Humorous wood sign for mom – mom’s shit list sign + FREE SVG
Learn how to stencil and make a humorous sign for you or another fellow mom with a sense of humor. BONUS grab the FREE SVG for this MOM’S SHIT LIST SIGN in my resource library (find the link below).
Oh boy does this sign ring so much truth. I’m a Christian lady BUT also cuss a little.. well, sometimes a lot or at least more than I should. And I think that’s ok.
My friend asked me to make this funny sign and of course I said a big YES! Probably because I can relate so much to it but also, because I really wanted to share the SVG with all of my fellow SVG loving crafters that read my blog.
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A couple months back I also made another humorous sign for her: life is short lick the spoon (which I also shared the SVG for in my library for you to use for free). She always has great ideas on what she wants me to make her:)!!
Ok so here’s what you need to make your own Mom’s shit list wood sign.
BONUS: you can get this EXACT file I made for FREE in my password protected resource library. Just click on the button below and it will take you there. These files are for free PERSONAL use only.
HOW TO MAKE A HUMOROUS STENCILED WOOD SIGN FOR MOM
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED:
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wood base (mine measured 11”x20” made from a 1×12)
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sewing pin
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drop cloth to protect your surface (not a must but it’s a great reusable option to protect your table top)
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paint stands (these aren’t a must but they are SUPER helpful)
If you’re new to the world of fancy cutting machines aka vinyl cutters aka a Cricut or Silhouette be sure to check out my post on 10 must have supplies & accessories to get you started when you’re new to using a Cricut. Also if you plan on using a LOT of stencil film and you want to save some money $$ be sure to read this post on where to buy ORAMASK 813 stencil material in bulk to save you TONS of money.
STENCILING ON WOOD- THE NO PAINT BLEED METHOD
1. CUT & SAND THE BASE
The first thing I did was cut and sand my wooden base. I used a 1×12 to make my sign out of. If you are new to the lumber world a 1×12 doesn’t actually measure 12” wide, it’s more like 11.25” or in my case it was 11”. I cut my wood to 20” then sanded it semi smooth with 120 grit sandpaper using my Ryobi cordless sander. I LOVE this little light weight sander and the fact that it’s not corded so I can move around with it without tripping on cords or trying to find a plugin close by.
2. PAINT THE BASE
For this sign my friend requested a gray painted background with white lettering. I painted a really THIN coat of gray acrylic paint on my base. I used these awesome paint stands to keep my board up and off of my work surface. I can’t believe I’ve been painting wood signs for YEARS and didn’t have these until recently! They are something that I didn’t even know I needed till I used them.
Once the first layer of paint was dry I went back a painted a second THIN layer of paint. Usually you just need two coats, or sometimes even just one if you’re using black. But if you aren’t happy with the coverage you can go back after the second coat is dry and paint a third coat of thin paint on there.
I let my base dry for 24 hours. Not because it needed to dry that long but because I’m a momma to four girls, am a mompreneur {a momma with a business 😉 }, and trying my best to school my girls at home right now (thanks to you know what). Sometimes we are just walking hot messes around here lol!
3. CUT & WEED THE STENCIL
I used my trusty Cricut to cut my stencil on ORAMASK 813 STENCILM FILM. I have been using a Cricut for a loooooong long time, back when they had key pads and you didn’t use a computer and Design Space to do all the amazing things they can do now. Since my design was large I used a 24” GREEN cutting mat to cut my stencil on. You can use my same MOM’S SHIT LIST SVG here in my free resource library. It’s password protected so you’ll need to fill out the boxes to get the password. Once you are on the resource library page scroll down till you see the photo of the Mom’s shit list sign design. Click on it and the SVG will pop up in another window, you can save it to your computer from there then upload it into whatever program you are using to cut your design.
3. APPLY THE STENCIL
I applied my stencil to my wood base using clear transfer tape. I LOVE and swear by this clear transfer tape. I have used MANY different types trying to find the right one for me and this one was it.
Using a vinyl squeegee I pressed out any air bubbles then slowly rolled the transfer tape off of my design. Rolling vs pulling the transfer tape off is KEY. If you pull it up and off of your stencil your stencil will likely come up and off of your wood base too. Take your time on this step, if you don’t I promise you will kick yourself and possibly a lot of curse words will come out lol! Just speaking from experience here.
After the transfer tape is off I carefully press out all of the air bubbles again using my vinyl squeegee.
4. SEAL THE STENCIL
Sealing the stencil is KEY to no paint bleed. If you take just one thing away from this tutorial let THIS TIP be IT! I have built a business on painting wooden signs and this is by far the most important step I take to having crisp clean no paint bleed lines.
How do you seal a stencil? It’s simple, use a light hand (I’m talking SUPER LIGHT) and paint your stencil using the same color that you painted your background. Let it dry. What this does is it fills in all of those tiny little bitty air holes that you can’t see. It may look like there aren’t any air holes but trust me they are there. Your paint will find them and you’ll spend hours trying to fix the mess…again, speaking from experience.
Let that dry completely.
5. PAINT THE DESIGN
After the sealing is dry I painted my design color. My friend requested white lettering so I used white acrylic paint for the job. I painted a SUPER THIN layer of white paint using a stiff-ish paint brush. You want to be able to see the base color through your paint. You can use those stenciling brushes but I have found a paint brush like this works much better than any stenciling brush I have ever used.
Once the first layer of paint was dry I went back over my design and paint a second THIN layer of white paint.
Here’s what my stencil looked like when I was finished painting the second layer of paint.
6. PEEL UP THE STENCIL
Everyone does this step differently. Some wait till their paint is dry and others peel while their paint is still wet. I have found that peeling up my stencil while my paint is still wet works best for me. But if you find that doesn’t work for you change it up:). I encourage my readers to do like I did and do trial and error if something doesn’t work change it up until you get the perfect way it works for you.
I use an xacto knife to help get up all the bigger pieces of stencil film that didn’t come off initially.
Then I go in with a sewing pin, I know super fancy tools lol, and pick out all of the little middle pieces. This works better than the xacto knife in these areas because an xacto knife tends to gauge the wood and scratch the paint since it’s usually a tight area to work in.
7. FIX ERRORS
Since I don’t sand my boards down to complete smoothness I will get tiny amounts of paint bleed where there are divots in the wood. You can certainly sand those out but I personally keep those spots because I feel like it adds a lot more character to the piece. Those spots are minimal and totally fixable.
If there’s a lot of paint I will use my xacto knife to lightly scrape off excess paint. Then I go in with a fine tipped paint brush and paint over the area with the background color. Let dry. That’s it! It’s super easy to fix those small areas of paint bleed mistakes.
If you want to take a deep dive into the sign painting world and know EVERYTHING I know about making wood signs you need my LETTERED SIGN PAINTER’S COURSE. I teach you all I know. All the mistakes, trials and errors, and SUCCESS I’ve had with sign making has led me to create a course for people just like you who need to know how to paint signs but need to know EXACTLY what to do to get there. Where to buy all their materials, what paints to use, what brushes to use, how to make stencils, how to do it all in the sign painting world.
I will go in depth on all of the topics and so much more.
I know my friend is loving her new sign. I think she said she was gifting it to her daughter, what a fun gift!
Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below. Be sure to check out more of my DIY sign painting tutorials.
Happy Crafting!
