The Painted Apron

Creations, Party Signs

Posted by the Painted Apron on August 29, 2013 · 15 Comments 

I promised to share the details for the Fiesta Party we had last weekend,  if you haven’t been to the party yet, click here

I decided that some large, eye-catching signs would be a great way to add some drama and decor.  But I didn’t want to spend days painting signs.

I picked up some large wood pieces already cut at Home Depot for under $15.

[Yes, the inside of my garage is painted, but I can’t show you until I get it cleaned up…which it never is, so don’t hold your breath…}

I wanted the signs to look rustic so I liked the texture of this wood

With leftover wall paint samples I painted a light area down the center of the long plank for the Cantina sign

When centering a word on the sign, count the letters.  The T is the center letter of the 7 so I painted that first, roughing in the rest around it

Once you’ve roughed in the letters, go back and fill them in.  Again, these signs are rustic so I wasn’t worried about perfection

Finish with a few details

I added some simple colorful shapes depicting peppers, lemons, limes and a sunflower

For the Fajita Cafe sign, I used a piece of artist canvas because I wanted to hang it from the china cabinet.  A piece of burlap, fabric or drop cloth would work too~

I used black gesso [cheaper than paint] to paint the center, leaving a white, 2 inch border.  Then I painted the letters with white paint.

If you use a font like this, you can freehand easily, adjusting space by tilting, going higher or lower.  This is easy for me because I do it all the time, but you can use a stencil if you wish.  People won’t notice little imperfections, they will notice the overall impact.

Some simple green zig zags on the lettering and some fat chili peppers and simple sunflowers complete the sign in no time.

NOTE:  The chile peppers are made with a fat brush loaded with red paint, with a quick wavy stroke.  Add an orange highlight somewhere and a green stem with a smaller brush.

I used a large wood rectangle, 4′ x 6′, for the Fiesta sign on the mantle.  I blocked in the letters with the same method used on Cantina after spray painting the wood black.  I purposely left the edges lighter, I wanted these signs to look old and weathered.

After going over the white to fill in, I added red squiggly lines, leaned it against the wall on the mantle and added Christmas lights and a flower garland {$5 at HL}

A large tissue pom pom and some sunflowers in painted wine bottles provided a dramatic welcome for Fiesta guests

NOTE:  When decorating for a party, picture your space full of guests.  Little things won’t be noticed, go for impact and go BIG!

The smaller signs were made from scrap wood, spray painted and quickly lettered.  These letters were left a little faded looking on purpose

A couple of simple green shapes indicated wine bottles on the vino signs

A few strokes for simple lemons~each wedge is a stroke of yellow and 3 strokes of light green.

TIP: if you are painting white shapes on a white background, tint the shape with another color so it will stand out

A sombrero created with an elliptical shape and a dome, blue accents and white dots

A tiered cake created with some wide white strokes and decorated with dots and daisies

This 4’x 6′ board was just leaning casually against the wall between the dining room and living room.  I was trying to create the ambiance of a cool Mexican restaurant.

This rough wood was tricky to paint on, even after I spray painted it white, it was still rough.  It actually worked in my favor for the hombre and his sombrero, the texture made the hat look woven with just a few brown and yellow paint strokes.

The Sombreros for the bride and groom took no time at all, I bought them at Hobby Lobby for $2.49 each

Wooden letters [$2 from Hobby Lobby] were painted and dotted

Simple shapes of a mustache and lips were drawn on card stock, painted and cut out.  Add some pink strokes over the red to make the lips look full and highlighted.

The letters were hot glued onto the hats and the paper shapes were simply stapled to the brim.  For the veil I used 1 yard of tuille, folded in 1/2 and loosely gathered by hand and stapled across the back rim of the brides sombrero.

I promise, I spent maybe 3 hours total on all these projects and they absolutely made the party!

This was a big hit with the guests too!  I ordered it from Amazon.com, $7. Lots of funny pictures were taken here!

And of course, my favorite was the Mariachi band…one of my friends actually thought I had painted them on the doors!  Seriously.

These two scenic panels were $7 for both at Party City.

I was amazed at the selection of Fiesta things available locally at Party City and Hobby Lobby.  They had great prices on tissue balls, and colorful fans. I did order the flag banners from Amazon.com along with the cut out faces photo poster.

The painted glassware, fruit platter, trash can and signs are my own creations, and you can see lots more over at JMdesignsGallery

For a tutorial on the painted wine bottle vases click here

Please let me know if I have left anything out or if you have any questions on painting~

Thanks so much for coming to the party!

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I’ll be joining these fabulous parties:

DYI Vintage Chic

It’s Overflowing

Alderberry Hill

Uncommon Designs

Between Naps on the Porch

The Dedicated House

Coastal Charm

A Stroll Thru Life

The Gunny Sack

Clean and Sensible

Savvy Southern Style

Worthing Court

No Minimalist Here

Posed Perfection