Sunday, October 5, 2014

Make a Wooden Wedding Sign!

I've been MIA.... I know. It's been such a crazy, insane year I haven't had any time and, even though I've been making a bajillion (give or take a couple) crafts for bridal showers, bachelorette parties, and weddings I haven't had time to write about them.


This weekend I made some wooden signs for my wedding! We did a walk through with our planner this last week and decided our venue is pretty big so our guests might need a little guidance to figure out where to go. I have faith that our guests are smart enough to figure it out for themselves, but it gave me an excuse to break out my craft toolbox so what the hell!

I also wanted to give our guests a hashtag to tag their pictures so we can see our day through their eyes and get as many pictures as we can!

So I made two signs and it wasn't hard at all. They just took a lot of patience and a little bit of time.

Things you will need:
-Wood (I used 3x16 pieces for the Instagram sign that I glued together and I used a 4.5x24 piece for the top of my Jeff & Shaina sign)
-Wooden Arrows (I know you can buy these premade, I had my lumberjack Dad cut them for me)
-White paint (you could also do stain if you wanted to leave the wood as wood)
-A sponge brush
-A computer
-A printer
-A Pen
-Screwdriver
-Screws
-Mod Podge
-Paint OR a paint pen (color of your choice)

Step One: Get your wood together. You can buy it precut or cut it yourself, just make sure its sanded and ready to go. I decided to white wash the wood that I had, I mixed white paint with some water (you want it to be pretty runny) and rub it in the wood with a rag. About halfway through I realized that it would be a  lot less messy if I used a sponge brush, so I switched. But you can do it however you want!



Step 2: Once you've got all of the wood parts painted, get on your computer and open up Publisher. Create a new page size that matches the dimensions of the wood. (In my case I used 3x16 and 4.5x 16). Find a font you like and create what you want it to look like. I used Lavanderia Sturdy on both signs if you're looking for a good one! Its free to download from dafont.com or some other font downloading website.

Step 3: Print your pages. If it larger than a normal 8.5x11 page size you'll have to select the "tiled" page option and tape the pages together.

Step 4: For the Instagram one I printed out a large logo that I could include on my sign. I did this on photo paper because I wanted it to be good quality.


Step 5: Tape your printed pages and cut them out. Set them up how you want them on your signs. Once you have it arranged place your paper over the (now dry) wood. Use a pen and trace over the lettering. Make sure you PUSH HARD so that it creates an indentation in the wood. Its pretty tiring on your hand so make sure you take a lot of margarita breaks/ play with your adorable furry baby.

Step 6: After you've traced over all of the lettering its time to fill it in with paint! You can either use a fine tipped paint pen, or you can use paint with a brush. All I had were white paint pens so I used a brush. All that's left is to color inside the lines (some of us are better at this than others).


Step 7: Once you're done with that let the paint dry. If you're doing the Instagram sign the logo still needs to be added. Using Mod Podge cover the back of the logo and place it on the sign how you want it. After you've got it where you want, also cover the front of the logo, make sure that you go over the edges and onto the sign to get a good seal. Then let it all dry (it will dry clear).


Step 8: Once everything is dry screw a post onto the back and you're all done!



 I'll try to keep up as I do more, but no promises....Life is about to get even more crazy over the next few months. We're traveling to Guatemala and have 3 weddings, 2 bridal showers,  and 2 bachelorette/bachelor parties before our own so its going to be busy busy busy! Happy Crafting Everyone!