Easy to Make - DIY Hand Painted Sign

My daughters roommate is in the process of finishing up medical school.  She will officially be a doctor in a matter of months.  Her life motto is "Work Hard, Play Hard".  Obviously becoming a doctor takes many years of school and tons of studying!!!  So in her off hours she likes to play and have fun.  A few weeks ago I made her this sign for her birthday. 

I started with a  6 foot x 8 inch wood board that I picked up at Home Depot.  I cut out adhesive vinyl letters on my Cricut electric cutting machine. I laid the letters across the board to make sure they would fit... and then I adhered the (repositionable vinyl) stickers to the wood board.

I had some wood stain left over from a prior project that I decided to use on this project.  After the stickers were secured onto the board, I used a paint brush and stained the board.  This is just a matter of dipping the paint brush into the stain and brushing it across the board to cover all of the raw wood. 

One coat of stain was all it needed to achieve this color.

I allowed the stain to dry for about 10 minutes and then I removed the vinyl letters. As you can see, the stain did not go through the letters. This left a stencil like outline for me to easily paint.

I used some acrylic paint that I already had in my craft supplies and a small craft brush.  Any craft paint would work for painting the letters.

I painted inside each of the letters with white (to provide a good contrast).  This is the first time I had ever made a sign and I am more than happy with the way it turned out!

I attached basic picture hangers with a wire across the back for easy hanging.  The birthday girl absolutely loves her sign and it is now hanging in her bedroom.

Until next time,

Happy decorating!

Diana