{ My Take on a Ballard Wall Sign }

I was so excited to open my Ballard Design catalogue { I heard the name on several blogs I visited } and wanted to know what this Ballard talk was all about.

250.00 {Ballard Price}

Needless to say I LOVED so MANY things but when my eyes laid on

this...see above sign.....my heart skipped a beat.  I knew I didn't have the budget for it ~ so I laid it aside ~ for awhile.

Time for the Fall Nesting Party came around, and as I was envisioning what my Fall Front Porch would look like....the Ballard sign came sneaking back into my mind.

It would look "befitting"

I just recreated it "or winged it" so please be kind : )

My husband...sorry I have no cute nickname...I do have a name but it isn't cute...:) cut the board and molding for me...I havne't "YET" learned that part.

We drew the sign onto a 1/2" mdf board and CUT that baby out!!  He cut it to fit above our door { about 5' long 18" tall }

I primed it first with the grey Behr Ultra

Then I went about the process of using the tea chest {more about that color HERE} by brushing it on and wiping it off.  I did that color first over the entire board.  Some grey from the primer showed through which is what I wanted.

I repeated this with the Folkart pure black paint...brushing on and wiping off until I got the desired look I wanted.

He attached the brick molding to the top and I painted it with the Tea Chest { brushing on/wiping off } then on the molding I brushed some Folkart paint in Skyline over it and wiped it off.

NOW for the Letters ~

The easiest FOR ME was something that would stick.  At Joann's, Post-Its has repositionable paper that is Cricut approved - so I bought some. 

My Cricut is new and I only had 2 cartridges so I didn't have many fonts to choose from.

I cut out the letters I wanted and centered them on the board and STUCK them ON!  It was that easy ~ even for a newbie!  I put the letters where I wanted them first ~ finding my center and THEN peeled the back off. 

Next came some light sanding on the edges and over the whole piece. 

$7 {My Sign}

Just a note:  The letters didn't really " sand " well.  I wanted them to look more " aged" but not really a big deal.  I really think the paper was easy to work with though and I will definitely use it again.

All that was left was a couple of coats of Spray Acrylic and it was ready to go.

IF YOU HAVE STUCCO like us ~ we found that the 3M command strips for pictures work really well for this kind of thing.  We used 4 and it is still hanging 

I really do like the finished product.  I figured when I tire of it outside I can use it inside somewhere.  

I am now working on some different signs just for women.  I will post one soon.

In the future I will work on my tutorial skills...more step by step pics: )

Linking up with...

Between Naps on the Porch

Always Building~

Tiffini