Semi-DIY: Wooden Signs

So much for thrice a week blogging, eh? While there are no excuses, I have been quite busy in semi-DIY land. One Sunday evening, I found a whopping THREE projects that I just had to try. Two of them are definite keepers and the other is on the back burner for now. I was cruising etsy when I came across this lovely:

via etsy seller thebackporchshoppe

I loved the sentiment expressed, and we needed something like this because the reception room is in the front of our venue and the ceremony will be held in the back. I want to give my guests some direction. Unfortunately, this style of sign neither fits in with my wedding design, nor does its price tag ($42.95). So, I decided to do it myself! (I confess, I googled for some tips on how to make pretty writing, and I found a good tutorial, which I did not bookmark. I also didn't use it step by step.) At first, I was going to use scrapbooking stamps for the type, but the ones I already had weren't big enough. So, I did it the long way. You will need:

• One wooden sign (I got mine premade at Michael's- originally $13.99 but I used a 40% off coupon)
• Two colors of paint (We bought two ivory bottles that were .59 each and one sparkly teal bottle that was $2)
• Foam brushes (I bought a 10 pack at the dollar store for my many projects :))
• A teeny, tiny paintbrush (Called a dotter- $1.49 at Michael's)
• One piece of white tissue paper giftwrap
• Scissors
• Tape
• Sharpie (preferably close to the color that you want your sign's writing to be)

Beginning with a good design is a must. I had already downloaded Freebooter Script from dafont.com to address our invitations with, so I went into Word, made the font bigger, typed what I wanted the sign to say, and printed it out. Then I cut the words out individually. So far, it's super easy, right? While I did all of this, Andrew painted the sign with the ivory paint for me. I love an involved fiance! After that, I arranged the words on the sign to make sure everything fit well.

I was pretty happy with this arrangement. After that, I cut the tissue paper into small pieces about the size of each word. I taped the tissue to the printout, then traced the outline of each letter onto the tissue paper with a pencil. I smoothed out some of the awkward lines between certain letters. Still with me? Then it was time for the challenge. I put the tissue paper onto the sign just as I had laid out the typing paper and taped it down (the ceiling fan in my living room necessitated the tape- if you don't have that problem, you may be able to live without it!). Slowly and carefully, I traced each letter's outline with my teal-ish sharpie until I had this-

I took off the tissue and I was left with a near-perfect outline! (I freehanded the parts in pencil because they didn't show up as well.)

I took the tiny paintbrush and filled in my outlines. I DO NOT have the steadiest hand, but I was pretty happy with the outcome. Andrew stepped in and painted the trim on the sign. Up close, you can see the imperfections, but from far away, no one will notice.

What do you think?

I left plenty of room at the bottom so I can get a sheet of sticky vinyl to make an arrow. That way, I can take the arrow off after the wedding and we can hand the sign in our house above our entry way! I think it will be great to see a reminder of our wedding when I walk in every day. This project went so well, we are making another one to direct our guests to another area of our wedding that I'm not sure I want to divulge just yet. We are either going to set it in a small easel or attach picture hangers and ribbon to the top. How did you direct guests to your wedding attractions?