I don’t mean to brag…

But I have to be honest: My friends are all kinds of incredible. Exhibit A: Cassie from Primitive and Proper came down and spent the whole weekend with me last weekend and we had SO MUCH FUN.

She shared the whole play-by-play right here…

…which I am reluctant to even tell you about because she also shared an incredibly unflattering post-workout photo of me halfway dead which I never would have agreed to if I’d known it would be on the interwebs. HOWEVER, you have to check out her hilarious photo in my laundry room.

That girl is SO SO fun. So real. And hilarious times a million! I’m trying to recruit her to become my sister-wife. I really think that situation could work nicely. All I need is the okay from her and Andy. And her husband. That’s all.

Exhibit B: my girl Erin and her ridiculous level of talent. (Fun fact: Erin is the photographer who took these photos of my family.)

My jaw was ON THE FLOOR when Erin brought in this killer typography art piece she’d made for Carrie’s surprise makeover:

The picture does NOT do it justice. The scale is outrageously cool too. You can kinda see the scale better in this pic:

Nice, right? Wanna see how to make your own? Erin was kind enough to take pictures of the whole process so I could share it. I thought about telling her I needed more photos so she’d be forced to make another one (for me). Maybe you guys could ask for more details in the comments section or something, and make that happen? OkayThanks.

Materials:

• Wood. For this size, you’d use 3 8-foot 1×6 boards and 1 8-foot 2×2 board. Plus some nails to hold the sign all together.
• Wood stain and polyurethane. Erin used Minwax Polyshade like this*, which is a stain + polyurethane in one. You can use that, or just get two separate cans: one in a stain color you like, and one can of polyurethane. (It’s in the wood stain aisle.)
• Vinyl letters in the verse or quote that happens to rock your particular world
• White spray primer and glossy white spray paint
• Exacto knife

*Affiliate link

1. Build your wood piece/sign thingy
Erin and Jeremy, her equally talented other half, used 3 1x6x8 boards, which they cut in half (to 4 feet) and stacked them six high to make a 3×4-foot rectangle. Obviously, you could make your sign any old size to fit your wall.

2. Stain
Use a foam brush or paint brush to stain the portion of the boards where your letters will go. If you’re not using a stain + polyurethane in one, let the stain dry and brush on a coat of polyurethane according to the directions on the can.

3. Add your vinyl letter stickers
Stick your letters right on the (dry) stain and poly section.

None of my girls have a silhouette or cricut to cut out our own custom letters, so this is how epic Erin is: she planned to cut out her own letters with an exacto knife out of contact paper to make this sign for Carrie. That’s real friendship, guys. (Not like trying to trick Erin into making me a sign too. That’s called mooching.)

Fortunately, Jessi from Practically Functional came to our rescue! She created the letters with her silhouette and mailed them to us. Blog friends to the rescue!

Although seriously: why don’t I own one of those things by now?!

4. Spray paint
Just spray paint right over the whole board, the letters, everything. Cover it in spray primer, then glossy white spray paint.

5. Remove the letters
Now you’ll just caaaaaarefully remove the letter stickers. Erin and Jeremy used an exacto knife to cut the paint around the letters so they came off cleanly and didn’t end up with a giant fail like I would have had.

6. Hang and enjoy!
How fabulous is this?

Answer: so much. So much fabulous… ness.

I love the quote they chose too. Such a perfect thing to wake up and see in your master bedroom every morning, ya know? A little reminder that happy, lasting marriages don’t happen without understanding what real love is from the One who is Love?

Word up, kids.

See? My friends are so much cooler and more talented than I am. Andy says his dad always taught him as a child to have at least one friend who is slower than you, so if you ever get caught doing something and need to run, you won’t be the one who gets caught. (True story.) Pretty sure I serve that purpose for these amazing girls, but I’ll totally take it.

Have you ever made typography art? Have you ever tried to recruit a sister-wife? I’m just sayin: some days, when the laundry piles up, having another set of hands to help out doesn’t sound so bad. (Okay NO. Not really. No one get any ideas.)

P.S.: Looking for more inspiring DIY art ideas? Check out this fun chipboard art project (so easy!):

Or this easy herringbone art (kid-friendly!):

Or it doesn’t get more simple than this yarn art!