DIY - Pallet Sign

I know this is early, and I apologize, but life here gets so hectic once school's in... ALL THE TIME!

I had to get this project started early to make sure I actually had it ready for Christmas.

This is my "Christmas Pallet Sign".

Or it's last year's sign anyways:

 It's a quote from the story "The Polar Express".

I wanted to change it up this year, so I thought I'd show a step-by-step for anyone that wants to try it out:

First you need to find your pallet or piece of scrap wood, or whatever it is you want to put your sign on.

I sanded and primed, but if this sign is disposable, you probably don't need to go to all that work.

For this sign, I sanded down the letters from last year and then painted with a coat of red to cover up the existing white lettering.

Next I chose my saying and blew it up in Word.  
I guesstimated how large the lettering would be on the pallet.

Once you have it printed, glue the lettering on to a sheet of mactac, or even adhesive shelf liner.  I've found both work equally as well.

I just used a spray adhesive, nothing fancy.

Make sure you're gluing to the non-adhesive side.

Then cut out the letters.

This is tedious, but it's also brainless, so I did it while watching/listening to America's Got Talent.

I put a paperclip around each set of letters that made a word.  So "b", "i", "g" would have been paper-clipped together with the "b" on top so I could find it easily.

Next up, position your letters onto your pallet/wood.

Once you're happy with the layout, peel the backing and adhere them in place.

This next step is optional, but I do it to help prevent the top coat of paint from 'bleeding' under the letters....  
I did a light coat of red over top of my letters;

Once dry, paint on your alternate colour - the top coat(s).

Because I was doing white over red, I had to do three coats, but it took only minutes because I just rolled it on.

I gave it a couple of days to dry thoroughly and then began to peel;

You'll notice in this photo that there is some white coming through on the letters.  This was because I peeled down to the previous sign - not because of paint bleeding under the letters.

If you aren't painting over paint, you shouldn't have this problem.

From here I can easily touch up with red if I want because the letters have left ruts that I can just fill in.

In this case, I kind of like the "rustic patina" and may keep it like this.

Here's the finished sign:

Here is my Hallowe'en one:

And these are a couple I made for the girls at Christmas:

As my girls would say "Easy-Peasy, Lemon-Squeezy". lol



 Have a great one!