wood sign – A Diamond in the Stuff

DIY Kitchen {FOOD} Signs

Courtney Carmean — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 11:00:35 +0000

We have been in our new home going on 5 months now and I am still putting the finishing touches on things. I keep kicking myself for it not being “finished” but on the other hand I know that it takes time to completely settle into a new home. During the past few months I’ve also been busy crafting for others, shows, and my new booth. So every now and then I am squeezing in some crafting for myself. I finally completed our bookcase and got our last boxes unpacked; the next thing on the list was finishing my kitchen decor.

Here’s how I made my DIY Kitchen Food Signs…..

There are some large spaces above our kitchen cabinets that were just begging for some decor. I attempted to put some random stuff up there….but it ended up cheapening the look of the kitchen and cabinetry. It just didn’t feel right. I decided that I wanted more of a streamlined unified look. So I decided to create my own kitchen decor.

We had a scrap 1×6 board out in the garage that I knew would be perfect. I just measured it out and decided what I wanted my 4 sign lengths to be. Since my cabinets were two different sizes I ended up making the signs two different lengths.

I went back and forth between wanting to paint the boards or stain them. In the end I decided to grab some dark stain that I had and use it on the boards. I used some Minwax stain in Espresso Satin.

After a couple coats of the wood stain (and dry time) I cut out some vinyl with my silhouette. Instead of weeding out the “negative” part of the vinyl and keeping the “positive”, I kept the negative to use as a stencil. I placed the vinyl on the wood signs using some transfer tape. I wanted to try and prevent as much paint bleeding as possible, so I used some Mod Podge first on the vinyl stencil.

Then I used some craft paint on the stencil once the Mod Podge was dry. I used some Buttermilk paint because I wanted it to look aged and not crisp white. When that was dry it was time to remove the vinyl. Now I’m gonna be honest with you….sometimes projects go exactly as planned and sometimes they don’t. When they go wrong they either go horribly wrong and the whole thing is a wash OR they end up actually being better because of it. In this instance the mistake made things better.

For some reason when I went to remove the vinyl the paint started coming up with it. Especially in the corners. I had to push the paint back down to even get the vinyl started. At first I was terrified that the whole thing was ruined. However as I continued to peel the vinyl off most of the lettering was sticking to the sign with only little bits getting pulled off. So what I had in the end were some distressed looking lettering. Which is what I really wanted anyway.

I sprayed the signs with some matte clear spray to finish them off. Once they were dry I pulled out the trusty ole step stool and popped these babies on top of the cabinets. I placed the two smaller signs over the two skinnier cabinets and the larger signs over the larger cabinets.

In the closeups you can see some of the letter variations and “flaws”. *love*

The faux greenery was purchased at Michael’s using coupons. I wanted to keep things simple on top of cabinets, so I added the greenery to all of the cabinets in hopes of keeping things looking unified. I like the color and texture that they add up there.

For the words I ended up going with Milk, Eggs, Sugar, and Flour. I liked the idea of using very basic and simple words for the signs. Almost with the idea that they very well could of been salvaged signs used in an old market. Words that invoked homey thoughts of gathering and baking together in the kitchen.

It may just be me but I feel like they are an awesome mix of vintage and sophistication. Maybe that’s not the best word….but I just feel like they all look so polished and nice up there.

I really can’t lie. I kinda love them.

Ok now for a question…..would you add another sign above the pantry? Or leave well enough alone?

Thanks for checking out my DIY Kitchen Food Signs, I’d love to hear what you think!!!

All You Need Is Love Wood Sign

Courtney Carmean — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 13:00:53 +0000

After Christmas everything seems a bit bare and lackluster. This includes retail. When it’s time to remove all of my Christmas items for sale from my booth, things suddenly look very plain. So amongst all the other items I’m working on, I wanted to include some fun Valentine’s Day themed items.

I have always been a fan of the saying “All You Need is Love” made famous by the Beatles. It may be naive, it may be whimsical, but I love it.

I didn’t do a photo tutorial for this sign, however if you want to see how I make my wood signs you can check out my tutorial here!

I did a red and white sign and a black and white sign. One more of a traditional Valentine’s day sign and maybe one that makes a better every day reminder. I gave them both a pretty good sanding and distressing.

I’ll be bringing them to my booth soon to add some love to the place! Hopefully they will love my “All You Need is Love” Wood Signs : )

Are you decorating for Valentine’s Day?

Repurposed Door Into Vintage Sign

Courtney Carmean — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 08:00:59 +0000

I am in full blown holiday show mode right now. I am going to be selling at my first show in the area in a few weeks. So I’ve been working constantly on a bunch of fun projects!!! My goal this year is to use up some of my “stash”. I have a little issue with accumulating things and never wanting to let them go. However my home can not possibly handle all the goodies that I bring home.

I was given some old chippy door panels shortly after we moved. I’ve been wanting to tackle them and create something awesome. I decided to create a Repurposed Door Into a Vintage Sign.

The door panels needed quite a bit of cleaning but I wanted to leave the chippy paint on. It’s pretty fab right?

I cut out some vinyl with my Silhouette to use as a stencil for my letters. If your looking for a tutorial or some tips on how to do this, I shared my technique in my Autumn Pallet Wood Sign post.

Look at the chippiness! The lettering came out pretty good with my stenciling technique, even though the surface is pretty bumpy.

I choose to stencil “Farmer’s Market” on this one. I wanted it to resemble an old sign plucked out of an old market.

I have another door just like this one and a couple smaller versions. I’d love some recommendations on what I should stencil on them?

Alright, I need to get back to work! Have a fantastic day everyone!

Autumn Pallet Wood Sign

Courtney Carmean — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 08:00:07 +0000

It seems it’s getting harder and harder to really enjoy Autumn. After Halloween we seem to be fast forwarding to Christmas more and more each year. I like to try and take some time to really sit and enjoy Fall, Thanksgiving, and all that comes with it. I have loved the saying “Autumn, the years last loveliest smile” for a long time and I decided that maybe I should make a sign to remind us of the good this time of year.

So I made my Autumn Pallet Wood Sign.

The sign started as this pile of pallet wood. I am kind of embarrassed to say that we actually included this in our move from California to Louisiana. I’m sure the movers thought I was certifiable. But I just couldn’t part with all this usable wood!

My hubby cut 4 pieces of the wood for me, I decided to have him leave them rough and rustic.

We just used some pieces of broken pallet boards on the back to connect the 4 pieces of wood. Not really pretty but it serves it’s purpose!

I used my Silhouette to cut the saying out of vinyl. Then I applied to the vinyl to the wood sign. This was a bit of a painful process because of the roughness of the wood. I just took it really slow and made sure to keep pushing everything back down repeatedly.

Once all the vinyl was down I used some Mod Podge on all the lettering. I did this to prevent as much paint bleeding as possible. Really you just need to use the Mod Podge on the edges where the vinyl meets the wood, but in this case the lettering is so thin that I just went through and used it to cover everything.

Once the Mod Podge was dry it was time to paint. I went into my craft paint stash and grabbed an off white and gold. I used a foam brush to “dab” the paint on instead of dragging it.

When the paint was dry I removed all of the vinyl to reveal my lettering. There is a little bleeding here and there, but I think overall the Mod Podge did the trick. Especially on wood this rough.

I think the rustic rough wood for this sign is perfect….it seems so appropriate for Autumn.

I love the little gold leaf accent, it just adds a little extra something.

I am so glad that I finally made a sign with this saying……and I absolutely love how the sign turned out!!! Now I have to find a great place for it to go!!!

While you’re here, I’d love if you’d come check out one of my latest projects…..

Give Thanks Sign

Courtney Carmean — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 08:00:00 +0000

After I created my Give Thanks mantel I fell in love with the saying “Give Thanks”. It’s simple, it’s sweet, and it’s a great reminder.

Well the other day I had a little bit of a crafting oops….a sign I had planned didn’t quite pan out. However I still had a painted wood sign just lying around and I try to not waste anything crafty!!! So I decided to create a new Give Thanks Sign.

The board had been painted a light creamy brown already so I just used that as my starting place. Then I used my Cricut to cut out the letters. I used the Storybook font to cut out some white vinyl lettering.

It’s a pretty simple sign with a simple thought. I am so glad that I was able to use this sign and not let it be a total loss! Not only is it not a loss but it turned out to be a beautiful little sign.

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

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