I've been seeing a lot of calligraphy wall art and chalkboard signs on Pinterest lately. So even though handwriting is most definitely not my strong suit, I decided to put my penmanship to the test with the amazing calligrapher Kelly Duffy.
Kelly Duffy is an amazing calligraphy artist who I brought in to help teach me to hand paint and hand letter some awesome chalkboard and wooden signs!
We started with a chalkboard sign that read “Home Sweet Home”. I was a little nervous at first because it looked pretty fancy and I definitely wasn’t feeling profesh enough to draw like that! Luckily, Kelly showed me her super duper trick: Chalk tracing paper!
You can get chalk transfer paper at any craft store. She cut out 8.5×11 sheets of transfer paper and taped it to the design she printed out on her home computer. Boom! An awesome DIY cheat sheet.
From there we just traced the design onto the chalkboard, then filled in the lines with a chalk pen. Chalk pens are SO much simpler to use than the old school sticks of chalk you think of using at school. Made my life a lot easier! Even though, not gonna lie, filling in the lines was harder than I thought it would be. But it turned out super cute!
After we finished the sign, she showed me how to make a rustic wood frame around the chalkboard. You just take pre-cut pieces of wood, staple them together, then drill the chalkboard sign in from the back. Power tools for the win!
Next we tackled a hand-painted wood sign that said “thankful”. You know what I was thankful for? Tracing paper.
We repeated the tracing step from our first project, then instead of using chalk, we used white acrylic paint. This one was a little scarier because you can’t go back and erase your mistakes or smudges like you can with chalk. But, hey! Mine turned out pretty good, right?!
Kelly makes these signs for people’s weddings a lot, so, if any of my engaged friends out there are reading this, hit me up. I’m definitely gonna be making more of these in the future.
Be sure to check out Kelly’s Etsy shop From Kelly With Love, and Brush and Twine! And give her a follow on her Instagram, too. And of course, don’t forget to tag us on Instagram @bemakeful to show us your creations and use #creativelab. See ya next time!
Christi Franco
Christi is a Los Angeles native with 99 problems but DIY ain't one. She's an avid ClassPasser who always turns down for what. If she's not listening to the latest on Audible or watching Gilmore Girls on repeat she is letting you know if you're reading this it's too late. P.S. She loves puns #hiphoppuns
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