DIY Easter Sign

Ahhhh! Well, I gotta tell you, since Spring has sprung I've been going, going, going!  I know it's only been 2 days, but It has been BUSY here in Lewisville! There have been field trips, (hooray for field trips!) and Spring mantels and door decor to finish.  Oh, and that little thing called home schooling I do every day with the munchkins- that too. 
But Easter is coming and that means Easter vacation for me my kids.  Woohoo.  Come quickly vacation!  I've never been one to decorate for every holiday, but since I've seen the light with all this DIY decorating, I've become a true believer in making Lewisville Lovely....for less.  So part of my journey is finding ways to decorate for little or no money.  I prefer no money, but you know how that is.  Today though, I finished a project for $0.  It was my Easter sign.  You want to see?  Of course you do!

Easter, of course, means so much to me.  The message of this sign is what we CELEBRATE!  He is Risen indeed!  But this little sign started out as a blank piece of MDF.  I have no idea what MDF stands for but it's basically cheap particle board.  I bought a board of MDF a few months ago at Home Depot for a few bucks and had them cut two pieces to size.  Did you know they will cut wood, or MDF in my case, for free.  You know I like FREE!  Anyway, MDF is super cheap compared to real wood.   It looks like wood but it doesn't act like it.  Looks like it; doesn't act like it.  Looks. Acts.  

I didn't end up using the two pieces for my other project so the pieces of MDF sat in the garage for a long time, until a few days ago when I got the bright idea to make my own Easter sign.  

I took my pre-cut MDF piece and spray painted the one side brown.

I wanted my cross to be dark so I chose an espresso brown.  Then I just taped off a cross.  No measuring, just eyeballed it.

Then I spray painted over the entire board, including the cross, with a lighter tan color.  I'm a bit of a spray paint junkie, so I always have a few colors on hand.  I just used what I had.

 I tore the ends of the tape when I first stuck it on to give it more of an Old Rugged Cross look.  I love the look.  Now, painting letters onto a sign is NOT my specialty.  No Sir Ri!  Ree?  Rie?  Whatever.  But it just so happened as I was visiting other blogs this week, I found a post by Kate over at Centsation Girl who linked me up to Jaime from That's my letter.  The DIY blog world is pretty amazing and I'm thankful for all the great tips and tricks.  My husband thanks them; my kids thank them.  It's Thanksgiving around here quite often!

Anyway, Jaime's method goes like this.  Choose your font and print the words you want to paint onto your sign.  I used the font Forte and chose a 300 font size. 

I cut the excess paper and started to trace the outline of the letters with a pen.  I traced with pressure and it creates a slight indent on the MDF.

Do you see an outline above?  Look again; it's there.  If I had real wood, the indent would be great, but remember I said MDF only looks like wood. It doesn't act like wood.  Look. Act. Therefore, the indent isn't so great.   This is what I'm working with though and in the right light, I can see the outlined letters just fine.  Now I just start painting away.

I painted two coats of black paint on the letters and it turned out great.  I'll add flowers and finish the front porch later, but for now, the sign's home is right outside my front door.

It works great! 

Blessings,

Lisa

Linking up to these fine blogs:

Creation Corner

Blissful and Domestic

Funky Junk Interiors

Family Ever After

My 1929 Charmer

Crafts Keep Me Sane

A Pinch of Joy

DIY HomeSweetHome

The Girl Creative

The Project Queen

Tip Junkie

Coastal Charm

How to Nest for Less

SavySouthern Style

Restore Interiors

House of Hepworth

Organize and Decorate everything

ThriftyDecorChic

Beyond the Picket Fence

No Minimalist Here

Delightful Order

Raising Oranges 

Domestically Speaking 

Blue Cricket Design