Last week, I shared some photos from the Neverland themed baby shower we threw for my daughter. Without a doubt, the single largest decoration for the shower was the hand-painted pallet sign we created that featured a quote from Peter Pan: “Second star to the right and straight on ’til morning!” While that particular quote isn’t one widely used in decorating, any quote you are fond of can be featured on a pallet sign just like the one we made for my daughter. Today, I’m sharing a tutorial on making one of your own.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 3 wooden fence posts (readily & inexpensively available at Home Improvements stores)
• 1 length of wood that measures approximately 3 3/8 wide by 3/4 inch deep
• saw
• wood glue
• measuring tape
• pencil
• sandpaper
• wood stain
• nails
• carbon paper
• paintbrush
• acrylic craft paint

Don’t be too concerned with how smooth the wood is to start; that’s where the sandpaper comes in. The photo below depicts how much texture our wood had.

Step 1

Using the saw, cut your wood down to size. Because I wanted my finished sign to look shabby chic, we did not cut our fence posts into equal lengths. We used six pieces of wood in lengths that varied between 28 and 30 inches.

Once you get your fence posts cut, you’re going to need to cut the narrow piece of wood to a length that equals the width of all six fence posts put together. The combined width of my six trimmed fence posts was 32.5 inches. Therefore, we needed two 32.5 inch lengths of the narrow wood.

Step 2

Stain all of your wood pieces.

Step 3

Using wood glue, glue the long sides of the trimmed fence posts pieces together. Allow the glue to dry fully before moving on to the next step.

Step 4

Once glue has dried, complete the pallet by lying the narrow piece of wood over the now glued together fence posts and nailing it in place, leaving a 17-inch space between the bottom of the top board and the top of the bottom board.

Step 5

Using a word processing program, print the quote you want to scale. Gather it together with finished pallet sign, carbon paper and a pencil.

 Step 6

Arrange the printed quote on the front of your board as desired, placing carbon paper sheets underneath each sheet of printer paper.

Step 7

Using a pencil, carefully trace over the printed quote. Remove printer paper and carbon sheets to reveal the traced quote.

Step 8

Paint over the quote with desired color of acrylic craft paint.

Step 9

Enjoy your finished project!