you have the front facing down. Be sure you have it so you are working on the top and not the bottom of the sign. Measure to find the middle of the wood sign and make a mark with a pencil.

2. PLACE YOUR HARDWARE

Attach a piece of tape to the front of your sawtooth hanger, masking tape works great for this but you can use regular scotch tape if that’s all you have. Then place it evenly where you made your pencil mark. The tape helps hold down the hardware so it doesn’t move around when attaching it to your sign.

3. HAMMER YOUR NAILS IN

Once you have you masking tape holding your sawtooth hanger in place you can hammer your nails in. Hold your nail steady with one hand and lightly tap it with the hammer using your other hand. It doesn’t take much force to drive these small nails in so take your time. If you hammer too hard you can smash your sawtooth hanger and then have to replace it with a new sawtooth hanger. After you have one nail in do the same for the second nail. Then remove the masking tape.

Now you’re ready to hang your sign up on your wall and enjoy it! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

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New to cricut? 10 must have supplies and accessories you need to get started with your CRICUT

What are the must have craft supplies to use with your Cricut?

Welcome to the CRICUT world! I know when you first get your machine it can be SUPER overwhelming. With all the amazing projects that are out there it’s so hard to figure out what you should buy. Are you going to be paper crafting? Vinyl crafting? T-shirt making? Sign making? SOOOOOO many things to decide. But no matter which path your crafty heart wants to take these 10 craft accessories and supplies will set you up for success.

And it doesn’t matter which machine you use, an Explore or a Maker, these craft supplies will work perfectly with both Cricut cutting machines. I personally use a Cricut explore for both my personal and my business life. I have yet to upgrade to the Cricut Maker although I would LOVE to! I just can’t bring myself to spend that money when I have a Cricut machine, actually two because I found them both on a good sale, that works perfectly fine.

 Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

See one of my latest videos on how I used my CRICUT to create a rustic sign with no paint bleed.

If you get to a point where you are crafting like crazy you might want to look into where you can buy things you use often in bulk. Here’s how I save lots of money on stencil film for my handmade business.

10 supplies you need to start creating with your Cricut

Here’s what you need to get started using your CRICUT

1. CRICUT CUTTING MATS

2. XACTO KNIFE

3. VINYL SQUEEGEE

4. CARDSTOCK

5. SCISSORS

6. ASSORTED VINYL

7. TRANSFER TAPE

8. GLUE TAPE

9. MARKERS

10. CRICUT ACCESS/DESIGN SPACE

1. CRICUT CUTTING MATS

These are a must have no matter what type of project you are planning to cut out using your Cricut machine. Cricut has several different mat options and thankfully they are color coded to make crafting even easier for us.

• BLUE- LIGHT GRIP: Use with standard paper, light cardstock, vellum, and more

• GREEN- STANDARD GRIP: Use to cut heavy cardstock, iron-on, vinyl, and more

• PURPLE- STRONG GRIP: Use with specialty cardstock, matboard, and backed fabric

• PINK- FABRIC GRIP: Use to cut most fabrics with Rotary Blade or Bonded-Fabric Blade

  If using a CRICUT EXPLORE OR MAKER you want to purchase the mats either in size 12”x12” or 12”x24.

I personally use a green mat for most of my DIY craft projects but I also have a purple and pink mat on hand for when I need them. Here’s a project I used my CRICUT PURPLE MAT to cut out faux leather hair bows for my youngest daughter’s Valentine’s Day cards. It worked great for that type of material.

2. XACTO KNIFE

You must have an xacto knife to use with your Cricut projects. This is my most versatile tool I have in my craft room. I actually prefer using an xacto knife when weeding my designs vs using a Cricut weeding tool. And they are super inexpensive and you can pick one up almost anywhere. You can also use this to cut tiny spots in a design that your Cricut may have slipped on during the cutting process.

3. VINYL SQUEEGEE

This is typically used when applying vinyl but you can also use them to smooth out paper projects too. There are several different sizes when buying these squeegees. I use my vinyl squeegee mostly for making my wooden signs but I use it for other non vinyl projects as well.

4. CARDSTOCK

Cardstock is a must have to keep in any craft room in my opinion. Of course it’s great to create beautiful cards but cardstock has a purpose beyond that too. It is so much thicker than regular paper that it’s great for using for patterns. I use cardstock all the time to cut out different shapes to trace on to wood then I cut them out using my scroll saw. Check out these adorable pumpkins I made using my Cricut and my scroll saw. I also used cardstock to help make this light up fairy jar.

I highly recommend stocking up when the big box craft stores have their cardstock sales. This is what I do. Having crafting little girls we go through a LOT of cardstock every year.

5. SCISSORS

This is just a must have for crafting in general. But I do suggest having a different pair of scissors for the different materials you will be using. One for paper crafts. One for heat transfer vinyl. One for regular vinyl. One for fabric, etc. Unless you have kids then, pretty much all of the scissors for good for all the things ;)!

6. ASSORTED VINYL

Vinyl, there are several different options here. I won’t go super deep about their differences in this post but you can use vinyl for many different projects: t-shirt designs, decals on cars and cups, sign making, labeling your pantry and so much more. You can buy bundles of different types of vinyl. This is a great way to have something on hand just in case you have the crafty need to create something that requires a certain type of vinyl.

• HTV- used on fabric and comes with its own transfer sheet

• ORACAL 651- permanent grade vinyl that is suitable for outdoors up to 6 years

• ORACAL 631- removable vinyl typically used wall decals

• ORAMASK 813- translucent blue material used for stenciling

7. TRANSFER TAPE

Transfer tape is generally great for vinyl type projects. It is a carrier sheet to get your vinyl design off of its paper backing and onto the base you are placing it on. I know it can be really difficult deciding which transfer tape will be the exact one you should use, I have battled with this myself. Here are couple things to know, a stronger high tack transfer tape is best for permanent grade vinyl. It takes a stronger tack to lift the vinyl up off of the paper backing. Stenciling material can be removed from its paper backing a little easier since the grip on that isn’t as strong as a permanent grade vinyl. Here’s what I recommend:

• TRANSFER TAPE FOR PERMANENT GRADE VINYL

• TRANSFER TAPE FOR STENCILING MATERIAL

8. GLUE TAPE

This is a must if you are doing any kind of paper crafting. Glue tape is quick and easy and gives a better overall finish than using wet glues. There are several different options for glue tape out there. Just like with anything they range from super inexpensive to a little more expensive.

9. MARKERS

Instead of making a cut project with your Cricut you can also WRITE with your Cricut using these Cricut pens. You can do all kinds of projects with these markers including making personalized coloring sheets for your kiddos. I don’t know about the new Cricut Maker but the older Explore, which is what I use to create all of my crafty projects, you use a pen adapter to use these with your machine.

10. CRICUT ACCESS/ CRICUT DESIGN SPACE

Cricut Access is a must if you plan on creating projects at least once a month. I have had it for what seems like forever and I can’t tell you how much time and money it has saved me over the years, and with four kids that is a big winner for those reasons alone! With the Cricut Access membership plan you get access to THOUSANDS of images, fonts, ready made projects, and you also get a discount when you order products from the Cricut website. And a bonus because you can add your discount to their sale prices! WOOHOO!

Although there is SO MUCH MORE I’d love to share these are my top 10 supplies and accessories you need to start creating with your Cricut. If you have anything you’d add or anything you have questions about please leave a comment below.

Where to buy STENCIL MATERIAL for SIGN MAKING super cheap

SAVE MONEY ON ORAMASK STENCIL FILM WHEN MAKING PAINTED WOOD SIGNS

Making painted wooden signs can get expensive. The wood, paint, SVG files, transfer tape, stencil film, power tools, it all adds up. But, did you know you CAN save money on STENCIL FILM for sign making? I know a lot of people prefer to use anything but Oramask 813 because it can be pricey but you don’t have to compromise. You CAN use the proper material, ORAMASK 813, for the same price OR even cheaper than other materials that tend to be less expensive. The key is to find the right vendor. With prices varying so much from vendor to vendor it’s hard to know where you should order from. One may carry a 12”x12” sheet for $0.90 while another will have the same thing priced for $1.25. While the difference in price isn’t a lot it does add up when you figure some signs take several feet of stencil film just to create.

 Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

I have ordered through countless companies and I will tell you I have sent some stencil film back. Why? Stencil film is a sensitive type of material. If wound TOO tight it will not cut properly and will leave bubbles all throughout the freshly cut design making it impossible to use. If you ever receive Oramask 813 stencil film from a company and the stencil film is not wound around a large 3”-4” cardboard tube you will likely waste your time trying to use it.

A little comparison, the stencil film on the left cost me $0.66 per fo ot, the one on the right cost me $0.90 per foot AND I have to order a LOT or pay for shipping for the $.90/ft price one.

I haven’t always used stencil material to paint my handmade signs though. When I first started out I used shelf liner…please just save yourself the headache if you are planning on painting signs for a business and DON’T use shelf liner. For me anyway, shelf liner caused more problems than it was worth. I have made THOUSANDS of signs and that is a decision in my business that I do not regret one bit. It caused so many problems, too many to get into for this post but I will make one later about the pros to using professional grade stencil film vs shelf liner later on.

WHERE TO BUY ORAMASK 813 STENCIL FILM IN BULK TO SAVE MONEY?

I swore I would never order rolls of oramask 813 from Amazon again but…here I am telling you that's exactly where I order from now and where you should too if you want to cut costs on stencil making. After a lot of buying from different companies, Amazon and small business websites, I have found the LOWEST PRICE I’VE EVER SEEN FOR STENCIL FILM and they properly wind the stencil film around a wide enough cardboard tube. It saves me SO MUCH MONEY in my sign making business. That’s more money that our family can put into savings. More money for my husband and I to feed our four daughters. More money we can put back into the business. I couldn’t keep this little secret to myself because I want you to order from a good company AND save money too!

So here’s what I do, I order a giant roll of ORAMASK 813 STENCIL FILM that measures 24'“ wide by 10 yards (30 feet) long. You’re probably thinking ‘seriously, Megan, I have a CRICUT and it only cuts up to 11.5” wide thanks but no thanks’. If you follow me on here or any of my social media accounts you know that’s what I use too, for almost a decade now.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR ORAMASK STENCIL MATERIAL

Hear me out… IF you have a miter saw, have a family member that has a miter saw, know someone who has a miter saw OR happen to make a brand new best friend that has a miter saw, you can cut that 24” wide roll of stencil film in HALF so now you have 2 rolls instead of 1 that you can easily use to make stencils with any 12” deck vinyl cutting machine.

Let that sink in. I was kicking myself when I found this out! SO MUCH MONEY WASTED ON 12” ROLLS OF VINYL. But you live and learn and since I’ve learned I’m sharing it with you.

Your vinyl will likely come shipped in plastic to protect it. Leave it in the plastic until you are done cutting it. Measure in 12” from where your stencil film starts, NOT where the cardboard starts. Then make a mark.

Be sure your stencil film is still in the plastic, this will help keep the edges nice and clean. If it didn’t come shipping in plastic you can tape around the very middle where it measures 12” with wide painters tape, this will have the same effect. Then line your saw up with your 12” mark and cut. Wipe away any saw dust, you don’t want any of that when going to cut your stencils out with your Cricut or Silhouette machine.

I’m not a big math person but I can do simple math lol. When I buy these giant rolls of stencil film they cost about $40. $40 divided by 30 (number of feet in the roll) = $1.33 but wait it’s still 24” wide so you divide $1.33 by 2 (because you will have 2 12” rolls of stencil film after you cut it in half) = $0.66!

Yes, SIXTY SIX CENTS $0.66 per foot for oramask stencil film. Granted, prices go up and down so it may not be exactly this price when you go to buy but that is the price when I purchase it. And since I am a AMAZON PRIME member I’ve already paid for my shipping with my membership. Which is totally worth the super small fee in my opinion.

DIY paint stick wall hanging, with FREE printable

MAKE RUSTIC INTERCHANGEABLE WALL ART USING PAINT STIR STICKS AND A PRINTER AT HOME

Paint sticks don’t sound like the kind of thing you would purposely hang on your wall as part of your décor. Well think again! They are actually PERFECT to use to make interchangeable hanging frames. AND they are SO cheap to make which makes this crafty DIY even better! With a little bit of paint, magnetic tape,printable and some twine you can transform your own stir sticks into a farmhouse style picture frame.

Affiliate Disclosure. Some of the links on this website are affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission if you click on the link or make a purchase using the link. If you make a purchase you will not be charged anything additional.

BONUS grab my FREE printable to use for your own wall hanging. I love being a girl mom x4 but it for sure has it’s moments of hard conversations. One of those hard convos I had recently is the sole purpose to creating this printed wall hanging. I had plans to make these stir stick decorations but I wasn’t really planning to hang this exact piece. I was going to do something a little patriotic to tie in with this repurposed drawer into an American flag instead I chose to showcase a saying that would sink in a little deeper for my girls. When they read it I hope it sets in even deeper that they are perfect just the way they are.

If you like easy to make signs check out this super simple free standing wood sign. All you need is a printer and some mod podge and of course a piece of wood ;).

Here’s how you can make your own affordable rustic wall hanging

Here’s what you’ll need

• 4 paint stir sticks

• paint or stain I used gray paint

• paint brush

• magnetic tape

• twine

• scissors

• printable

Helpful tools

• home printer

• Ryobi miter saw

ONE- The first thing I did was cut the ends off of all of my paint sticks. You can keep these on if you want but I like the look of them cut off better. I used my miter saw to do this.

TWO- I painted the blank side of my paint sticks gray. I really wanted to stain them in gray but honestly I didn’t want the mess so instead I painted a thin layer then took a paper towel and wiped it off. This gives a faux stained look.

THREE- I attached a strip of magnetic tape to the insides, the side I didn’t paint, of each paint stick. To save on tape I cut a strip in half length wise for one top and one bottom stick. I’d never used this stuff before this project and so far I’m impressed with how well it works.

FOUR- I printed off my printable from my home computer and trimmed about 1/4” off of each long edge with my paper trimmer (if you don’t have one you NEED to get one lol they are so inexpensive and save so much time and stress from not having straight cut lines when you need them). Then I sandwiched the printable between the paint sticks at the top and bottom.

FIVE- To keep this stir stick wall art interchangeable I loosely tied my twine hanger to the ends of the top sides. This way if I want to change it out or if somehow a spaghetti noodle gets flung on to it, which can totally happen with four kids let’s be real, I can easily slip off the twine remove the old print add a new one and slip the twine loop back on. Super simple and easy!@

Like with all of my crafty tutorials if you have any questions please feel free to ask away:)!

Happy Crafting!

DIY repurpose an old drawer into an American Flag

HOW TO REPURPOSE AN OLD DRAWER INTO AN AMERICAN FLAG

Before you pass up on the dusty old drawer that’s sitting on the side of the road you might want to think of all the amazing things you could turn that in to. Years ago my father in law had a huge old drawer sitting under his carport just collecting dirt and debris. I loved it! Even covered in gross beat-up contact paper I could still see the it’s potential of being something beautiful He told me I could take it home and then it sat in the basement collecting even more dust for years. Finally I pulled it out from the depths of the basement over the weekend and told myself I WOULD transform this old drawer this week!

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I really wanted to paint something American on it and after going back and forth in my own head I decided a simple flag would be perfect for this old drawer. I had thought about stenciling a big US map on it or even some lettering but with everything I already have on my plate I decided I should just keep it simple. Besides I don’t have a ton of vinyl and transfer tape to spare since I’m running low and shipments are taking a little longer than normal at the moment. With a little painters tape and a bit of vinyl I was on my way to making a simple rustic American flag.

Here’s what the old drawer looked like before I gave it a full facelift.

And this is what the old drawer looks like now. I definitely made a few mistakes but overall I’m loving how this rustic flag turned out.

If you are planning on doing a lot of stenciling on wood click here to read this post on how I save money on stenciling film.

How to make your own rustic flag

If you have an old drawer hanging around and collecting dust you can transform it into a rustic looking flag like I did with this one.

Here’s what you’ll need

• old drawer

• red, white, and blue paint

• paint brush

• painters tape

• masking tape

• chipbrush

• antiquing wax

• oramask stencil film

• transfer tape

• vinyl squeegee

• xacto knife

• sandpaper

• 50 stars Cricut cut file

• lint free cloth

Helpful tools

• Cricut cutting machine

• Cricut design space

• green cutting mat

• Ryobi sander

ONE-The first thing I had to do was sand it down. This drawer originally came with some gross contact paper attached to it. I had done the majority of taking all of that off when I first got the drawer. I removed the contact paper as much as I could then used the sander to help take off the rest. I started with 60 grit sandpaper on my handheld sander then worked my way up to 120 grit. the contact paper left behind some sticky residue but with a little elbow grease I was able to get all of it off. Then I used a lint free cloth and a vacuum to get off all the dust.

TWO- Using a dry brush I painted the inside of the drawer white. I used flat white indoor paint for this. When I brushed on the white base I made sure that all four sides didn’t get painted right up to the edge and I made the edges really uneven. I wanted it to look rough.

THREE- I measured out how big I wanted the blue area on my flag to be. I am not 100% happy with the size of this but it’s there to stay now lol! I taped that square off then started taping off my lines for my red and white stripes. I did this the same way I did this scrap wood 2x4 flag. I didn’t measure out my lines, mainly because I’m not a super precise person. I used the top edge of the drawer as my guide then taped off my stripes using wide painters tape. I did not make a true American flag though I only have 7 stripes total on mine.

FOUR- Once I had my stripes taped off I painted the exposed stripes red. Then let them dry and painted then with a second coat of red paint. I peeled my tape up while my paint was still wet.

FIVE- I stenciled the 50 stars on this rustic flag but did it a little differently than a typical stencil. I did what’s called a reverse stencil on this just like I did with this 4th of July leaning porch sign . I used my Cricut and Cricut design space to cut out 50 stars. You can get my free Cricut cut file here. Since my stars were wider than 11.5” I had to cut them out on two separate pieces of stencil material. But it wasn’t bad at all to piece them together. I did have a big OOPS moment when I weeded away a star. Thank goodness for an honest husband who told me it looked good other than missing a star! I was able to paint in the missing star before I had applied the wax, praise the Lord!

SIX- Using transfer tape I applied the star stencils to my flag then taped off the stripes. To cut down on paint bleed I sealed them with a thin layer of white paint. After that was dry I painted that part of my flag blue, let dry, then painted another layer of blue. While the paint was still wet I peel up the star stencils and the tape. I did have a little paint bleed but nothing too serious. This is when I added the last star that I missed :/.

SEVEN- I used my Ryobi sander to distress my rustic drawer flag. I used 120 grit sandpaper and lightly went over the entire flag then focused on random areas here and there. After I was happy with the distressing I wiped the sawdust off with a lint free cloth.

EIGHT- If you’ve read any of my other tutorials you probably know LOVE my antiquing wax. I use it for so many of my craft projects and of course used it for this one too. I used a chip brush and lightly applied the dark wax to my flag. If you’ve never used this stuff before please be aware that a little goes a LONG way. I usually dab the end of my brush into the lid then dab off on a cloth. Since I didn’t have a cloth handy for this DIY I used my apron.

I can’t wait to hang this rustic flag in our living room! We plan to keep it up year round and I know every time we look it we will think of fond memories of my father in la

I hope this post inspires you to give an old drawer a makeover! If you have any questions on this DIY or any of my other tutorials please feel free to ask away:)!

Happy Crafting!

Just starting out using your Cricut? See the top 10 supplies and accessories you need to get started.

DIY how to build a pallet style wood sign

We’ve all seen them, those gorgeous pallet style signs. The ones that are the spotlight of our rustic farmhouse dreams! Did you know there IS an easy way to make them? One that won’t break your back AND one that doesn’t break the bank. If you’ve been in any craft store in the last year you know what I’m talking about. Yes, prebuilt pallet signs are super convenient but they are expensive for what they are. Most are very thin and will break easily.

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Don’t get me wrong I LOVE drooling up and down the aisles of Michael’s of all the different crafts I can create but I also know that I can make a pallet style sign for a fraction of the price that it would cost to buy one from there. Granted I would have to do the work BUT it is actually SUPER easy to make one of those pallet style signs at home. If you have the tools you can make your own pallet wood blanks too.

After you read this tutorial check out these 6 MUST HAVES FOR STENCILNG WOOD SIGNS

Here’s one that I made using old fence wood. While I LOVE the look of this one this rustic looking wood can be really hard to come by so I don’t get to make these beautiful ooking signs often.

Here’s another version of a pallet style sign. For this one I used new wood and stained it in weathered gray. Then I distressed the edges and corners to give it a little character.

HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN PALLET STYLE WOODEN SIGNS

HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• wood

• miter saw

• brad nailer

• brad nails

• sander

• sanding discs

• wood glue

CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW TO ATTACH A SAWTOOTH HANGER TO YOUR WOODEN SIGNS & DECOR

ONE- Figure out what type of wood you are going to use. I recommend you don’t use anything thicker than 1”. Anything thicker will be very heavy. For this tutorial I am using a 1x4.

TWO- Decide how big you would like your sign to be, width and length. Measure out your pieces and mark them.

THREE- Use your miter saw to cut the pieces to the width you would like. Don’t worry if they are a little off you can fix that once you have your pallet sign built.

FOUR- After you have your pieces cut lay them out fronts facing down. Wood will often have one side that’s “prettier” than the other so choose which side you want to put your design on and place that facing down on your workspace.

FIVE- Cut down two pieces of skinnier wood that are shorter than the length of your pallet sign, these will be your support pieces to place on the backside of your sign so it stays together. If I’m making a smaller sign I will usually use yard stakes for this but you can use a 1x2 if making a large sign. I just eyeball how long I want it to be and cut two to that length.

SIX- Put a little bit of wood glue on your support pieces then place them on the back side of your pallet, they will go in the opposite direction that your pallet boards are running. Use your nail gun to nail them in place. You can also use a hammer and nails it will just take a little bit longer.

SEVEN- If your pieces are uneven and you want them to be perfectly square you can do that with your miter saw. My ends are ALWAYS a little uneven. So I take them to my miter saw, line the shortest one up with my laser on my saw and cut off the extra on both ends.

EIGHT- Sand your new sign. I recommend an orbit sander and 120 grit sandpaper.

I hope you find this tutorial helpful. As with all of my DIY crafts if you have any questions please feel free to ask away.

If you want to hang your new beautiful handmade sign in your home read this easy and quick tutorial on how to attach a sawtooth hanger to wood signs.

Happy Crafting!