Upcycled Happy Halloween Sign & FREE Cut File!

See how to make a DIY ‘Happy Halloween’ sign that was an easy upcycling project from a thrift store find!

You can grab the FREE Halloween cut file too to make a spooky project of your own this fall!

Upcycled Happy Halloween Sign & FREE Cut File!

I had a rare childless-Saturday morning a couple weeks ago, and one of the stores I visited was my local Salvation Army thrift store.

Can you tell I’m a crafter?

There were TONS of things I wanted to buy…

“I could paint this…”

“This would be *fabulous* with some vinyl…”

“A little etching cream here and we’d have a winner…”

However, I subdued most of my crafting urges (to keep my project list from wrapping around the globe), and I ended up walking out with a few finds from the picture section: a great large frame and two signs, all for only $10!

Upcycling ‘Happy Halloween’ Sign Supplies

Here’s what I used to upcycle a thrift store find into a DIY ‘Happy Halloween’ sign:

• Thrift store sign
• Sand paper
• White spray paint
• Black spray paint
• Orange craft paint
• Black glitter craft paint
• Foam craft brush
• Silhouette Cameo
• Vinyl
• Transfer paper
• Painter’s tape

My Thrift Store Find

One of the signs I snagged was this exceptionally dated “Gone Sailing” thing.

I walked in the house with it and said to The Hubs (with the biggest grin on my face) “Look what I got!”

I could tell his cautious reply of “Oh…well, that’s….niiiice.” was really code for “Why in the HELL did you buy that?!?”

It was just the response I was looking for. :)

No, we don’t do any sailing here in North Alabama, and even if we did, I would never display this piece as is.

However, its bones are solid because it:

• is a great size for a holiday sign
• would be easy to paint over and customize
• was only $2.00!

My ‘Happy Halloween’ Design

A while back, I spotted this ‘Happy Halloween’ sign on Pinterest and immediately fell in love with the cute and clever way the two words were intertwined.

It’s also over $60, so my $2 knockoff was going to be quite the DIY bargain!

Since I’d be cutting out a vinyl stencil using my Silhouette Cameo, I opened Silhouette Studio and spent one evening creating my own version of the design.

I also added a couple little dingbats to really amp up the Halloween factor.

Prepping the ‘Happy Halloween’ Sign: Sanding

The first order of business in getting this sign ready for its makeover was removing the ugly, and that started with some sanding.

I grabbed a disc of sand paper from our electric hand sander and just did some light sanding over the entire surface.

This was mostly just to remove the who knows how many years of grime that had accumulated on it, and to also sand away the little dots of glitter that were on the boat’s blue sail.

I also wasn’t sure if I was going to keep the metal wire for hanging it, so I left it attached until I could make up my mind.

Prepping the ‘Happy Halloween’ Sign: White Base

Now that we had a nice, smooth surface, it was time to prime (Rhymin’ Simon here).

I first covered up the wire with some painter’s tape, then I used some white spray paint and applied a couple coats to the front, back, and all sides.

I wasn’t trying to hide all of the (ugly) design, I just needed to create a nice even foundation for the rest of the paint.

Painting the ‘Happy Halloween’ Sign: Orange Base Coat

Once the white spray paint had dried completely, I brought the sign indoors and started applying the orange base coat of paint.

I used some orange craft paint that would be the final color of the words in my design, and, with a foam brush, applied a couple coats on all sides of the board.

Here’s a handy painting tip: If you’re painting multiple coats of the same color, instead of washing your paint brush between each coat while waiting for the previous one to dry, just place your wet paint brush in a plastic bag.

It will be ready for you and the next coat, and save you time, paint, and money!

Applying the ‘Happy Halloween’ Vinyl Stencil

Now that my orange base coat was ready, it was time to apply my design stencil that would actually be used as a reverse stencil.

I cut it out in some vinyl with my Silhouette Cameo, weeded it, then applied it to the board using the hinge method (you can read more about this application method here or here).

You could of course just use this vinyl piece as your final design instead of painting any further.

It’s all personal preference!

Painting the ‘Happy Halloween’ Sign: Black Spray Paint

Now that my ‘Happy Halloween’ reverse stencil was in place, it was time to apply the top coat.

For this I used some black spray paint, and first applied a couple coats to the back.

Once that was dry, I flipped the board over and did the same to the front and sides.

Painting the ‘Happy Halloween’ Sign: Glitter Paint

To make this sign even more festive and Halloweeny, I then grabbed some black glitter paint and added a couple coats over top the black.

This paint is a clear liquid with black, orange, and green glitter…perfect for this project, right?!

It definitely jazzed it up, and since the vinyl was still applied, it would only show overtop the black on the final design.

The orange letters would still remain glitter-less and have nice contrast.

Removing the ‘Happy Halloween’ Vinyl Stencil

A couple hours later and my sign was dry and now ready for Operation Remove.That.Vinyl!

I simply used my nail to pick up the edge of each piece of vinyl, then grabbed it with my fingers and sloooowly pulled off each piece, revealing the pretty bright orange underneath.

See what a nice, subtle gleam the glitter paint provides?

It’s not over-powering and just gives it a little pizzazz and brightens it up.

And I just love those little dingbats.

Nothing says “Halloween” like a jack-o-lantern and spiderweb!

The Final ‘Happy Halloween’ Sign: A Successful Upcycling Project!

And my holiday upcycling is complete!

The hideous “Gone Sailing” design is no more (along with the wire hanger), thanks to being now happily covered by this fun and festive fall cuteness.

This ‘Happy Halloween’ sign now has a happy home every October as part of our Halloween mantel decor!

Download the FREE Happy Halloween Cut File Below!

If you’d like this FREE Happy Halloween cut file to create some fall cuteness of your own, just click on the ‘DOWNLOAD’ graphic below to download the .studio file from a Dropbox folder.

Happy crafting!

(As a little side note, the outer box in the cut file was what I used as a guide for the actual size of my board, so I did not cut that line. You may or may not need that cut line for your project.)

{THE FINE PRINT: This file is for PERSONAL NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY. So don’t use it for anything you’re selling, share the file itself, or share the download link directly. Thanks!}

If You Enjoyed This…

Make sure you check out my Project Gallery for even more DIY fall projects as well as LOTS more freebies, like these!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Happy Halloween!