Ring Bell - If No One Answers - Pull Weeds - Front Door Sign

Stacy Davis
by Stacy Davis
6 Materials
30 Minutes
Easy

I have wanted to make this sign for a long time. I didn't come up with saying, I just saw it somewhere on the internet and loved it. And with the amount of weeds growing in my garden beds by the front door, it seemed the appropriate time to make it. In 2011, I had an Etsy shop and making signs was the main product that I made but I haven't really made many signs recently. I decided to do the method where you create one stencil but you can create two signs from this one stencil. For my first sign, since I was rusty, I used scrap wood. For my second sign, I have a different paint and will use a different type of wood. Thin tongue and groove wall plank boards have a lot of plusses as far as light and easy to hang, as well as, being inexpensive. But, the crevice is a pain to paint and will cause you a great deal of grief.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to create a stencil. Instead of using expensive vinyl, I used Contact Paper found in the shelf liner section of Walmart. A big roll is just a couple of dollars. Here I removed one layer and placed it on my scrap wood. The one of the left, will be used for the second sign that I create. My Contact paper was sooo old. That is why it has those creases but it still worked.

I used white acrylic paint and a makeup sponge as my applicator. Now in the past, I always preferred to use chalk style paint but I didn't have any on hand so I was using the acrylic. The acrylic paint is not my first choice but it will do in a pinch. If you are going for chippy and rustic, it's perfect.


My first layer of paint is always with a light touch. I usually do a minimum of 3 coats or layers.

To keep my paint from drying out in between coats, I use Dollar Tree bowl covers over my paint on a paper plate and makeup sponge. They work awesome and are fairly easy to remove and reuse again.

Three coats later.

There are two camps when it comes to removing the stencil. Slowly or Rip it Off like a Band aid Camp. I like to rip it off quickly but you do what works for you.

Once the big stencil is removed, you are left with the negative area pieces.

I have a pick that came with my cutter and dental picks work too. But since I haven't made a sign in many years, I couldn't even guess where my pick is. So, a tweezers will work, too.

For the hanger, I like to take 3 pieces of twine and braid them with a knot at each end.

I find that eye hooks are the easiest way to attach the twine hanger. These from a picture hanging kit work great.

Place your hanger above the sign to get an idea on where to screw in the eye hooks.

My scrapwood was 2 pieces of tongue and groove wall planks glued together. The groove actually ended up being a nice place to put the hooks and because it was pine, they were easy to screw in.

Just a little humor, at our front door. (Looking at it straight on is when I realized the "If no one answers" and the crevice through the middle, the two are not level...I think my vinyl went on crooked and that for me is the hardest part of making a sign. But, what I should think is that this is the beauty of homemade and handmade. The imperfections make it unique and special and not factory generated.)

Coneflowers are some of my all time favorite flowers. I was so excited to find out that the previous owners had already planted them.

It was fun to make a sign after all these years, I hope you enjoyed following along with me in this tutorial. Have a great day!

The sign that I made from the left over pieces of stencil? We’ll call it the “Hot Mess” sign and I kind of like it!

Resources for this project:
Scrap wood Piece 6 inches by 9 inches
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  3 questions
  • Guy Crease Guy Crease on Jul 07, 2018

    ere d you get those sihouete things and how much are they?

  • Patricia Patricia on Jul 07, 2018

    How do I get rid of golfers?

  • Jerri Jerri on Jul 07, 2018

    Cute saying. Cute sign. I have a Cricut and want to learn to cut stencils to make signs. Thanks for sharing your technique. Any advice for cutting out stencils? BTW, I never noticed the “crooked “ lettering until you pointed it out. That’s what makes homemade unique

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  • Karen Hurst Karen Hurst on Jul 10, 2018

    I love your sign. I make signs too. But I do all mine by hand and letter stencils. I don't have a machine to make a a full word stencil or design

  • Linda Marie Linda Marie on Jul 27, 2018

    Great idea! I need to do a couple for fall and winter something to the effect "rake leaves" and "shovel snow", Thank you

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