Old Plaque to New Autumn Sign

I found this old wooden plaque at thrift store for $1. I brought it home, gave it some TLC and love, and made myself a new autumn sign for the fall.

Here is the plaque in it’s original form. I remember a lot of people having this picture in their home growing up.

I painted the top part with Folk Art Coastal Sea Salt texture paint and I left the outside edges the way they were as I wanted to keep some of that wood and vintage look.

Once the paint dried, I placed my Folk Art leaf stencil on top. I started by pouncing/dabbing my Folk Art stencil brush in Apple Barrel Mountain Forest acrylic paint on the outside edges of the stencil. Then I used Folk Art Fresh Foliage acrylic paint in the middle and worked to blend the 2 colors.

I carefully pulled up the stencil and here is what my first leaf looked like.

I continued to do this with the different leaf stencils all around the plaque.

I blended the following colors onto the leaves until I got the look I wanted. Working from the outside in…

Folk Art & Apple Barrel Acrylic Paint:

Mountain Forest with Fresh Foliage

Sunflower & Pale Yellow with Fresh Foliage

Burgundy watercolor acrylic paint with Outrageous Orange

Outrageous Orange with Pale Yellow & Fresh Foliage

Burgundy watercolor with Mountain Forest

Mountain Forest with Pale Yellow

Fresh Foliage with Pale Sunflower

Here are the finished leaves. I let them dry completely before moving on.

Next I use a piece of painters tape to make a straight line across the bottom. I took my Plaid letter stencils and space them out on top of the sign to write the word “Autumn”. I used a pencil to mark where the would go.

Using Apple Barrel Chocolate Sprinkle acrylic paint, I took my stencil brush and tapped/pounced it onto the stencil letter.

Waiting for the first letter to dry, I stenciled in the middle letters and so on until I completed all of the letters.

Once the letters were completely dry I pulled off the painters tape.

I took the new sign outside and I sprayed it with Patricia Nimocks Acrylic Sealer and let that dry completely.

Click on the video below to watch me make this Autumn Sign.