Easy JOY Barn Wood Sign for Christmas

Jennifer Allwood
by Jennifer Allwood
This is such an easy, quick decoration for your front steps, fireplace or use it as a wall hanging! You just need a piece of old barnwood, some red and white paint and a JOY stencil!

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“JOY” was my "word of the year" a few years back and so appropriate for the Christmas season! I wanted to make a sign to hang my vintage, glittered skates from on my front steps!


I had a short, squatty piece of barn wood that someone gave me laying around in my paint studio and it seemed perfect for the bold JOY word.


I painted the board in a red paint color called “Hearththrob” by Sherwin Williams. I dry brushed the red paint on about 90% of the board. Going up and down and leaving some areas of the board showing through. It looks more "vintage" when it's not covered in paint!


Within a few hours (before the paint had time to really harden) I sanded the board with a sanding sponge and then used a stiff bristle brush to chisel back the red paint to look even more distressed.


Faux paining tip: If you use the brush to go opposite of the wood grain….cool distressing really happens! The key is to do it when the paint it no longer gummy but before it is too hard! I do so many projects with dry brushing, distressing and flaky looking paint because it look more natural that way!


I contacted my favorite custom stencil company to have them design the JOY word to fit my board perfectly. The link to order my size or custom size your own is: http://www.cartserver.com/afl.cgi?c=a-3887&u=www.madstencilist.com/saywhat/allwood.htm&d=777600&a=Jennifer_Allwood_Magic_brush^jallwood1@kc.rr.com">The Mad Stencilist


You can order it in a one time use only sticky stencil like I used (which makes for ZERO bleeding) or order a traditional, reusable stencil. Either one makes it a 5 minute deal to stencil.


I used a white primer to stencil the words and then brushed a little glitter over the words. You can watch the video to see my stenciling technique. It's fast and I try not to overthink it!


After the JOY dried, I sanded a tiny bit over the white lettering too!


This sign has gotten so much use. I took this photo of it 2 years ago….. before I was mindful enough to put something cute in my pot full of dirt. Ugggggg. />


One of my client’s borrowed it for a holiday open house in a model home last Christmas. I love it on a mantel also!


And I took it to this event a speaking event for a women's group as a stage prop as well.


And here it is again this season. You can see I have sparkly, glittered ice skates hanging from the sign. Those instructions are on my website also at www.themagicbrushinc.com !


This is such an easy, yet colorful project. And if you are feeling really froggie, flip the board over and stencil something like my "HARVEST" project on the back side of it for fall. Then you have 2 different seasons covered and these store away so easily every year!


If you loved my project, I'd love to connect with you on my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/themagicbrushinc and find @JenAllwood on Pinterest!



Blessings,
Jennifer
Jennifer Allwood
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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