Hand Lettered Wooden Signs

One of my very favorite things about Christmas is the time I get to spend with my sister and her family.

We're very different, Carrie and I. She is often on the go and I'm content to be home. She's athletic and I'm...well, not. She's totally goofy and I tend to be kind of lame and un-fun. 

But where it matters, we're very much the same. We share the same value of family and we both have a profound love of scarves. 

(Carrie's Cmas present scarf)

Oh wait. That's Carrie's scarf too. One of her girls down in Georgia made it for her. I am willing to pay her to make me one too because it's awesome. 

Anyway, I have a hard time shopping for people. I put a ton of pressure on myself to get things right, but Carrie mentioned she really wanted some artwork for her bedroom. It seems like our own bedrooms are the last to be decorated, doesn't it? 

Mine is. You should see the nasty blue color walls we're sporting right now. 

Think...nautical. 

With this bedspread:

(I do miss having walls that I picked out myself...)

I've completely sidetracked myself. 

Anyway, I had been dabbling in hand lettering on wood signs ever since I raided my dad's scrap wood pile. It's amazing how he can turn the nastiest wood into something beautiful... so I had a big piece here, and I decided to attempt to create something for Carrie. 

I started by diluting white paint and brushing a thin coat onto the wood.

Then, I chose a phrase appropriate for a bedroom and printed the letters out at the size I needed.

I used graphite paper to trace them onto my background. 

I do not have a steady hand so this was slow-going the first time, and I learned a TON. I now use tape on the straight edges, though I'm getting better free-hand. 

I think. 

This is how it looked when I was done (excuse the iPhone photo).

I called my dad and asked him if we could build a frame for it. I brought it to their house on Christmas Eve day and he and I escaped to the wood shop where he taught me how to make a frame. 

I am not ready to do this alone but it was fun to watch... Once he'd affixed it to the artwork (I knew I wanted it flush to the front), I painted it the same blue as in the word "Bless". (The blue is actually a nice turquoise though you can't tell it from these pictures.) 

I was pretty happy with the way it turned out:

My only regret is that I didn't get a great photo of it before Carrie left for Georgia, but I think you kind of get the idea... 

I thought about painting some funky design on the right side but decided not to. I wanted it clean and simple. 

I've just finished making one for my own house where I learned how to distress the letters to get that chippy wood look we all love so much...but the frame won't be done till the weekend. 

What have you been creating lately?