How to Make a JOY Farmhouse Christmas Sign

Can you believe we are less than 1 week away from Christmas? How does the time go so fast?? I guess I can say that I’m ready. I did most of my shopping online this year, which was such a pleasant experience.  Thank you Amazon Prime! You are the best!!! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial and you’ll see how awesome it is! I’m sure most of you are done decorating already, but this JOY Farmhouse Christmas Sign post has been on my “to-do” list for a while so I figured I’d go ahead and share it. You can always pin it for next year, right? 😉

I am hosting Christmas at my house this year and I’m a little stressed about it because my hubby is having back surgery this week and I know that I’ll be busy taking care of my honey and won’t have much time to prep. I’ve done as much as I could already, but you know there are always those last minute preparations. It’ll be good though. My mom is bringing turkey gumbo (she makes the best!) so we have the main food covered. Food and family is all it takes to make this girl happy on Christmas.

How to Make a JOY Farmhouse Christmas Sign

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What you’ll need:

32″ long x 12″ wide Pine Board (mine was 1″ thick)

Wood Stain

Old t-shirt or rag

White Acrylic Paint

Red Acrylic Paint

2″ Paint Brush

Small-tip Paint Brush

Sandpaper

Pencil

Tape

3/4″ Finish Nail

Hammer

10″ Boxwood Wreath

What you’ll do:

Use an old t-shirt or rag to stain the wood with a dark stain, wiping away any excess. I used Minwax in Dark Walnut. Stain the top and sides. Let the stain dry completely before moving to the next step. I stained my board first so that when I distressed, the darker would would show through.

Paint the wood with white acrylic paint. I tried chalk paint at first, but it gets very dusty when you start to distress it and the colors start bleeding together. The acrylic paint works much better for this project.

Print out the letters J and Y (i’ve attached them for you HERE).

Turn your letters over and scribble your pencil over the letters (coloring outside of the lines is encouraged).

Lay your letters and wreath on the board vertically to determine your spacing.

Once you get your spacing right, tape the papers to the board to hold them in place. Then take your pencil and trace around the edge of the letters. This will transfer the letter onto your board (the same way that carbon paper works).

Once you’ve traced the J and Y, it’s time to paint your letters with the red acrylic paint. You will want to use a small tip paint brush for this. Again, don’t worry about staying inside of the lines because your are going to come back with sandpaper to distress anyway.

After the paint dries, take a piece of sandpaper and distress around the edges and over the letters.

Hold your wreath in place and hammer in a small nail to hang it on. That’s it! I know it seems like a lot of steps, but this Joy Farmhouse Christmas Sign is so easy peasy. You could even skip the staining part if you prefer. I’ve done it both ways.

Other Farmhouse Sign Ideas

My husband actually bought an 8′ board that he cut in to three 32″ sections. I was able to make 3 signs from the 1 board. I planned to share a tutorial for each, but time has eluded me. I’ll share pics of the other 2 signs that I made and if you want further instructions, feel free to comment below or send me a message.

For the NOEL sign, I purchased the raw wood letters at Walmart and painted them with the red acrylic paint. Then nailed them to the board with small finish nails.

I hope this tutorial for the JOY Farmhouse Christmas Sign was helpful.  Wishing you a beautifully blessed Christmas with lots of love and laughter! xoxo