Thrifty Southern Pilgrim

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Another Welcome Sign

I love making signs!
It is just so simple and so easy! Even with my limited resources and with things all over; in PODS, and in storage garages....it is still easy and only requires minimal supplies and a little patience.

This sign was made for a friend who moved into a new home. I was unable to use my large scrap wood pile and had to buy wood at Home Depot. I did not want to make any (or many) cuts, because I only know where my compound miter saw is. I found these pieces of wood - called "craft wood" - in a box in the wood section. I bought a few different sizes and went home and sanded one. They were less than $2 each.

Then I stained it in Minwax. This is the can I used.

I just used one coat of it and applied it with a foam brush. I did not even wipe it off because I did not have a rag!

I usually use the transfer method that I detail on my Tooth Fairy Sign post, but I was feeling ~~lazy~~ ~~tired~~ ~~lazy~~ lets just go with tired, that sounds better! Anyways, I was reading one of my favorite blogs, That's My Letter, and Jaime had a tutorial on that showed how she uses another method (that she uses a lot). I figured that my wood was soft enough for this to work. It did work, but I had a hard time doing it. Maybe I did not press hard enough........ I had to have it in really bright light to see the indent. Maybe that is why the first "e" is a little off......I missed the indent and painted above it. Oh well. Makes it an original!

After painting inside and on my indented lines with a sample of Benjamin Moore white paint and a small craft brush, this is what it looked like.

Nice, but I needed a little more to it. So I free handed a little design around the edge. Like I did on my $4 table here.

Then I applied wax to the entire piece. I used regular wax and some of Miss Mustard Seeds antiquing wax. After it dried and I buffed it I put eye hooks in the top and braided 3 strands of jute to make a larger diameter string for it to hang with.