I racked my brain for over a week, to come up with a simple saying to put on a sign for my daughters' teachers. I wanted something truthful and meaningful. I thought about many things. I finally came up with "Teachers Inspire" which is what my daughters' teachers do. I'd also like to think this is what I did as a teacher.
I really enjoyed making these and was very happy with how they turned out. There are a lot of steps, but it's worth it. I'm sorry I don't have pictures of the project as I created it. I'm going to do my best to give you clear directions. If you have questions, feel free to ask.
1. I began with birch, cabinet grade 3/4" plywood. The wood was 10"x24". I sanded the wood smooth.
2. I painted a base coat on the wood. I did the edges as well. One sign I painted purple. The other dark green. These are GraciAnn's teachers' favorite colors.
3. After the base coat dried, I painted two coats of semi gloss cream paint on top. I let the paint dry completely between each coat.
4. When the paint was dry, I applied a stencil of vinyl, I made on my Silhouette, to the board. "Inspire" is in Copperplate Gothic Bold Font. It is 3"x9". "Teachers" is in Cataneo BT font. It is 5"x18".
5. After the stencil was smoothed down, I painted in. I used very little paint and made sure not to glob it on. I chose to use two different shades of each color. When the paint was dry, I removed the stencil.
6. I let the paint dry a little more and used my mouse sander to distress the sign. I removed paint from the edges, some of the words, and the blank spaces. My goal was to get some of the original base color to peek through. It worked.
7. After sanding, I wiped the board clear of any dust particles. I rubbed stain all over the sign. I let the stain dry completely.
8. When the stain was dry, I applied polyurethane to the sign. I chose a clear satin finish.
9. After the polyurethane was completely dry, I drilled holes in the top of the sign, and added wire, for hanging.
This sign will definitely be available in our etsy shop!
