Farm Fresh Rusty Christmas Tree Sign

I just love a good Christmas Tree Farm sign, there are so many great ones out there. 

I also love a good story and this project has one. 

The sign I made for Christmas began life as a tropical leaf framed canvas print my daughter bought off Facebook. 

It was pretty ugly in my humble opinion but she liked it so ... fast forward a couple of years...

My daughter moved and sold the 2 prints to one of her sisters for her new apartment...

Fast forward another year and my daughter moved back home, because frankly, who the heck can afford to move out on a private school teacher's salary on Long Island?! 

But I digress... I have big plans for those 2 paintings. 

As you're reading please visit the bold blue links for the products I used and more related DIY projects. The READ MORE section will take you to related bonus projects! 

The 2 leaf prints were in my garage so I did what any good DIYer would do... I took them to make over! Did I mention they were each over 3 feet long and taking up a lot of space in my garage?! 

I began the first makeover by taping off the wooden frame with painter's tape and painting the canvas white with Fusion Mineral Paint in Raw Silk. 

While the white paint was drying I made stencils on my Cricut Joy machine. I only have the little machine and I'm hear to tell you it can still do BIG things! I've made a ton of things with this machine! 

READ MORE: CRICUT PROJECTS

I attached the stencils to the painted canvas then stenciled in the words. 

In the center of the canvas I am using a great Christmas stencil from Old Sign Stencils. I've used this stencil on some great projects throughout the years. You will definitely get your money's worth if you purchase this stencil! And note: the prices are in Canadian so US prices will look different! 

When all the lettering and stenciling was finished I began the rust technique. I did it very much like the sign I made a while back. 

You will need Mod Podge Matte, cinnamon, and matte sealer. 

Basically I spread Mod Podge around the edges of the stencil, sprinkled on cinnamon, put more Mod Podge over the top of the cinnamon and let it dry. I used a soft brush to brush any cinnamon that wasn't sticking over the whole sign to give it an antiqued look! 

The next step is a little tricky. I used a matte black spray paint and held it high above the sign and just sprayed randomly around the sign to give it a distressed and aged look. 

I also held the spray can sideways which made it spit out speckles, that was just what I wanted on this sign! 

One last touch on the trees was a little white paint for snow then I let the sign, cinnamon and all dry and gave it one more coat of matte spray sealer. 

I could not love this sign any more!! It was exactly what I was going for and boy I sure took care of those old paintings cluttering up my garage. 

Please pin --->> 

READ MORE: CHRISTMAS SIGNS

Here is where I am going to hang the sign for the holidays. It is a huge wall in our newly renovated first floor and the perfect place for this 3 foot long sign! 

Stay tuned for the second painted sign which I did with a completely different technique! 

READ MORE: CHRISTMAS PROJECTS

Thanks so much for visiting and before you go please sign up for the Homeroad emails so my next DIY tutorial will go out straight to you!