I am thrilled that it is the holiday season once again. A little Christmas decor around the house helps to brighten those short days and long, cold nights. You may have caught a glimpse of the above picture in my post Old Things New Holiday Cottage Open House. It was another fun and simple project that cost very little money to create with a $5.00 thrift store frame, some leftover spray paint, chalkboard paint, paint pens and white chalk. I’m passing on the fun here with a Christmas Chalkboard Sign Tutorial.
I began by painting my thrift store frame with some leftover cranberry red spray paint. The frame was originally gold so I sanded back a bit after painting to allow the “glow” to come through. Next I painted over the original picture with 3 coats of purchased chalkboard paint. Then I chose my fonts (I’ll share those in a moment), printed them onto paper and used the typography transfer method I’ve used so often and find to be easier (and cheaper) than trying to figure out one of the fancy machines you see all over blogland (yes, I tried one and my brain just wasn’t mathematical enough to figure it out). You’ll find my complete tutorial for that process right HERE.
I didn’t want an erasable chalkboard but a sign that could be used every Christmas so I used white paint pens that I purchased from Michael’s to fill in the letters. There were several brands available. I chose the cheapest pens and they worked just great! So here are the fun and free fonts I used to make my sign (all but one of them were already a part of my comuter’s word processing program).
For the word “HAVE” I used the font Lucida Calligraphy, font size 175.
“YOURSELF” was a free font from Dafont.com called Kingthings Christmas, font size 175.
Complete download instructions can be found on their home page or HERE on my Pottery Barn “Jingle” Pillow Tutorial post.
The little word “a” was a font called Cataneo BT, font size 250.
“MERRY”‘s font is EcuyerDAX, font size 300.
“Little” is Cataneo BT again in font size 300.
And finally, “Christmas” is the font Old English Text MT, font size 350.
After lettering my sign I found some snowflakes in the clip art section of my word processing program, blew them up and used the same transfer method I used above to trace them onto my picture. Finally, the paint pens can look like what they are, paint pens. Imagine that! I really wanted this to look like it was lettered with chalk so I took a piece of white chalk and quickly filled in a bit over the painted letters.
After our Open House this picture went home with one of my favorite ladies in the world. It makes me happy to think that something I had such fun creating is now gracing her lovely home.
Blessings to all of you this Christmas season,
FrugalCraftyHome, Dwellings
VMG206, BeBetsy,TuesdaysAtOurHome,
Kathryn Griffin @TheDedicatedHouse says
December 9, 2013 at 5:05 pmSweet Patti! I’m honored that you have made me your favorite blog for the week! I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful and beautiful blog friend in you! Have a lovely week. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse
Marty@A Stroll Thru Life says
December 10, 2013 at 6:01 amYou did a fabulous job on your chalkboard. Love it. Thanks tons for linking to Inspire Me. Hugs, Marty
Infuse With Liz says
December 11, 2013 at 4:48 amYou did a fabulous job on that. I like the red frame. I haven’t a clue how to do something like this, but I’d definitely buy it!
Dana Bishop says
December 11, 2013 at 10:57 amI am not at all gifted with chalk boarding. LOL, a new national past time. Seriously, I have made several chalk boards but what sets yours apart from mine and all the rest is your talent with the chalk paint pens. I LOVE this project. I had a sign that says the same thing and I had to wait until if was 60% off at JoAnn’s. I grabbed it yesterday, but I’m jealous of yours. Love your blog!
Pamela says
December 12, 2013 at 4:32 amLove this Patti! Thanx for sharing at THT.
Maria says
December 12, 2013 at 1:29 pmLove your blog It has great posting articles. Stopping by from wed link party
Thanks
Maria simple nature decor
At Rivercrest Cottage says
December 12, 2013 at 5:15 pmlove your chalkboard. I really need this tutorial and can’t wait to look around your old posts as I’m new to your blog.
Lisa says
December 12, 2013 at 7:22 pmThis would be a great project to use the chalkboard paint I have left from my grandsons playroom!
Deborah says
December 13, 2013 at 6:18 amLove the sign Patti, and thank you for a complete tutorial with the font styles! I can’t tell you how many times I want to use a font I’ve seen, but have no idea which one it is. It was so generous of you to give the chalkboard away. Thank you for sharing it at What We Accomplished Wednesdays. Have a very merry Christmas!
Patti says
December 13, 2013 at 2:32 pmPatti your sign is just gorgeous! I can’t blame the lady for snapping it up right away,
it is sure to grace any home! Thanks so much for sharing your creative genius with us.
Hugs,
Patti
Bobbie says
December 14, 2013 at 12:48 pmSo cute! I would love for you to join me at Check Me Out Saturday and share with my readers:
http://iamonly1woman.blogspot.com/2013/12/check-me-out-saturday-craft-link-party_13.html
Trina @ afewmineradjustments.blogspot.com says
December 14, 2013 at 8:15 pmThat is so pretty! Thanks for joining our Twirl and Take a Bow Party! Hope to see you again next week!
Debi and Charly @ Adorned From Above says
December 17, 2013 at 4:55 pmVery pretty. Thank you so much for sharing with Adorned From Above’s Link Party. We love having your join the fun.
Debi and Charly @ Adorned From Above
http://www.adornedfromabove.com
Kathy says
December 18, 2013 at 11:57 amOh, this is wonderful – thanks for sharing how you did this! I do appreciate you sharing with Home and Garden Thursday,
kathy
Karen says
December 18, 2013 at 12:48 pmThis is a wonderful tutorial! Thank you so much for sharing Patti! Hope you have a wonderful Christmas! Thank you so much for sharing so many amazing projects at my link party, you are so talented!
Andrew says
March 1, 2014 at 3:28 amI only just came across this blog but felt I had to say what a lovely job you did with the chalkboard. It looks very effective and a nice piece to display at Xmas.