DIY Garden Signs

 

I love signs of all kinds, and I have quite a collection of them on my Pinterest.

When I was taking photos of my garden the other day, I thought the side of our shed was looking a little bare. It must be time to try my hand at one of those sign tutorials I've been squirreling away!

I cut some plywood that was laying around in our wood pile on the side of the house into two 12" x 24" boards. I sanded them lightly and painted both of them with some plain old white latex paint we also had laying around. I wanted my signs to look old and weathered, so I painted them haphazardly, letting the wood show through the paint as though the paint had worn off naturally.

I used a ruler to figure out the spacing and letter size that would work best for the size of boards I had, then I found a couple of fonts I liked and used Photoshop to size the letters to my measurements. (Picmonkey is an online program you can use if you don't have a photo editor.) I printed out multiple pages for the large sized letters and taped them together. I used the scribbling pencil method of transfer to transfer the letters to the boards, where you cover the backs of the letters with pencil lead, turn the page over, tape it to your board and trace the letters.

 

I've never painted letters before, and I thought it would be a bit tricky, but it was easy peasy. I used a couple of artist brushes from my stash and good quality craft paint. It only took one coat, and the paint leveled out and covered beautifully. I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was, and I enjoyed catching up on a bunch of House Hunters International while I worked at my desk. It was very relaxing!

When everything was dry I used sand paper for distressing and a spray sealer for outdoors.

The Fresh Flowers sign is hanging on the shed in a corner over the daisies and some other perennials.

 

 I should have waited until the daisies were blooming to share, but I'm not very good at waiting.

The other sign I made was inspired by one created by Kristen over at Jennifer Rizzo. She shared her design and fonts, so all I had to do was download them and blow them up in Photoshop. 

 

The Fresh Produce sign is hanging on the wall of the house over the raised beds where our tomatoes and herbs grow in our other little side yard.

I'm so glad I finally got around to trying my hand at making my own sign. It turned out to be a really fun and easy project, and I'm looking forward to making more for inside the house, too. 

Need some ideas to make your own sign? Check out my Signs Pinterest Board, and happy painting! 

  It's time to party at:

Rooted In Thyme
My Repurposed Life
The Cottage Market
Jennifer Rizzo
Elizabeth & Co.
Mod Vintage Life
Cozy Little House 
Fishtail Cottage 
Craftberry Bush