DIY Fresh Cut Flowers Rustic Outdoor Garden Sign

If one thing is certain we love making signs and we love using scrap wood to do it. The cheaper we can create a project the better it is on our crafting budget. This Fresh Cut Flowers rustic garden sign is no exception to using the wood floor planks that we do. Who can pass up free wood? Here is a quick and easy tutorial for this garden sign.

First take 3 wood floor slats and cut them 22″ in length.  Then glue the tongue and grooves together of each slat using wood glue. The wood flooring pieces are exactly 5″ in width. By putting all 3 strips together the dimensions of this project should come out to be 15″ x 22″.  Once you glue the floor slats together let them dry over night.  For the frame of this garden sign you can use lathing strips  cut into 22″ in length and 13″ in width. The sides are cut shorter than the actual 15″ board to allow for the 1″ lathing strip width on the top and bottom.

Before adding the frame around the edges paint the back side of the flooring.  As the back side is a little more rustic and doesn’t have a smooth finish. Lightly paint the board blue

Next you’ll want to use your personal cutting machine to cut out a template. But before you do this measure the inside of the sign to figure out how big you want the lettering. Then pick the font you want to use and begin cutting the template. By using normal cardstock paper to cut the template there will not be any vinyl waste. When the template is cut remove all the lettering and just keep the stencil portion.

There is some awesome stick and re stick glue that I use when I make my templates out of cardstock paper. Amazon carries it and you can purchase it here!  It is glue that can stick the paper down to the surface but let’s you peel it back up! Makes for a stencil with clean edges.

Center the template into the middle of the board and begin painting in the lettering with the color of  your choice

once dry take the sander to the top. This gives the sign an even more rustic look.

After the board is completely sanded it’s time to add the trim frame around the edges. Leave the trim unpainted to assist in the rustic look and attach the trim frame with a brad nailer using very small nails.

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Immediately pull away the template while the paint is still a bit wet to prevent from pulling up any paint from the lettering. Let the paint dry then attach the shovel! (You can purchase the shovels at the dollar store) You can screw the handle of the shovel into the sign or just glue the shovel on using a heavy duty glue.

I put a chain on the back of my garden sign and hung it outside in my yard. You can use whatever you would like to the back of your sign for hanging.

This project is just a little time consuming because of the drying time of both the glue and the paint but very simple.  I think mine looks darling out in my yard – not to mention I made another one for my mom for mother’s day!