Go Jump In The Lake...how to stencil :)

 

I wanted to make a sign for my parent's very best friends. After almost 50 years at the same address they moved to a lake home this week. Many family vacations were shared with them...on lakes... in northern Minnesota. It's awesome that they can drink coffee with a lake view EVERY day! I only wish my parents were here to share that with them :( 

They LOVED their new sign. It even matches the color of their house---I didn't even plan that. I love happy accidents, don't you?

How'd this happen, you ask?  I know you are smart and picked up that the sign is fence pickets. Well, my daughter's bed needed new slats. We dug around in the garage and came up with some picket fence pieces. I had purchased them at Menards for another project, about a dollar each. We cut them off, put them on the bed....perfect! I had the 10 end pieces left....about 18" long. HMMMM, what to do????

They became a house warming present...a sign....well, with some sawing, brad nailing, painting and sanding....it was a sign.

Here's the painting process.

Each picket was painted before it was joined together.

I used Rustoleum's Colonial Red.

I painted all the edges. Then realized they were not all the same length (who cut those slats anyways?). I evened them up and repainted the ends!

While the paint was drying I went to my wonderful lil craft room!

Using scrap paper I used my Cricut and the Doodletype cartridge to "practice" my letter placement and sizes. Having those other 5 pieces of pickets came in handy to work on while the REAL sign's base coat was drying.

 I knew how I wanted the Go and the Lake, but I had to play with the size of the Jump and I moved the "in the".

Now remember how frugal I am...yeah, I wasn't going to buy the expensive vinyl and use it as a stencil and throw it away. Nope, I wasn't...I used this---

I put it in the Cricut and started cutting away. Remember to take notes when you are practicing. Then you will have the sizes and how you made all your practice letters WRITTEN down. Then there is no guessing how to make your stencils...I speak from experience....learn from my mistakes. WRITE IT DOWN!

I measured and marked lines with white chalk so my letters would be straight.

Now, let me share a little problem I had...the contact paper WAS NOT VERY STICKY!!!!!!!! It was "easily repostioned"...darn it all anyway! PLUS the pickets, yeah, they are kinda rough wood. It was kinda tricky, but with care, it worked.

I used Rustoleum's famous Heirloom White as the top coat.

Very, very carefully, without a lot of paint on your brush, brush out from the middle of the stencil letter. Hold the letter down with your free hand...IT TRIES TO MOVE ON YA!!

WHOOT, WHOOT....it worked for the GO....carry on!

Take the contact paper off....that's easy....no sticky!

Pretty much successful....look at the K up close

I had a little paint that bled under the contact paper. I thought I had a bunch, but then I realized it was my chalkline to keep everything straight. No worries...I didn't even touch up the paint bleed.

I grabbed my sandpaper and started sanding. The left side is sanded and the right is not. I didn't sand hard enough to get past the base coat. I might on the next sign. I also thought about putting a coat of walnut stain on it to age it. However, it has that cottage-white washed feel, so NO stain.

I sawed 1 X 2's about 1 inch smaller than the width of the sign. When you buy a house that isn't finished you collect some wonderful tools and the skills to use them :) Gotta look for the positive in all that work, right?

 I used the braid nailer to put the 1 x 2 on the pickets.

 The back...I flipped it over and poly'd it. All of the wood is treated so it can go outside :) It measures about 26 1/2" wide by 17 3/4" tall.

So now, you can do it too! Even if you don't have a Cricut. Use your computer to make your letters. You can trace them onto your wood and paint them in...it's just coloring inside the lines :)

NOW....GO JUMP IN THE LAKE!

Hugs from Iowa,
Michelle

PS. There are many, many talented bloggers who have made signs. I try to read all that I see! Here are just a couple of my fav's and one copied the other and they are both in magazines...now, that is sharing :)

Ana White's laundry sign...click here to learn about it and visit Ana.

She used Donna's tutorial from Funky Junk Interiors to make it....click here to visit Donna and her how to!




 I'm joining the show and share party at Just a Girl....click here to visit the party! Come visit Beth at A to Z....click here to come on over.