Make A French Road Sign

Like I did, 'cause, obviously, I have flowers and grains right outside my door.  Although, now that I think of it, there isn't much any car traffic in the house...  I'll give you a look at my inspiration, then tell you how I got all the way from there to here. 

from desiretoinspire.net

Okay, I still like the "real thing" better.  Anyway.  I saw the Paula Grace room (below) and wanted that kind of drama.

Orange, orange!  I must have orange!  That led to a Pinterest search.  For orange window treatments.  Good luck with that.  Apparently, one gets random "orange things" when one searches for orange window treatments.  Sigh.  At least it lead to the Asian orange console which led to...a French road sign.

I had a brand new, oval wood plaque that I bought some time ago for a different project.  I almost donated a few weeks ago, but since it was still shrink-wrapped, I added it to a scrap wood stack in the garage.  Lucky for me and my current exploit.

I gathered up a few painting supplies.  (It's the first time I used a paint pen--it was a real life saver!)  Go paint pens!  I tried tracing the letters from my computer screen, but felt like I just had "guidance," so it looks more organic than my inspiration.  How do you like that adjective, "organic?"  Yeah, that's it.

This picture seems a little deceiving.  My board was narrower (a true oval) than my inspiration photos, so I felt like I had to squeeze the lettering a bit more.  Oops, gotta center that picture hanger.  I put two eye hooks on the back with picture hanging wire.

To make the holes where the "sign" would have been secured, I put a dot of black paint, then blotted it off with a paper towel.  Then I put another dot of paint in the middle.  To get the discoloration along the top, bottom, and sides, I used gray paint on a wet paper towel and dabbed it on.  I decided to leave the lettering off the arrow.

For my "rust" streaks, I used my mocha glaze.  Isn't it funny how you can tell the paint pen from where I painted in the lines with a paint brush?

There you have it, an "almost authentic" traffic sign, thanks to orange window treatments!


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