HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED
- Wood for House & Support (8″ pine)
- Wood for Roof (furring strips)
- Wooden Rectangles
- Paint & Brush (I used red, black, and gray)
- Wood Glue
- Black & White Vinyl
- Application Tool
- Transfer Tape
- Hammer and Wire Brad Nails
- Mini Grapevine Star
- Mod Podge
- Glitter Snow
- Weeding Tool
- Electronic cutter (cricut explore, silhouette or other cutter)
- Cut File (available for free in my resource library)
HERE’S WHAT YOU DO
STEP 1: DOWNLOAD THE FREE SVG FILE
The first thing you’ll need to do is get the free SVG file you’ll use for this project. I keep all the SVG files I use for the projects I make in my SVG Library. These SVG files work with Cricut and Silhouette machines, as well as many others. This library is open to everyone and is free! You can access the library here. Look for the file called Days until Christmas for House. It will be listed under the Christmas category-25 Days of Craftmas 2019 – Day 6.
STEP 2: PREPARE THE WOOD FOR HOUSE
To make this sign, you’ll need a piece of 8″ pine. Cut a piece 8″ long for the house. Then, cut the top at 45 degree angles to create the roof shape. Cut another piece of wood about 2.5″ to create the support piece. You’ll also need the cut 2 – 8″ pieces of a firring strip. Cut one end at a 45 degree angle. Finally, you’ll need 7-10 wooden rectangles, which can be found here.
Tape the stack of wood rectangles together and drill a small hole in the top.
Then, paint the rectangles white.
Paint the roof pieces gray
and the house and support red.
Lightly sand the edges of the roof and house pieces.
Then, paint over them with some watered down black paint. Let it sit for a few seconds and then wipe off the paint with a paper towel.
STEP 3: PREPARE VINYL
Open the design in your software program and size it to 10.25″ width, leave the height proportional. If you want to cut the house out of vinyl instead of making it from wood, you can do that. You can also print out the house and use it as a template for cutting the wood. If you don’t need it, you can delete it. For the numbers, you need one set of 0-9. You’ll also need (at a minimum) a second 0, 1, & 2. If you want to start counting down higher than 29, you can cut additional numbers 3-9. When everything is sized correctly, you can cut the design with your Cricut or Silhouette. You’ll need to cut the lettering out of white vinyl and the numbers out of black vinyl.
Once everything is cut, weed away the excess vinyl.
Cut a piece of transfer tape a little bigger than the design. Place the vinyl on the transfer tape and smooth it down. Rub over it with an application tool. Then, trim off the excess transfer tape. Repeat with the black vinyl.
STEP 5: APPLY VINYL TO THE WOOD SIGN
Flip the design over and carefully pull off the vinyl backing.
Position the design on the wood and rub over it firmly with a scraper.
Carefully, pull off the transfer tape.
For the numbers, you’ll need to do numbers 0-9 on the right side. Put 0 on one side and 1 on the other, then repeat with 2 and 3, 4 and 5, 6 and 7, 8 and 9.
As I mentioned above, you don’t need all the numbers on the left. At a minimum, you want at least numbers 0-2. I did all the numbers to make the two sides even.
STEP 5: ADD NAILS FOR NUMBERS AND STAR
Center two numbers on the bottom of the sign and nail into place.
You’ll also need a little Christmas wreath or star to put on the top. I used this cute grapevine star. Then, you can glue the roof piece into place.
STEP 5: ADD GLITTER SNOW
For the finishing touch, add some glitter snow! Paint a thin layer of Mod Podge on the support piece and the roof pieces. Then, sprinkle on the glitter snow. Once it has dried, shake off the excess.
Place the numbers on the nails and start counting down the days until Christmas!
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Want to make your own? Get the free cut file for this project in the resource library