Thanksgiving subway sign

This sign was actually finished last fall, but it was too close to Thanksgiving to get it posted before everyone was focused on Christmas!

I’ve seen a lot of subway tutorials floating around, but they always seem to involve some sort of vinyl cutting device.  And I’m sure they’re fabulous to have.  But since I don’t have one…  my subway signs are of the hand painted variety.  And really.  It’s not that bad to paint a few words on a sign.  It may not be as perfect as vinyl would be, but that just adds to it’s “vintage” charm ;)

It all started with a plain pine board I found in the shed.  After a good sanding, I based it in dark walnut brown acrylic paint.  Next came a layer of mustard yellow and then a coat of red, allowing drying time between layers.  The final coat is a called old parchment. Perfect! 

Before the words were added, I gave it a another sanding.  Because I wanted it to look aged, I made sure to sand enough to allow a few areas of red, gold and/or brown paint layers to show. 

Then it’s a matter of printing out a variety of words in different fonts and arranging them on the board.  Once I was happy with their placement, I used graphite paper to trace the letters onto the board, removed the paper and started painting! 

Another bit of sanding after the letters were finished….

a coat of clear matte spray paint to seal and protect….

And we have a vinyl-less subway sign. 

Did anyone else notice the most prominent word is “pie?” 

Guess now y’all know what we’re really thankful for :)