Betsy Veldman
By now I hope you’re all completely immersed in the holiday spirit! I’ve been enjoying spending some time getting my home all decked out for the holidays. I especially love when I can include some handmade touches in my décor, which leads me to a project I wanted to share with you today!
My mom owns a little shop filled with cute vintage items and I stopped by one day last week just to chat. While I was snooping around her shop, I found an awesome vintage chalkboard hanging on the wall. If you visit my blog, you might have seen this recent post about my love of chalkboard art, and my attempt at recreating the look with stamps. I even have an entire Pinterest album dedicated to inspiring chalkboard art, which you can see here.
So, needless to say, the chalkboard caught my eye, but I managed to leave it there, not quite sure what I would do with it. The next day I was filling the hutch in my dining room with holiday décor and inspiration hit! I called my mom and sure enough, the chalkboard would fit perfectly inside my hutch.
Now the challenge was to come up with a way to add some lettering. I am by no means an artist, so I knew freehanding it wasn’t an option. I decided to use my Cricut to cut some lettering out of white vinyl. It worked perfectly!
After cutting and adhering the lettering to the chalkboard, I took some chalk and added a few freehand details. I made the letters look 3-dimensional. I used to doodle this way in my notebooks all the time when I was a kid in school, didn’t you? It’s really easy to do and added just enough to make the lettering look a little more authentic. I also used a ruler to draw some lines and borders around the outside edges.
And do you want to hear the best part? The vinyl is removable, so I can change it for the seasons! I’m already planning what I’m going to do next. I think it’s a piece I’m going to enjoy using for a long time.
If you’d like to give this a try yourself, vintage chalkboards might not be that easy to come by, but new chalkboards are readily available in lots of different sizes. Or you could even try painting a board with chalkboard paint!
Have you created any special handmade pieces to add to your holiday décor this year? I’d love to hear about them. Tell me or even feel free to share a link here in the comments. I’ll choose one winner to take home a copy of the newest Holiday Cards & More, which will provide you with tons of inspiration for adding those handmade touches to your décor!
Just leave a comment by Friday, December 14th at 5 pm MST.
In the holiday spirit,
Betsy Veldman, Paper Crafts Go-to Gal
Such a fantastic design! Love the whole chalkboard concept too! My only real plans (other than the cards and tags) are to make the ‘poppers’ for the table and I’ve bought special gifts for all the guests, can’t wait!
Wow! That chalk board is gorgeous!!
I MUST get myself a chalkboard…yours is beautiful! I love the white vinyl letter idea.
Very beautiful piece of art – I have not created anything to add to my Christmas decor, but have been busy making cards and I love to wrap chocolate bars and decorate them for Christmas and hand them out to all of my co-workers. Thanks for sharing your lovely masterpiece and thanks for the chance to win.
Since we’re going on a Holiday over at my mom and dad I didn’t decorate the house will do it next year. But, we made a village and carnival decor for our office decor. With hand crafted ferris wheel, parachute ride, train rides, animal shows.
Haven’t done a darn thing yet…
Wow! Love the chalkboard! I have not done any home decor projects this year! Things have be to busy! I do make all my cards & tags. I also have made a bunch of Christmas ornaments to keep & give for gifts! Thanks for the chance to win!
Used to make homemade decorative items all the time, but now I’m lucky to get my cards made. Would love to win a copy of Holiday Cards & More. Betsy, your Merry & Bright chalkboard is terrific. Now I need white vinyl, chalkboard and a Cricut ~ holy cow!
Set up a glass display case at the public library with handmade cards from the crafters group that meets monthly, along with cardmaking books.
Your board looks awesome! I love the chalk doodling with the vinyl letters! You could even do different colors or ivory. I have made some holiday cards and tags but no decorations this year. Thank you for sharing!
Katie B.
I created a wood JOY piece to hang in my window! It’s metallic blue with Sparkle Mod Podge on the back to twinkle in the white lights I have shining on it! And I made an ornament with the word JOY on it in different fonts cut out in red vinyl. The ornament is a white/clear “glittered” ornament (I sell at craft bazaars) and with white lights behind it it just sparkles!
I’ve made some glass ball nativity ornaments.
If I had made some special decoration, I know it would pale in comparison to yours! Wow! You are super creative!
Wonderful chalkboard! I made a subway art holiday sign and framed it.
Nothing very spectacular, but I did make some paper stars!
Love that idea!
Can I just say, “WOW”?! Your chalkboard design is just beautiful. I really enjoyed reading the story behind the design. Thank you for sharing!
Betsy, your sign is amazing!!!!! We moved into a different house this summer so I’ve made some new ornaments for the windows. I want this issue so much…I still have cards to make yet!!!!
Great idea!
Love new ideas and this looks chock full. Being disabled it’s difficult to impossible to attend classes so I rely on magazines and internet. Winning would be a thrill.
I created tiny snowflake garlands to put on my tree. Love the post today. TFS
I’m afraid I don’t have any great ideas. But I love what you did with the chalkboard!
The chalkboard turned out great, Betsy. Didn’t know about this issue. Would love to have one. Thanks
You are so talented.
That looks fabulous!
Love your chalkboard Betsy! Thanks for the inspiration.
This is so awesome, Betsy! Never would have thought of white letters with vinyl!! Looks absolutely authentic with the added chalk details. Sigh. Another reason I want Santa to bring me a digital cutter. Wonder if I have been good enough this year????