DIY Wedding: Mr. & Mrs. Signs

(Originally posted 3.13.12)

When I saw these adorable signs on Happily After All, I just knew I had to do something similar for my wedding. So I did.

I did have a few problems starting out on this project. I bought a crackle paint from Michaels but didn't realize that you had to have a specific primer to make it crack. After numerous tries, I finally convinced Keegan that we needed to buy a crackle gel from Walmart to make it work. 

First, start out with a scenic view to do your painting it. I chose my backyard (ignore the fact we still don't have grass yet or part of our fence)

 

Gather up your supplies: spray paint base coat (I used black,) crackle medium and spray paint top coat (I chose an off white)

 

Get a piece of wood or a pre-cut sign. I got mine from Walmart, but I forgot to get a picture of it before I painted it. 

Anyways, spray paint your sign with the bottom color. 

 

Wait until the bottom coat dries and then paint on your crackle medium (no picture for this.) 

Once the crackle medium dries, spray on your top color

While you're waiting for your top color to dry, print out and cut out your letters (*warning* this method does not give you perfect lines) Tape them onto the front of your sign

I used black acrylic paint and filled in the letters with a brush

 

After the letters dried, I carefully peeled off the lettering and voila! 

 Like I said above, this method doesn't give you perfect lines. As you can see on the "Mr." sign, the paint spread out in some areas. I'm not 100% sure if I'm going to touch these up or leave them. Keegan likes that they look handmade so I'll probably leave them as is.

Also, like I said above I had some problems starting this project. I ended up using the crackle paint for my top coat because I had it. However, you do not have to, the medium works will all paints. The blue below is an acrylic paint I painted on top of the crackle medium and it worked just as well. However, it cracked in a more liner patterns because I brushed it on. 

This is a green spray paint I attempted and it worked in spots, but not all the way through. I'm assuming its because I didn't do a think enough layer. 

 Overall this project was pretty simple (once I got the right materials,) just time consuming having to wait for each layer to dry. Now I just need to add ribbons so that we can hang the signs at the reception.