February 14, 2013

Handmade Market Sign




So as I sat in my kitchen being lazy and do nothing, as I had all day today, it occurred to me that I promised to show a tutorial of the Market sign in my kitchen!! And I had said I'd share it the next day, which was 2 days ago!! Whoops.

So I just took a few pictures of it while the sun is already half down and storm clouds are rolling in. Sorry if they're not the best. My camera stinks anyways....but I'm half way there to my dslr :)

I made this sign with a piece of scrap wood I had in my garage. It was a 1x8 that was about 3 feet long. I painted it with Miss Mustard Seed's milk paint in Boxwood green. It was my first time using it and I love the color!! My bottom cabinets might be going this color in the near future.

(yeah, ignore the nasty, stained carpet)

I found a font I liked and tested a couple of M's until I had the right size, then I printed out the ARKET :) I went with the font Adobe Caslon Pro in size 500. 

I colored over the back of every letter as I always do when tracing...


But this time when I went to turn them over and trace over the front of each letter the pencil didn't transfer onto the sign like I thought it would. So I tried again pressing extremely hard with my pencil. The pencil mark still didn't transfer but I had made an indention of the letter into the wood! So I took my pencil and followed the indention drawing the letter right onto the wood.


As you can see the wood wasn't perfect and the paint job wasn't either. I only did one coat but I liked how it already looked somewhat distressed so I just stopped there!

After drawing on every letter I took a tiny paint brush and painted them in with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in pure white. Then I took a tip from Miss Mustard Seed and painted a tiny border around the sign. I also used a tip from Miss Mustard Seed and gave each letter a shadow.




To make a shadow you take black paint and paint around the whole letter making the bottom and right sides of each letter a little thicker. It gives the sign dimension and makes it look very professional.

After that I sanded the whole sign hitting the edges and corners extra well and then waxed it!




All done! It only took me one day and that was amidst babysitting, grocery shopping and preschool runs!


Oh yeah, I hung it on the wall with these. I love them, I use them to hang everything. It's low commitment because you know you can take it all off whenever you want without any damage!!






Sorry again about the delay posting this!! :)




18 comments:

  1. Very neat! I stink at painting by hand like that. I just doesn't look good. Yours looks fantastic! I love using the picture hangers to hang things as well. So easy and as you said, no commitment. Seems like a win/win to me.! I would love if you would share this at my new link party: http://www.realcoake.blogspot.com/2013/02/real-family-fun-1.html
    Happy Valentine's Day!
    KC

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    1. Thank you so much for linking this up at Real Family Fun!
      KC

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  2. I LOVE this sign!!! Love how you outlined it in black for shadowing - what a great effect!
    Definitely your newest follower!
    Hope you had a heart filled day
    ( visiting from One Artsy Mama )
    Hugs,
    Suzan

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  3. Hi Heidi
    really nice job.......
    lovley sign.....
    and do not miss....

    S
    A
    T
    U
    R
    D
    A
    Y

    S
    H
    O
    W

    O
    F
    F

    it is FUN :)
    WELCOME
    HÃ¥kan ( The Roseman)

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  4. This is one of the nicest Market signs I've seen! I like the way you went around the edges of the wood with the white. Nice job. I'm pinning to make it myself.
    Susan

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  5. Nice! I have a sign project in mind, so I'm eagerly reading all the tutorials I can find. Thanks for the tip about the picture hanging strips, too--never seen those before :)

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  6. Love. And, I love the rustic-ness. I'm glad you only went with 1 coat of green. Nice job. (Gives me hope for a sign project I've got planned.)

    ~ Dana

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  7. Oh, and doncha just love Command Strips - and the wall hanging velcro version? Our ktichen is covered in signs from Hobby Lobby, Dollar Store, etc. since we made it a Jimmy John's Kitchen.

    Anything that was heavier than straight plastic lamination we originally stuck on with gel "as seen on tv" strips.

    Pretty much EVERY sign landed on the floor after a week.
    So, we needed a new solution. We used the Command Velcro hangy things - lots of them, considering we needed the signs to STAY this time. (One of the signs that fell using the gel stuff hit our dishes and shattered a bunch. Ouch.)

    Every one of the signs that we stuck with the Command Wall Hangers stayed up. Period. (We followed the directions carefully.) And, there are LOTS of signs. http://www.cookingatcafed.com/2012/02/our-diy-jimmy-johns-kitchen-reveal.html

    ~ Dana

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  8. Love the shadow you created around the letters! Very cute!!

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  9. the picture hanging strips don't work for me. How do you get them to hold something heavier than a regualr picture? Mine crash to the ground.

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    1. I'm sorry to hear that!! I've been using them at Christmas to hang my stocking holder too and haven't had any problems. (http://allthatbringsjoy.blogspot.com/2011/12/no-mantle-for-stockings.html) For heavier items I just use 4 to 6 of them and I buy the bigger size. I hope that helps!! :)

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  10. I love your sweet sign! Nice job on the lettering and the shadows!

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  11. Great job, I love how it turned out!
    Saw you featured at Knock Off Decor.
    Debbie

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  12. I love how this turned out! The font is lovely and so are the colors! I'm your newest follower!
    Selene @ restorationbeauty.com

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  13. Great job! I'm inspired to finally make one of these for my kitchen;) Pinning and Following!!

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  14. Love this so much! The hand painted letters are the secret by far. When I started reading I thought, 'Why not just transfer the image?' Then I saw why, love love love it!

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