Make your own DIY hand lettered wood sign with my easy to follow tutorial! These are perfect for those who love handmade farmhouse home decor!

Making a hand lettered wood sign is pretty simple and only takes a few things you probably already have around your house.  Today, I’m going to show you how I added the words “hello pumpkin” to a wooden pumpkin cut-out for my fall vignette.  This is definitely a project you’ll want to add to your to-do list for the upcoming holiday season!!

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Supplies I used for making my hand lettered wood sign for fall:

**Click on the name of the product for more information!!!**

• Wooden Pumpkin Cut-Out – Small Size 6 inches tall and 6.5 inches wide
• Wooden Pumpkin Cut-Out – Large Size 10 inches tall and 7 inches wide
• White Magic VooDoo Gel Stain by Dixie Belle
• Tabacco Road VooDoo Gel Stain by Dixie Belle
• Chalk
• #4 Craft Paint Brush – THIS LINK will take you to the set I use for all of my detail work.
• Buttercream Dixie Belle Chalk Paint

Here’s how I hand lettered my pumpkin cut-out:

First, I stained the front side of my pumpkin cut-out with White Magic VooDoo Gel Stain.  I just used a rag to apply one coat.  Let dry.

NOTE: I did not paint the sides or back with the White Magic gel stain.

Then, I applied a wash of the Tobacco Road VooDoo Gel Stain over the top of the White Magic Stain.

NOTE:  I used Tobacco Road VooDoo Gel Stain to finish the sides of the pumpkin so that they are a bit darker than the rest of the cut-out.

Next came the hand lettering.  To do this, I stared by printing out my saying on plain computer paper.  Here are the details on the fonts & sizing I used:

• Font is Lucida Handwriting in Font Size 72 (Hello)
• Font Verdana Pro Black in Font Size 82 (Pumpkin)

Then I colored the back of my print-out with a piece of white chalk.  PRO TIP:  Hold your piece of paper up against a window to make it easier to see where you need to color with your chalk.

Once the back side of the paper was colored with chalk, I placed the paper – chalk side down, onto my pumpkin.

Now it was time to trace the letters onto the surface of my pumpkin.

As you can see, this technique works similar to transfer paper and gives you a nice outline to work from.

Finally, it was time to paint the letters onto the pumpkin’s surface.  Notice how I turned my pumpkin upside down so that I did not rub off the chalk as I painted the letters.

I ended up applying two coats of Buttercream Dixie Belle Chalk Paint to my letters.  Just be sure to let you first layer dry before you do the second.  Once your paint is dry, simply brush off any excess chalk.

PRO TIP:  Remember that this is a hand painted sign – so don’t worry so much about making it perfect!  The imperfections add character and show that is was handmade!!

This technique can be used for any sign project!  Just enlarge your font when creating your print-out.

BONUS Project!!!

I also created an adorable patterned pumpkin to add to my Fall vignette using Chalk Couture.  Here’s how I did it:

Step 1:  Place your transfer on your surface.  For this project I used the Pumpkin Patterns Transfer on a wooden pumpkin cut-out.

Step 2:  Apply a coat of Chalkology Paste all over the transfer & remove the excess as you go.  The color I used is no longer available, but the color Almond is similar.  For my pumpkin project, I avoided the stem portion because I wanted it raw.

Step 3:  Remove your transfer to reveal your pattern!  You can get more info on creating Patterned Pumpkins using Chalk Couture HERE.

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