DIY Ampersand Sign Tutorial

Hello! It’s Jes from Mommy Envy and I’m back and sharing this easy DIY ampersand sign tutorial with you! Lately I’ve been obsessed with black and white home decor. I love how classy it looks. Black and white can be rustic, modern, or just about anything you want it to be!

This sign came together really nicely and I was surprise how easy it was. I am in a couple Facebook groups of people who share their vinyl projects. I joined them to get ideas but it has been a motivator to use my machine more. Here’s my step by step tutorial on making this wooden sign.

I started with a 1×4 cut into 12 inch sections. I purchased a 6 foot board so I have enough to make 2 signs. My Home Depot and Lowe’s will cut boards for me free of charge (this has come in handy!) but you might want to ask first because I know some charge per cut.

I then “stained” 3 of the 12 inch sections. It’s not actually stain though. I have a cheater way to stain wood that I have used a lot lately. You can see how this technique works here. With this technique you can make stain pretty much any color you want!

Let the stain dry (only takes 10-20 minutes) and then paint over the stain. I used an acrylic craft paint called Antique White. I think if I were to do it again I would use a more true white like Pot of Cream by Behr. I just like the clean, crisp difference in the black and white. Now let the paint dry for another 10-20 minutes.

Once the paint dried I sanded a little so that the wood grain can show through. I love the distressed look on wood.

I chose to not brace the wood together until now because I didn’t want paint to dry in the cracks. I used a spare piece of wood cut down. I think this stick (looks like a yard stick) was $0.45 at Home Depot. You could probably use left over paint sticks too. I simply used wood glue and let it dry (with weight on top) over night.

I used my Silhouette to cut out a large ampersand. I used Country Chic font and deleted a few of the frillies that comes with it. Country Chic is a paid for font but there are lots of cute free fonts you can use too. I then took out the ampersand sign so that the negative was left. This makes a stencil to paint in.

I used transfer tape since this stencil has a large piece cut out of it and it’s harder to keep it’s shape. Once you take off the transfer tape you can paint any color you want the ampersand to be. I chose black and put it on thick because I wanted it to have nice clean lines. Unfortunately I touched it as I pulled the stencil off and had to sand it anyway! You want to pull the stencil off while the paint is still wet so your paint doesn’t chip or peel. Once everything is dry you can put a finish on it. I use an orange oil that can be found with other finishing paste at Home Depot. You can also use coconut oil (just takes a while to soak in and dry).

And there you go! You can hang it by adding a hook on the back, drilling a hole or adding ribbon and a bow. I haven’t decided where I am going to put my sign yet. This DIY ampersand sign can stand alone on a stand or works well in with a gallery wall collection.

Here are some of my other black and white projects. I told you I am obsessed!

{Black Stained Wooden Trough Box}