I absolutely love the look of those wooden welcome signs! There is just something about seeing it sitting on your front porch beckoning your guests to come on in and feel right at home. If you love the welcome signs for your front door as much as I do, why not make one for yourself?!

Custom wooden signs add a touch of charm and a unique look to any entryway, and they are easier to make than you may think. Make your very own personalized wood signs with just a few materials and a little elbow grease — see how below!

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How To Make Wooden Welcome Signs

Materials Needed

  • Piece of wood
    For this tutorial, I used a pre-bought white-washed wood sign with a frame.
    You can find many shapes and sizes by shopping online at Michael’s or another craft store.
    I have also purchased unused cabinet doors from a Habitat For Humanity store and then finished them to my liking. They are solid wood and work really well for projects like these. If you have a store in your area it may be worth a look!
  • Cricut cutting machine
    If you don’t have a cutting machine you can buy premade stencils or simply trace and cut by hand. The instructions in this tutorial take advantage of a cutting machine to create your own stencils.
  • Stencil vinyl for use in the cutting machine.
    Regular vinyl works well as a stencil too, don’t feel you need to run out and buy anything special.
  • Wooden painted shapes
    I have a list of different shapes you may want to use throughout the season right on Amazon.
    Some people like the look of using the state they live in as the ‘O’. If you prefer this, you can find some great premade shapes on Etsy here.

DIY Wooden Signs – Instructions

Step 1. Measure the length of your board and divide it by 7 to get the height of each letter.

For example, the length of the board pictured is 29.92”. Divided by 7 = 4.27”. Based on this I know that each of my letters has to fit inside the 4.27” height and within the 7.87” measured width of the board.

TIP: In Design Space you can insert a square shape, unlock the resizing tool, and resize it to the size of your board. Your letters should fit comfortably within the rectangle without touching the sides or each other. Play around with placement and reduce the size of the letters as needed before cutting, just don’t forget to hide the rectangle before you hit ‘make it’ as you don’t want to actually cut that piece.

You can feel free to use my cut file in Cricut Design Space here, or make your own cut file by typing out the letters you want to cut. If you use my file just resize the letters to fit the size of the board you are using.

Step 2. Place a 12 x 12 piece of stencil vinyl onto the cutting mat and send the cut file to your machine.

Each letter will cut individually onto a separate 12 x 12 sheet so you will need to repeat this process until all the letters are cut. Do not cut out the O as that is where the wooden interchangeable pieces will go.

Step 3. Weed out the letter portion leaving the outside in tact as this will be your stencil.

Step 4. Carefully peel the stencil off the mat and place onto the board. You may want to use a tape measure and a pencil to mark the vertical center line of the board in order to help guide you when placing the stencils, but mostly I just eyeball it. Repeat for each letter.

Step 5. Use a paintbrush to paint the letters your choice of colors. If you have a background that is dark, white always pops nicely. You may need several coats.

TIP: To prevent bleeding, paint the first coat the same color as the background, then use your desired color on top.
Alternatively, you can use a foam brush and pounce the first coat of your desired color versus using a stroking motion.

Step 6. After the paint has dried, remove the stencils and attach a piece of Velcro in the spot where the shapes will go. Attach another piece to the back of each shape. You now have an interchangeable ‘O’ that you can switch out as you desire.

Step 7. If you will be using the wooden welcome sign outside then you will need to seal the project to protect it against the elements.

One sealer that was recommended to me by our local hardware store was Spar Urethane. If you have found other sealants that may work that is fine too, just make sure they are for outdoor use.

If you need extra help or want to share your finished result, join us in the Craft Cutters – Cricut Learning Community Facebook Group.

Don’t forget to share your finished projects with us in the Rock Your Craft – DIY Sharing Group or on the Crafts & More by The Mommy Bunch page.