How to Stencil a Wooden Sign

I want to start out by saying I LOVE stencils! They are affordable and if you are a beginner DIYer stencils are a great way to start making rustic signs. Stencils can be easily purchased at Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby or Michaels. 🙂 I’m going to share with you a few “odd” spots to look for stencils! Keep reading. 😉

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Products I Use to Stencil a Sign

Folk Art Letter Stencils – (they are cardboard but, you CAN reuse them! They cost around $7 a package.)
Plaid Letter Stencils Smaller – (I like to add different fonts to different words when I am stenciling a sign. This allows you to make sure you can fit all your words on the sign! AND it looks pretty. 🙂
Stencil Shapes – (For this sign I used a pack of stencil shapes for the heart and sheep. Also, these are currently under $5 on Amazon! 🙂
Folk Art Chalk Style Paint – ( This paint is great for stenciling on signs, and I LOVE how many different paint colors you get for this price!)
Stencil Brush Set – (these Brushes will help you have crisp clean lines when stenciling. I LOVE this set because they come in different sizes. Perfect for the different shapes of your stencils AND they are cheap!)

Steps to Stenciling a Wooden Sign

To Begin, make sure your wood surface is clean. 🙂 I Happened to find this already put together wooden sign at Goodwill. It had a pig on it and said “Eat bacon”. lol. I painted over the wooden sign with Chalk Paint. ( I used Annie Sloan because that is what I had on hand. I have used Folk Arts Chalk Style paint when stenciling wooden signs and it works great as well! It is also much more affordable.

This sign was going in a nursery for a sweet little boy so, I was trying to have somewhat of a nursery/baby/boy color scheme.

Once your surface is clean and you have painted it white. Let dry about 20 minutes. You want the sign to be nice and dry before stenciling. When sign has dried lay out your stencils. Lay them in the order that they will be on your finished sign. You want to make sure that all of your letters will fit BEFORE you start stenciling. 😉 If Not you can end up with “Little Ones To Him” And then you have to repaint and start all over so that you can fit “Little Ones To Him Belong.” 🙂

After stencils are all laid out and you know they fit on your wooden sign you can begin by placing the first letter on the sign and using your stencil brush lightly dip in to the folk art paint. You just need a small amount of paint when stenciling. Wipe off any excess paint on a paper towel or shop towel. Begin stenciling your first letter by making dabbing motions up and down over and over again until you have completely covered the inside of the lettered stencil with paint. Lift stencil and notice your perfect crisp lines! This is because you did not paint up and down brush strokes!

Continue to stencil letters until you have each word done. The easiest way to line up the letter stencils is by matching the top of one letter stencil with the top of the next letter stencil. Its the best way to have your letters stay in a straight line and not have an “L” up high and an “I” down low. 🙂

PRO TIP: I like to use my smaller font stencils for the longer words. This makes it so you KNOW you can get your longer words on your project. 🙂

I also screwed in a little metal clip so that picture of the sweet baby can be hung. 🙂 YAE!!! You did it! You stenciled a wooden sign! I knew you could do it!

A few “odd” spots to find stencils

The mailbox section! in your local hardware store! People put letters and numbers on their mailboxes and you can always find great stencils in the mailbox section! Sometimes these are even more affordable!
The Photo Album section! Hobby Lobby or Michaels. Many people LOVE to make photo books and special collages of memorable events in their lives. The photo album section has GREAT small stencils for projects!
The Stationary section! Another great area to find stencils! When people make personalized stationary they often use some type of template. Stamps or…..you guessed it, a stencil! I have have found some super cute stencils in the stationary section!
The Poster Board section! This section has an amazing selection of stencils! Kids use stencils for Science Fair projects or other school projects and it is full of very affordable stencils!
The Teacher Store! My favorite stencils came from my mother (who is a teacher). Teachers use stencils for their bulletin board and you can find a wide variety of stencils at a teacher store! 🙂

Have you stenciled before? If so, what did you make? I’d love to hear. 🙂 Leave a comment below!