Are you celebrating any love birds getting married this summer?  Or want to personalize your own home with a customized family sign?

Grace and I made this sign for my sister's family this week, and we thought it would make an awesome wedding gift, anniversary gift, or just a beautiful addition to your own home.

I really fell in love with these prints from Red Envelope, but a stretched canvas print half the size of my wood DIY version costs $170.  

Guess how much we spent DIYing this wood sign?

Less than $10!!!

- 4 cedar fence slats ($8)

- 1 - 1x3 furring strip board ($1.50)

- Staples, stain and paint I had leftover from various other projects

Here's how we made this sign - 

I took the four 72" long fence slats and cut them in half.  Then I layed them out on the table, and measured the height of the sign, and cut the furring strips to fit.

Then I glued and stapled the furring strip to the back of the sign.

Next, I stained the front of the sign with RustOleum Wood Stain in Early American.  It's a one step so you just brush it on and wipe it off.

Then I painted the trunk and branches with a brush.  I started with a few inspiration trees on Pinterest, but ended up just free handing most of the tree.  Remember, trees are not perfect and you don't need to paint them perfect either!

After the main tree trunk and branches were painted, Grace showed me how to cut a sponge in a leaf shape,

And dip that in paint, and make leaves on the sign -

This was much easier than tracing out each leaf!  Grace actually ended up placing many of the leaves on this sign.  

I ended up filling in leaves with a brush, but later on I wish I hadn't -

See how the tree looks a little too crisp?

I ended up distressing the entire sign with my cordless Ryobi Sander.

Much better!

For the birds, I cut out a silhouette, and traced the birds (one for each family member) on the tree branches. Then I filled in the birds with paint in a gray blue.  I used an angled tipped brush.

Just like might be done in a real tree trunk, I used a pocket knife to carve out initials inside a heart.

It's one of my favorite parts of this sign!  And the easiest part too!

For the family name part, I followed my friend Jaime's tutorial on personalizing wood with paint.  It's easy and you don't have to cut out each letter.

This was such a fun project that you can do with your kids to give a meaningful handmade custom gift that doesn't break your budget!  We are thrilled with the results - the hubs actually asked me if I would make one for our family!

I just might!

Have a great weekend!  Happy DIYing!

XO Ana and Family