"Every time a bell rings and angel gets its wings." A favourite quote from a beloved Christmas movie. How perfect would it be for a Christmas sign?!
In this tutorial I will show you how I created a unique, rustic, barn board sign with this quote.
To create this sign you will need:
1. A 12"x 14" piece of barn board
2. Cottage Paint White
3. Cottage Paint Crimson
4. Cottage Paint Arbour Brown
5. Cottage Paint Matte Wax
6. Cottage Paint Gold and Silver Gilding Wax
8. Paint brush, artist brush, wax brush, small brush
9. Water
10. Paper towel
11. A bell
12. Wooden letters
13. 4 screws
114. An angel charm or wing/s charm
15. Saw tooth hangers
16. E6000 Glue
Before you start your sign:
Depending on where you get your barn board, it may need to be cleaned and dried out. We live on an old farm and there is a lot of barn board to choose from. I picked out a long board that was about 56" long, 12" wide and 1" thick. I ended up cutting it into 4 boards, each 14" long so that I could make 4 of these signs to sell in my shop.
The board was still a little damp from being outside, and needed to dry out, but first I gave it a bit of a scrub in our sink to clean off any dirt. After cleaning it, I laid it flat on the floor for a few days so it could dry out a bit and flatten out the bowing. (Barn board tends to bow if left standing up, which is why I left it to dry flat.)
Step 1: Dry Brush Your Board
Once your board has dried out and you are sure it's not going to bow or crack, you are ready to start! My board was a little dark and I wanted to lighten it up a bit and give it an "old painted and worn" look.
I grabbed my Cottage Paint Cottage White and lightly brushed it onto the board.
Step 2: Water Down the Paint on Your Board
I wanted the board to look old and worn and didn't want the white so "bright" so, I brushed on a little water over top of the white paint. The water helped some of the paint soak into the wood and blend it a little more.
Step 3: Wipe Back the Paint
Now that the paint has soaked in and blended a bit, I took a paper towel and wiped back some of the watered down mix until I was happy with how it looked.
Step 4: Paint Your Letters
Being a Christmas sign, I wanted Christmas coloured letters. Since Crimson is one of the colours of Cottage Paint's Winter Palette this year, I thought it would be a great choice for the lettering. I used a sponge dauber to apply the paint, but you could just as easily use a brush. I did one good coat and then went back to get any spots that needed a bit more.
Since it's a rustic sign, I wanted to have the letters not only "Christmas-y" but "aged" as well. I decided to use Arbor Brown, which is another colour in Cottage Paint's Winter Palette, on the letters as well.
I painted Arbor Brown on each letter and then wiped it back with a cloth. The result was a dirty, aged look. Perfect!!
Step 5: Seal Your Letters and Boards
It's not likely that anything on the sign would get scratched as it's a sign and not really meant to be touched, but, you never know! I decided to use Cottage Paint Matte Wax as it will give the sign a light seal and a matte finish.
Step 6: Accent Your Letters
I wanted to accent my letters a little more and give them some Christmas "bling" so I dusted the edges with Cottage Paint Gold Gilding Wax. I used a small detail brush for this step.
Step 7: Highlight Your Board
I also wanted to highlight the board a little bit so I used Cottage Paint Silver Gilding Wax. I used a small brush to dust the wax over the entire board.
Step 8: Set Up Your Sign and Attach the Bell
I wanted to make sure I had enough room for the lettering and the bell, so I just placed the letters on the sign before putting them on permanently. I attached the bell with screws and then glued the letters on using E6000 Glue, (hot glue tends to let go after a while so I wanted something stronger.)
I used a paint stir stick to help make sure the letters were aligned straight as I was gluing them.
As a little extra cuteness, I took off the stark white rope that was on the bell clapper and used a small brass chain with an angel charm at the end. I've also used a wing charm - either option works for this project.
Step 9: Attach Saw Tooth Hangers
Twine wouldn't work for hanging this sign as it's quite heavy and, due to the weight of the bell, it would hang crooked. I decided to use two saw toothed hangers instead. I screwed those onto the back at each side.
And it's done! The sign can either lean up against a wall or fire place mantle or it can hang. I'm in love with this sign and am going to make a few more to sell in my shop.
And there you have it! A rustic sign with an awesome Christmas movie quote! You can change it up to have any quote you want. It doesn't even have to be Christmas! You can make it a dinner bell rustic sign for your kitchen with a cute quote. I love how unique this sign is and can't wait to put it up in my home this Christmas!
Thanks for checking out this post and I'd love to hear what you think of the sign idea or any ideas that you may have!