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Get your yard and garden ready with this DIY wood garden sign. Easily distress wood with stain and paint to make a unique painted yard sign.

Whip up this DIY Wood Garden Sign in no time!

Warmer weather has arrived, and that means people are out in their yards and gardens enjoying the season. Add a little whimsy to your garden this year with a cute hand-painted and distressed garden sign.

If you’re in the DIY mood, get inspired with easy outdoor projects for your porch or garden – like these DIY wooden spoon plant markers and a galvanized pail planter.

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

Tutorial: Painted Garden Sign

1. In a well-ventilated area, use an old rag or a foam brush to stain the entire sign. Wipe away any excess stain, then let dry. Once the stain has completely dried, lightly sand the sign to smooth out the wood grain. It’s OK if the stain is not even.
2. Using a dry brush (lightly dip the brush tip in paint and dab off excess) begin painting the sign with light, quick strokes that go with the wood grain.
3. You don’t want complete coverage. Instead, use as dry of a brush as possible, and paint back and forth multiple times, to create partial coverage, or a “distressed” look.
4. Let the white paint dry, and then lightly sand the sign, especially around the edges.
5. Using your cutting machine cut out the “please grow” words on regular vinyl. You can use this template here. This is your stencil.
6. Place the vinyl stencil over the painted wood sign. Smooth the vinyl thoroughly over the ridges of the wood.
7. Load the foam pouncer with outdoor acrylic paint. Using a straight up-and-down motion, paint over the stencil. This will minimize paint bleed.
8. While the paint is still a bit tacky, peel the vinyl stencil at a 45-degree angle.

Let the paint dry completely before displaying your new distressed garden sign outside.

In this tutorial, I painted the words “please grow” on the little wooden sign, but you can get creative and choose any words you like – names of vegetables or fun sayings.

This project first appeared on Crafts by Amanda, where I’m a contributor.

Here are a few more summer and gardening projects I think you’ll enjoy:

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DIY Wood Garden Sign

Yield: 1 Sign

Active Time: 30 minutes

Additional Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Difficulty: easy

Get your yard and garden ready with this DIY wood garden sign. Easily distress wood with stain and paint to make a unique painted yard sign.

Print

Materials

• An unfinished wood sign – You can easily make some with pallet wood, or find a variety of unfinished wood options at your local craft store.
• Dark wood stain – I used Jacobean, but anything will work
• Sandpaper
• White acrylic craft paint
• Paintbrush
• Outdoor acrylic paint – I used teal
• Foam pouncer
• Cutting machine (Cricut or Silhouette) and this Please Grow template

Instructions

1. In a well-ventilated area, use an old rag or a foam brush to stain the entire sign. Wipe away any excess stain, then let dry. Once the stain has completely dried, lightly sand the sign to smooth out the wood grain. It’s OK if the stain is not even.
2. Using a dry brush (lightly dip the brush tip in paint and dab off excess) begin painting the sign with light, quick strokes that go with the wood grain.
3. You don’t want complete coverage. Instead, use as dry of a brush as possible, and paint back and forth multiple times, to create partial coverage, or a “distressed” look.
4. Let the white paint dry, and then lightly sand the sign, especially around the edges.
5. Using your cutting machine cut out the “please grow” words on regular vinyl. You can use this template here. This is your stencil.
6. Place the vinyl stencil over the painted wood sign. Smooth the vinyl thoroughly over the ridges of the wood.
7. Load the foam pouncer with outdoor acrylic paint. Using a straight up-and-down motion, paint over the stencil. This will minimize paint bleed.
8. While the paint is still a bit tacky, peel the vinyl stencil at a 45-degree angle.