Chalkboard Stencil

Here's the deal - I have horrible handwriting That is why I love vinyl so much. I can create anything and not have to worry about my handwriting skills. Have you seen all the amazing chalkboards around on Pinterest? They are so pretty! To the people that can whip those babies out, I admire you! Seriously jealous of that talent. I have none of that, but I can cut out some vinyl. :) I am going to show you step by step how to make a beautiful chalkboard, no beautiful handwriting skills required.

Stuff I Used:

First I found an image I loved. The one I am using is from the Silhouette store. Its called when you stop from Echo Park.

As you can see it needs a little adjusting

I select the image and then right click and select ungroup

Now I can move the you & the look to where they need to be.

Next I use the Knife tool to cut off the bottom of the y.

Once the y is cut it half I will delete the bottom part.

Then I will weld the rest of the y to the O. So it is connected together.

Now to fix the look.

I grabbed the look and the this, right clicked and selected weld.

Making them one piece. See how the h and the k melt together into 1 piece now? Next I did the same thing with the k and the P in stop.

Now it's all pretty and hooked together. This is important for using it as a stencil.

Now I grab everything and group it together using the right click menu.

Now I am going to draw a rectangle around my image. This is also important in using this for a stencil. (I do this on all my imagines - it makes the vinyl look great if you are selling it, and it also makes getting it straight on the wall soooo much easier.)

Now I size my image to fit my chalkboard frame. Crap! Its bigger than the Silhouette can cut. No problem - I can make it fit.

I turn the image 90 degrees using the turning arrow in upper right hand corner.

Next I take my handy knife again and cut the image in half.

Yay! Now it is a size the silhouette cameo can cut.

Let the fun begin! I put the bottom half of my image in the cutting area. Now for this I just used scraps. It doesn't matter if you use indoor vinyl or outdoor vinyl, since it wont be on the chalkboard very long.

When you are loading your vinyl you don't need a mat if cutting a full sheet that will fit into your rollers. I am using a piece that is 12 wide. I have my roller set on the closest one to the middle. I have found if I set the adjustable roller to the 12 setting (the one to the right hand side) the vinyl slips out. The rollers do leave little indentation on the vinyl but is rubbed out when you adhere the vinyl to your project.

I select Load Media if I were using a mat I would select Load cutting mat

I am finally ready to cut some vinyl! Wahoo!

If you look close you can see the cuts.

Its time to weed the vinyl, to take away all the pieces I don't want. First I start with the outside. Remember I am using this as a stencil - so I weed out the opposite of what I would do if this were going on a wall.

I am going to cut off the edges of the backing paper. This will leave me with nice clean square of vinyl. Next will take my time and weed out all the letters.

Next I am ready for the transfer tape. This helps transfer all the pieces of vinyl in one piece. After putting the transfer tape on, I will use a application tool to rub the transfer tape onto the vinyl. Then I use my knife and trim off the excess transfer tape.

Finally starting to look like I am making some progress.

The next step I am going to get my chalkboard ready. Since this is a brand new chalkboard I am going to prep it for chalk.

Prepping for chalk just means I'm going to rub chalk all over.

Then I rub it all in with a paper towel.

Yay! I am finally ready to stick some vinyl down.

I peel the backing paper off the vinyl and stick it down to the chalkboard.

After I rub the vinyl onto the chalkboard really well, I am ready to peel off the transfer tape.

This is the super fun part! Haha Just Kidding! This is the super tedious frustrating part.

Seriously! This part was a little frustrating. The little pieces of vinyl between the letters kept coming up. With a little patience and some rubbing, and some rubbing and ,some more rubbing, it all stuck down.

Then I did it all again with the top piece of vinyl.

Next is the fun part! Just rub chalk all over in the letter openings.

It gets a little messy and a little dusty but it will be worth it!

Sometimes the little pieces of vinyl didn't live through the chalk rubbing and that was ok. If they came up I just let them. After I got all the letters filled in with chalk I rubbed it with my finger to smooth out the chalk. This is really dusty and dirty! Nothing a little water cant fix.

Wahoo! The best part! Peel up all that vinyl to reveal the stenciled chalk.

Some of those middle pieces of vinyl were a bit tricky to get off. I just used my knife to get the edge started.

Yay! It finally looks like a craft project!

There was lot of dust to blow off!

There are a few imperfections if you look close. I loved that part because its a chalkboard - its not suppose to be perfect.

I love it and am so excited to do more. Maybe one for each Holiday!