DIY Weathered Chalk Paint Sign

This DIY Weathered Chalk Paint Sign was an easy afternoon project.

Check out the entire tutorial below.

We've been working really hard to get our little mudroom (or, mud "hallway") in order before school starts. I wanted to add a little motivational sign for the kids to see before they grab their backpacks and head out the door. I'm super happy with how this came together...the sentiment means a lot to our family, too.

Anything can happen if you let it 

Sometimes things are difficult but you can bet it

Doesn't have to be so

Changes can be made
You can move a mountain if you use a larger spade

Anything can happen, it's a marvel

You can be a butterfly
Or just stay larval

Stretch your mind beyond fantastic
Dreams are made of strong elastic

Take some sound advice and don't forget it
Anything can happen if you let it...

 Photo courtesy of Hayley Duggar, Mary Poppins Vive Les Arts Director

Our youngest son played the role of Michael Banks in the musical Mary Poppins this summer at our local theater. It was an incredible experience. One of the last songs in the play was Anything Can Happen If You Let It. Such an incredible song, as you can tell from the excerpt above. I wanted to create a piece to commemorate the amazing experience this summer has been. Out of all of the songs and lyrics, I thought this one was fantastic.

This sign started as an eight foot 1x6 board. I cut it down to five feet long and sanded the edges really well. I mixed two of my favorite "neutral" colors of Folk Art Chalk style paint and painted a simple base color on one side of the board. I added vinyl lettering that I cut with my machine. You can also find pre-cut vinyl lettering at craft stores.

I "sealed" the vinyl with another coat of my mixed paint. 
This prevents bleeding on the lettering.

I used a wax puck along the edges of the painted board. This prevents the top coat of paint from fully sticking...giving it a bit of a weathered look. When I sand it, it lets that top coat come right off...but leaves the bottom layer of paint in tact. You can get the same effect with the side of a wax candle stick. 

The top coat of paint was my fave, y'all. Waverly's new chalk style paint in Lagoon is pretty gorgeous, y'all. And their brushes are great to work with, too. I only needed one coat. 

After the Lagoon color dried, I pulled off the vinyl. As you can see, my sealing technique I explained above really helped prevent any kind of bleed under the lettering.  

I lightly sanded the edges and the main body of the piece, too. The wax puck really helped the top coat of paint "fall" off and reveal the darker paint of the bottom coat. I sealed the board with Waverly's Matte Varnish. This is actually a wax brush, but it works well for varnish, too.  

 Here's kind of a close-up of the finish.

The perfect little sentiment to send my kiddos off to school with!

A big thank you to Plaid Crafts for supplying all of the paint, varnish, and brushes for today's post.

Neglect your chores like me and don't miss a thing:

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