Distressed Wood Sign

I'm posting about making my Booth #555 sign because it can apply to any worded sign you may want to do. Just find or buy you a preferably blank piece of wood. And you can print out any saying you'd like (fresh eggs, welcome, ect.) simply by using:

Microsoft Word
an ink pen
sharpie marker
acrylic craft paint

I wanted to make a new booth sign so passer bys could easily remember my booth number. Most booths at the Peddlers Mall only have tiny printed out numbers taped on the outside wall of their booth. I have always wanted a way to stand out. So here's how I made it.

I started out with an old broken wooden wine rack, (I'm guessing) that I won from an auction.

First off, I printed out a few different size "5's using Microsoft Word. 

Then I unscrewed the two screws holding on the broken wine hangers and removed them.

I ended up using the one that was almost center of a regular printer size paper. It was perfect for my size board.

Then I eyeballed it and centered the middle one as best as I could, leaving room for the other two. And I used a ball point pen and traced the 5 onto the board. Pushing enough so that there would be an imprint left behind for me to paint along.

And after tracing, here's what I was left with. A good enough impression to keep me painting straight. Look close and you can see it.

Next step was to paint all the 5's in with an off white, acrylic craft paint.

Plaid-Craft MS32100-23 Martha Stewart Pearl Acrylic Craft Paint 2 Ounc (Google Affiliate Ad)

one by one........

Ah, it was finally starting to come together now. Then I decided to take a shortcut and use a black sharpie marker to outline all the 5's. I just figured it would be way faster than painting those thin little lines and it was. I was worried about feathering from the marker on the wood, but thankfully it didn't happen. Be careful with yours!

I did the same lines on each one, to try and keep it consistent. Then I came back and forth until complete. Be careful that your hand doesn't smear the marker before completely dry!

I then let it all dry for about 20 minutes. I didn't want to take a risk because my next step involved sand paper. lol. I took some medium grit and roughed it all up a bit. Kinda giving it a worn look, but not over doing it by rubbing off an entire 5 or anything.

Then I got out my all purpose sealer and put on a light coat. I did this 2 times so that my sign can withstand being dropped, scraped, thrown in the back of my truck and so forth. lol I'm kinda rough on items unless they are really fragile!

After that dried, I thought it could still use a bit of something. So I got out some pieces of grapevine garland and stapled some on the edges. I also hung a little metal brown star in the middle,  look close, and I wrote "crafts by Lisa." And then I was finally done and happy with it. Here it is all finished.

I hope this gives you the gumption to start making a wood sign. Ideas could include, Fresh Eggs, Welcome, Primitive, Laundry, Cottage....the list goes on and on. Keep in mind that it was super easy with the pre-printed out 5's! And it's now sitting on a shelf right in the center of my Booth #555 at the Peddlers Mall in Morehead, KY.

Happy Crafting ya'll!

~Lisa

PRIMITIVE STAR WITH CRACKLE FINISH

 Distressed Primitive Star with Crackle Finish

 I love the look of a crackle finish but I don't love paying the price for that crackle paint.

So I figured out how to kinda brush the same look on, but instead of the high pricey crackle stuff, I use an off brand of Elmers glue.

Here's the before pic of an ordinary metal star:

Before

All you need to do is to cover one point of a star at a time with the glue. A not so thin coat, but not too thick either.

Then with one paint stroke, take your paint brush and choice of finish craft paint, and brush it down the point.  Try to do the most covering with one stroke. This is important because you do not want to be brushing off or mixing the paint into the elmers glue.

You kinda want the paint to be sitting on top of the glue so that when the glue starts to dry, it pulls and cracks the one top coat of wet paint you just put on.

Another thing to remember is what color the star is to start with. Mind you, if I had a white star before I wanted to paint an off white, the crackle won't show so much.  So try to start with a darker type star in the beginning.  Because that is the color that is going to "POP" up through your top coat and show the crackle marks.

 

Here is another star in colonial green. You can see over to the far left where I used my brush too many times and took too much of the elmers glue off when applying the green. It didn't have enough glue underneath to really crackle.  But it still turned out fine enough for my needs.

After

I priced these large stars at: $10.99 after the makeover 

or 

if you prefer the "before" look, they are only $9.99

Come shop with me if you have time in my

eBay Shop!