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DIY Christmas Wood Burlap Sign

Want to add a little farmhouse Christmas decor like burlap Christmas decorations? Check out this tutorial on how to build a DIY Christmas sign out of reclaimed wood and burlap, two different ways!

Hi Friends!! Are you excited about the holiday season?? I am! I love everything about it, especially decorating my house.

There are so many great DIY Christmas decor ideas out there and today I’m going to show you how to make a cheap and easy one.

So, if you’ve been following me for a while you know I love rustic decor and have remodeled my home to farmhouse style over the past year.

Of course, that means I need to add some rustic flair to my Christmas decor with a Christmas wood sign!

I also wanted to use materials I had on hand or that are easy for anyone to get. I ended up making this DIY Christmas wood burlap sign that lights up.

Christmas wood projects
DIY Christmas wooden burlap sign

I ended up making two different versions of the wood Christmas sign.  I know most of my tutorials use my Cricut cutting machine, but I also wanted to make one sign that you can make with everyday craft supplies.

The truck burlap sign is made with heat transfer vinyl cut out with my Cricut. The tree is painted on burlap using stamps I made out of items I had on hand. So, anyone can do this project!!

The other wonderful thing about using burlap is that you can change the sign from season to season.

After Christmas, take it off and whip up another burlap sign that can be up all year-long or make one for every season and stick it on the wood frame. The options are endless!

Materials Needed for DIY Christmas Rustic Decor

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links from Amazon and/or Cricut.com. I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using my links.

  • old fence board – I have some on hand from when a friend got a new fence. You could probably post on Facebook you are in need of some and you’ll probably find someone with a few extra boards
  • miter saw or saw
  • wood glue
  • staple gun (optional)
  • nail gun (optional)
  • burlap fabric – I cut mine to 14×16 inch.
  • fairy lights (optional)

For painted burlap (tree):

  • paint of your choice – Speedball, acrylic, or chalk paint.
  • different paint brushes, round sponge blotters, foam sheets, felt fabric

or for HTV on burlap (truck):

  • Cricut cutting machine
  • heat transfer vinyl – I use Siser Easyweed. Click Here To Visit Expressions Vinyl
  • heat press or iron
  • SVG file – you can download for FREE by clicking here

Getting Started with Christmas Wood Projects:  Making the Wood Frame

First off, I’ll show you how to build the wood backdrop. My end product is 16 inches wide by 25 inches high.

My fence boards are 5-5.25 inch wide each so with 3 together and a little space in between the total width ends up being 16 inches.

Cut your fence board into 25 inch long pieces. You’ll need 3 of these. (Or if you want a bigger sign, you can put 4 together)

wood frame tutorial

I put the three pieces of wood together and laid the burlap on top to decide where I wanted the cross boards. I had some thin old wood (just in my stash!) that I cut 16.5 inches long so they’d hang over the edges a little.

You can make it the exact same length if you want or even a little shorter. If you don’t have any thin wood you could also break or slice a fence board lengthwise in half.

wood frame for Christmas wood sign

Then apply some wood glue underneath the thin piece.

glue wood down for Christmas wood sign

I used a nail gun and nailed a few nails in. You could also hammer a few shorts nails in.

My nails were pretty long so I made sure the part where I was nailing was over the edge so that I wouldn’t nail it to my table! Then I flipped the whole thing over and hammered the edges down on the backside.

using nail gun on wood Christmas sign
nailing staples in old fence board

If you want to make it look a little more worn, you can add some random staples with a staple gun. If you have long enough staples, you can use them instead of nails. I

didn’t have ones that would go all the way through on hand so I just used them as an embellishment. This step is optional!

staple gun on christmas wood projects

I then used my orbital sander to sand the top and bottom edges but again this is optional.

sanding old fence boards

Once it’s dry, it’s ready to go. To add fairy lights, lay them where you want them and then use a regular stapler to fasten them in place.

adding lights to christmas wood sign

I added a little embellishment to the top of the sign. I wrapped around different colored jute twine and added some bells from the Dollar Tree. You could add a burlap ribbon bow or some garland or whatever suits your fancy!

That’s all there is to that part! Pretty easy so far, right? Now, let’s tackle the burlap sign.

Making a Burlap Sign for Wood Christmas Sign:  2 Ways

First you’ll need a piece of burlap fabric about 14″wide x 16″long. If you need help cutting burlap, I have a quick video tutorial for you to show you how to cut straight lines and get some frayed edges.  Make sure to check it out at the top or side of the page!

If you have a Cricut or other cutting machine, you can download the Merry Christmas file for FREE by CLICKING HERE!!

Also, make sure to check out all the other amazing Christmas Cricut projects you can make and grab a ton of free Christmas SVG files.

The truck and tree are part of an SVG file that comes from the Christmas Truck Set at Creative Fabrica. So if you want a different type of truck you can check out the set and mix and match!

Free Red Truck SVG

Sometimes the file will look blurry when you first open it, but once you download it, the SVG will open up clearly.

If it doesn’t automatically download, you might need to right-click on it and Save As. If you need additional help, make sure to check out my post on how to download and upload files to CDS.

Or check out my Cricut Design Space 101 series for even more tutorials.

Upload it into Cricut Design Space, size it to how you want, and cut it out in mirror image on heat transfer vinyl. For a more detailed tutorial on adding HTV to burlap, click here.

Make sure to put the shiny side down on the mat when you are using heat transfer vinyl. Weed it all and apply to burlap with either a heat press or an iron. 

If you need help with this step, click here for my video tutorial on cutting and weeding HTV.

applying htv to mat

Another option if you have a cutting machine is to paint on burlap by using freezer paper as a stencil. Click here to check out my tutorial on how to paint on burlap with freezer paper.

Now, if you don’t have a cutting machine (maybe you should ask for one for Christmas!! They are amazing machines. Check out my post here on all the DIY decor and gifts I make with it and my Ultimate List of Cricut Ideas here!) there is another way to make a burlap sign easily and inexpensively.

This is a fun thing you can do with your kids and you can personalize any way you want.

painting on burlap tutorial

Check out my video tutorial on how to make stamps with felt and foam to make this painted burlap sign by clicking here.

That’s all there is to it! Attach the burlap to the wood with either a hot glue gun or double-sided tape.

Now display it and sit back and admire your handy work!

DIY Christmas wood burlap sign

You can find out how to make this cute easy light up DIY snowman here.

DIY farmhouse Christmas decor

I’ve also made something similar as my everyday decor frames. You can read the full tutorial by clicking here!

diy farmhouse picture frame tutorial

*Update* – I finally made a new burlap sign for Fall.  Click on the link to download the FREE Fall SVG cut file!

free svg files for cricut
DIY Christmas burlap sign
Wood Christmas Sign
painting on burlap tutorial

DIY Christmas Projects Video

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial! Make sure you check out the playlist of all the Creative Christmas challenge projects by clicking here!

If you’d like to save this idea for later, hover over the top left of picture below and PIN it!

Christmas wood sign DIY

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a creative day!

leap of faith crafting

Michelle

Sunday 17th of November 2019

This was already cute as-is but the Christmas lights took it to a whole new level. I love it!

Kate

Thursday 27th of September 2018

Love your DIY tutorial - beautiful

Sonja

Sunday 19th of November 2017

It's such a versatile piece! I love that you can change it up with the holidays or even just use it as a picture frame.

Denise

Monday 13th of November 2017

These came out so cute! Love them!

Sarah | The Ugly Duckling House

Monday 13th of November 2017

Love the lighting idea... really gives it a nice touch.

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