Monday, September 29, 2014

Ballard Inspired DIY Family Sign

From My Front Porch To Yours- Ballard Inspired DIY Family Sign
If you receive the Ballard Designs catalog I am sure you have seen their Pruvost Plaque. It is quite the statement piece. I had been pondering on creating something similar for awhile now.
From My Front Porch To Yours- Ballard Inspired DIY Family Sign
Out in the garage I had a good sized piece of plywood left over from when we planked our fireplace
From My Front Porch To Yours- Ballard Inspired DIY Family Sign
I taped together a few pieces of printer paper and started free handing a design.
From My Front Porch To Yours- Ballard Inspired DIY Family Sign
After I was done drawing the design I cut the design out and taped it to the plywood so it would not move when I traced it onto the plywood.
From My Front Porch To Yours- Ballard Inspired DIY Family Sign
To do the opposite side I just flipped the homemade stencil.
From My Front Porch To Yours- Ballard Inspired DIY Family Sign
Next up Mr. Front Porch and The Papa cut it out with a jigsaw.
From My Front Porch To Yours- Ballard Inspired DIY Family Sign
It turned out to be a great size.
From My Front Porch To Yours- Ballard Inspired DIY Family Sign
I decided I wanted to give the sign a wash effect so I used my chalk paint and watered it down.
From My Front Porch To Yours- Ballard Inspired DIY Family Sign
I ended up using several colors and came up with this  but...
From My Front Porch To Yours- Ballard Inspired DIY Family Sign
I decided it was not the look I was going for so I applied a light layer of Minwax Dark Walnut stain. I wiped it immediately off to make sure the paint would not soak too much of it in.
From My Front Porch To Yours- Ballard Inspired DIY Family Sign
After the stain was applied and the sign dried I created the saying I wanted with just a program that is on our PC. Though I love the Pruvost Plaque I wanted to make ours personal and came up with "The Finch Family House- The house that love built" in french. I printed it out in the sizes I needed. This took a few tries to get it just right.
From My Front Porch To Yours- Ballard Inspired DIY Family Sign
Once the saying was printed out I decided that the stained sign was too dark for the words to show up so I gave the sign a thin coat of Vintage White. To transfer the saying onto the sign I just rubbed a pencil on the back of all the words and then traced them on to the sign.
From My Front Porch To Yours- Ballard Inspired DIY Family Sign
I used black paint and hand painted the words. I am somebody who starts projects at midnight so I had to use what I had on hand. If I could have waited I would have gone out and purchased a black paint pen. It probably would have gone much quicker. I then lightly sanded the Vintage White away careful to not sand too much of the wording away. After that I applied a light coat of stain again.
From My Front Porch To Yours- Ballard Inspired DIY Family Sign
This is what I ended up with.
From My Front Porch To Yours- Ballard Inspired DIY Family Sign
It took me awhile to figure out how I could hang it because the plywood is so thin. I ended up trying Gorilla Super Glue Gel I had on hand it it worked like charm since the sign was so light.
From My Front Porch To Yours- Ballard Inspired DIY Family Sign
I want to hang it above our office french doors but need to paint the foyer so until then it is hanging here in our dining room.
From My Front Porch To Yours- Ballard Inspired DIY Family Sign
Visiting these fabulous blogs:
Between Naps On The Porch
A Stroll Thru Life
Coastal Charm
Savvy Southern Style

19 comments:

  1. LOVE LOVE the way that sign turned out Pamela...love how you personalized it!!

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  2. What a beautiful DIY sign. It looks gorgeous hanging in your dining room. I can not wait to see it in its new home!!

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  3. now that is awesome! A beautiful sign too! I need to get myself a jig saw!

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  4. Oh Pamela,
    Gorgeous just gorgeous. I love it. Really beautiful.
    Kris

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  5. Oh I love it, what a great project. You did an amazing job with the shape and stain too. Gorgeous.

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  6. I love how you sign came out! The shape is amazing and I like the subtle lettering!

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  7. That's fantastic! My bestie next door has that sign in her dining room. Very impressive work, Pamela. It looks beautiful!

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  8. that turned out fantastic, Pamela!! I have always loved that Ballard sign, and you did an absolutely amazing job. Freehand??!! Skills my dear! wow! :)

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  9. Love this! Such a great idea and so creative!

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  10. Wow!!! Your sign is fabulous, Pamela!!
    Mary Alice

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  11. That looks great, Pamela. I have always loved those signs at Ballards.

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  12. Now you have me inspired to DIY instead of buying!

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  13. Gorgeous sign! Now, I'll be looking at the Ballards catalog a lot differently! Thanks for sharing!

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  14. I so want to change my Ballard copycat plaque to now copy you! It looks fantastic! Love the painted effect and shape!

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