Okay, so I saw this cute idea online for a sign that says “Grandchildren Make Life Grand” and I thought, “Hey, I can make that!” I’m not super crafty, but I do enjoy a good DIY project every now and then.
First, I gathered my materials. I already had a piece of scrap wood in the garage, leftover from some other project. It was a bit rough, so I knew I’d need to sand it down. Then, I grabbed:
- Sandpaper (various grits, because I wasn’t sure how smooth I needed it)
- Some leftover white paint (from painting a bathroom, I think?)
- A smaller paintbrush for the lettering
- Black acrylic paint (for the words)
- A pencil
- An old rag
- A printout of the saying, just to use as a guide.
Getting Started
My first step was to sand that wood. It took a while, and honestly, my arms got a bit tired. I started with the rougher sandpaper and then moved to the finer stuff until it felt pretty smooth. I wiped it down with the rag to get rid of all the dust.
Next, I painted the whole board white. I did two coats, letting it dry in between. It looked pretty good, even just plain white! I almost considered leaving it like that, but I stuck with the plan.
The Tricky Part (Lettering!)
Ok this is were I was a little worried. Lettering can be tricky.
I lightly penciled in the words, using my printout as a guide. I erased and redid it a few times until I was mostly happy with the spacing. Then, very carefully, I started painting the letters with the black paint. My hand was a little shaky at first, but I got the hang of it. It wasn’t perfect, but it had that handmade charm, you know?
After the black paint dried, I went back and touched up a few spots with the white paint where I’d messed up. Good as new! (Well, almost.)
The Finished Product
And that was it! I let it all dry completely, and it was ready. It’s not going to win any awards, but I’m pretty proud of it. It’s going to look great in my living room, a nice little reminder of the grandkids. I might even make a few more as gifts! It was a fun little project, and it didn’t even cost me anything since I used stuff I already had.
