LOVE Chalkboard

Remember these cute chalkboards I made over Christmas?  I used the same easy technique to make this one for Valentine's Day.  Works like a charm!  Click here for the full tutorial.

Here is my fun spray-painted birdcage, all decked out for Valentine's Day.  The amazing thing is, everything in this shot came from yard sales (for under $10)!

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Chalkboard Lettering Cheat

I promised and here it is, the full tutorial on how I "cheat" to do perfect lettering on chalkboards.  Remember the other day when I told you about all those great fonts I found?  Well, I've put them to use again.

To make the chalkboards, I used chalkboard paint, and applied 3 layers, letting it dry between coats.  Easy enough.  The hardest thing was waiting for these to dry.  No "popping them in the oven" on this one (although, now that I think about it, that may not be a horrible idea).  I tell Brigham, that if I had one super power, it would be the ability to dry things at my command.

I used frames that I found at yard sales, and painted right onto the glass.

After they dried, I put them back into the frames.  I also painted the frames a uniform white.  I love the black and white look with the chalkboards.

First step for lettering: lightly cover the entire surface with chalk, and rub it with a rag (I like to rub in small circles), until there is a nice even layer of chalk dust left behind.

Now, onto the fun part!  I printed out the words I wanted to use, having fun finding the prefect font and the perfect size.  It took a few tries, but I finally got just what I wanted.

Next, place the printed out word exactly where you want it, making sure it is nice and horizontal.  You can use a ruler to help with this, but I just eyeballed it.  Use a pencil (or pen) to trace around the outline of the printed word. 

No, I'm not left handed, my right hand is taking the picture, and my left hand is posing for the scene. :)

Now for the magic! Remove the paper, and everywhere you pressed with the pencil will have removed the chalk dust, leaving you with a beautiful outline.  All that's left is to simply fill it in.

Fill in the lines.  It's like coloring in a coloring book, only the "grown up" version.  But still just as fun.

Don't you just love the end result!  I do, I'm not going to want to erase these for a while.  Too bad Christmas comes and goes so fast.

DIY Christmas Chalkboards

Over the weekend, I turned cheap yard sale frames into these chalkboards.  Total cost for all 3, $2.50.  I even got the chalkboard paint from a yard sale!

I had fun turning them into a Christmas themed chalkboard quote, and a deer head silhouette.  Stay tuned for the full tutorial on how I used an easy method to "cheat" to get perfect lettering every time!

Chalkboard Ornaments

Today was a snow day for me.  What better thing to do on a snow day, than make Christmas ornaments, all from things I already have at home?

I started by slicing some pieces of wood from these logs, using my chop saw.  I love the beauty of natural wood.

I found a circle to trace that was just the right size.  I'll use bowls, cups, jars or whatever works for the size.  In this case it was a can of baking powder.

I painted on chalkboard paint.

Rolling on some sea salt and glitter (yes, I use my baking supplies for crafts more than I do for baking (baking is my weakness)).

 After all, it's Christmas time.  Add the extra sparkle while you can!

Too impatient to wait for them to dry.  I popped them into the oven at a low temp to speed up the drying.  After they were dry enough to handle, I cleaned them off, strung them with jute and added a bead.  Now they are ready to become chalkefied .  Katie and Jenna had fun drawing on them with me, what a great project to do with kids.  What's better, when you want something new, just erase and re-draw.  These little ornaments add a lot of charm and are a lot of fun.

No kids, these aren't cookies.  They are crafts.

Here are some more shots, for your viewing pleasure:

Close up of the sparkle.  It will be even more
sparkly as the glue dries overnight.

These aren't just for the tree, I added one to the birdcage.