Christmas DIY

Happy Happy Monday everyone! This Monday is extra happy for me, because I’m writing in the comfort of my bed since it’s a SNOW DAYYYY. I’m planning on laying here with my snuggly kitten all day and enjoying my favorite shows.

Speaking of shows… ever heard of a little HGTV show called Fixer Upper? Oh thats right. If you don’t know the words “Shiplap” “Chip and Joanna” and “Demo Day” you may be living under a rock.

I can’t sit and watch Fixer Upper without wishing I could move to a farm in Waco, Texas and own goats and chickens, and decorate my farm house with shiplap and pretty old signs. For me, as well as most Fixer Upper fans, the show becomes an obsession  because every time you turn it on, you can’t wait to hear those famous words “Are y’all ready to see your Fixer Upper?” Because you know, the second they pull that big poster to the side, you’re about to see some serious magic.

Ugh. What I would give hear those words about my own house someday….

And lately, my newest obsession has been how the oh so perfect Joanna decorates her home (and the Silos!) for Christmas. I find myself practically drooling over how freakin’ beautiful everything she touches becomes.  But… since there is only one Joanna Gaines, and she lives 1,274 miles away from me (unfortunately, approximately 31 times the amount they’ll travel for the show), I had to figure out how to get a little bit of her Fixer Upper magic on my own.

As most fans of the show will know, Joanna hangs this GORGEOUS Christmas Trees for Sale sign in her kitchen.

Ugh. So perfect, right? And, every fan will also know that she also sells them on The Magnolia Market. Andddd that they have been sold out for MONTHS. I had absolutely no hope of getting my hands on a Magnolia sign and was feeling pretty bummed out, as I told Trev, we NEEDED it for our apartment.

That’s when that little genius looked at me and said “Babe… couldn’t you make it?” And I realized he was totally right! So, we crafted a plan and ended up with this beauty inspired by Joanna’s sign.

Pretty dang close… right?

So, all you Fixer Upper fans that have been wanting this sign, but couldn’t get your hands on it, look no further. I’m about to walk you through the step by step process. And, it’s so dang easy, you’ll be able to have it done and hanging up before Santa even boards his sleigh.

What You’ll Need

• Wood. Duh right? But seriously, you can use ANY type of wood you’d like. If you have some pallets laying around, they might work best. You should just attach a few pieces together, and you wouldn’t have to worry about doing any distressing. However, if you’re like me, and don’t have any old barn wood or pallets laying around, head to Home Depot and get a size of wood that works best for you. I wanted mine big, so we found a precut 48x16x1 piece of wood at the Home Depot.
• White Paint. I used a sample size of Behr Marquee Interior Matte paint in Ultra Pure White.
• Brown, Red and Green Acrylic Paints. I used three paints I already had at the house.
• Paint brushes
• No. 2 Pencil and sharpener
• Vaseline 
• Old Cloth
• Stencil

 

How to Make Your Stencil 

Unless you’re super talented and can Free Hand like no ones business, I highly suggest you make some type of stencil for your sign. If you’re a serious crafter, you probably have a Cricut or a Silhouette that will make your job a WHOLE lot easier. But if not, you can do it like me, the old fashioned way!

First, I picked a font that I liked from dafont.com I love this website, and use it all the time! If you’re not positive how to download a font to your computer, I pinky promise it’s super easy. Check out this link if you’re a Mac user, and this one if you use a PC. I ended up choosing this font in the end.

Then, I opened up Word and started typing out “Christmas Trees For Sale”. In general, I did a lot of guessing on changing the size (and width) of my letters. It took a lot of trial and error, but in the end, I ended up fitting only one letter on each piece of paper. To make it a bit easier, I would suggest dividing the length of your board by 9 to get a rough estimate on how wide your letters should be. Again, each letter kind of ends up being it’s own size and takes a bit of adjusting. This processes can be crazy frustrating, but just keep going… it’s worth it in the end!

Once you’ve printed all your letters to the size you like (remember… the FOR SALE letters should be much smaller than Christmas Trees) Cut out each letter and lay them on your board. 

Now, you’ll notice two big spaces on the sides. It’s time to size out your trees! You can just typing in “Christmas Tree PNG” into Google, and tons of free clipart options will come up. I used a piece of clipart I had purchased years ago for a classroom Christmas note. In general, your Christmas Tree should be about one piece of paper, size wise.

Now set aside your stencil… it’s time to start painting! 

I found a TON of different tutorials about distressing new wood online. While there we so many that looked great, I was really drawn to the ones that told me to use vaseline. Weird right? I was skeptical too… but guys. It was so dang easy!

First, choose the color you want to pop out from under your main paint color. This is where your dark brown paint will come in handy! Now, you totally paint the entire sign if you want, but I just did the edges, since that was the only part I would be “distressing”. (You won’t want to use this technique in the middle of your board, because you won’t be able to paint your letters on as easily.)

The best thing about these little acrylics from the craft store is how quickly they dry. Honestly, the corner I started in was dry before I was even half way around the board.

When you finish with the brown, start putting on the Vaseline. The general rule of thumb is that the more Vaseline you use, the less the main paint color will stick. So I used more in some places and less in others. Be aware of where you’re putting the Vaseline, and only put it on the edges of your board.

Once you’ve got your Vaseline on, go ahead and paint your entire board white. You’ll notice right away that the white doesn’t quite cover the parts covered in Vaseline. It’s pretty dang amazing!

Let everything begin to dry. Mine was mostly dry when I began wiping the paint off. I had read on another blog  that if you start to wipe away when it’s still slightly damp, you’ll get a softer distressed look. Then, the next morning, I went in when it was completely dry, and wiped a few spots for a harder distressed look. You can do either, or both! It’s up to you.

Now, it’s time to get your stencil back out. Lay it out one last time to be sure it’s exactly how you want it.

Then, you’re going to take one letter at a time and start tracing. First, flip the letter over, and trace the outline with your Number 2 pencil. Then start coloring heavily on the line. Next, flip the letter over and place it on your sign. Now, press down with your pencil hard, and trace the letter again. The lead on the back will transfer and leave a super faint line that you can then trace with your paint.

This takes a while. It’s super time consuming and takes a lot of patience. I ended up putting two coats of each color. “Christmas Trees” should be in Red, “For Sale” in Brown, and the trees in Green.

The last thing I added was the two lines. I just used a ruler to measure them out and then painted them.

You could always “distress” the sign some more with sand paper, however, I liked how mine looked without it, and was honestly ready to get it hung up!

And that’s it! See? Super easy! Now, I know it’s not perfect. And it does’t look exactly the same. But to be honest, I love how it turned out, and I love knowing that I made it on my own! We’ve been loving our sign the entire Christmas season, and I’ll be SO SAD when it comes time to take it down after Christmas.

I’ve got hundreds of Fixer Upper inspired DIYs just waiting for me on Pinterest boards that I can’t wait to try someday! What are you favorite Fixer Upper inspired DIYs?! I’d love to know!

I hope you’re all enjoying your Monday! I’ll be back tomorrow with more Christmas fun.

Xx.
Savannah