Christmas Chalkboard Sign

-This post may contain affiliate links-

The next Christmas in July project, like yesterday's is another Cricut project, this time using vinyl to make a chalkboard sign. 

I happened to have this unfinished chalkboard that I had gotten several months ago for a possible project idea that I didn't end up making, and every time a holiday comes around I think about finally making something with it. This time I finally did, and I can't wait to be able to put it up this Christmas. 

One thing that I like to do when making a Cricut Project is, rather than always start a design from scratch, I will look at pre-made designs available through Cricut Access. Then once I find something I like I will make little changes and adjustments to make it look the way I want and so that it works for my project. 

This is the second project I have made using this particular design. In the original design all of the lines of elements are much closer together making it a much shorter, more square image, and the lines are also alternating colors (red and green). 

The first time I used the design I really liked it but I was putting it on a rectangular tray so I needed a shorter wider design.  To do this I removed a couple of lines of wording and I took away the hearts between the trees. I moved the bottom section up close to the top and cut it out in black and white. 

I loved the way the tray turned out so when I was trying to think about what I could put on this sign I remembered that image and decided I wanted to use it, but this time the whole design. One problem, this time I am working with a taller space and the original design was a little shorter than I wanted. To make the design work for this project I separated the lines of the image and I spaced them each just a little further apart than they were in the original. Just adding a little space between each line gave me a shape that was much more what I wanted for this project without really changing the look of the design. 

So I guess the point of sharing this is to say that you don't always need to use a design exactly the way it is created. Don't be afraid to only use some elements of a design, take things away, add things, mix and match elements of different designs. There are tons of images available on Design Space as well as other sites, but they don't always have to be used exactly how you see them. There are also lots of tools in Design Space to help you turn those images and fonts into exactly the design you want. Learn how tools like slice, weld, and contour work and don't be afraid to use them to get your project just right. 

How to make a Christmas Chalkboard Sign

You will need:

• Cricut Machine
• white adhesive vinyl
• transfer tape (this is my favorite)
• 11x14 chalkboard (13x16 with frame)
• brown acrylic paint (FolkArt Acrylic Coffee Bean)
• paint brush or baby wipes

Instructions:

The first step is to prepare your chalkboard. I wanted the frame to be a darker brown but still have a wood grain look so I squirted a little brown acrylic paint on the frame and wiped it on with a baby wipe. This gave it almost a stained look rather than a solid brown color. I added a little painters tape around the inside to prevent the paint from getting on the actual chalkboard. I wiped paint around until the entire frame was coated and I was happy with the level of opacity. 

Set the chalkboard aside to dry, it will dry fast since it is a thin coat, while you cut out the vinyl.

Open the Christmas Chalkboard Sign Design Space File

The image is sized to fit the chalkboard I used, resize if needed before cutting. 

Cut out of white vinyl. 

Weed the image.

Use transfer tape to put the design onto the chalkboard.