Tuesday, September 07, 2010

"I Am" Sign

A while ago I saw this sign and when I was going back through my  "One Day I will Get Around To Making This" list over the weekend, it caught my eye again and the urge to be crafty.  Over the past week between ruffles and signs, I have rightly earned the name "Miss Busybody" in my family.

I started with a piece of pine wood that was about 28"x36". Of course you can make this any size you want. Make sure to use a soft wood though so that when you transfer your letters, you will see them. I painted the wood cream... of course.


Next, choose the words and fonts you want on your sign. This is the time to have fun and be creative!


The font sizes I used ranged from 250 all the way up to 700 (I am). Once you have them printed out (I just used my home printer), lay them out on your piece of wood and tape them in place. As you can see, most of my words didn't come out on one piece of paper. I then cut the letters and arranged them where they needed to go. I even overlapped a few of the words. Just make sure that you are getting them perfectly horizontal and level (this is when my husband advised me to use a carpenter square) or you will end up with words slanting all over the place. I speak from experience on this one because I forgot to go back and fix where I had the "I am" and didn't see until after it was painted and up on the wall that it was crooked! Isn't every project supposed to have at least one little mistake or imperfection though?


So, now that the words are all in place, take a pen and just start tracing really hard around the letters. This will then leave an indentation on the wood. I didn't believe this at first, but it really works!

I then painted the words using two different colors of acrylic paint - black and tan. Another piece of advice... use a thin brush and don't drink a lot of coffee prior to doing this. You are going to need a steady hand! 





The next thing I did was take a piece of sandpaper and lightly go over all the words, edges, and any other place I wanted a distressed look. I also applied a little bit of Ralph Lauren's glaze over the areas I distressed. The next time I make one of these, I will use a glaze on all of it and distress it before transferring the words so that the entire piece of wood looks more aged instead of just certain areas. 




Ready for the final project...



I am so pleased with how this project turned out... even with my little imperfection.  I love that it is in a place where everyone can see and be reminded of the names of God.

Have a wonderful day!!!

31 comments:

  1. Looks wonderful. What a great idea!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This has been on my to-do list for a while. What a great tutorial! I may just try this after all. Although, I have no clue what a carpenter square is...so I'll need to look into that first!

    ReplyDelete
  3. WOW! I love it! Great job...I may give this a try!

    ReplyDelete
  4. looks great! You go girl, don't let them get you down with the busybody comment! All in fun , I'm sure.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wonderful. I love this!

    ReplyDelete
  6. this is beautiful! Love it. You are so creative!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Brava, Christie! it looks fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  8. this is amazing!! absolutely amazing!
    :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. That is just an amazing project...one that will be so rewarding. I love it!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your "I am" sign came out lovely. Looks right at home where you placed it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Christy,
    I love it. You may have inspired me! I have been needing something in our dining area! You are so creative. No telling what you will come up with next....

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh I love it! You did a fantastic job!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I found your blog via Lemonade Makin Mama- you are just as creative as she is! I love this! Maybe I have a weekend project now...? :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I LOVE this idea! Love it!
    I am going to scamper right out and copy you:)!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I LOVE this! What a fabulous job you did. Thanks for sharing how you did it with us.

    blessings,
    Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  16. Beautiful! You are so talented. I love your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Another Beautiful and an AWESOME!! I love it!

    Connie

    ReplyDelete
  18. You make it look so easy! So pretty too. I need to try this!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Looks amazing! What fonts did you use?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi! I was wondering what fonts you used!! Its beautiful! and Id love to make one exacttley liike it!

    ReplyDelete
  21. i love this sign.... Gonna have to make it for my bathroom.... thanks so much for the tips on the letters... definately gonna try it because i will spend hours trying to make my letters perfect... even on the ones i don't WANT perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I was distracting myself today as I got some discouraging news by browsing through pinterest. I came across your project and I can't tell you how it encouraged me and reminded me of Who holds my future in His able hands. Thanks for posting the I Am sign. It's beautiful. Tina

    ReplyDelete
  23. I love this . . . have you seen Wordle? I would love to trace a Wordle using this technique!

    ReplyDelete
  24. I love your I AM sign. I'm going to try and make one. Just curious what fonts you used and how you were able to get such large font sizes. Thanks! Verity

    ReplyDelete
  25. Oh my so wonderful! You did a fantastic job, My Mother always said we should leave our mistakes for others to see or not to see as it does just prove that God is perfect and we are not, now I have a question What font did you use for the words Coming King, I love the flow, but not finding that font. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

Your thoughts...