Happy 4th, Everyone!

Summertime, in its true fashion, is flying by. Literally. I can see the calendar pages flying off of my desk. Why? Why does winter drag on for decades and summer ZIPS past us faster than my money disappears when I go to Hobby Lobby? Whhyyyy???

I did the coolest thing recently and I wanted to share how I did it. I made a stencil design for my chalkboard. We put out chalkboard wall up a little over a year ago. I just went back to see if I have a post for that one, but I don't -- so I will make one so that you can see how we did it. It was VERY easy. Took about an hour to put it all together (plus drying and seasoning time). It's by far my favorite feature of our house! 

Anywho -- usually I hand-draw my designs but I just wasn't feelin' it. So I designed an SVG instead and made a stencil! The first thing I always do is get font ideas. I just go through my font program (iFont...came with my Mac) and I just start pickin'. I searched for features, like "stars" or "serif" or "fireworks" or "shadows" and I found some pretty much right away that I loved. This is the part that usually takes the longest because I literally have THOUSANDS of fonts. 

Once I'm happy, I just find or create banners and embellishments and put it all together how I want it and TA-DA! My SVG is born. I found this stencil paper on ExpressionsVinyl.com and I got two huge rolls of it. I'm about to order some more because now that I know this works out so well, this is the way I'm doing my boards from now on. The stencil is very reasonably priced, too. 

Cut it out on my Cricut Air Explore and slapped it up on my board. I did it the first time and tried to add hand-drawn elements into the banner and I ended up hating it. I also didn't measure from the top of the board to where I was supposed to begin the art, so I naturally had to start all over. 

I finally got it where I wanted it and just went to town shading in everything. I used my fingers to smooth out the chalk to give it more of a polished look. I am so happy with how it turned out! You can find this in my Design Bundles shop -- click here if you're interested! 

If you have the space for a chalkboard wall, I highly recommend it! I'll get a tutorial up for it soon. It's definitely not complicated at all.

What are you working on? Something fun? I created a new craft group on Facebook called SVG & Craft Designers Group for crafty types to come together and share projects. I would be delighted if you joined! If you have a shop, it's a great way to show off your completed projects! And if you don't have a shop, it's a great way to get new ideas for projects, birthday parties, celebrations, gifts -- the craft world is your oyster. Click here to join.

I have a video of this project as well as a video for a cute little 3D Firework that I made below. I just started making videos, so they aren't Hollywood quality, but I'll get there. Enjoy! 

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July! God Bless America!