I love decorating our home with country style signs and signs that have that rustic, homemade look, but they are often quite costly! Making my own home decor allows me to use an array of materials, customize it to my liking while allowing me to be creative, which I find to be quite relaxing! I am able to personalize my creation by using colors I like or a color scheme that matches a certain room or themed to a particular holiday or sometimes wacky colors just because! DIY signs that we create hold so much more meaning and we can make them so much more affordable!
I used to think I could never make a pretty sign (or any other home decor for that matter) that I saw in stores because it looked too complicated, but that is simply not true! With the right tools, anyone can create beautiful home decor. I have learned a lot through my mistakes like how to properly prep a surface and even how to fix flaws and mistakes in my creations! I love sharing and teaching others how to make something they will proudly display in their home! Like I once heard, “there’s no mistakes, just creative decisions!”
Making our own home decor makes wonderful gifts which others often enjoy because it has been made from the heart with love and is sentimental to those receiving it. Like I said earlier, making beautiful pieces with our hands helps to provide a creative outlet which helps reduce stress, increases dopamine in our brains, centres and focuses us, increases self-esteem plus helps balance chakras by allowing our creative selves to shine! Sounds lovely! I am going to show you how anyone really can create a beautiful piece to display, whether you feel you are a creative person or not!!
For today’s sign, I chose an inspirational saying that reminds us things start small and with love grow into great and magnificent things.
Let’s get started!
First, we are going to prep our surface! I am using MDF board that is about 3/8″ thick and is a 12″ wide and 18″ high. I always cover my crafting table with cardboard.
I painted the board first with white acrylic paint. I did about 3 coats, allowing it to dry in between.
Then I watered down a bit of chalk paste, and using a damp paper towel (although a dampened sponge or cloth would work great for this), dab into the paste and brush onto the board surface. I used an off-white color called Dune. I brushed around the outer edges only. What I love about chalk paste/paint is that you can easily sand or rub it off to blend it in. It is perfectly fine if some areas are darker than other areas – it gives it that rustic look!
If you like, you could use any color around the edges that fits with your color scheme!
As you can see, the border has that rough painted look, but it is not overly noticeable. I do not want it to take away from my main focus of the tree.
Next, seal your surface. You can use chalk spray, wax, varnish or mod podge — whatever you like. Today, I am using a mod podge in glossy because that is what I accidentally purchased! But gloss works great. I usually prefer a matte finish in mod podge.
Now that the surface has been prepped, I allow it to dry for at least two hours, and sometimes even longer to be sure it is completely dry. If it feels dry, but it is not quite hardened, the paint will all peel off onto the transfer! Been there and done that (more than once!)!
My board has cured for several hours! Time to get crafty!
I am using a transfer that can be re-used several times and is completely washable! The transfer is a silk screen – wherever the screen is, is where the chalk paste will go through and your design will be left. They are super easy to use, quite easy to clean and a fabulous way to get that high end DIY look without all the struggle of drawing or tracing and then painting by hand! It saves so much time!!
First off, we need to fuzz the transfer which removes some of the stickiness so it can be removed from the surface we place it on easily (in this case our painted and sealed board). Not prepping the surface properly or fuzzing may result in a damaged transfer or surface!
I have chosen the transfer “From Little Seeds Grow Mighty Trees” from Chalk Couture (I am not in any way affiliated with this company, I just like their product) because from something small grows something wonderful. No matter how small our goal, we really can achieve anything we set our hearts on. Start small and watch it grow! Let’s get back to our sign.
Now that we have fuzzed our transfer several times, we need to place it on our surface and centre it the best we can. Smooth it out, making sure there are no air bubbles. If there are air bubbles, lift the transfer carefully and place it down slowly, smoothing it as you go. Air bubbles can cause the chalk paste to bleed through.
Now that the transfer is on and smoothed out, it is time to chalk! I am using chalk paste in colors Daffodil and Peony. I am going to do an ombre effect.
With my ombre, I chose to put the yellow on the top and bottom and pink in the centre. I smear on the yellow first by placing the chalk onto the transfer, smearing it around to make sure all the letters have been covered in chalk paste and then I lightly “scrape” it off, making sure its smooth.
Next, I put the pink on and blend it into the yellow. If you cannot blend well, wet your finger and smudge the colors together. I worked quickly so I did not need to do that, I was able to blend the colors fairly well with the squeegee.
Now that my letters are done, I will quickly use brown, called Bark (how fitting!), to do the trunk of the tree.
I then lift the transfer and dry with a hair dryer. This will dry the chalk paste and prevent the paste from sticking to the transfer since I will be taking more time on the rest of the transfer. If I skipped this step, and completed the transfer, the paste would have started to dry and chances are, the chalk paste would have peeled and lifted off my surface, sticking to the transfer, requiring it to be chalked again. Instead, if I know I will be taking time on a transfer, I lift, dry and set it back down carefully, and carry on.
Now that the bottom design is dry, I set the transfer down and be sure it is stuck where I left off and continue.
Since the branches and leaves look a bit complicated, I am going to do the larger branches brown and the remaining will just be green.
Once I started the branches, I then decided to do the majority of the branches in brown, the best I could. This part is a little tricky! You could totally do the tree in one solid color if you would prefer!
The remaining I chalked green, in the color Meadow. I got a little green over top some of my branches because I was working quickly. I can touch this up later if I so choose.
Now that the design is complete and everything has been chalked, it is time to remove the transfer. You want to pull the transfer up from the middle (not corner to corner which stretches the transfer) to avoid it from curling.
We pull up at an angle to reveal what has been created! I always love seeing the result!
The transfers are super simple to clean! Place it under warm water, and gently wipe with the board eraser! It washes so easy! Some colors with strong pigments like black and red sometimes stain the transfer (which looks bad but does not affect the transfer in any way).
Here is our project thus far. I allowed it to dry for a bit before I continued on.
I love the ombre look. It’s so pretty.
Time to place some hearts in the tree. With the slightly larger heart, from a different transfer set, I used the colors Peony and Currant Jam. Fuzz the transfer first, place it in the tree branches, put chalk paste on and “scrape” it off with the squeegee. I did this until I thought it looked good and felt there were enough hearts without going over board. I also added some small hearts in the color Mauvelous.
I added some hearts at the base of the tree (color Mauvelous) and finished it off with some jute/twine. I used a light beige and a pink and white twine.
My finished project!! I think it has turned out spectacularly. It will be a piece that I display all the time and serves a wonderful reminder from small things, sprinkled with love, great things grow!
The options on how to use this transfer design really is endless! You can also combine other transfers to create one of a kind creations. You can apply this transfer to an array of surfaces using a variety of colors to create a piece that is unique to you!
This Finished Good has been created using an assortment of Chalk Couture Products but are not the Products themselves. I am not in any way affiliated with Chalk Couture. I enjoy using their products and am demonstrating how easy it is to craft with these products, which may become unavailable.
enjoy from Our City Homestead to yours