Printed Wooden Sign

Just a couple days ago, while doing a little web surfing I came across a neon sign that said "lets go anywhere" and was hit with one of those duh! moments. Traveling has always been in my top five favorite things to do, and I've always said that I will literally travel anywhere, so I knew I needed to make myself a sign that said just that. Unfortunately I have no idea how one would even go about working with neon - though I will definitely be looking it up because it seems interesting - so I decided I would paint the saying on a piece of wood.

Supplies:

Piece of scrap wood

Gesso

Printer

Paint brush

Paint

This piece initially had nails and tacks sticking out everywhere so I pulled those out and sanded down the holes a bit. Then I gave the board two coats of gesso, not enough to completely cover the wood but just enough to make it look white.

While the paint was drying I got to work figuring out fonts and layout. I used Adobe Illustrator and set up a layout that was the same dimensions as my board. This allowed me to really see exactly what the sign would come out looking like. 

Then I opened up another layout that was standard paper size so that printing wouldn't be an issue. I also flipped the text so that it would print backwards - this step is crucial for transferring the text to the wood.

I printed the text out and cut it apart so that I could move them around.

Next I transferred the text to the wood using a paintbrush that is just barely damp with water. The less water you use is actually better, this is mainly just to get the paper to stick to the wood for the next step. 

Once the paper is moist, use the back of a pen or marker to go over the letters. This is what will ultimately transfer the ink from the page onto the wood. If you want to see how well it's going, just lift the corner of the paper up a bit, it shouldn't mess anything up. 

Now here is where you have so many options to make this sign your own. I wanted the text to look a little bit worn so I didn't use a lot of paint to go over the transfer. But, you could use any color(you could also print the text any color also), add embellishments like glitter, puff paint, sequins, buttons etc. I left it super simple, but feel free to go crazy!

I hung this sweet sentiment above my new photo collection and it fits right in!

--Heather