Farmhouse Sign for a Summer Mantel

Farmhouse Sign for a Summer Mantel

We’ve all seen the wooden signs in the decor stores and magazines.  I actually have one in my family room and still enjoy the words.

The other day while shopping at Michael’s craft store with my girls, I found great blank wooden signs.  They come in different sizes and are the perfect starting point for a fun summer craft. We purchased the wooden board, acrylic paint and stencils.  

Honestly, I am an impatient crafter and I just eyeballed where to start stenciling the font.  It was pretty simple going as the sign is made of small boards that create a straight line which makes it easy to keep the font straight.  Just take each letter, line it up and using a sponge brush, dab the paint onto the stencil.  Do this for each letter to make your word or phrase.  

After applying the first coat of white, I took the stencil and moved it slightly over to the right and stenciled over the letters again.  This created a larger font and a shadow effect.

I took the flower stencil and had fun placing it in different directions along the board.  I first used white paint on the flowers and then dabbed yellow on top.  It created a pretty, pale yellow for the flowers (the yellow straight from the tube was a little too bright for my taste for this project).

After placing my new sign on my mantel, I added two candlesticks on either side.  I found these a few months ago at the thrift store.  I think it makes for a pretty summer mantel!   Less than $20 and it was a fun summer project to do with the girls!