"Merry Little Christmas" Door Hanging

So I wasn't making it up when I said I couldn't wait to share my most recent project with you guys!!

I'm one of those people who really doesn't like to start to decorate for Christmas until Thanksgiving has past...because I love fall decor so much.

But it's been really tough to hold out this year.

partly because the cold hit us so early and it just feels Christmas-y outside.

And because Christmas with a new baby in the house is so much fun and magical. 

There's something about that fat little baby cheeks, sweet little giggles and eyes filled with wonder at all the glittering lights and ornaments. 

So even though I haven't given into decorating yet, I did have to get something started for the Christmas season.

Of course, my mind always go towards my front door first.

And I wanted something big and bold to grace the front door for the holiday season.

And I think I hit the mark perfectly with my red & white nontraditional 'wreath'. 

Are you as head over heels about this beauty as I am??

I think it's mainly in how crisp the lettering turned out.

I'm usually a 'distressed finish' kinda gal which usually makes it perfectly fine when lines smudge and lettering gets a little wonky.

But for some reason I wasn't feeling the distressed vibe this time around (Gasp! I know!) and wanted a more clean line look.

So I took the challenge and love love love how it ended up. 

I'll give you a run-through on how I did it but I'll tell you that this isn't a quick and dirty project. 

It took several hours to get all the steps done and carefully hand-paint it.

But it's so worth it :) 

Supplies: 

*Desired wood (I used three pieces of scraps I had lying around) 

*Paint in color of your choices

*Screws/drill to put it together

*Letters or Silhouette & vinyl

*Painter's Tape 

*Burlap Ribbon

*JIngle Bells

First things first, you need a pattern to go off of for your wood piece. 

I knew I wanted a curvy, long piece to hang down the door. 

Unless you're good at free-handing, you can find all kinds of fun patterns when you search for them. 

I uploaded my pattern to blockposter.com to print it out as big as I wanted.

It slices your image into several sheets of paper to blow it up.

Then I cut the shape, taped it together and used that template to draw it onto my wood.

Takes a few steps but so worth it to have such a gorgeous shape to work with. 

I traced it on with Sharpie and then used my jigsaw to cut my shape out of the wood.

Now...if you're buying supplies for your project you can buy lightweight pine from Lowes or Home Depot in the size that you're wanting your shape to be in.

I didn't want to spend any money on mine so I used scraps I had lying around.

Mine is pretty darn heavy.

I used three pieces of MDF, cut them out and then hubby used two thin scrap pieces of wood to attach them together on the back of them.

Worked beautifully but does add extra weight to the whole thing. 

After cutting and attaching the pieces together, I gave them a good sanding to make the edges nice and smooth. 

If you're wanting to hang your sign on the door, drill a large hole at the top of the sign with a drill bit so that we can ribbon later for it to hang from. 

Next step is to start painting! 

I was lucky and my boards were all white from the get-go.

I still give it a light coat of white to cover any knicks and imperfections.

If you're working with bare wood, paint your piece the background color you want. 

Then let your imagination go wild!! 

I knew I wanted some graphic punches on either end of the boards so I taped off the bottom and tops and used painters tape to create a fun striped pattern on both ends. 

Use foam pouncers to stencil your paint on- I used regular acrylic craft paint. 

I painted on two coats and then peeled my tape back. 

I touched up any spots that didn't look perfect with a small paintbrush. 

After painting on my red stripes, I taped off a stripe above and below the middle rectangular area and painted it black to outline the section I was putting wording on. 

Next came the fun (and scary part!) 

I wanted some gorgeous lettering to really make everything stand out. 

I designed my saying in my Silhouette software and then set out to cut it out.

I didn't have red and black vinyl- that would have made this step go a lot easier!

So I used white vinyl and used the negative part of it to create a stencil. 

I love love love transfer vinyl for taking my perfectly lined up words and transferring them to my wood. 

Couldnt' have done it without it. 

After transferring my vinyl stencil to the wood, I used my foam pouncer to paint the words in black and red acrylic paint. 

Let dry for a little bit and then carefully peel away your vinyl. 

And then gasp in relief and excitement when you see those gorgeous letters pop out!!

I did take a small paintbrush and touch up a few areas that were lifted or messed up a bit from removing the vinyl.

But no major mishaps- praise the Lord!!

Another huge first (besides not distressing my sign) was creating a burlap bow for the top.
I'm not a big bow person but it just felt right for this project so I used some wired burlap ribbon I had on hand went at it. 

I'm actually pretty happy with how it turned out :) 

I added in some glittery gold ribbon and some jingle bells for a little extra fun. 

After it was all put together, I couldn't help but squeal a little from how perfect it turned out!!

I'm so beyond excited that I was able to get exactly what I was envisioning in my head out for a fun Christmas sign!!

I can't wait to actually hang it up and keep it up for the holidays!!

Hope you guys are having a great week and have an amazing Thanksgiving next week!!! 

Like me on Facebook. Follow me on Pinterest. Subscribe to my feed. 

Linked to: 
Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts. Inspire Me Wednesday @ Seven Thirty Three. Your Whims Wednesday @ My Girlish Whims