DIY Vintage Sign

I have wanted a vintage “Groceries” sign to hang over my pantry just like Christy had over her wall calendar but haven’t been able to find one. So, I decided to make one. This actually was a part of the chalkboard paint projects we recently posted about on Tatertots and Jello, but I never actually included it in that post so the project debuts here today!

This is a very easy way to make a sign, I know there are lots of other ways–stencils, vinyl etc. but this is a way I came up with since I don’t have a vinyl machine nor did I have the right size stencil.

I used this exact same technique to make this “Easter” sign last year for my mantel.

My technique is SO simple. First, I used either a ready made plaque (from Michael’s) or just a scrap board (from Home Depot) and painted it. The black paint on the groceries sign is actually black chalkboard paint, my daughter painted this scrap piece of wood while I painted the board for my DIY Huge Giant Chalkboard last summer as her keep-her-occupied “project” so it just needed lettering.

I used these simple paper die-cut letters, I got these at Michael’s several years ago and have used them for tons of projects and they are the perfect size for a 3 to 4″ board. You just place them on the board, spacing as equally as you can.

Then just trace around each letter with a pencil.

After that, I just painted the letters using a small paint brush. Even though I used chalkboard paint, I used regular white craft paint to fill in the letters on the “groceries” sign. I did two coats of paint for this one because the white looked a little thin.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, if you go slowly its not too difficult to stay in the lines. As you can see, I used a very fancy paintbrush–I think this one came out of my daughter’s $1 watercolor set?

I would like to finish this sign off to make it look more “vintage”, maybe with some light stain or some dark wax to tone down the white letters a bit, but that won’t happen until the boxes with those items are unearthed. If I do, I will be sure to update and let you all know if it worked.