Chalkboard Art tutorial

As promised,

I'm going to show you how I transfer a design to a chalkboard.

I painted this wood slice (found at HL) with chalkboard paint.

To season the chalkboard, I rubbed the side of a piece of chalk all over the board.

Once the whole board is seasoned...

Use a damp cloth to wipe off all the chalk. Don't use a paper towel, it leaves leftovers behind!

The first time around I had to clean off the board twice. 

You don't want to get it too wet. But you don't want to use a dry cloth either.

Next take your design and that same piece of chalk.

Turn over to the backside and rub chalk all over, 

focusing on the areas that you want to transfer to the chalkboard.

Turn it back over, right side up. You may want to tape your paper in place too.

The next step is to trace the image. 

The chalk on the backside of the paper will transfer to your chalkboard.

I like to use a red pen so I can see where I've traced.

As you can see you get a nice outline of everything you've traced, right there on your chalkboard!

This takes a little bit of time. But I love how everything comes out so crisp and clean!

This is the best tip ever! You can sharpen your chalk!!! Check  out that nice sharp tip on the chalk!

Now I take my nice sharp chalk and trace over the outline of all the letters.

I love how clean the lines are!

Now that I've got everything outlined. It's time to fill in the letters.

You don't necessarily need a sharp time for this next step because you're just filling in the letters.

I use my finger to rub some of the chalk inside the letters (this is another one of my favorite tricks!)

Gotta love my husband and my daughter the photog's who stood by documenting every step of this tutorial. Here I am blowing off some of the extra chalk dust.

I also used a wet q-tip or corner of a towel to clean up some of the chalk dust in between all the letters.

I use the tip of my finger too! This gets to be quite a lengthy step for me. 

Correcting and making it look just so!

 Pretty simple!

 I grabbed this little plastic box (actually for a sandwich!) at the Dollar Store.

 I've got everything I need here (minus the towel-which wouldn't fit in here and needs to be washed occasionally) "chalk" sharpener, colored chalk and white chalk, q-tips and makeup sponge.

This is my best project to date! I created a document with my 

Silhouette Software and Photoshop and then emailed the image to my local Office Depot. 

They printed it out BIG (mine is 22 x 30 or something, you can get it any size you want!) and because it was black and white (I added the colored chalk when I was filing in the letters)  

it cost me less than $3.00!

Chalk Painted Armoire

Every once in a while I get that itch. 

The itch to paint something.

 I had one of those days recently and this was the result:

 When we were first married we'd frequently visit the auction house.  

We purchased this one of those times.

 And this is the 4th time I painted it!

 I used Cece Caldwell's Chalk paint in Pittsburg Gray. 

The fun pop of color on the inside is Pantone's color of the year (2011) Honeysuckle. 

 This is by far my favorite look for this armoire! 

 The glass knobs are from Hobby Lobby.

 I had to put some my French to good use too!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

For more on chalk board see my post here about my kitchen table transformation.

DIY Schoolhouse Chalkboard

I'm so excited to present you my School House Chalkboard!
I made it myself! And I'm going to show you how.

I'm having so much fun finding new phrases, verses and sayings and testing out new techniques!

My inspiration and idea came from one of my favorite blogs by Susie Harris. 

She blogged about how she made herself a School House Chalkboard (you can find her's here), 

and she got her idea from someone else. Don't you just love this blogging community? So fun!

I bought the following materials at Lowe's and had the pieces cut to my specifications:

1/8" Hardboard for the chalkboard face and the backing. Hardboard is sold in huge pieces, so you will have to have it cut down in order for it to even fit in your car!

(1) 24 x 34 

(1) 27 x 39

Beginning from Top to Bottom I had the following pieces cut:

(2) 27" 1 x 2 (the two pieces surrounding the flat middle piece)

(1) 27" Pine Project Board 1/2 x 6 (the large flat piece in the top middle)

(2) 36" 1 x 2 (the side pieces)

(1) 22" 1 x 2 (the bottom Piece)

The picture above shows all my pieces laid out before painting, gluing and nailing it all together.

 I lightly sanded all the edges of everything that was to be painted white 

and then found some high gloss white paint and went to work.

 Next I laid out my my hardboards (after painting on the chalk board paint on the smaller piece).

 I used regular old wood glue to adhere the two pieces together.

 I went to town with the glue!

 I think I let it dry overnight just to ensure it wouldn't shift when I add the top, sides and bottom.

 After gluing the top together I glued on the bottom and the sides. 

I love using heavy cans as a weight to keep everything in place!

 Attaching the sides...

 I had my husband take these pictures. 

He went a little happy with the camera that day!
I had to delete many many pictures of close-ups on the glue, the cans...

 After the glue dried I added a couple small finishing nails on the back side.

 And on the bottom. 

I forgot to take a picture of the next step, but I used caulk at all the seams for a nice smooth finish.

 Now for the fun stuff! With the side of the chalk I seasoned up the board.

 It's important to use a cloth (and not a paper towel) when removing the chalk. 

The paper towel leaves leftovers behind. 

I keep a damp cloth on hand when I'm working on my lettering.

 I drew some lines on my board to use as a guide 

and then searched Pinterest to find great chalkboard art. This is by far by favorite!

 I free-handed all the lettering 

(although there are some "tricks" for transferring phrases to your chalkboard)

 Check out Dear Lille who is amazingly talented and created this chalkboard art! She offered downloadable versions of this, for those of you who like to admire but don't want to create. 

Here is a list of all she has to offer.

 I had so much fun even before Easter was even over
I erased the whole board and created something new!

 And again! Gotta love the lettering on the words "Firm & Secure!" I wish I was that good! 

Next week I'll show you how to transfer lettering onto your chalkboard. And some of my techniques.

Here's what's hanging in my kitchen now! 

I love the different styles of lettering and the use of colored chalk!
Don't forget to come back next week for Chalkboard lettering and the DIY!