How To: Create a Chalkboard Printable (without Photoshop)

As you may know, my wedding is this September. I am getting married at the Newland Barn in Huntington Beach. Naturally the "theme" of my wedding is Blush and Burlap (country/rustic chic). 

I love the idea of having chalkboards displayed everywhere. Personally I have so-so handwriting and no patience to make sure every line is straight, there are 0 smudge marks and every letter looks the way I want it to. I also don't have the time, energy or budget to buy or make DIY chalkboards. 

With the internet, a paint jpeg and free fonts, I made the perfect printable "chalkboard" signs to display at the wedding. 

My favorite printable I made was the INSTAGRAM sign.

Here is how I made it: 

The first thing you need to do is open your web browser and search for "chalkboard backgrounds" choose the blackboard you like best, but make sure it is a large size file. Copy the image, open paint and paste. 

Next, go to dafont.com and choose a few "chalk-looking" font and download them to your computer. I downloaded three, but only used two. 

   

Now, all you have to do is choose the font and color you want and start typing. I created the Instagram logo first by using the shapes at the top of the tool bar. The rounded square, the circles, the heart and the rectangles were all put together through paint. 

This project is really easy to do. The best advice I can give you is when you use the text box, make sure your sentences are centered. There is no option to automatically center your lines like there is on a Word Doc. Once the text box is gone, you cannot move your words without messing up the chalkboard background. If you do mess up, hit undo and start again. 

An example for those who don't use paint very often: