Many of our customers ask for ideas on adult and teen crafts, and DIY crafts that can be given as gifts or used as decoration. That was our inspiration for this DIY Wood Pallet Sign project, which can also be customized in so many different ways and makes a great group project.

DIY Wood Pallet Signs are a very popular and trendy home decor addition for that farmhouse, shabby chic look – just check out this search on Pinterest! These wood pallet signs we created are sized just right to keep on a counter, desk, or even hang on a small area of the wall.

Great Addition to Your Crafting Program

Since these are so popular and EASY to make, participants will love that they can enjoy them or even gift them to a loved one for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or even Grandparent’s Day. The wood paint sticks are large enough where this craft project can be inclusive for many ages and abilities. Plus, to make the sized pallet sign you see below, it costs your group less than $3 per sign!

DIY Wood Pallet Sign Tutorial

Materials Needed:

To make the wood pallet sign: 

• S&S Wooden Paint Sticks (these have a wood grain in them, giving the weathered look)
• Craft Sticks
• Watercolor
• Paint Brush
• Tacky Glue or Wood Glue

To decorate the sign (all are optional):

• Acrylic Paint
• Stencils
• Fiber Cord or Jute
• Mini Clothespins
• Small Wood Pieces
• Favorite picture

Using Watercolor for Wood Projects

Yes! Watercolors can look like a beautiful wood stain….but without the mess and the drying time. We created the weathered look by using just watercolor and our wood paint sticks. Since our paint sticks are made from wood, they have these wood grains in them, that highlight the “wood” look, adding an authentic feel to the wood pallet signs. For the particular signs in this project, we used brown as the base with a little bit of black watercolor mixed. Crafters will enjoy using their imagination to experiment with the colors and create a unique look. The dry time for the water color is within minutes.

The grain in the wood is highlighted with water colors.

You can experiment with different combinations and shades of color. The bottom paint stick used slightly more black mixed with the brown, but crafters can experiment to give a tint of blue, pink, green, etc.

Step 1: Choose and Paint your Paint Sticks

Choose 8 of the Wood Paint Sticks to create a wood pallet sign the same size as the ones we created. You can choose to make your sign larger or smaller – you would just adjust the number of paint sticks and craft sticks for the project.

Paint each stick and experiment with the colors. To test how the color comes out, just use a little paint on one end. We did not paint the back of the paint sticks, but you can choose to if you wish. If you like the grain in the paint sticks, see which side you want to use before painting. They should dry within 10-15 minutes.

Step 2: Piece Together your Wood Pallet Sign and Glue

You will see there is an area on the paint sticks where it becomes slightly narrow, causing a semi-circle hole in between the sticks. You can choose to layer these all on the same side, or switch them to every other as we did on ours. It is really up to DIY’er in this case, both will look great.

The only parts that we glued on this sign were the 4 craft sticks, which we adhered to the back of the wood pallet sign. Since some of the wood paint sticks will be uneven, you may want to find something heavy to place on top of the craft sticks to help them stay in place. We used books (don’t forget to put paper inbetween so the book does not get glue on it).

Step 3: The final touches!

After about 20-25 minutes when your glue is dry, it’s time to decorate your wood pallet sign. You can use some of the ideas we tried below, as well as get inspiration from Pinterest. Write your favorite quote, an inspirational word or message or even your name. We also wrapped juke around ours and included a picture with our mini clothespins to give as a gift!