Railroad crossing sign

Hi Guys!

Here is another project to go along with Thomas the Train party or even any train party. This is my second sign that I made. I made one for my nephew's 2nd birthday and this year my cousin wanted one for his 3rd birthday, The first one I made wasn't personalized it said "Railroad Crossing" but this one his Grandma wanted it Personalized to say "Riley's Crossing" but Kyle and I thought that sounded like he was crossing over into the afterlife so we changed it to say" Riley's Railroad."

The longest part of this project is waiting for the paint and glue to dry.

Here is what you'll need:

• 1x4x8 piece of lumber
• saw
• white paint
• black paint or 3.5" black letters
• wood glue
• two 1.5" screws
• white foam
• black construction paper
• rubber cement

Now to start off with cut the wood in half so you have two 4ft pieces. Then take one of those and cut in half again. You should now have one 4ft piece and two 2ft pieces. On the 4ft piece cut the end into a point so you have a staked end to stick in the ground. With the 2ft pieces paint them white on all sides and let dry. Depending on your quality of paint you may have to do more than one coat.

Next take the 2ft pieces and find center of the board draw a dot. Measure two inches to the right and two inches to left and draw a vertical line on both measurements. This way you know exactly where the board will sit  and can lay the letters for "Railroad" out evenly.

Depending on the method you chose you will now paint or glue the letters on.

Once the paint has dried line up those marks that your made finding center and add some wood glue. Clamp it down and let it dry. When the glue is dry I took a 1.5" wood screw and in the back I screwed it in for a little more support. You can skip this step here if you'd like and use a longer screw when you attached the 4ft piece to the cross but since my aunt wants to use this as a room decoration after i did it now so she could detach the 4ft piece and hang just this piece.

Now whether you decided to screw the cross together or not your next step will be to glue and screw together the cross to the stake. Again glue the cross onto the stake clamp and let dry. Then screw it in. You choose how high up you want the cross.

As a final touch since this is going to be used in the party as part of the photo booth I cut a circle out of white craft foam sheets and a 3 out of black construction paper, glued them together and then hot glued it to the stake. I really liked how it turned out and I can't wait to surprise them with it all.

Now since this party isn't outdoors it is at a pizza place I bought a bucket from the dollar store and grabbed some rocks from the river nearby to hold the sign up. It is nice and sturdy in there and heavy enough so no little kids will pull it down on top of them.

Here is the finished product at the party with the photo booth props. Sorry it is so dark but the lighting was awful in this place.

Also look for another post on other decorations for the party such as a train centerpiece, a cupcake train and a train cake!

Have a fun!