“…hope in the Lord; For with the Lord there is lovingkindness, And with Him is abundant redemption.” Psalm 130:7
Inspired by a sign from Fyne’s Designs, I had pinned onto my Easter Pinterest board a while back, the other day I set about making my own version of a H-O-P-E sign. (there are shopping links towards the end of this post, if you’re inspired to make one yourself)
After finding a chunky old board in the wood pile, I went to the Dollar Tree store and found a small grapevine wreath along with a faux forsythia bush. (the quality of faux flowers at Dollar Tree aren’t fantastic, but for on the porch, I figured it’s ok, because it will not be closely examined, and cheaply adds the color and spring feeling I’m after.)
The inspiration ‘pin’ has a super full forsythia wreath, but I decided I wanted mine to show more grapevine with a little moss accent, so only using the single ‘bush’ I bought, I snipped the individual branches off.
Here’s a tip:
Be sure to bend the branch into an arch before you go to place it on the wreath! It is much easier to work with that way.
After securing a wire firmly on the wreath, I poked in the forsythia branch and wrapped the wire around it and the wreath going along the to the next branch, trying to keep most of the forsythia pointing to the outside edge of the wreath.
As I was wrapping, I was careful to wrap along the branch in several places around the wreath, but making sure the flowers and leaves were not caught under the wire.
As you can see, with this sparse treatment, the wires do show a bit on the wreath after the forsythias are on… But I have a plan…
To add natural texture and interest, and to cover up the wires as well, I hot-glued clumps of moss onto the inside face of the wreath.
I have found that mixing faux flowers with real branches, and moss helps ‘pull off’ the natural look, and makes the faux look more believable.
Now onto the board:
The board happened to measure 36″ long, so I divided that into 4 spaces, and I have to admit, I really lucked out, because this was the first time I put the wreath on the board, and just realized that it fit perfectly… whoops… I’d really recommend checking that out before you glue and wire a bunch of stuff on the wreath… (There were actually 3 different sizes at the Dollar Tree for these wreaths, I just grabbed the middle size.)
The inspiration sign had attached wooden letters on it, which is a really cute idea, (I did include a shopping link for some, if you decide to go that way, and I also included some letter stencils, in case you’d prefer that, and if you’d really like to go all out, I even included a link for a Cricut!) But I decided to just paint some letters on my sign. I still do it the old fashioned way… by eye and by hand… With the decided font and the word HOPE printed out on a sheet of paper, I sketched the vertical and horizontal center line for each letter on the paper with pencil, then the same approximate centers, vertical and horizontal, on the board with a piece of white chalk.
Those reference lines are so helpful when trying to hand sketch a font like this. By the way, this font is called: Algerian, and I found it is a very easy font to draw by hand, like this method.
Using a flat paint brush and some leftover paint from a Home Depot sample pint, (they will mix up custom colors in these small sample pint containers for just a couple dollars…which is really nice for crafts and small paint projects) I simply painted one coat of paint where I had sketched the letters on.
Once the letters were dry, I nailed in 2 nails and wrapped them with wires to hold the wreath on securely. My plan for this sign is to place it on the porch, so the blowing wind is a concern, I want the wreath securely held on.
Once the sign was all done, a damp paper towel easily removed all traces of the chalk sketching and measuring lines.
So there is the finished HOPE sign, at our front door. I feel that one word speaks volumes.
I like that the warm wood tone of it balances the warm tone of the mail basket on the right of the door. (the long black handle on the doorframe is the Downton Abbey Doorbell pull!)
I’m also really liking how the yellow accents of the forsythias are contrasting with the bright blue front door I painted last fall. (the front door color is called: ‘Venetian Blue’ and is a Hirshfield’s color).
Next week I hope to show you a few other details on our Spring front porch.
Please feel free to share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook and Pinterest and Flipboard and Houzz the more the merrier! I appreciate you stopping by.
Shopping Links for this HOPE sign: Grapevine Wreaths, Forsythia Branch, Moss, Florist Wire, Wood Letters, Letter Stencils, Cricut
Want to read a little more?
Click here to see all about our 100 year old house.
Click here to see more spring/Easter decorating I’ve written about, both here and at our former house.
this post is linked at the following blogs: Common Ground, Posed Perfection, The Charm of Home, Design, Dining and Diapers, French Country Cottage, Too Much Time on my Hands, Shabby Nest, Joy in Our Home, My Repurposed Life, My Romantic Home, Serenity Now, It’s Overflowing, DIY Showoff, I Should be Mopping the Floor, Uncommon Design, Nifty Thrifty Things, Under the Table and Dreaming, Between Naps on the Porch, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Home Stories A to Z, StoneGable, Yesterday on Tuesday, Tip Junkie, A Bowl Full of Lemons, DIY Dreamer, Just a Girl and Her Blog, Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, Chic on a Shoestring
