Sharing is caring!

Can you believe we have already made it to the third week of our Deck the Home holiday blog hop?!?! Christmas will be here before we know it! As with the past weeks, we have a theme this week: Wood Sign. I am very familiar with making wood signs (check out my Etsy shop for proof of that!) but this week I wanted to go outside my comfort zone and make something larger and a little different than all the other signs I have done. And I wanted to make something to hang in our master bedroom over our bed that would fit well with the holidays. So I created a DIY rustic wood Christmas sign!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience, this means that if you click on a link and end up making a purchase I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you, see my full disclosure and privacy policy for more information.

Materials Needed for a DIY Rustic Wood Christmas Tree Sign

I wanted this to be a large sign and since we have a queen-size bed and I wanted to hang it over the back of the bed I wanted the sign to just be proportional to the bed width. I couldn’t find one whole piece wood that was big enough so I ended up attaching several boards together to create the width that I wanted (I found these in my parents’ barn). I used wood glue to attach the boards together and used clamps to hold it in place for 24 hours to dry.

Three pieces of wood sitting on sawhorses to be glued together
A close up of three boards butted up against each other with one board that has a large knot in it
Three clamps holding boards in place that have been glued together

After the glue was dry we did end up using brace plates to reinforce the boards so that they stayed together. Justin attached two of the brace plates together because the screws were too long and would stick out the other side once screwed in.

A close up of a brace plate being screwed into boards to attach them together

Once this was together I painted the entire surface with my favorite white chalk paint, although any type of paint you have should work for this.

Three pieces of wood glued together and sitting on a counter ready for paint

Now it was time to prep the stencils. I have always been fond of the wood Christmas tree signs that can be found all over Etsy and Pinterest so I created my own. I wanted the entire sign to be painted instead of using vinyl letters so I used the Cricut stencil vinyl to create my own stencils. Cricut Design Space has a variety of tree designs but I picked three that looked like different tree varieties. I then created the lettering and listed different types of Christmas trees as part of the sign, these are actual Christmas tree varieties that are grown here in Oregon. (Fun fact: Did you know that Oregon is the #1 producer of Christmas trees in the US!)

Cricut vinyl stencils sitting on a whitewashed table

Once you cut out your stencil you will weed out the lettering (this is opposite of what you normally think to do when using vinyl) and then attach the transfer paper over the top of the stencil. So when you go attach your stencil to your surface you will peel off the thicker cardboard, place the stencil on the surface and then peel off the transfer paper before starting to paint.

Cricut stencils laying on a whitewashed surface

I wanted all the wording to be in green and grey so I laid down the stencils and sponged the paint onto the board and let it slightly dry before removing the stencils. Stencil painting tip: Use a paper plate to off-load your paint before starting to sponge. This helps the paint not leak out and under the stencil. Another tip when using the stencil vinyl: Press down the vinyl stencil before painting with a Cricut Scraper.

A paper plate sitting on a white board with a sponge painter on the plate
A close up of trees painted with a sponge waiting for the stencil to be removed

After the paint was all dry we created a frame using scrap wood trim pieces that we found in our barn. I did not stain or treat the trim wood as I liked the way it looked already. Justin pre-drilled holes and then screwed each side to the board.

A Christmas tree wood sign sitting on a surface so that the wood frame can be attached
A close up of a white painted board with the word Christmas tree and trees painted in green

We used two “D” ring hooks on the back for hanging with gallery wire tied between them to hang on the wall.

A close up of the back of the frame with a D ring waiting to be screwed in

And now I have a beautiful sign for our bedroom to bring the holidays into our small master bedroom, with a couple of other holiday touches to come soon!

A Christmas tree painted wood sign hanging above a bed
A close up of a white painted Christmas tree sign with an unfinished wood frame

Sharing is caring!

5 Comments on DIY Rustic Wood Christmas Tree Sign

  1. Very pretty sign and I really like the 3 types of Christmas trees. I always go with the fat wide trees like the one in the middle. I need to make a Christmas tree sign now.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.