Writings on the Wall – the Blog

Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category

After all of the orders had been filled and packages packed and shipped, it was time to spend a little time on some fun projects for me.

I’ve seen different variations of chalkboards and figured that these would be just perfect for Christmas gifts for the munchkins. Well.., my niece Jacky isn’t exactly a munchkin any more, but every girl likes to doodle on a chalkboard, so I started with hers.

First of all…
I visited the hardware store (Lowe’s) and purchased some 1/8″ hardboard.  A 4 x 8 sheet cut into 24 x 33″ rectangles gave me 6 pieces for about $7.00.  The friendly guy at Lowe’s cut the board for me, so I walked out the door with 6 perfect pieces of wood tucked under my arm.
I also grabbed a can of chalkboard paint. I have used the spray-paint kind which works very well, but the quart container that you brush on will go much further and is a little more economical if you are doing many boards or a large board or wall.
And… some 1 x 2″ boards for the frame. They run about $2.00 for an 8 foot length.  I dug through to make sure I got some nice straight and not too knotty looking pieces.
Walked out of the store feeling like I had scored bit time.

So then…
I cranked the stereo up really loud, and went to work.

Paint and a foam brush and that's all I need.

Chalkboard after the first coat...

Foam brushes are my favorite for applying water based paints and the chalkboard paint is waterbase. It takes two coats per board and I should tell you now… I applied the first coat the day before so that it would have plenty of time to dry.
Then…
I slipped back into my wood cutting room and made use of my trusty table saw. A jigsaw or even a hand saw will work too. I cut the top strips 25″ long so that they would overhang the edges and side strips are 29″ long – give or take.
A little sanding to take off any splintery pieces and they’re ready to paint.

Painting the edge pieces

I spray painted using some cans of Krylon that were left from other projects. So we have magenta, tan and red. Paint the front and sides of the wood strips.
Two coats is adaquate for coverage and fumes. (Love those paint fumes!)

Placing and gluing the edges

After the paint had all dried, I squeezed glue (love me some Aileen’s Tacky Glue, but any wood glue will work) all around the outside edge of the blackboard.  Place the top and bottom  pieces in place, then the side pieces. Push everything together so they meet up fairly tight.

Just a note— I am not a master carpenter and these are not even remotely fine cabinetry, so the measurements aren’t exactly perfectly accurate and there may or may not be tiny gaps where the boards meet.  I don’t think anybody cares.

So then…
Let the glue set up while you have lunch and make some phone calls to your friends and then CAREFULLY turn the boards over and hammer in some little finishing nails to hold everything all securely together.  I put a couple in each corner and then one about every 4 inches.  Be sure that your nails aren’t so long that they go all the way through the wood and out the other side. Just sayin’.

Attach two alligator teeth hangers to the top edge and flip it back over.

I snagged some of these very cute painted wood characters at Walmart for about 50 cents each just to use for these boards. I stuck one on a top corner (covered the little gappy place just perfectly. You know, where the wood doesn’t quite meet up.)

Since I just happen to have access to the stuff… I cut each child’s name out of vinyl and stuck ‘em on the top. It was the perfect finishing touch.

Cute Vinyl Letters

My little cuties!

All together I spent about $25.00  and a couple of hours of my time for four darling chalkboards – very cheap therapy indeed.

The kids loved them and I still have enough wood and paint to make a few more. Yay me!

Poor Mr. UPS came dragging through our door tonight at 7:00 to pick up the last of our packages all taped and labeled and ready to go.

Whew!!!
Christmas is a blessing every year for us, but it’s also a 3 month marathon of phone calls, designing, cutting, weeding, taping and packing into boxes. I love the busy-ness, and crazy as it may seem… I love the crazyness too.
Nothing gets your adrenaline flowing like realizing that you have 30 minutes to get an all important huge (or small) order finished and in a box with a label before the UPS man comes. (Nothing prompts the phone to ring like being in a rush to get things packed either)
We have the timing to get to the Post Office by 4:45 almost down to the exact second.
Both the UPS guys and the ladies at the Post Office are always so accommodating… can’t thank them enough.

Now…
Tomorrow I have a few local orders to fill and then some Christmas gifts of my own to make. There’s the last minute call or two from someone in a panic because they were silly and didn’t plan.
Oh well. We’ll take care of them as best we can.
It used to make me really angry that people would do that. How dare they assume that I would be able to drop whatever I’m doing to bail them out of a bind because they failed to plan? The very nerve!

Maybe wisdom does come with age, or perhaps it’s tolerance.
These last few years I’ve merely come to expect last minute emergencies and in fact, we plan for it. People are always going to fail to plan and losing my cool just makes the situation worse.
So unless you’re expecting a miracle…. bring it on. We’ll try to take care of you.

The Christmas season is upon us.
That means long hours at work making sure everyone gets their order as quickly as possible. We’ve been busy with Enrichment projects, Super Saturdays, and family party orders.
I love this time of year. I complain because everything is so frantic that I start to lose my sanity, but  it’s only for a few weeks.
I love getting to talk to customers – friends – who’ve ordered from me over the years who call to order new things, giving us the chance to catch up a little. As I’ve said before, the people I get to talk to every day are the best part of what I do.

Another great thing about the Holiday season is the specialty items that show up in the stores that you can’t get any other time of the year. Different flavors of  hot chocolate, mint flavored M&Ms, chocolate covered peanut clusters, chocolate covered anything….

And these…
I love them so much.
I bought 5 boxes, but I know that isn’t enough, especially if I want to share.
So I’m pretty sure I’ll be laying in a supply and then rationing so they’ll last a good long time.

All I can say is

YUM!!!

It’s a well known fact around here that when I get to work in the morning… there better not be someone parked in my space. NOBODY parks there but me. Or at least that’s how it’s supposed to be.

I’m not greedy, privileged or lazy. I don’t park right in front of the door. My little space is over to the side a few feet… right over there.  Close enough for easy access to the front door when I am carrying boxes or bags or ladders or tables or anything else I might need to use in the daily day to day of running a sign shop.

So now you’ve been warned.

Broomstick Parking 6 x 11 wood sign

Happy Fall Ya’ll!

I’m pulling my nose out of the website project to share some ideas for fall.

It’s my favorite time of year. All the good fresh produce available both at the grocery stores and in the roadside stands. Makes me feel healthy just thinkin’ about it.
I’ve eaten so much corn on the cob this year, I’m surprised I don’t have a yellowish caste to my skin. Really… I ate a lot.

So just to please Susan, who was so very pleasant on the phone this afternoon, I’m posting these 3 three little beauties.
The fonts I’ve used are a couple that I really love, are not currently shown on the website because they only work well for certain things – namely large and simple things.

Perfect for autumn decor, this is sized to fit an 8 x 24 board. For those who want to put it directly on the wall, the exact size is 6 x 22.

Vinyl letters only is $10.00. The finished, ready to hang on your wall, sign sells for $25.00.

It’s not just for Thanksgiving. I need one of these where I can look at it every day.
This one is also 6 x 22 inches.
Vinyl letters only is $10.00. Finished sign is $25.00

I love a nice Old English font!
Size is 4 x 34 – perfect for a 6 x 36″ board.
Vinyl letters only: $10.00, and the complete ready to hang sign is $28.00.

I’ve had several people inquiring as to whether we will do custom designs.

Heck Yeah!
That’s what we do here.  You choose your quote… it doesn’t have to be something from our website, you choose your font and color and tell me how big you need it to be.  It’s helpful if you have already measured the area or surface that you are applying the letters to, so that I can make it fit absolutely perfectly for you.