DIY Wood North Pole Sign

This post brought to you by FrogTape provided by ShurTech Brands, LLC. All opinions are 100% mine.

My kids have been wanting to put up more decorations in our house for Christmas this year, in addition to the tons that we already have.  I thought that I would make a cute North Pole wooden sign for them, since I already had lots of wood scraps that weren't being used.  The result is a fun North Pole sign, complete with red and white stripes on the pole and glittery sparkly "snow" on top!  

The wooden dowel that I used for the pole was very rough and had a lot of texture, and I didn't think that regular blue tape was going to give me the nice crisp lines I was looking for.  Enter new FrogTape Textured Surface!  It is specifically designed to give you clean paint lines on textured surfaces that are rough and uneven and are usually hard to paint, like stucco.  

Would you like to try making one?  Here are the easy directions!

DIY Wood North Pole Sign:

• Fence boards (or any other wood that you would like- I had some of these on hand already)
• Saw
• Wood dowel
• 2 thin pieces of wood (for the back of the sign)
• Screws
• Drill and drill bits
• Frog Tape®
• Red, white, and tan paint
• Clear glitter
• Wood Log (optional- to hold the sign)

1.  Cut the fence boards down to your desired size.  Ours were cut into 4 pieces for our sign.  Attach the two thin pieces of wood to the back of the fence boards using the drill and screws.  Use the ends of the fence boards as scallops to decorate the top of the sign.  Pre-drill screw holes into the scallops, and then screw the scallops to the sign.  If you don't pre-drill the scallops, they will crack!

2.  Pre-drill the top and bottom of the wood dowel and the sign.  Make sure to measure so that the top hole in the dowel matched the top hole in the sign, etc.  Attach dowel and sign together using nuts and bolts.  You can also counter-sink the holes so that the bolt heads are even with the wood.  This way the sign can be taken apart and put away for easy storage.  Cool, right?

3.  Paint the scallops on the top white.  Sprinkle clear glitter over the top of the wet paint, and let dry.  Add a coat of decoupage medium or a clear sealer over the glitter so that it will stay put.  Paint the sign a tan color, and paint the dowel white.  Allow all paint to fully dry before proceeding to the next step. 

4.  Wrap the FrogTape® Textured Surface tape around the dowel diagonally going down so that it looks like a barber pole.  Follow the directions on the package and use a damp cloth to rub around the edges of the tape to help it seal properly.    

Apply the Paintblock® Edge Sealer along all of the edges of the tape in a circular or back and forth motion.  Let dry for 15 minutes before applying the red paint to the pole.

5.  Once the red paint is dry to the touch, then carefully remove the tape.  This is my favorite part!!  Marvel at how crisp and clean those red and white edges look!  

Now the last touch is to use stencils that are taped down to the sign to paint on the words "North Pole."  Let dry.

Optional Log Stand:  Pick a log that is heavy enough to hold the sign.  Use a saw to cut the top and bottom of the log, making sure that both ends are flat and even.  Use a spade bit that's the diameter of your dowel, and make a hole in the logs for the sign to stand in.   Place the sign in the log holder.

Now wasn' t that easy?  My kids came home from school and loved their new sign!  

Be sure to follow FrogTape® on Twitter @FropTape for tons of creative inspiration!  If you create a project using FrogTape®, be sure to pin and use the hashtag #TexturedSurface!

xo, Laura