DIY St. Patrick's Day Reclaimed/Pallet Wood Sign

This St. Patrick’s Day, decorate with this classic reclaimed wood/pallet sign! The circular design, is all around great! And it wouldn’t be St Patrick’s day without a little green. The green glittered shamrock is my FAVORITE part! I don’t have a whole lot of St. Patrick’s Day decor, but this is definitely a great addition to my not-so-full collection.

This sign is pretty simple to make it just takes a little time and patience, but oh so worth it! I would guesstimate that it will take you about 60-90 minutes, once you have your pallet sign made. HERE is a great tutorial on how to make your own pallet sign.

What you’re gonna need:

Pallet wood sign
Happy St. Patrick’s Day pattern (from Burton Avenue)
Tape
Scissors
Carbon transfer paper
Pencil or pen
Forest Green paint
Paint brush (small)
Sharpie paint pen
Mod Podge
Green glitter
disposable container with a lid.

Determining the placement of your pattern on your St Patrick’s Day reclaimed/pallet wood sign and getting it ready to trace

Begin by printing your pattern the desired size. The pattern size I chose to use, was so big I had to print it onto 4 pieces of paper. Using the natural sunlight, I held the pieces of paper up against the window, and taped them together. After they were taped together, I trimmed it up leaving about 1/4″ of paper around the outside of the pattern.

Next, place the trimmed pattern on your reclaimed wood/pallet wood sign and center it to the position you want. Very carefully, you are going to lift up the sides of the pattern to place the carbon transfer paper underneath. Working on only one area at a time. Be careful not to move or shift the pattern position. Make sure there are no gaps between the carbon transfer paper. You can even overlap them a tiny bit if you want to. Once you have your carbon transfer paper placed underneath your pattern, you are ready to transfer your pattern onto your reclaimed/pallet wood sign.

Transferring your design onto your reclaimed/pallet wood sign

Now that you have your pattern, on top of the carbon paper, on top of the reclaimed/pallet wood sign, it’s time to transfer the image. Place one hand on the pattern to hold it into place. Using a pen or pencil, you are going to trace all the lines/design of the pattern. Pressing firmly, begin tracing. Trace a small part of the outer edge of the pattern and then, very carefully, lift the edge of the carbon transfer paper up to visualize the lines being made. You want to be sure you are using enough pressure. I’d hate for you to trace the whole thing and pull it off only to find out you didn’t press firm enough to transfer the image.

Once you have transferred (traced) the WHOLE design onto your reclaimed/pallet wood sign, remove the pattern and the carbon transfer paper to reveal the black lines of the pattern on your sign.
This is the fun part! To see your image on the wood.

Painting your St. Patrick’s Day reclaimed/pallet wood sign

First, you are going to want to paint the shamrock(s) green. (The original design from Burton Avenue has 3 shamrocks. I was thinking it might be difficult to paint the smaller shamrocks so I changed them to circles.) Using the paint brush of your choice and the Forest Green paint, paint 1 good thick coat on or 2 thin coats. The technique I prefer most often, is painting multiple thin coats because they dry quicker in between coats and sometimes I get a little impatient waiting for my paint to dry!

Next, while your Forest Green paint is drying, grab your Sharpie paint marker and begin “painting” your sign. (I like to think of it as coloring in the transferred image) Don’t fret if you don’t have a paint marker, (I attached a link in the supplies list) you can also paint this by hand using a paintbrush and black paint–it just takes a LOT more time and patience.

Glitter-izing your St. Patrick’s Day reclaimed/pallet wood sign

Once you have all of your black “painted” your green will probably be dry. It’s now time to make your glitter medium. Click HERE to see how.

Now, begin painting the glitter medium onto your shamrocks. It might be a good idea to use the same, or similar, paint brush that you used to paint them the first time. That way you don’t have to become familiar with another paint brush. You want to use LOTS of this stuff to make it super glittery. Definitely use as much of the glitter medium as you can because it doesn’t keep very long in the container. (maybe 1-2 weeks before it starts to thicken and dry out)

After you have all the glitter paint on it, that you want, you are done! I would store the reclaimed/palled wood sign lying flat for the rest of the day. Doing so will allow the glitter paint to dry completely. It would be horrible if you got this far and decided to stand it up to display it, and the glitter paint ran down the front of it. AGHHH!