DIY PAINTED MINI CACTUS WOOD SIGNS
I don’t know about you but my family has a good sense of humor. So, naturally these signs were a hit around our house! How can you not laugh at a painted wood sign that reads “don’t be a prick” with a picture of a cactus?! Or “free hugs” lol!!
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They were such a hit that I added them to my online shop, funny painted cactus signs. If you don’t have time to DIY this hilarious set of 3 mini wooden signs you can buy a premade set here —-> I NEED FUNNY CACTUS SIGNS.
If you plan to hang your newly painted wood signs check out this quick and easy tutorial for attaching sawtooth hangers to signs
If you purchase the DIY craft kit from my handmade online shop here’s what’s inlcuded
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3 precut, lightly sanded, stained, distressed wood 5.5”x5.5” wood bases
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3 stencils with transfer tape applied – go sit on a cactus, don’t be a prick, free hugs
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1 sponge brush
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1 stenciling sponge
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white & black acrylic paints
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printed instructions
If you are struggling with your sign painting adventure I would LOVE to teach you all in-depth steps I use in my own business. when I first started out I had issues with paint bleed, paint peeling up, sticky residue getting left behind but by doing a TON of trail and error, and thousands of hand painted signs later I have perfected my sign painting skills and want to teach you all the things I didn’t when I first started out.
If you didn’t snag up a DIY CRAFT KIT here’s what you’ll need
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precut wood blocks, 5.5”x5.5”, stained dried and sanded
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stencils, don’t be a prick, free hugs, go sit on a cactus
Helpful tools I used to make my set
If you’re starting from scratch you’ll want to cut, sand, and stain your wood pieces at least 24 hrs prior to painting them, if you are going to be staining them first. Stain needs to fully dry before painting any project.
Once your wood pieces are dry you can start painting them. Start with a DRY brush and using a little bit of paint at a time, apply a THIN layer of paint to one side of your board. Leave a small border all the way around each wood base. I don’t measure this, just eyeball it. This will give you that rustic uneven look. Do this with each wooden base. You do not need to paint any of the other sides, just one side per base.
After your fist THIN coat is totally dry you can apply the second coat, be sure to apply using the same technique as you did with the first coat.
Once they are all TOTALLY DRY you are ready for stenciling. They must be completely dry otherwise your stencil will not stick to the wood and it will be an ugly mess.
Start by removing the paper backing from your stencil. This works best if you use a vinyl applicator, or you can use a stiff store rewards card, I don’t recommend using your bank card as it could break during the process.
Rub the front of the stencil
Flip it over and do the same on the back
Now slowly peel the paper backing away from the stencil. This works best if you start at one corner and peel away at a sharp 90 degree angle. Go SLOW.
First, you’ll want to place your stencil where you want it on your board. I wanted mine to all be centered so that’s what I did but you can place them anywhere on the board you’d like. I just recommend keeping the image within the painted part of the wood.
Using your vinyl tool rub the stencil, using the same technique as before. Now SLOWLY peel the transfer tape {the clear sticky stuff} away from your stencil. I do this at a sharp angle and I will slowly roll it off of the stencil.
After you get the transfer tape off rub your finger along all the exposed stencil edges {anywhere there is wood showing thru}. this helps to get a good seal on your stencil.
To help prevent paint bleed you can take the white paint, the base color, and lightly go over the exposed areas of your stencil. This will help to fill in tiny air bubbles that you may have missed in the previous step. You want this to be a very LIGHT LAYER of paint, you barely want to see it on your stencil.
Use one end of your cosmetic sponge LIGHTLY dip it in the black paint. BE SURE TO USE VERY LITTLE PAINT, this is key to getting little to no paint bleed under your stencil. Dab the sponge on a paper towel a couple times then onto your stencil, do this till you have a very THIN even coat {you should be able to see thru the first coat}. LET DRY, repeat till you are happy with the coverage.
Now peel up your stencil. I use an xacto knife to get up all the little pieces. If you don’t have one of these a sewing pin/needle works great for this as well. If you have any paint bleed just go over those with a small paint brush and your background color.
Please feel free to message me if you have any questions once your kit arrives. I want your DIY projects to turn out AMAZING and will help you in any way I can to make that happen. If you ordered from the website shoot me an email BUT if you ordered from my ETSY shop please message me on there. In order to keep in compliance with Etsy all convos must be kept on their platform
