Holiday Window Painting Made Easy

Don’t you always find holiday window painting so charming? Especially in white? I’ve always wanted to do it in my home for Christmas, but it always seemed so involved. I thought it would require someone with more special skills than I and paint, ugh! Well, this year, a bunch of serendipitous circumstances made it all come together for me. As you can see, I did it! Today, I’m sharing some tricks, a new book, and tools that made it completely EASY!

I have had the package of the fabulous chalk markers from Chalkola that I used for the drawing since before we moved to Denver! I was supposed to post about them, but I never quite got to it. Then, last month I was contacted by Workman Publishing to share this brand new book, The Complete Book of Chalk Lettering by Valerie McKeehan. Bingo! The markers, the book, Christmas, it all came together. I am so thrilled to be a part of Valerie’s book tour. I also have a copy of the book to give away. Leave a comment by Wednesday for a chance to win!

THE GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED. LIV YOU ARE MY WINNER! CONGRATULATIONS!

This is my first go at holiday window painting. I haven’t done a lot of hand lettering in my life either. I tend to think my hand writing is pretty poor so I avoid lettering in general. Using Valerie’s easy step by step directions, it looked passable so quickly, I was surprised! I started with a few practice attempts to get used to the process and the markers.

Then, I drew my design on paper and started to build it piece by piece. I show you the basic steps I took below, but everything you see here is described in detail in the book: the basics, the letters, the shading, the embellishments, design suggestions and more. The book is full of ideas, as well as being super clear and helpful in showing just how to make the whole thing come together.

Valerie shows so many wonderful details and embellishments it was easy to make it look fun and festive! I took a shot of the finished window at night, too, so you can see it clearly. So happy with this!

The book and the markers made holiday window painting a breeze! Honestly, I promise you it’s more simple than it looks. My husband came in from running errands and said “That looks like a professional did it!” Hah! gotta love that! The kids and I made an afternoon of it. We each got a window, I passed out the markers and we went to town. Using these markers on windows is a great activity for the kids any time of the year! I love Allie’s Santa Claus.

I know I will use the book for a lot more than for chalk boards, too. The lettering and designs were super fun to do and apply to any hand lettering! I’m going to start practicing more in a sketch book. Go get this book!

Holiday Window Painting How To

Materials

Chalkola Chalk Markers
The Complete Guide to Chalk Lettering

:: Make the double banner ribbon (book shows you exactly how!)
:: Add simple block letters, “So” and “Very” for your words.
:: Thicken letters and enhance with shadow, (add shadow lines to the right and below the lines of your letters).
:: Write “Merry” in script (book has sample fonts) on a curve (write on a guide line and then erase). Thicken all the down strokes. Leave the up strokes thin. This is brilliant! Am I the only one that didn’t know this?
:: Add a shadow to the script word Merry.
:: Add snowflakes ( a plethora of samples in the book) and pine laurel with berries.
Voila!

Want to see what other lovely folks have done with Valerie’s book? Check out the blog tour!

Dec 8 Arrow and Lace Designs
Dec 9 Girl Inspired
Dec 10 Handmade Mood
Dec 11 Rad Mom Cool Kid
Dec 14 Flax & Twine
Dec 15 Molly Jacques (instagram only)
Dec 16 Jaco’lyn Murphy Designs
Dec 17 A Little Craft in Your Day
Dec 18 Craft Gossip
Dec 21 Nearly Crafty
Dec 22 CraftSanity