Easy DIY Hand Painted Sign For Less Than $10!

Since the kid’s bathroom remodel is done now, I thought I’d use this week’s DIY post to showcase how I made some art for less than $10. Art can be so expensive. This DIY Hand Painted Sign was an easy project that only took me a couple hours. Here’s how I did it.

Ideas for My DIY Hand Painted Sign

There wall across from my Son’s vanity is a big, blank space of nothing.  I wanted to change that by having a large piece of art to hang above the hook rack that I built.  Its hidden mostly by the open door, but when the door is closed, its something special.

I really love the idea of song lyrics as art.  We have several prints in my Son’s room that I ordered from Etsy, with lyrics from Classic Rock, Lullabyes, and even a Rap song. I looked around on Pinterest and Etsy, and decided I was going to use “So Fresh & So Clean Clean”. I love that song, and what little kid doesn’t want some Outkast in their bathroom?  Am I right?

I saw some prints on Etsy, but I really didn’t like the idea of having a frame with glass hanging over this wall, because the wall goes straight to the floor.  If it got knocked off and broken, I didn’t want little bare feet stepping on glass.

I looked around at HomeGoods, which has had a ton of quote art lately, but they didn’t have anything on the scale that I was looking for.  While I was looking around, I found this post by Leana from A Small Snippet where she made her own hand-painted quotes on canvas using a tracing method.  I thought that looked easy enough, and that’s when I decided this was going to be a DIY.

DIY Hand Painted Sign Materials

About a month ago, Michael’s was having a huge sale, so I went there to get my supplies.  I picked up a 2 pack of 18″x24″ canvas for just $5 (they were mismarked, but the store honored the price on the shelf tag). I also got a set of Camel Hair Assorted Sized Paint Brushes for $4.79 after my 40% off coupon.

Printing the Lyrics

A few weeks ago, I mocked up a version of what I was thinking in my head. I used a free font called BodoniFLF, which is a basic, modern, serif font.  The next day I saved it as a PDF and printed it out. It printed on 6 different sheets of paper. Staples or FedEx will print it out on a larger piece of paper, but I’m cheap & this is free.

Because my print out was on 6 different sheets of paper, there were some margins.  I used my paper trimmer to trim down the margins.

Then I carefully lined up the letters and taped them together.  I used my measuring tape to make sure the vertical spacing was correct for my DIY Hand Painted Sign.

Tracing the Lyrics

After that, I flipped my print out upside down and started tracing the letters.  I have a white desk, so it was easier to see the letters.  If you don’t have a white table, you might do this over some posterboard.

Here it is with the tracing done.

Transferring the Letters to the Canvas

After the tracing was done, I cut down my print out so that I could position it on the canvas.  I used my measuring tape again to make sure the letters were the same distance from the left side of the canvas up and down, and then the same distance from the top and bottom.  Then, I taped it to the canvas.

I started tracing the right side of the letters on the canvas of my DIY Hand Painted Sign.  I carefully peeled up the corners of the tape to see if my earlier tracings on the back were rubbing off on the canvas like they were supposed to, and they were!  When I finished tracing them for the 2nd time, this time on the front, and removed the print out, I was left with this:

Kind of hard to see here, but it was definitely visible in person.

I very carefully went over a few areas that didn’t transfer well, and then it was time to paint!  Luckily, the kids were going down for their afternoon naps.

Painting the Lyrics

I had some black craft paint in my scrapbook supplies, so I put some in a disposable bowl and chose the Liner brush from my new set.  The first letter was ok, but I thought I could do better with a different brush from my Nail Art Brush Set.  The Liner brush was too thick.

I ended up using an angled striper brush.  It was exactly what I needed.

I outlined each letter with the nail art brush, then filled it in with the Mini-Mop brush from my art set.  I’m no artist at all, in fact, I don’t remember the last time I painted on a canvas.  Elementary School, maybe?  I went to Elementary School in the Late 80’s, so its been a while. The outlining was easier for me if I could pull down vs going up or side to side, so I was constantly turning the canvas. That way, I was almost always pulling my brush down.

I had a couple oopsies, but this particular paint cleaned up well with a wet paper towel or baby wipe. I had 3 mess ups, and you can’t even tell. The paint dried matte, and I LOVE IT! I’m not usually a fan of matte finishes, but this is freaking fantastic.  I love my DIY Hand Painted Sign!

DIY Hand Painted Sign

Here’s what my DIY Hand Painted Sign looked like when I was done:

Since the walls in the bathroom are white, and the canvas is whiteish off-white, I decided to stain some Lattice that I had in the garage and use that as a frame.

I just measured my cuts, mitred the edges, stained them, and nailed them into the canvas with my brad nailer.

Easy Peasy Finished Art for the Bathroom!  Done!

I really like it.  It’s not perfect, and if you get up really close, you can tell, but its hand-painted.  Its supposed to look like that.  The painting portion took me about an hour to finish.  I had to touch up some spots after it was dry, but that only took 10 minutes.

DIY Hand Painted Sign Budget

This DIY Hand Painted Sign project cost me less than $10, but if you didn’t have the craft paint, extra brush, lattice or stain, it might run you another $10 for all of that.

I was apprehensive about starting this DIY Hand Painted Sign project and what it would look like, but I LOVE the finished product!  It’s definitely a statement piece in the bathroom.  After finishing it, I truly felt like there “Ain’t nobody dope as me.”

How fun is this? Make sure you’re following me on Instagram so you can see my latest Budget-Friendly DIYS!

Have you ever done any DIY art?  Are you totally into the inspirational quotes that are everywhere now?