DIY Stay Awhile Sign With Free Printables
Learn how to make a stenciled Stay Awhile sign with a faux boxwood wreath or just download one of our free Stay Awhile printables!
I’m happy to report that our laundry room/mudroom hybrid makeover is coming along nicely. Slowly but surely, things are moving in the right direction. Greg will be writing about the entire progress soon, so I don’t want to spoil it with a sneak peek, but instead I want to share the first wall decor I made for that room: A DIY “Stay Awhile” Sign!
Since the majority of the room will serve as a mudroom, I wanted to have something nice and welcoming when we walk into the house. While searching for a “Welcome” sign idea, I happened to land on an Etsy page with tons of “Stay Awhile” signs. And oh boy – did I get inspired! With dozens of ideas in mind, I ran downstairs to our basement and grabbed a frame that would fit my needs.
I bought this frame about 3 years ago from Hobby Lobby’s discount aisle. I didn’t have a plan for it back then, but the price was too good to pass up – it was only $3.49 – just 10% of the original price! No kidding! Why do you think I keep telling everyone to check Hobby Lobby’s discount aisle at least once a month? You never know what goodies you may find 🙂 Anyway, back to the frame. It was originally black with silver highlights, and 2 years ago I painted it white, as my plan was to use it by our front entry. But that plan never came alive, so the frame joined my don’t-know-what-to-do-with-it-yet-but-one-day-will-figure-it-out frame collection in the basement. Well…that day has come.
As our “Stay Awhile” sign will eventually hang on a white-washed faux brick wall, I wanted a chalkboard sign with a black frame. You know… to have some nice contrast. I painted the frame with two coats of Fusion Mineral Paint’s Coal Black color.
While waiting for the paint to dry, I asked my babes if he could cut a piece of board for me from the chalkboard panel we bought from Home Depot. And he obliged! Just like that! Really – no questions asked! I know, right? Hahaha 😀 Mother’s Day is near, so that has to be why, LOL.
Next, I designed the stencil for our Stay Awhile sign, and using my Cricut, I cut the stencil on repositionable vinyl.
Here is where my vision changed a little bit: initially I wanted a chalkboard sign, but then I thought some sort of dark gold would look a bit nicer on the black background, so I decided to use liquid gold leaf for stenciling our “Stay Awhile” sign.
After weeding the stencil, I placed it about 2 inches up from the bottom of the chalkboard. As usual, I used transfer paper for this process, as it makes vinyl stencil placement so easy.
Next, I started stenciling the sign with Renaissance Gold color liquid leaf. I have to say, I love this color gold. It is not really like gold-gold, but a bit darker – more like an antique copperish gold. Also please note that I couldn’t find the same color liquid leaf on Amazon, but if you’re looking to try the Renaissance Gold color, I think you should be able to find it at any craft store.
Once I finished stenciling, I carefully peeled the vinyl off.
Before placing the sign into the frame, I waxed the frame with Annie Sloan Black Wax, as it helped deepen the black paint even more. Once I finished waxing, I placed the sign into the frame and secured it in place using my Logan Dual Point Driver.
Next, I placed a small boxwood wreath on the frame. To do that, I simply pulled the wreath’s ribbon through the frame as shown in the picture below…
…and taped it on the back of the sign.
And with that our first mudroom sign was finished! Now let’s scroll through the beauty shots, shall we?
We love to see our printables out in the wild! If you display our free printables in your home or use our free SVGs in your projects, and take a picture and post it on Instagram, be sure to tag us @TheNavagePatch!
As the wall where our sign will be hanging isn’t completed yet, Greg had to stage it in our Dining Room for the beauty shots.
So what do you think? I hope you liked our new “Stay Awhile” sign! I have to say, I couldn’t be happier with it!! 🙂 In fact, I love it so much that I wanted everyone to be able do something similar, whether they have time and means to DIY it or not. Hence I prepared not only the stencil files, but also all these free printable “Stay Awhile” signs for you to pick and choose from. Now, would you like to see what free printables I prepared for you? Silly me – what a question… of course you do! 😀
Just so you know, we have tons of free printables again: we have some with a eucalyptus wreath…
… we have some with an olive wreath…
… and we have some with a mixed greenery wreath.
We also have some with no wreath! I mean some like the one below on which you can hang your own real wreath…
…or like these where you won’t have any wreath with your sign.
As for the font color, I prepared some in silver, some in gold, some in chalk color, and some in grey and black where the “Stay Awhile” sign has a white background.
And as usual, you have all the sizes you’d need: 16×20, 24×36 and 24×24 inches. If you like your print smaller, all these sizes can be scaled down: 24×24 inch scales down to any size square you’d like, 24×36 inch scales down easily to 20×30 / 16×24 / 12×18 / 8×12 / 4×6 inches, and 16×20 inch scales down to 12×15 / 8×10 / 4×5 inches with no problems. If you need help with scaling down these printables so you can print them using your home printer, then make sure you check out our “How To Easily Resize Pictures” post.
Note: If you don’t have a large format printer like the Canon i8720 Printer (prints up to 13×19 inches) and are wondering the best place to get these large printables printed bigger than 8×12, we recommend trying Staples in your area or Amazon print shop. Both stores offer custom-sized prints on matte or glossy paper, and they both cost about the same. Staples also offers Engineering Prints, which are really affordable for large-format prints, but in some areas (like ours), they must be ordered from their online print shop.
Now it’s time to click on the button below to download the printables you’d like! You can find all these free printables under the “Home Decor” section, and the stencil files under the “SVGs – Stencils” section of The VIP Patch.
If you’re not a Navage Patch VIP, you won’t be able to access our Freebies Library. But that can be easily fixed! Subscribe for free on the form below and become a Navage Patch VIP. Once you subscribe, a password will be sent to you in our Welcome email, and that will give you access to The VIP Patch [Freebies Library].
Love your project and your generosity! Thank you so much for sharing your creative and beautiful printable art!
I’m so glad you liked it, Leslie! Thank you so much for your lovely comment! 🙂
You’re awesome, Handan!
Thank you!
Haha – that tells me these printables are going to great use! You’re very welcome, Claudine!
I love how the green pops with the black and gold! The printable are awesome too! You never disappoint Handan!
Oh that little wreath is my favorite part of the sign! Without the wreath, it is just another sign. I’m so happy that you liked the printables – I’m designing more cool stuff for you all, so more will be coming soon!! 😉
wonderfully awesome as usual xx
Thank you so much, Chris! I hope you’re feeling better! xx
I love this project and can’t wait to give it a try. Most importantly i appreciate all the information you include about the tools you use. I didn’t know about the point driver. Thanks for sharing all your creativity.
Nancy
Awesome – I’m sure you’ll enjoy this project as much as I did, Nancy! And thank you so much for your lovely comment!! ?
this looks so good and I have all the “stuff” to make it! I just subscribed and will save this for future shout out! laura
Oh thank you so much, Laura! 🙂
You make me smile on an otherwise dismal day. I get so inspired by both of you. Love the easy frames and the stay awhile sign with the wreath. I just ordered an electric brad gun so I can make frames a little easier. I am 73 and not as steady as I once was. I drop those little nails everywhere! Bless you both for all the joy you bring.
Aww, thank you, Ethel! We are so happy to do it. Have a wonderful week! 🙂