Easy Shabby Chic Sign

A couple weeks ago I went to that Crafts and Carafes night, I made this jewelry hanger...

We also painted an extra board to bring home to paint lettering on.

My friend had me make one for her kitchen that says "eat".

Here's how I did it...

Before painting sand the edges of the board to make it even more distressed looking. Next paint your board with your base color, for this we used black.

Once that is dry you can add Vaseline to different spots of the wood, where ever you put the Vaseline the next coat of paint will not adhere. 

Paint a light top coat, we used white but you could use whatever color you'd like.  Once your top coat is dried start sanding, or use steel wool, anything to rough it up! 

When you've achieved the look you'd like, you can either paint the lettering free hand or do this easy technique. 

For this sign my friend wanted it to say "eat", I didn't want to free hand the letters so I used Word. Select whatever font you'd like and make sure that your letters are the correct size for your sign, then print it out.

Lay out the letters where you would like them on your sign.

Next on the back of the paper, shade in the area of the letter with pencil (make sure its a led pencil). Once you've done that, lay the paper with the pencil shaded side down on your wood. Trace your letters! The led from the pencil will transfer onto the wood.

Once you've outlined your letters paint them. 

Here is my finished project!

If you make your own shabby chic sign feel free to post a picture of it in the comments below!