Celebrate Fall Colors with an Autumn Paint Palette Sign

Welcome fall’s beautiful colors by creating a fun DIY Autumn sign using a wooden paint palette and adhesive vinyl!

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Autumn is my favorite time of year! I love it for so many reasons but at the top of the list are the gorgeous fall colors. They seem to last such a short time in my area. For just a few weeks all of the trees are painted in shades of red, orange, yellow, purple and brown. It’s so magical! To celebrate my favorite season, and the trees changing color, I created this fun DIY Autumn sign using a wooden paint palette as the base!

I made this sign using my Cricut Explore and various colors of vinyl for the leaf-shaped paint splashes. The Autumn phrase is made with copper metallic foil, which has a really pretty sheen to it. It changes color from bright orange to a darker rust color depending on where you are in the room.

All of the images, including the Autumn phrase, are in Cricut Design Space. I have included a list of them in the tutorial so you can easily find them and recreate this sign.

Don’t have a cutting machine? You can make this same sign by painting the leaf-shaped paint splashes with acrylic paint. Free-hand the Autumn phrase or use the pencil-transfer method to create a guide for painting it. Check out my tutorial for this Autumn Outdoor Sign, for instructions on how to do the pencil-transfer method. It works really well!

How to Make an Autumn Paint Palette Sign

Supplies Needed for Autumn Paint Palette Sign

Wooden Paint Palette – I found mine at a local craft store but this one is very similar in size and shape.
Cut file created in Cricut Design Space
Vinyl in autumn colors – I used six colors I found in my stash – yellow, orange, berry, bright red, green, and brown. Scraps of vinyl in your stash or the Cricut Vinyl Samplers are perfect for this since you only need a little.
Copper Adhesive Metallic Foil
Vinyl Transfer Tape
Cutting machine
Paint brush
Orange twine
Hot glue

Step by Step Tutorial

Step One: Create the design for the sign in Cricut Design Space to fit your wooden paint palette.

*If you’d like to use the SVG cut file I created, visit Design Space Autumn Sign. Start by choosing a paint palette image that matches the shape of your wooden paint palette. It’s okay if it isn’t exact! Resize it to measure the same width and heigh as your wooden palette. I filled in the holes of the palette with circle shapes so it was solid. This isn’t necessary since we are just using the palette shape to help us size everything else. We won’t be cutting out the palette.

Look through the leaf images in Design Space and pick your favorites! I had six rolls of vinyl in my stash that fit the autumn color scheme, so I chose six leaf shapes. Next, pick an Autumn phrase or saying. There are a bunch to choose from or you can write your own phrase using your favorite font.

Below are the images I used in Design Space to create my design.

Step Two: Cut out the vinyl leaves and autumn phrase using a cutting machine. Next, weed all of the images.

Step Three: Apply the vinyl leaves and phrase to the paint palette. Arrange the vinyl leaves and autumn phrase on your wooden palette. I used a little bit of tape to hold them in place.

I noticed a gap on my palette and decided to cut the word “Autumn” larger to fill in the gap. Below you can see my palette before and after I made this change.

If you write your phrase using the text tool in Design Space, it will be easy to modify and resize individual words. Since I was using an image for my phrase, I had to take a few extra steps to enlarge just the word Autumn and not the entire phrase.

First, I duplicated the phrase in Design Space and then used the SPLICE tool on each phrase so that I would have just the word “Autumn” on one layer and just the words “is my favorite color” on another layer. You can then enlarge just the word Autumn without affecting the rest of the phrase.

Once you are happy with how everything is arranged on the paint palette, use Transfer Tape to apply the vinyl to the board.

Step Four: Add a paintbrush! Use hot glue to attach a paint brush to the side of the paint palette. I dipped my paint brush in orange paint first, so it would look like the palette was being used.

Step Five: Add a hanging loop. Use hot glue to attach a hanging loop to the back of the palette. I used orange twine and used a ruler to help with the placement.

The DIY Autumn sign is done and ready to be enjoyed!! I love how this turned out and how cute the little leave paint splashes are! I am so excited for the leaves to start changing color!

DIY Fall Craft Roundup

I’m sharing this fun fall craft as part of the Creative Crafts Fall Edition hosted by Me and My Inklings, Creatively Beth, Bella Crafts Publishing and Artsy Fartsy Mama. If you are looking for DIY ideas for Autumn, check out the other great fall crafts being shared!