Teach Me Tuesday: DIY Handmade Wall Lettering

Welcome to Teach Me Tuesday! I spend a lot of time each week reading all of the great DIY tips out there in Blogland. Because there are so many fabulous projects that I can’t wait to try, I figured that it would be fun to feature some of my very favorites here each Tuesday.

If you would like to be featured in an upcoming edition of Teach Me Tuesday, please email me at LivingWithLindsay@gmail.com and we’ll chat!

Today’s edition of Teach Me Tuesday features the lovely and talented Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick. Her blog title says it all. Who doesn’t want to be thrifty with their home decor? The trick is being thrifty without it showing, and Sarah really shows us how.

One of my favorite Thrifty Decor Chick posts of late details how to do create your own stencils that look exactly like the vinyl wall words and letters that are so incredibly popular. Sarah’s are thrifty indeed – they are FREE! I love her idea, and I thought you’d love it, too.

Sarah writes:

I have seen some lover-ly signs out there that I’ve been wanting to steal copy for awhile now. I’m amazed at how detailed some get — most ladies I have seen trace the letters on and then fill them in with paint by hand?!

I am NOT that good.

I usually make my own stencils, and have them throughout our home — they look like the vinyl wall words unless you are right up on them.

On a quick trip into Goodwill today, I found this board for $1.99. I loved it but I wanted to use it for something a little different:

I figured out the measurements, then got on the computer and figured out the font and size I wanted:

Then I use the exacto knife to cut out the letters:

For letters like a’s, b’s, d’s, etc…you’ll have to cut out the middle. I use a very small piece of tape on the back to secure it in it’s spot.

Then take a sponge brush or one made for stenciling to barely dab on the paint — you won’t need much!:

Peel them up and this is what you’ll get!

I love it! And only $1.99?! Awwwww yeah…. I’ll probably add some scrolly jobbies on each side of the sign to add a little somethin’.

I did this in our kitchen above our cabinets (I used Italian phrases). Later I thought they needed something too, so I scanned in the little scrolly thing from Uppercase Living catalog, made it the size I wanted, then added it to the corners:

For the larger phrases, you’ll need more than one page to print them. Cut them out and hang them on the wall so they line up, then paint:

Here’s more in my son’s room:

Fun eh? And soooo much cheaper than “real” stencils or vinyl lettering. And when I say “cheaper” — I mean FREE!!

This is so great, Sarah! I’m going to use your technique to put a fancy ‘L’ on the back of my sewing room chair. Just add that to the project list!

If you are looking for some new fonts for this type of project, I highly recommend checking out www.dafont.com. There are more fonts than you could ever look at on that site, and they are all FREE to download. You can even type in your word or phrase and it shows you what it would look like in all the fonts on the site. You can’t beat that! When I’m looking for a new font for a project, DaFont.com is always the first place I look.

Thanks for the great stenciling tips, Sarah! I can’t wait to try it out myself!