Turning an Old Wooden Sleigh Into an Outdoor Sign

Melanie
by Melanie
11 Materials
$8
2 Days
Medium

I was recently at a craft show and kept seeing people with wooden signs. I finally found the vendor who was selling them and almost had to be picked up off the ground when I seen the price. A whopping $95.00!!! I get needing to make a profit but this was ridiculous. The sign stayed there and I came home empty handed. I was going to head to Home Depot to buy my $7.00 piece of wood to make my own sign when I remembered an old wooden sleigh that had been sitting in our shed for over a decade and prior to that 2 decades in my sister in law's shed. It had seen better days and was cracked and had not seen a toboggan hill in years. It was though the perfect size to make an outdoor sign!

So my first step was to prep my sleigh for painting which required a little soap and water.

Next I gathered my supplies needed for painting. I used an outdoor paint in tire swing black, and a small foam roller.

I laid the sleigh bottom side up on a table to paint. I applied two coats.

Here is the sleigh painted.

Next take a level and chalk or a pencil to draw lines to use as a guide for your letters.

Using a piece of chalk write out your letters. I like using chalk because if you don't like how your letters look you can wipe off and start over.

Here is my rough draft. I made a few tweaks , now it is time to paint my letters.

For my letters I used a white paint that can be used indoor or out. This paint is amazing!! Using a small paint brush I painted over my letters I drew out in chalk. You may have to go over a few times.

So here is the painted letters. Wipe off any chalk dust now.

I wanted to add some snowflakes to my sign and I had some left over from various past projects in different sizes. These can be bought from dollar stores also or you can paint them on.

Using my glue gun I glued them on the sleigh.

I wanted to decorate my sign abit. I had a door swag I had purchased at Dollarama and went looking in my craft box and came across this roll of glittery ribbon in the perfect red. Using wire I attached the swag by sliding it through the slats of the sleigh. I made a bow out of the ribbon and attached it with my glue gun.

If using to lean up against something like a wall, then your sign is complete and you are finished. I wanted mine to stand alone with my other outdoor decorations so I needed to come up with a way to do that.

This is a driveway marker, I could have used pieces of wood but I chose this because it has a pointy tip so I can drive it in the ground.

Next I took a small piece of strapping and attached it to the inside of the sleigh.

Here it is attached. This is attached to the part of the sleigh that curves up. Your driveway marker will slide through this.

For extra support I attached a piece of 2x4 to the back of the sleigh at the bottom using screws.

So this is a side view of what my husband would refer to as a contraption I created. I put the driveway marker in the ground about 3 or 4 inches to secure it from falling over.

Here is my finished sign welcoming people to my home. This is my last post for the year. Wishing everyone a very Happy Holiday and peace and love in your hearts and homes. See ya next year!!

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