Flamingo Toes

Candy Cane Kitchen Sign

94 Comments

Hello all!! I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving and are all ready to dive into Christmas! We have been listening to Christmas music and tonight we’re going to watch a Christmas movie and start decorating the house. I’m so excited. :)

This is a re-post of my Candy Cane Christmas Sign that I posted over at Tatertots and Jello recently. I’ve added in a couple of pictures and instructions for more details – I tend to over-detail tutorials sometimes and I didn’t want to blast the readers over there with pictures. But I thought I’d add them back in for you (because you’re used to me doing that :)!

I have a fun Christmas Sign tutorial for you – my Candy Cane Kitchen Sign!

Isn’t it fun and vintage-y?
I got the inspiration for this sign from this super cute plate I found at Pier 1.

I just fell in love with the design but I decided I needed it on a bigger, grander scale.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own:

• 1 – 1×6 piece of wood, cut into three 16″ pieces
• Glue
• Craft Paints & a variety of brushes
• Base Color Spray Paint
• Freezer Paper
• Exacto Knife and Cutting Board
• Sandpaper
• Iron
• Design Patterns – Click Here to Download
(I also have these patterns available in JPEG form if you have a Silhouette and would like to use them!)

I started off by recreating the design on my computer. Then I took each segment and made a separate paper pattern for each. You can skip that and use the Design Patterns I created if you want.

Cut your wood into three 16″ pieces.
(Which Mr. F.T. kindly cut for me and he later pointed out that I didn’t mention it in the Tatertots and Jello post. Since he apparenly felt the need to be famous too I am now mentioning it. Thanks honey for cutting the wood.) 

Glue the three sections of wood together, along the long sides, so you make one large square.

Clamp the wood together while it dries.

You can skip this next step if you want, it’s your call.

Go out to the garage and check your wood – and realize you’ve glued it to the concrete.
Say some fake swear words and pry it up with the hugest screwdriver you can find. Nice.

Consider setting your boards on something else, or upright, while they glue.
Gorilla Glue expands as it dries. If you are more careful than I was, you can wipe the glue off as it expands and you won’t have this issue at all.

Once your boards are glued together, spray paint the front with your base color.

I used a Krylon Burgundy but it wasn’t quite dark enough, so I did three coats, one Burgundy, one Black, and the last Burgundy. That gave me the nice dark red color I was looking for, with the added benefit of another layer of color that will show when it is distressed.

I believe you could do several of these next steps with a Silhouette or other cutting machine. I do not have a magical machine so we’ll be doing this old school.

Cut out all your pattern pieces. You will need to tape several of the large pieces together since they are too big to print out on one sheet of paper. On the “Cane” Pages, I’ve left the outline of the word “Candy” so you will know how close together to place the words.

Layout everything on the boards to check your placement.

Trace the designs onto Freezer Paper. Leave enough room around the designs so that when you paint, there is plenty of Freezer paper around the stencil.

Paint your base colors on the sign with your craft paint.
The craft paint colors I used (all from Walmart) were Folk Art Calypso Sky (light turquoise), Cardinal Red (dark red) and Navy Blue (dark blue).

Cut out your stencils. I used an exacto knife on a self-healing cutting mat.

You don’t need to worry about the little snow marks or the windows. You can add those details back in by hand later.

Lay the tree stencil at the top of the board so that the bottoms of the trees just barely overlap into the red section.

Lightly iron on the stencil.

Here are some tips for ironing onto wood.

• You don’t want the iron super hot. It will cause the paint to bubble excessively. We want a little of this, because it will help with distressing, but not too much.
• Be careful to keep the iron on the freezer paper. Use the tip and sides if you need to. Paint WILL come off the wood and onto your iron if you iron on the painted section. If this happens use a balled up damp paper towel and wipe it off while the iron is hot.

Once the stencil is in place, paint the trees and house red (Cardinal Red).

While that is drying you can do the same thing with the Kitchen and Bakery stencil.  I did the little stars by hand, and I used the same light turquoise paint (Calypso Sky) that was at the top.
For the letters that had pieces inside (B, E, and A) I cut those little pieces out separately and then placed them in position before I ironed it on.

After you paint in the designs, lift the stencil. You could have some base paint come off, because of the ironing. This is fine. Saves work later.

There is a chance that the paint will leak under the stencil just a bit. Once the paint dries, just go over the edges a bit with the color below and paint over those little sections with a tiny brush. This will clean everything up.

In this picture you can see the stars, the snow on the trees, and the windows of the house. You can also see where some paint came up with my stencil. Cool huh?

Next steps are the large green circle, the candy cane, and the snowflake on the top right.

 For the candy cane, I stenciled in a lighter red(FolkArt Apple Red) than the base red, and then painted the white(FolkArt Wicker White) stripes by hand. You could make two stencils if you don’t want to free hand it, and then stencil the white once the red has dried.

Once the green(FolkArt Fresh Foliage) circle has dried, stencil on the other snowflake.

 Last stencil – the Candy Cane lettering!

 That looks pretty awesome, but it’s way too “new” looking. Time to distress! Or in other words – scrape off some of your previous hard work. ;)

For the distressing, I sanded all four edges. I used smallish pieces of freezer paper at different parts on the sides and ironed them on, then pulled the paint off.

Then I sanded some of the lettering and shadows. If you look closely you can see that I sanded a shadow around the Capital C in “Cane”. You can also do extra sanding on the places the boards are seamed together and any knots or irregularities in the wood.
I finished with a light sanding in both directions over the whole sign. Don’t go all in one direction with your overall sanding. It wouldn’t distress that way normally and will look more realistic if you sand in several directions.

Here are some close ups of the distressing.

 

 Add in some hanging hardware if you are going to hang your sign.

And we’re all done!! So much more fun than a little plate right?

 

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial!! 

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Comments

  4. I am loving this and you really made this look so easy! I have seen some art work that I loved like this but it was out of my price range. I just may have to attempt this! Thanks for the tutorial!
    Lacy

    Reply

  7. this is so adorable! Thanks for the tutorial. I never would have know how to create something like this. I am pretty much clueless when it comes to painting.

    Reply

  12. This is fabulous!! I totally need one for my kitchen. Unfortunately, time is at a minimum right now and I think it would be Valentine’s Day before it was completed. I’ll put it on my list for next year though!
    Jenn

    Reply

  20. OMG. Spray paint!!!!?!!? I’ve slaved with multilayers of paint! I’m almost done with this tutorial! I dont think I will ever look at stenciling the same way!
    Thank you for such an amazing piece that I cant wait to hang in my kitchen!

    Reply

  36. I have to tell you that I went in search of freezer paper after seeing this project! I haven’t used it yet…it will happen soon! I love this sign!

    PS I’m a new follower!

    Reply

  37. I love the feel of this sign. I think I want to make one! So many projects so little time! I love freezer paper – what an amazing tool. Beautiful job and so much fun.

    We are having a Krylon party at the DIY Club too! Starts tomorrow (I think).

    Reply

  41. I love your sign! I don’t think that your tutorial is over-detailed! It helps so that we can follow your instructions step-by-step – thank you!

    Reply

  45. I made your sign and I.LOVE.IT! Thank you so much for the tutorial – it was really well written and easy to follow : ) Thanks again and Merry Christmas!
    Christen

    Reply

  50. So I am SUPER behind with blog reading, but I just discovered this latest project showing off how truly talented you are. I keep looking at this sign and saying–she MADE this?! You amaze me, my friend!

    Reply

  54. Oh my goodness. LOVE THIS!!! I would love to make one..Question. You said you recreated this on your computer. Did you scan the plate into the computer or did you make it in a program? I love the colors, Red, Turquoise and Lime Green, my favs!!
    Thanks for taking the time to share this with us. New follower and would love it if you would visit my new lil blog and follow back if you like.
    Blessings,
    Denise

    Reply

  55. Wow! This is AWESOME! I love, love, love it. Very clever – I want one. I’m thinking maybe I’ll make one after the crazy of the holidays are over, then I’ll have it for next year. :-)

    Reply

  58. I think the numbers on the wood are typed incorrectly – I wanted to make the sign, but the measurements don’t seem right. Or I just don’t get it. Can you help me out?

    Reply

  59. Beverly, This are ADORABLE! You did such a great job! And your instructions are fabulous. So easy to understand and follow. Thanks for showing us the how to!

    Reply

  62. That is beyond amazing! I am almost positive that mine wouldn’t come out as cute, but I would so be willing to pay someone that is more talented to make one for me.

    It is cuter than the plate!!

    Reply

  69. I’m so glad I’m not the only one!! I gorilla glued some boards together like this and glued them to my concrete also! It was awful! I felt so silly! (Wow that was also of exclamation points).

    Adorable sign by the way :)

    Reply

  73. Hi
    Just wanted to let you know that I “ Featured” you on Santa’s Gift Shoppe Blog Hop today for your great project & inspiration! Be sure to grab the “I was featured” on Santa’s Gift Shoppe Button/Code for your sidebar! You deserve it! Thanks so much..If you’re not a follower already we’d love for you to join us…
    Barb

    Reply

  74. Beverly – This is adorable! You did a fantastic job! Thanks so much for linking to the party – I greatly appreciate it! I featured these today – stop by and grab a featured button if you like. Hope you have a lovely week! ~ Stephanie Lynn

    Reply

  75. like everyone else in the world I am loving this! You do amazing work, as usual. I’ll be featuring this tonight on Topsy Turvy Tuesday’s! Thanks for linking up!

    Reply

  78. It’s amazing and thankyou so much for the tutorial and print outs. I am attempting to make this and am struggling with the xacto knife! But I think it will be cute. I will try and send pics when I’m done. It may take awhile.

    Reply

  80. I made two of these, one for me and one to give as a gift! I love the colors and your tutorial was awesome! Thanks so much!

    Reply

  84. Thank You so much for the tutorial- I don’t have time but it’s getting squeezed in before the family party on Monday. Thanks again

    Reply

  87. Just wanted to thank you for this amazing tutorial. My sister saw the plate this was inspired by, and loved it! I made this for her for Christmas, and it turned out so great. She loved it! I’ll share pictures soon!

    Reply

  88. You are the best! I love this tutorial. Painting usually is a bit too daunting for me, but now I think I want to give it another try. Thank you!

    Reply

  91. I LOVE this – have been wanting to make it for the last 2 Christmases, and this year I’m gonna!!! I see that you have it available for the silhouette, can you email it to me? Or, if i overlooked it, let me know where to find it? TYSM!!

    Reply

  93. What a cute Christmas sign for the kitchen! I’m definitely making this so THANKS for all the pics… yep I’m craftily challenged and need all the help I can get!

    Reply

  94. I would love the jpeg version for the silhouette. I made one of these for my mom back in 2010 for christmas and would love to make more

    Reply

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