DIY Family Name Sign that Anyone Can Make!

I love the look of these family name signs that have been trending! But if you’re on a budget, skip the pricey wood cut-out letters, and try our DIY family name sign that uses foam board instead!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• A blank pallet sign (We’ve got easy instructions for this HERE – and if you prefer a reversible pallet sign, check out THIS POST!)
• a large piece of foam board
• black paint (either acrylic or spray paint)
• craft knife
• hot glue gun and glue sticks

WHAT TO DO:

The first step in making your DIY family name sign is to print out your text (unless you’re great at freehand!). 

To do this in Pages: Choose your favorite font and type your name. Make the font size of your name larger and larger until it is the size you want for your pallet sign (this may take some trial and error). It will spread onto however many sheets of paper necessary to print at that size. Then you’ll just need to piece together the letters of your name (don’t cut them out – just attach the whole pages together!)

Next, you’ll need to grab a regular pencil and color all over the BACK of your printed out name.

Make sure all of your text is covered! Now on to transferring the design onto your foam board…..

The next step in creating your DIY Family Name Sign is to transfer your design onto foam board (the cheap alternative to those fancy custom wood letters!)

Doing this is simple! Just take the papers you printed and colored pencil onto the back of — and place them where you like onto the foam board. Then take a ballpoint pen and trace over your letters. Everywhere you trace, you’ll be pushing lead onto the foam board, leaving a nice, clean design!

We did this design transfer in a similar way with chalk and a ballpoint pen directly onto a pallet sign – check out the video below to see how easy it is!

Next, get your craft knife (make sure it has a sharp, new blade in it!). Carefully start cutting out your letters.

Start by just cutting through the top part of the foam the first time, then you can go through it again to cut all the way through.

After you’ve completely cut out the letters for your DIY Family Name Sign, clean up the edges with your craft knife.

I put a brand new blade in my craft knife, then just rubbed it gently over the edges until they were nice and smooth.

The last step in preparing the letters for your DIY Family Name Sign is to paint them. I used black spray paint, but you could also use acrylic paint.

IF you choose spray paint, do this very carefully. Spray paint can make the foam inside of foam board to melt, but if you apply it in light layers (not too much at once), it won’t melt.

I did experience some melting when I left my numbers in a “puddle” of spray paint to dry. Big mistake. I had to redo them.

Try using an old cooling rack or something to lay your foam letters/numbers on when you spray paint so that no paint can accumulate and puddle.

The last thing you need to do is attach the foam letters to your prepared pallet sign! 

I used a hot glue gun for this, because who doesn’t love how easy hot glue is?! 🙂

What do you think? How amazing is this that it only cost me a couple of dollars to make, versus ordering my custom name for $30+?!

The low cost of this project makes it a great gift idea, especially when you want to make several for Christmas gifts!

When your family name sign is complete, tag us on social media so we can see it! FB: @sixcleversisters | IG: #sixcleversisters

Here are some other pallet projects you may enjoy! 🙂