This time I wanted to make the porch sign a bit different than I have in the past ones. This time I decided to make the sign from a solid piece of wood. So I went through my wood stash hoping to find something that was ¾” wide and at least 5” long. I didn’t have anything that was already the correct width so I used one of my giant craft-sticks (from Walmart) and just cut it down to size. It was very easy to cut.
Next I decided to challenge myself and only use paints/finishes that came from that box of items that Plaid sent me a few months back. This did limit my colors a bit but it was a lot of fun. It just meant that I had to mix a couple of the colors I wanted. I actually enjoy the process of mixing my colors and there are some advantages to doing so. First off understanding how to mix will allow us have smaller collections of paints to begin with. Also it can save time and money since you don’t need to run to the craft-store every time you need a different color. Another advantage is that the brown I mixed for example will blend with the other colors since it was mixed from the other colors used in the project. Not a big deal but it does make the sign make more visual sense.
So for the background color I wanted a cream color, I had white and I had a pale yellow so I mixed these to give me the cream I was looking for. I did paint both sides of the sign since wood this thin has a habit of warping and painting both sides at the same time will help to prevent/minimize this. Allow to dry completely.
Since the wood was really porous this time and the paint I used had a mat finish I decided to give the sign a coat of mat Mod Podge at this point. Mainly I did this to seal/protect the base color I had applied. I really liked the color and didn’t want to risk messing it up. The smoother finish of the sealed wood meant I could wipe off the next layer of paint easily if I didn’t like it or got too much on.
For the next layer I wanted a brown to add that aged/dirty look to the wood sign. There were no browns in the paints that Plaid sent me so I mixed my own. I used the red and the green I had already picked to paint the strawberry with and started by mixing equal amounts of the two colors. I did end up adding a bit more of the red and a bit of the pale yellow I had used in the base color. I love the brown I came up with and I know it will look right with the strawberry I will be adding later. Allow this layer to dry completely.
If you are really nervous about painting your letters you could seal this layer with another coat of the mat Mod Podge now too.
To prepare for the lettering I used my pencil to draw a grid on my sign. This allowed me to place my letters evenly and to better size them.
I then used my pencil to write the letters I was going to paint to make sure I liked the size/placement of them. Once happy I used a small brush and black paint to write the H, M, and E on the sign.
Once the black paint was dry I drew an outline for my strawberry where the O would normally be in the word home on the sign. Once happy with it I filled it in with the red paint and allowed to dry.
Once the red paint was dry I went in with another small brush and some green paint to paint the stem and leaves of the strawberry.
I also used the pale yellow paint that the opposite end of the paint brush to make the seeds on the strawberry. Allow to dry completely.
Now all that needs to be done is a top coat of mat Mod Podge to protect the sign and it is ready to display on the front porch of the dollhouse.
As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.
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