DIY Chocolate Bunny Welcome Sign

DIY Chocolate Bunny Welcome Sign

One of my favorite secular Easter symbols is the chocolate bunny. I wanted to use the beloved chocolate bunny symbol in a way I hadn’t seen before. Of course, there’s nothing new under the sun. But I had to try! The result was an outdoor “Chocolate Bunnies Welcomed Here” sign made from some of our leftover heart pine flooring my husband and his father installed 10 years ago. Read DIY Wooden “Chocolate” Bunny Plant Pokes (I guest posted on flusterbuster.com) for a fun plant-poke tutorial!

Materials Needed:

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• Apple Barrel acrylic paints in 20361E Bright Green, 20346E Pure Pink, 20226 Petunia Purple, Folk Art acrylic 515 Vintage White, and Americana acrylic Asphaltum
• paint brushes- 1″ sponge, small round brush, small liner brush
• acrylic gloss spray sealer
• colored chalk
• mechanical pencil
• paper cutter
• tape measure
• 8″ by 28″ heart pine flooring (any type of wood will work)
• Chocolate Bunnies Welcomed Here template- print yours here
• (2) 5″ wooden chocolate bunnies- order yours here
• due to the creative process, some of the items in the picture were not used
• due to forgetfulness, clear tape is not pictured

Instructions:

Before I began my project, I looked for a chocolate-bunny-painting tutorial. Lisa S, from the Fresh Vintage blog, had exactly what I was looking for. Read “How to Paint a Faux Chocolate Bunny” here. I liked her tutorial the most, because her bunny had flowers. Painted, or faux, chocolate bunnies look too plain without the flowers and grass. I changed the paint colors slightly, and used colors I already had. I used the 1″ sponge brush and Asphaltum paint for the bunny, and the small round brush for the flower petals and grass. The flowers were painted with Petunia Purple and Pure Pink. The grass was painted with Bright Green.

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Paint the sign with several coats of Pure Pink paint using the 1″ sponge brush. Light, bright colors always need many coats of paint. Let the paint dry in between coats. Use the hair dryer to hurry things along. Paint the edge with Asphaltum, using the 1″ sponge brush.

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Print your “Chocolate Bunnies Welcomed Here” template. Trim it with the paper cutter. Turn it over and rub colored chalk on the back of the template. Make a pencil mark in the top center of your wooden sign. My sign was 28″ long, so I made a mark above the 14″ line on my measuring tape. Fold your paper template in half to find the center line. Align the center of your template with the pencil mark on your sign. Use clear tape to secure the paper template while you trace the letters. Use the end (remove the lead) of a mechanical pencil to trace the letters onto your sign.

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Remove the paper template and paint the letters with the liner brush. I used Asphaltum for the word Chocolate, and Vintage White for Bunnies Welcomed Here.

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Measure the distance between the outermost letter and the end of your sign on both sides. Divide that measurement in half, and make a pencil mark there. My distance was 11″, so I made a pencil mark at 5.5″ on both sides of my lettering. Now, center the bunny between the top and bottom of your sign, on both sides. I eyeballed this measurement, but wanted to make sure the bunnies were placed at exactly the same level. My bunnies looked best 1/2″ from the bottom. I made a mark for each bunny 1/2″ from the bottom. Now you have guidemarks to center your bunny vertically and horizontally.

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Next, make a pencil mark in the top center of your bunny (somewhere between his ears). Align the bunny’s center mark with the mark between the outermost letter and the end of your sign (mine was 5.5″). Place his feet on the mark you made at the bottom of your sign (mine was 1/2″from the bottom). Trace around his outer edge lightly with pencil. You’re going to place him in this outline after you apply the hot glue. Time to plug in that glue gun!

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Apply hot glue to the back of each bunny. Place the bunnies inside the pencil outlines you created earlier. Paint over the pencil lines lightly, using the pink paint. Once everything is dry, wipe off the excess chalk. Spray your sign (do this outdoors) with the acrylic gloss spray. This will brighten up any acrylic matte colors used in the painting process, and protect your DIY “Chocolate Bunnies Welcomed Here” sign from the weather.

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Now it’s time to hang your DIY Chocolate Bunnies Welcomed Here sign! I hope you and your family have a Happy Easter!

Kristie

The DIY Chocolate Bunny Plant Pokes (my guest post on flusterbuster.com) was featured in: BFF Open House Link Party,  Merry Monday, Really Crafty Link Party

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