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With this easy tutorial, you can quickly DIY your own North Pole Sign for a beautiful addition to your Christmas décor or for a wonderful homemade Christmas gift.
Do you love kicking off your holiday season with Christmas crafting like I do? There’s something truly holly and jolly about making your own Christmas décor! I love it even MORE when it’s an easy project, like this DIY North Pole sign!
Here are a few of my favorite things about this easy DIY décor project:
- Customizable: You can customize it with the your own color palette. (It can be hard to find décor you love in your favorite color schemes at times.)
- Thoughtful Gifting: Once you have your basic supplies, you could make multiples for easy, yet thoughtful Christmas gifts.
- Quality Time: You could turn this diy North Pole decoration into a Girl’s craft night or family craft afternoon for quality Christmas time!
- Crisp lines: Because this tutorial uses adhesive mesh stencils, we’ll be able to get a more professional finish than you could with a vinyl stencil.
- No fancy cutting machines or major tools required!
First, you’ll want to select a stencil. I’ll be focusing on my favorite Christmas stencil today, but there are a few different North Pole stencils with cute designs to choose from AND all kinds of different ways to customize your sign.
Here are my personal favorites:
Because I absolutely adore the design and scale of this North Pole Hot Chocolate Stencil, this is the stencil that I’ll be using today. The grandiose scale is the perfect size to make a (holiday) statement!
A slightly smaller scale, but equally charming, there is also the North Pole Bed and Breakfast stencil.
Or you could opt out of the North Pole phrase and opt for a Hot Chocolate Christmas or Merry Christmas theme.
Next you’ll want to pick your perfect surface for your sign. This is another way you can customize this simple DIY sign.
You could use premade blank signs or a variety of different surfaces. Here are a few that come to mind:
Use a brown paper roll from Dollar Tree or Amazon to make an adorable Christmas scroll.
Repurpose old wood pieces from an old wood pallet, for a budget friendly base.
If using a smaller stencil design, you could also use a good size wood block.
Paint and stencil on a blank canvas (or perhaps an already painted canvas you don’t mind painting over.)
If you use Glass Etching cream, you could also etch the stencil design onto a mirror.
The best mediums for these particular stencils are Gel Art Ink and Chalk Art.
In some cases I have used One Step (chalk) paint, and it does work. But you’d need to be quick and thorough when it comes to cleaning your stencils.
Gel Art Ink is gel-based permanent coloring that is perfect for using on fabrics and most hard surfaces.
Chalk Art is a gel of removable chalk which is perfect for when you’d like to be able to remove and reuse a surface again. However, Chalk Art can be sealed with wax or matte sealer so that it becomes permanent.
Please note: Do not use spray paint as this will ruin your stencils.
One of the things I love most about DIYing my own Christmas décor is that I can completely customize the colors and put my own personal touch on it.
For example, I’m a huge fan of incorporating pink into my Christmas décor, but it’s pretty seldom that I find pretty pink Christmas décor in stores. Enter DIYing my own sign…now I just opened up tons of magical décor possibilities.
- Cherbourg, a rich moody green, painted on the back of a sign, and the lettering stenciled in the AMS Gel Art Ink in the shade, Metallic Silver or Metallic Copper. Wouldn’t that be striking?!
- Barnboard, a soft creamy off-white, painted on a piece of a used pallet and with the Gel Art Ink in a soft pretty pink, red, or green.
- Paint a canvas in a beautiful, soft blush like Ballet Slippers and then fill in the stencil with a white Gel Art Ink. (Now that I mention that, I think I’ll have to make myself one just like that.)
- Or you could paint a raw wood sign in a white paint to fill in the stenciled area with a soft and sweet blue shade, like this one.
- You could also paint the base color of a sign with red, green, white or black acrylic paints before you stencil with your desired color.
Equally important as the other steps, be sure to measure & measure again. Measure the portion of the stencil you plan to use as well as the top of the sign to the bottom.
Aim for leaving equal amounts of blank space on the left from the right, and the top from the bottom.
Then, carefully press the stencil firmly to your blank sign so that you get good adhesion. This is really key to getting clean lines.
Note: Before you get started, you’ll want to have access to a sink in close proximity.
When I apply the Gel Art Ink, I prefer to gently squeeze the tube along the cut part of the stencil. Then I come back and work it in with a spreading tool , like this one. Rinse and repeat, making sure you don’t miss any spots.
Then, slowly pull your stencil off. Admire your genius mind and crafting skills.
Note: This step is crucial to being able to use your stencil again and again.
As soon as you pull your stencil off the sign or canvas, take it immediately over to the sink. With the water running, gently scrub each part of the stencil with your hands.
If the Chalk Art of Gel Art Ink doesn’t come out with water alone, add a small dollop of dish soap. Gently suds up the stencil, especially where the designs are cut to get it nice and clean. Then be sure to rinse off the soap with water.
Then, lay it sticky side up on a towel or paper towels to dry.
Depending on what medium you use, it may be best to seal your sign.
If you used milk paint as a paint base or Chalk Art for the stenciling, I highly recommend that you do seal your design! These are a few of my favorite sealants: Amy Howard Matte Sealer, Minwax Polycrylic or good old-fashioned Mod Podge.
However, if you’ve painted the base with the One Step paint and stenciled it with the Gel Art Ink, you really don’t need to seal it!
Now comes the fun part! Let’s style up our adorable North Pole Sign!
Here I styled mine on top of a small buffet in our dining room with silver and gold mercury glass trees, small Christmas lights and white ceramic village houses. Personally, I think the dining room has never looked cuter for Christmas.
Here are a few other ideas of ways you could style it:
Since the design of this sign is also a nod at Hot Cocoa, it would look adorable over a Christmas cocoa bar. Hang or set it over a countertop with a tiered tray with hot cocoa essentials, like cocoa, marshmallows, and candy canes.
For a rustic Christmas mantel, set it on the middle of your mantel add a pallet Christmas tree to one side and some pretty wrapped packages on the other side.
If you have a low headboard, hang it over your bed and layer your bedding with cozy, Christmas colored textiles. Add a small Santa statue or Buddy the Elf figure on your nightstand. Wouldn’t that be cute?!
And speaking of which, you will not want to miss this post on beautiful Christmas decorating ideas!
As I mentioned earlier, not only could these be a gorgeous piece of Christmas décor in your own home, they could also make for fabulous Christmas gift.
Once you have your stencil and desired mediums, you can lots of duplicates for pennies on the dollar of the initial sign. If it gets too pricey to purchase lots of the blank signs, consider making some of them with Dollar Tree paper rolls.
Finally, wrap up your DIY sign in festive Christmas ribbon for a beautiful presentation. Who wouldn’t love to receive a gift made with love?!
Thank you so much for joining me today! I hope you making this DIY North Pole Sign injects a bit of JOY into your holiday season, too!
If you have any questions on any of the products or the technique, please know you can ask questions in the comments of my posts or send a direct message over on Instagram.
One last thing, I am joining some of very favorite home bloggers for more Christmas inspiration and cheer today. I hope you’ll browse around their beautiful Christmas posts.
Xo,
Rebecca
Bloggers’ Christmas Inspiration
Returning Grace Designs | Midwest Life & Style | Rouse in the House | Vintage & Grace Living
Live Oak Nest | Le Cultivateur | Eleanor Rose Home
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