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DIY Fresh Produce Wood Sign

Kristen makes the cutest projects! I just adore this Locally grown produce sign for the garden! She’s here today to share how she made a DIY fresh produce wood sign with you so you can make your own hand lettered sign for your kitchen home decor! It’s such a fun piece to decorate with in the summertime!
Hand lettered fresh produce sign

Kristen: I am so glad to be back today to share a little sign I made for my garden!  It’s a hand- lettered Locally Grown Fresh Produce Picked Daily Sign on rustic wood.
DIY hand lettered sign
I have been on a crazy mission to make my scary backyard into a pretty place for our family to just relax and enjoy each other {see here}. Little by little, I am getting there!  I wanted to make a cute vintage looking sign to hang out in my garden to add character.
Wood for making a handlettered sign
First, I grabbed some of the 6″ pickets from the fence we just tore down and cut them to size. It is important to use old or new fence boards, or barn wood, to get the worn, aged look because it has a very rough grain that will show when distressed. I cut 3 of the pickets to 38″. I also cut two boards at 15″ to help hold the other ones together.  This is what the back looked like once I screwed it all together:
Back of a handlettered sign
And here is what the front of the DIY wood sign looked like once it was built:
Plain wood sign front
Then I lightly brushed my paint recipe {here} onto the board, not being too careful and keeping a lot of the grooves unpainted.
White washed painted wood sign
Then I used my palm sander to roughen up the entire board. Looking old already!
Distressed white wood
I painted the design onto my board using a pattern I made and an overhead projector. If you don’t have an overhead projector, you can use my tutorial for the way I would do it before I had one {here}. I just used plain old craft paints that I had on hand, and very small brushes.  {Here is the pattern if you would like to make one too. Just click on the image below, right click, copy and paste into your own document}
Hand lettered rustic sing letteting template
Once I painted everything onto my board, I sealed it with a matte clear spray finish. This step is important because if you skip it and try to distress your letters, the pigment in the colored paint will stain the creamy white areas around it.  Once the clear coat is dry, I went back and with sandpaper and lightly distressed each letter in my sign by hand. Then I sprayed it with one more clear coat to protect it from the elements.
DIY distressed wood sign
Wood DIY sign fresh produce
I stuck it out here on my newly refinished cabinet next to my garden until I decide where I want to hang it. I am thinking that I will probably hang it on the fence that you can see in the background here.
Outside garden iwth diy sign
I like all of the texture of the distressing.
Distressed farmstand sign
 Painting is one of my favorite things to do, and making these signs just puts a smile on my face. And, it is such a great alternative to the really costly, hard to find, authentic antique signs.  If you make one, I hope you will send me a picture! I would love to see it. I hope you have a wonderful week,
Kristen
Thanks for how to make the DIY sign with us Kristen! It’s a great project and so fun and rustic!
If you enjoyed this project, you may also enjoy these:
{just click on the image to take you to the post}
DIY Gallery Wall Art Using Mousetraps!
Creating a Repurposed Vintage Playroom
Old Door Turned Fabulous Floor Mirror

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7 Comments

  1. Great post – thank you! I just recently picked some picket boards from a neighbor’s throwaways, and now I have an inspiring idea! Looks great!

  2. Thanks for sharing, I love the signs. I am working on my porch and backyard as well! Di@Cottage-Wishes

  3. Kristen always writes such great tutorials and generously shares her cute sign designs. I’ve been looking for the perfect vegetable garden sign for my garden, and this is it! Thanks Kristen and Jen. (I featured it today on Friday Finds, too.)

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