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Life Is Good Faux Wood Sign

June 22, 2015 By Kelly 24 Comments

Hi everyone! I’m Melissa and I blog teach over at Silhouette School blog.  I’m thrilled to be filling in for Kelly today. I love the look of wood signs, but they can turn into quite the project between prepping the wood, staining or painting, and then stenciling on a cute sentiment.  So today I  thought I’d show you the sign hack of all sign hacks – how to make a faux wood sign.  The key is wood-look tiles!

learn how to create a beautiful faux wood sign with vinyl and ceramic tile! { Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links }
These are just a few of the fabulous tile options for your faux wood signs.
learn how to create a beautiful faux wood sign with vinyl and ceramic tile!

The tiles are 24″ x 6″ and come in a bunch of different colors and finishes. While they look like wood…they’re not wood at all. They’re actually 100% ceramic tile…like you’d use on the floor. I have used them on the floor and on my builts-in as decor. I buy  them at Home Depot. The great thing is you don’t have have to buy a whole box of tiles, you can buy them individually – for about $2.50 each!

Are you seeing the beauty in this yet? Buy faux wood tile and add vinyl to make a faux wood sign. Wham bam thank you ma’am you’re donezo!

Now let’s talk the design. I’ve done several several different designs on these tiles, and I always do the designing in Silhouette Studio the same way.  Start by making a mock up.   This tutorial explains in depth about why mockups are hugely important for designing so if you need a refresher check that out. Otherwise, I’m going to breeze through the mockup design steps.

  • Use the Draw a Box tool (circled on left sidebar) to draw a box.
  • Size it so it’s the exact dimensions of the tile using the Scale tool (it’s actually slightly less than 24″ to account for the grout if you were using it on the floor, but close enough)
  • (Optional) Fill the rectangle with a wood grain pattern from the Fill Pattern tool
learn how to create a beautiful faux wood sign with vinyl and ceramic tile!
  • Open up the design from the library (or create a new design) in Silhouette Studio.  Using the box representing your tile as a guide, appropriately position and size the design.
learn how to create a beautiful faux wood sign with vinyl and ceramic tile!

My mom loves to ride her bike so I made this Life is Good sign for her and that’s the one I’m going to demonstrate this tutorial with. (I created the design by just grabbing a bike I had in my library and typing the text around it…you might need to ungroup the letters to arrange around the bike.)  I’ve also put longitude and latitude coordinates on tiles, which is a fun gift (or shelf decor). If you want to find your navigational coordinates, you can use this website – just plug in your address.

Whatever you decide to put on your wood look tile, use the mock up to size the design so it fits on the tile.

It’s best to use permanent adhesive vinyl because it sticks to the tile easiest.  The issue I have run into is that, for this project specifically, I like a matte vinyl (not glossy) and as you probably know most matte is indoor vinyl.  BUT….there happens to be this thing called matte 651/permanent/outdoor which comes in only black and white.  Seriously, it’s like my favorite vinyl ever.  Since I think these tiles look best with black or white anyway, I was in luck.

learn how to create a beautiful faux wood sign with vinyl and ceramic tile! Sorry – enough gushing over my matte 651 vinyl find.  Cut your design and weed it.   A 24″ cutting mat makes this much easier, but if you don’t have one you can cut the vinyl without the mat to avoid cutting it in sections on a smaller mat.

Just remember, since you’re cutting longer than the standard 12×12 you’ll need to change your Page Settings.

If you’re using the 24″ mat, change the height to 24″ and from the the Cutting Mat drop down menu select  12 x 24 in.

If you’re cutting without the mat (or on a Portrait which has no 24″ mat), enter the length of the vinyl in the “Height” box and then change the Cutting  Mat option to ‘No Mat.”

To add the vinyl to the tile you want to make sure the tile is at room temperature. A really cold tile makes it very difficult for the vinyl to stick.

It’s easiest to use the hinge method to apply the vinyl to ensure it’s straight, centered and even.  If you’re not familiar with the hinge method – your crafting life could be like 693% easier and you could have like 42,382 fewer gray hairs so go read up on this method!

You can use clear transfer tape or transfer paper for this. Whichever you use, de-sticky it a little by plotting on a clean cotton shirt or the arm of the couch.  Basically what you want to do is put the transfer tape onto the vinyl.  Leave the vinyl backing in place.  Trim down the edges of the vinyl backing and tape so they’re even and so they’re close to the vinyl design.

learn how to create a beautiful faux wood sign with vinyl and ceramic tile!

Place the vinyl sandwich (tape on top, vinyl in the middle, vinyl backing on the bottom) onto the tile.  Now you’re going to grab some painters tape, scissors, and a ruler and keep them nearby.  If you have a sewing gauge ruler (my favorite ruler ever) you are golden.  Measure in from the sides, top and bottom to perfectly position the design.

learn how to create a beautiful faux wood sign with vinyl and ceramic tile!
When you get it just right, rip off a big piece of painters tape and place it vertically down the center of the tile.  You want part of the tape attached to the floor or table top, wherever you’re working, then over the vinyl sandwich, and back onto the other side of the work surface.

I apologize for the odd angle on this….I definitely could have used a third hand.

learn how to create a beautiful faux wood sign with vinyl and ceramic tile!

Use the ruler to double check that the vinyl decal didn’t shift at all while you were taping. If it did, life one end up of the tape and slightly nudge the design back so it’s even.

When you get it perfectly in position, peel back the transfer tape on one side of the tape.  The tape will stop it about half way across – that’s the hinge!  The vinyl should peel up with the transfer tape.

Use your scissors to cut the vinyl backing, near the tape hinge. Don’t worry if it’s not right at the tape line.

learn how to create a beautiful faux wood sign with vinyl and ceramic tile! Move the backing out of the way and carefully place the transfer tape and vinyl onto the tape make sure there are no bubbles.  Smooth it, don’t worry about burnishing yet.

Remove the tape hinge.  The transfer tape is going to keep everything in place now.

Lift up the other half of the transfer tape, just enough so that you can remove the half sheet of vinyl backing that remains.

Again, lay down the transfer tape with vinyl onto the tile.

Now burnish the entire design onto the tile using the Silhouette Scraper or a credit card.

learn how to create a beautiful faux wood sign with vinyl and ceramic tile! Starting at one of the corners, slowly peel away the transfer tape or paper. You may need to slightly encourage the vinyl to stick to the tile as you peel back the tape.  After the tape is remove, go back and really burnish the vinyl onto the tile so you can slightly see the ridges of the tile through the vinyl.  I do this with my finger.

learn how to create a beautiful faux wood sign with vinyl and ceramic tile! The last thing you want to do – and this is option – is to put a thin protective layer of cork on the back of the tile.  I have no figured out a way to hang these tiles so leaning them is really the only way to display them.  If you lean the tile against the wall without a felt or cork backing you could damage the paint on the wall.  I suggest using E6000 and a roll of 1/16th” cork roll which, like the tiles, is conveniently 24″ wide.  I glued it on and then use an xacto knife to cut the roll away.

learn how to create a beautiful faux wood sign with vinyl and ceramic tile! Flip the tile back over and carefully place something heavy on top for about 24 hours to let the glue dry.

That’s it. Display your finished faux wood sign on a shelf or ledge. If you figure out a way to hang this faux wood sign help a sister out and clue me!!!

learn how to create a beautiful faux wood sign with vinyl and ceramic tile! Thanks again to Kelly for letting me guest post on Simply Kelly Designs. I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial on how to create a faux wood sign. Come over and visit Silhouette School anytime! Search our database of more than 450 tutorials, get inspired for your next Silhouette project or join in the conversation on our social media channels.

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Filed Under: Guest Posts, Silhouette Tagged With: Vinyl

Comments

  1. Kathy Cole says

    December 26, 2016 at 9:08 PM

    Can you tell me where you found the design Life is Good with the bicycle?

    Reply
    • Kelly says

      January 1, 2017 at 11:11 AM

      This was a guest post that someone did for me but I think the bike was an existing design. You can find similar in the Silhouette online store: https://www.silhouettedesignstore.com/designs?search=bike&limit=120&sortby=relevance&submitted_search=true

      Reply
  2. Joan Bachman says

    May 31, 2016 at 2:51 PM

    I really like this project! Can you tell me what font you used for the wording?

    Reply
  3. Emily @ Two Purple Couches says

    July 7, 2015 at 11:13 AM

    This is so clever! I’ve seen these tiles for flooring but hadn’t thought about the possibility of using them for decor!

    Reply
  4. Malia says

    July 5, 2015 at 10:52 AM

    That’s a wonderful sign and sentiment!

    Reply
  5. alyson says

    July 3, 2015 at 9:21 AM

    Love it! Do you use a sealant on your tiles?

    Reply
    • Kelly says

      July 4, 2015 at 7:17 AM

      Hi Alyson. Melissa didn’t mention any kind of sealant so I don’t think she sealed her tile. Thanks for visiting Simply Kelly Designs! 🙂

      Reply
  6. Terry says

    June 28, 2015 at 4:29 PM

    It may have been mentioned..
    I would use mirror hangers, they are clear and will not distract
    This is a fantastic project

    Reply
  7. Susie says

    June 24, 2015 at 10:12 AM

    Loved you’re tutorial and pictures! You did a great job and it’s a fabulous idea!!

    Reply
  8. Sue says

    June 23, 2015 at 7:21 PM

    I have used tiles in the past to decorate and then use as a dry erase board and had my husband drill holes at the top to use twine to hang them with. When drilling holes just make sure to put masking tape over where the hole is going to be drilled to kind of buffer the drill bit from chipping the tile. Love this wood look and had no idea they made such a thing! Gotta go shopping now.

    Reply
  9. Mike says

    June 23, 2015 at 5:42 PM

    Hanging ideas:

    -Ropes around each end
    -Sling around corners
    -Epoxy picture hanging hardware on center or end
    -Drill into top edge and epoxy brass hooks or loops
    -drill through face for rope or hardware
    -fasten to mesh or other board, then hang from that
    -double sticky tape to wall or other board…
    -epoxy on a sheet of brass
    -put on a plate holder (or two) or easel
    -mount in a frame, then hang that
    -cut wood same size, glue on back, mount that
    -Use prefinished flooring instead of ceramic

    -thanks, mike

    Reply
  10. Ashley Bachelder says

    June 23, 2015 at 4:02 PM

    A way to hang those would be to plane the command strip Velcro on the back:) it’s amazing stuff! The sticky back will stick to the wall and not damage if you take it down and the other sticky part sticks to the tile. The Velcro will stay secure to hold the piece to the wall. Just check how much the strips will hold before purchasing. I use it all over the home since we are military and are always moving homes. Hope this helps:)

    Reply
    • Ashley Bachelder says

      June 23, 2015 at 4:04 PM

      Plane is supposed to be stick*

      Reply
      • Melissa says

        June 29, 2015 at 2:16 PM

        These tiles are pretty heavy. I’d be cornered that might not hold it onto the wall safely.

        Reply
  11. Marie says

    June 23, 2015 at 1:32 PM

    Can you help me understand the GPS part? Would you just put the coordinates on the bottom like a footnote using vinyl?

    Reply
    • Melissa says

      June 29, 2015 at 2:16 PM

      No the entire design is the coordinates. So I just design it so it fits onto the tile…I didn’t want to share mine b/c I didn’t want the world to know my exact address 🙂 It would look something like the sign shown here https://www.pinterest.com/pin/35677022025127294/

      Reply
  12. Ronel says

    June 23, 2015 at 1:28 PM

    Love this. Do you paint/stain the ends if they are white?

    Reply
  13. Joan says

    June 23, 2015 at 12:11 PM

    My daughter is going to love this! Thanks so much for sharing how to do it. I was also thinking of some kind of ring and using E6000 to hold them on.

    Reply
  14. Tracey says

    June 23, 2015 at 10:42 AM

    I have done these, too. I used the E6000 epoxy and stuck “D” rings on the back so I could hang them. I have sold many of them…I LOVE the look of those tiles.

    Reply
    • Ronel says

      June 23, 2015 at 1:30 PM

      Hi do you paint/stain the edges if white?

      Reply
      • Tracey says

        June 23, 2015 at 3:12 PM

        I did stain the edges…I have “stain pens” and it totally completes the look.

        Reply
        • Melissa says

          June 29, 2015 at 2:13 PM

          That’s a great idea!

          Reply
  15. April S says

    June 22, 2015 at 9:14 PM

    Thanks for this great idea!

    Reply
  16. Sheila I. says

    June 22, 2015 at 5:24 PM

    Thank you for the awesome tutorial! I can’t wait to try this!

    Reply

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