Fast Fix Friday: Cool Chalkboard Drawing that Anyone Can Do!

So you love the look of chalkboard paint but not sure your artistic skills are up to the challenge of decorating with it?  Have I got the fast and easy fix for you!  Now I know not all chalkboard is meant to be beautifully decorated, it's mostly meant to be functional.  But when you have a piece of "junk" that you're not sure what else do with, turning it into easy art may just be the thing.

Today I'm using the front of an old drawer that I picked up at my local reStore for a buck, they will hang as isle markers in my parent's pet shop.  Once you've sanded, primed and painted your piece, go online and search out pictures and clip art that you love, you can even experiment with fancy fonts. Please be sure that you aren't infringing on any copyright laws. You can use a basic word processing program to resize your graphics to whatever size you need.  I'm using a couple of sheets of paper to get them to the right size for my "canvas."

Turn the page over and cover the design area with chalk.  It doesn't have to be a thick layer, just use the side of your chalk.

Now place the paper, chalk side down, on your chalkboard in the location you wish to drawn.  With pencil, pen or stylus, trace over the drawing.

When you lift the paper you'll have the perfect template to work from.  Just go back over the tracing and color it in to your liking.

Now go...go cover the world with chalkboard paint!

How to Make an Upcycled Sandwich Board

Ah the wonders of chalkboard paint!  You can turn just about any piece of trash into a work of art or something that is super useful with a few strokes of a brush.  Today, I'll show you my new sandwich board that I plan to use at craft fairs this Spring.

Lovely, eh?  Want to give one a whirl for yourself?  It would make a great chalkboard for a wee little one's playroom too.  To make yours, gather up the following supplies:

• Two kitchen cabinet doors of the same size. Habitat for Humanity's ReStore is a great source for these.
• Chalkboard paint (you can make your own if you don't have any laying around the house - or don't feel like giving your right arm and leg for it)
• A couple strips of fabric about an inch or two wide and 10" long.  I'm  using strips of denim from an old pair of jeans but you could use an old belt or anything that will keep the two doors from sliding all the way open
• 4 Nails or decorative brads
• 2 hinges (mine were still attached to the cabinets when I bought them)
• Screwdriver and screws to fit the hinges 

My doors from ReStore

Let's start by prepping and painting  those doors.

• Remove all the existing hardware and set it aside for later use
• Sand the doors down so that the existing paint or finish is no longer shiny.
• Prime both sides completely
• Paint the front and back.   If you plan to paint a border that is not chalkboard paint like mine, I suggest you do your painting opposite the way I did it.  So start by painting the back side and the border.  Then glaze with a protective glaze.  I really like this crystal clear enamel  protective glaze, it doesn't yellow like so many others.  THEN paint out your chalkboard area (do NOT spray with the glaze).  I did the chalkboard area first and then had to cover it so I didn't accidentally coat it with glaze.

Glaze all of the non-chalkboard areas

Let your doors cure for 24 hours, then start putting everything together.

• First line up your hinges on the back side of the doors where the top of the doors meet and mark the holes
• Drill small pilot holes on the spots you just marked
• Screw your hinges into place

I added a bit of purple paint to the bit of hinge that shows on the top

Now add a couple of strips of fabric with nails or decorative brads.  Once you've primed your chalkboard you (or the kids) are ready to draw all over it.

To prime your new chalkboard: Rub the side of a piece of chalk all over the board, make sure you cover it completely.  Erase it and you're chalkboard is now ready.

A Menu Board from a Cabinet Door

Last month I posted my first blog piece to the Eco-Etsy blog called A Thanksgiving Feast Fit for a Bird.  For those of you not familiar with Eco-Etsy, it is a group of Etsy artists who products are made with the environment in mind.  I'm happy to say that this month, and once a month from here on, I will be posting under the Green Living section of the blog.  This month's feature shows readers how to turn an old kitchen cabinet door into a menu board for the holiday table.  Here's a sneak peek:

Be sure to visit the Eco-Etsy blog for a step by step tutorial.

My First Crack at Homemade Chalkboard Paint

Oh my gosh, I love chalkboard paint!  The world would be a much brighter place if everything was covered with it, don't you agree?  Well, I finally took my first stab at making my own chalkboard paint with some leftover paint that I picked up on a Freecycle.  This could turn out to be a very dangerous thing and it could be my answer to how to upcycle everything....just slap a coat of chalkboard paint on that old couch, no problem!

But seriously, I've had this recipe pinned on one of my Pinterest boards forever and have been dying to try it out.  So I did and yeah, it actually worked!

I used the shop walls of my mom and dads pet shop for this little experiment.  They didn't do any kind of repainting when they moved in and had inherited these little circles all over the wall.  Which, as a side note, is the reason that you can NOT hold me accountable for the less than perfect circles.  I only colored inside the lines with my homemade chalkboard paint.

This was an easy peasy project that added just the right amount of color to the walls.  And if you want to give it a try all you have to do is mix 2 tablespoons of dry non-sanded grout to 2 cups of ANY COLOR PAINT YOU DARN WELL PLEASE! Then start painting.  That's it!  If you're going to give it a go there are two things that tripped me up, caused concern and made me wonder if "I was doing it right:"

1.  ALL of the dry non-sanded grout at the hardware store made a point of calling out that it was "dry non-sanded grout with polymer." Uh, polymer?  Did that matter?  Nope not a bit.

2.  The recipe that I pinned said to make sure there are no lumps in your paint/grout mixture.  It doesn't take but a minute to blend up a small batch and remove the big clumps.  But your mixture will look grainy and that's okay.  When you start painting you'll see that grainy paint smooth out under the weight of your brush...which by the way, I recommend a foam brush so that you won't see brushstrokes.

Cute, right?  So what are you waiting for?  Go!  Go upcycle with a couple coats of chalkboard paint and if you need inspiration hop over to Pinterest and search "chalkboard paint"...you won't be disappointed!