DIY Christmas Card Holder

Hey there!!  Hope you all had an excellent weekend and your week got off to a good start.  Our weekend was fairly relaxing and actually able to get a few little projects completed, while the girls enjoyed playing outside.  One of the projects was making a Christmas card holder, which was definitely a must since the cards are starting to arrive.  I must say, I love checking the mail around this time of year and seeing the cards and pictures from our family and friends.

I wanted to make a Christmas card holder that was simple, easy, and didn't require a lot of effort, but I wanted it to look cute of course!  In the garage, we had a scrap piece of maple plywood from the office cabinets (which are still in progress by the way) that was slightly under three feet tall.  I knew I wanted to paint it with chalkboard paint, my new obsession, and also use the leftover small clothespins I had from the Advent calendar.  This was a slightly spur of the moment decision to make this so unfortunately I have no before/progress pictures (totally bad on my part for that one)!

To create the Christmas card holder, I took the piece of scrap wood (12 1/2" x 29 1/2") and put three coats of chalkboard paint on it.  I did this at night and the next morning, I seasoned the chalkboard with a light coat of chalk.  I wiped off the excess so it wasn't so dusty and white (I did this outside).  I placed the 8" boxwood wreath I purchased on Amazon in the center of the board, it came in a set of 6", 8", and 10".   To hang the wreath I used a command strip and hook on the back.

To write Joy on the chalkboard, I found a font I liked on Pinterest and used the transfer method to trace it on and then write over it with a chalk marker.  To add a little more festive cheer to the board, I spray painted the clothespins white first and then added some washi tape to the front, just like I did for the Advent calendar.

I really love how it turned out and love having something festive to display our Christmas cards on!!

 

How do you guys display your Christmas cards? I would love to see!!

Don't forget to check back later this week, I am sharing another project I completed this weekend and it involves glitter!!!

With much love,

Kristin




Linking up with:
Place Of My Taste
Dwell Beautiful
Tatertots & Jello

Holy Family Silhouettes

First off, I am so sorry I wasn't able to get my Friday Favorites post up yesterday.  I got stuck at the dealership with all the girls while they did some maintenance on our vehicle and was behind all day.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Jeremy and I were planning to do a friendly competition involving a silhouette of the Holy family.  It all started with a discussion at the dinner table on projects I wanted to do for Christmas.  When I mentioned doing a project with the Holy family, Jeremy mentioned something he wanted to do as well and why not turn it into a competion...so I said game on!  It was supposed to be an easy project for both of us and nothing to time consuming, and it also had to be made with things we already had around the house.  Well, I kept my end of the bargain, but my husband decided to up it 10+ notches with his awesome artistic abilities.  So without further ado, here are our projects in all their glory!

So, I am sure you can guess which one was mine...the chalkboard silhouette of course!!  At least I was creative to put it on a wood slice...can I get two points for that please!!



I will admit, Jeremy is most definitely awesome.  Jeremy's artistic abilities is just one of the many reasons why I love him.  I am the master of drawing stick figures so the girls will definitely have to ask their dad for help with their art projects.

For mine, I put a coat of chalkboard paint on the wood slice and then used the same transfer method I did on the Merry Christmas sign to transfer the silhouette.

So what do you guys think??

With much love,

Kristin


 

Linking up with:

Place Of My Taste

How To Transfer Letters To Chalkboard

A few weeks ago, I found some inspiration for my Advent calendar from another blogger.  During the process, Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick shared an easy method to transfer an image to chalkboard, which she learned from this YouTube video.  I watched the video and it was super easy, but I was a little skeptical.  Well, let me tell you it was as easy as the video showed and it worked beautifully!!

Last year, I made a chalkboard frame from an 11x14 picture frame I purchased from Home Goods.  I simply painted a few coats of chalkboard paint on the glass frame and presto, an instant chalkboard is made!!  Last week during my search for some mantel inspiration, I found a Merry Christmas print and I really loved the font.  The printable was available for a free download, so I did just that and enlarged the print so I could use it for my transfer method.  After printing out the words, I flipped the paper over and covered the back with chalk.  I then used painter's tape to secure the word to my chalkboard and traced the letters with a pencil.  When I was done and pulled up the paper, I couldn't believe the word was there!!

Once I was done tracing, I filled the letters in with a chalk marker that I purchased last year from Hobby Lobby.  I am seriously in love with how easy this was and the possibilities are endless...totally opened up a whole new world for me!

In the middle of the frame I really wanted to put a boxwood wreath, but finding a 6" wreath was proving difficult.  I found one on Amazon, but it hasn't arrived yet.  In the meantime, I found this 6" wreath at Hobby Lobby for two dollars and gave it a really light coat of white spray paint.  Then I glued the little decoration on it, which was leftover from another wreath I had in my collection.

So, has this sparked any interest to transfer an image or letters for you??  I love chalkboard signs and always admire and wonder how the letters look so amazing.  Granted some people are just that amazingly talented, but for me this has sparked some new ideas for my little chalkboard frame!!

Don't forget to check back later this week, I am sharing how to make a placemat pillow...another super simple project!!

With much love,

Kristin

DIY Chalkboard Frame & Free Printable

Happy Monday y'all and a very Happy Veteran's Day and a big thank you to all our men and women who serve and have served our beautiful country!!!!

I totally woke up this morning thinking I would get my post up before the girls woke up....then they woke up and we have been coloring and playing outside soaking up this beautiful weather!!! Better late than never....right???  :)

I did a little crafting this weekend getting more in the spirit for Thanksgiving.  I even made a free printable for you to enjoy, but first let's get to the little craft.  It all started with a picture frame I found at Home Goods, and then decided to make it a chalkboard sign.  It will serve many purposes for us, one it can be used around the house writing different inspirational quotes on it and second it can be used for a prop for my husband's photography!!!  Woo hoo...I love getting multiple uses out of things!

I absolutely love the distress look of this frame and you can't beat the price for $9.99 for an 11x14 picture frame!  To turn it into a chalkboard, I very easily painted three coats of Valspar Chalkboard paint directly onto the glass.  Once it was completed, I had an instant chalkboard.  I really do love how simple and easy it was to transform this frame to a chalkboard.  As an alternative to the glass, you could use a masonite board in its place, which is a good alternative if the kiddos are using this.  We did something similar here, but mounted the frame on the wall.

Now to decide what to write on it - I went simple and decided on "Give Thanks."  Deciding where to put the frame was a little trickier...here are three options.

I really like it with the silverish pumpkin, which was a day after Halloween steal from Michaels for $3.99, but I also really, really love it with the fall foliage I have.  Decisions, decisions!!!!  :)

Well, while I move that around the house for the next couple of days you can print this FREE chalkboard printable that is sized for an 8x10 frame.

I decided to frame mine in a white 8x10 frame that was purchased from Ikea and then place a few pumpkins around it.

So what are you guys doing to get in the Thanksgiving spirit??

With much love,

Kristin