Chalkboard Lettering Cheat

I promised and here it is, the full tutorial on how I "cheat" to do perfect lettering on chalkboards.  Remember the other day when I told you about all those great fonts I found?  Well, I've put them to use again.

To make the chalkboards, I used chalkboard paint, and applied 3 layers, letting it dry between coats.  Easy enough.  The hardest thing was waiting for these to dry.  No "popping them in the oven" on this one (although, now that I think about it, that may not be a horrible idea).  I tell Brigham, that if I had one super power, it would be the ability to dry things at my command.

I used frames that I found at yard sales, and painted right onto the glass.

After they dried, I put them back into the frames.  I also painted the frames a uniform white.  I love the black and white look with the chalkboards.

First step for lettering: lightly cover the entire surface with chalk, and rub it with a rag (I like to rub in small circles), until there is a nice even layer of chalk dust left behind.

Now, onto the fun part!  I printed out the words I wanted to use, having fun finding the prefect font and the perfect size.  It took a few tries, but I finally got just what I wanted.

Next, place the printed out word exactly where you want it, making sure it is nice and horizontal.  You can use a ruler to help with this, but I just eyeballed it.  Use a pencil (or pen) to trace around the outline of the printed word. 

No, I'm not left handed, my right hand is taking the picture, and my left hand is posing for the scene. :)

Now for the magic! Remove the paper, and everywhere you pressed with the pencil will have removed the chalk dust, leaving you with a beautiful outline.  All that's left is to simply fill it in.

Fill in the lines.  It's like coloring in a coloring book, only the "grown up" version.  But still just as fun.

Don't you just love the end result!  I do, I'm not going to want to erase these for a while.  Too bad Christmas comes and goes so fast.