Spring Sign With Printable

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Create this spring sign with printable. Use my free printables for this and more! 

Hello friends!

I am so feeling the spring thing! How about y’all?? I am so ready for this warmer weather. We have had a SUPER mild winter (love that!) but I’m still ready!! haha!

So I wanted to make something pretty (and spring-ish) for our home. If you follow along with me on Facebook, you might have seen my recent trip to Michael’s. If not, you can see it here.

And by the way, if you are not following along with me on Facebook, you can right here! I hope you do! I have some fun stuff planned coming soon.

If you watch the video above you will see what I bought to do today’s project below.

Spring Sign with Printable

I saw a bunch of stuff I wanted to bring home with me that day I went shopping. But I only brought this one home.

wood board for spring before painting

I knew it would be just perfect for one of my printables.
And I just loved the floral sides and couldn’t wait to paint them all colorful for spring.

But, I must first tell you I had another fail (As a reader here mentioned, a learning experience, right?! Thank you, Laura, love that!).
Oops. Well, I think it really wasn’t a fail, I just learned what I need to do better/differently next time.
And I’m going to share that with you here today.

So, I knew what I wanted to do and which printable/graphic I wanted to use so I got started.

I began by painting the whole thing white. I just used regular craft paint for this project.

wood board with craft paint on kitchen counter

Easy!

Here’s where I made the first mistake.

I began by painting the flowers in. Well, dang, because I was excited to get painting those!!
I couldn’t wait to bring them to life.

painting in flowers with craft paint

BUT…

flowers painted with craft paint

I should’ve done the lettering part in the middle FIRST.
That way if something went awry I could fix it easily by painting the whole thing white again.
I ended up doing just one coat of white for a more “washed” look so having to re-do the middle would’ve been a problem.

Do you know when I realized that I made this mistake??

Oh, about right here…

flowers hand painted with craft paint

…haha! I was really hoping my plan for the lettering worked as I wanted it to!

By the way, I had painted it all and it looked SO flat to me. So I added a few extra flourishes to it as you see above and below. Plus, I did some dry brushing with white all over it and I think that really added a lot.

flowers and butterfly painted

Which is to use this printable over in my FREE Printable Library.

words for the sign

It’s backward but this is the one I’m using.

spring printable

 

I thought it would be perfect for this sign.

And I thought I’d do the “transfer” method using our Decoupage and Transfer Gel.
Did you ever wonder why it was called that?? It’s because it will also transfer images.

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So, since I realized I can not mess up on this I thought I’d do a practice run on this scrap wood piece.

sample board with transferred graphics

I painted it with the same paint and then applied the transfer gel and printouts.
And yay!!! It worked GREAT!!!  (yes it’s backward, I used another printout I did by accident that was the wrong way)

I thought I was good to go!

board with printed letters on

So I applied my Transfer Gel to the board and the cutout pieces of paper as you see above.

You need to let it dry very well. Then use a damp sponge to wet it and rub off the paper on top.
What is left behind is the ink and it’s like magic!

But after it dried this is what happened.

wiping away the paper on the graphics

Looking good at first…

showing which of the graphics transferred

…then whomp, whomp, whomp. Boo.

Well, as you can see it does work.

Here’s where I went wrong.

I didn’t put enough of the Transfer Gel on the board. ONE, because I needed enough to somewhat saturate the paper, and TWO because it started drying before I could place all the paper pieces. You can totally see above how there wasn’t enough of the Transfer Gel in places.

So, I will for sure do this again with those 2 things in mind.

I considered for a moment just printing it out again and layering it right over the top of this. Instead, I decided to just hand paint it in since I had a nice outline to go by, etc.

hand painting in the graphics

NOTE: Inkjet is not the best for this method from what I can tell. Laserjet printables might be a better choice. I did run a hot iron over my printable to hopefully “set” the ink though. I think that helped as far as the ink running.

I think I will try this again with another inkjet printable AND laserjet printable to test it out. Stay tuned for that.

I kind of liked the distressed look so lightly sanded it after the paint was dry.

finished spring sign

I thought about hanging it in the kitchen here…

sign hanging on mirror

sign hanging on mirror in kitchen

I want to move that mirror at some point. I have just not decided what I want to put up there instead??
Any ideas??? I’ll take ’em!

Although I liked it here I decided to put it somewhere else instead.

sign hanging on mirror on wall
Here on the porch…

spring sign hanging on exterior brick

I love it here!

spring sign hanging on brick with white dog at door

Ryder says, “whatcha doing out there, mom?”. lol

Don’t mind the pollen, please. It’s everywhere!

spring sign hanging on porch with green fern

Look at that sweetie.

pretty white dog at glass door looking out

You are the bestest boy ever!

I hope you enjoyed this one! I was feeling a little crafty…and spring-ish.

Stay tuned for another try on this one.

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Create this spring sign with printable! Use my free printables for this and more! artsychicksrule.com

Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo


12 Comments

  1. Absolutely LOVE it on the porch! and Love Ryder too!
    I follow another crafter who does this type transfer all the time and she says laserjet print is only way to go. You have such a steady hand with the paintbrush you made it work out perfectly though!

    She applies chalk paint then on the actual transfer puts the thin layer of mod-podge on reversed graphic and places it. Dry for 24 hours then light wet and rub off paper with fingertips.

    I want to go to a place with laserjet and get some copies made and do one. Until then, will admire all your work and hers. Keep it up, your emails always cheer me up!

    1. Aw thanks so much!! Yes, I forgot that I had done this already!! Haha!! Whoops, there goes that mind! ;) https://www.artsychicksrule.com/merry-christmas-printable-tray/
      Totally forgot!! But yes, came to that exact same conclusion. Oh well, at least I tested it twice so I know for sure it’s the way to go!! Wish I had a laser jet! My printer is NOT playing nice with me lately so might have to look into it.
      And thank you also for the kind words, that makes me so happy to hear!! xoxo

  2. You get an A for perseverance on this one! Turned out cute and a great fit for the porch.

    Why donā€™t you hang a collection of vintage plates or vintage floral painted trays where the mirror is? Itā€™s a great look for a kitchen.

  3. Your piece is beautiful and I love it on the porch. It will make everyone smile when they walk by. I saw a large round mirror yesterday at Hobby Lobby that was distressed on the outside edge. I’m going to replace my rectangular mirror for that one. It would also look amazing on your wall. Ryder is magnificent!

  4. Do you know where your kitchen lights were purchased – the brass square ones? I need 2 of those.
    I think vintage plates on your wall would look great – many styles and colors to choose from.

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