Ideal Home's Complete Guide to Christmas: Christmas Greetings Board

Hello, my name’s Heather Young and today we’re going to be making this lovely blackboard greeting tray just in time for Christmas.

For the blackboard tray you’re going to need:

- A wooden tray
- Some blackboard paint
- A paintbrush
- A template – I’ve used a free printable from the Internet
- Chalk or a chalk pen and a sharp pencil

The first step is to paint your tray with the blackboard paint. Take your brush and give it two coats, making sure you give it nice even coverage. Let both coats dry then use your chalk to prime the surface of the tray.

Stencils can be expensive, so I’m using Christmas printables from the Internet. You need to cover the back of the design completely with chalk where the words are.

Flip it over so it’s chalk-side down and place it where you want it on your tray. Take your sharp pencil and go over the lines as hard as you can.

Lift off the paper and you’ll see the basic outline of the design on your tray. Next, you can colour it in. I use a chalk pen because I find it gives a more defined line, but if you don’t have one of these you can dip your chalk into a bit of water and that will give you a neater line when you’re going over the design.

Use a damp bit of kitchen roll to neaten up the edges.

You could tie a bow to the top and put it on your front door in place of a wreath or you could prop this next to your Christmas dining table with a menu for the day.