Hand Painted Nursery Signs

I suffer from the I-Can-Make-That Syndrome.  I'm sure a lot of you suffer from the same thing.  It's a blessing and a curse.  I'll be out and about, see something that I really like, see the price tag and think to myself, "I can make that!" It's almost like a challenge against myself (yeah, I know, I'm cool!) to see how well I can make what I've found in the store.  A couple of years ago, I was acquainting myself with Etsy and I found myself drooling over these hand painted nursery signs.  They burned a mental image in my mind and I knew that I had to try my hand at them!  I had a few successes (here and here) with hand painting signs and then a big success with hand painting a sign for my nephew last summer (here).  However, these methods just took too long, and I wanted to try my hand at using my Silhouette to paint.  So, as soon as my dear friend Amanda found out she was pregnant, and my sister-in-law found out she was pregnant, I knew exactly what I wanted to make for them....

Here are my supplies: a $4 board from Hobby Lobby (sanded and wiped down), push pins from my desk drawer, a can of Krylon satin white spray paint, 3 different colors of acrylic paint, and a spool of decorative and coordinating ribbon (wired ribbon works best).

I first stuck the push pins in the bottom of the board so that it is easier to spray paint.

Next, I spray painted it until I was happy with it.

Using my silhouette, I cut out my niece's monogram and attached it to my painted sign to be used as a stencil.  

Then I took my deeper shade of purple and painted the monogram.  I waited for it to dry and then peeled it off.

I then started painting the birth stats (lighter purple).  I made sure I had a small paintbrush (that's the key!) and painted the middle name first (to be sure it was centered).  After I painted her name, I thought that green polka-dots would be great along the edges (I was making this up as I went).

Along the bottom, I added the birth stats.

And then hand painted a flower that was on my sister-in-law's baby shower invitations.  Lastly (with paint) I filled it in with polka-dots.

When I was finished, I spray painted the sign with a spray paint Lacquer by Rust-oleum.  I did this for 2 reasons: to protect that acrylic paint, and also to add shine to the sign.

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After it dried, I used a staple gun to attach the ribbon to the back of it so that it could be hung on the wall.  

Ta-Da!  I'm done!

It was a wonderful Christmas present for my sweet niece, Sophia!

After I made that one, I got right on the sign for my sweet friend, Amanda and I followed the same steps.  Here are the results:

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If you're interested in a great, personalized gift for a new mom, I highly recommend doing this!  If you're not suffering from I-Can-Make-That syndrome and would like to give a new mom this gift, email me!  I'm taking orders!

I'm partying here this week