Showing posts with label chalkboard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chalkboard. Show all posts
Chalkboard Backdrop
We all love chalkboards, don't we? Chalkboards are everywhere now! Chalkboard labels, chalkboard clocks, chalkboard refrigerators, chalkboard tables, chalkboard chalkboards. Heck, some people even put chalk in the name of their blogs! For real. And yes, we see tons of pictures set against giant chalkboards. Or what appear to be giant chalkboards. But looks can be deceiving my friends. I'm going to tell you how you can make a chalkboard backdrop for photos for less than $1.00. In fact, you can have two for $1.00. More in fact, you can have 4 for $1.00.
Back to School Mantel (September Decor)
September is here which means one thing to us: BACK TO SCHOOL! Shout it with me, sister! I decided to celebrate the event so I decorated our mantel in a school motif!
Dining Room and Powder Room Updates
Hi! We are thoroughly enjoying summer and I can honestly say that we are doing a whole lotta nuthin' and lovin' it. Today Molly went to our town's safety program called Safety Town. It's so cute. For two weeks the kids learn about all types of ways to be safe: bike safety, pedestrian safety, fire, etc. Afterwards, we had our neighbors over. My neighbors are the best. They have two little girls who get along so well with ours and we adore their parents. Just cool people. So the girls spent hours playing outside and then more friends came and the fun continued. Molly was exhausted! This is how I envisioned my summer.
I'll be honest. Last summer was incredibly hard. Molly was very unhappy to move so far from our friends and she missed our sweet little house. She hated our apartment, longed for her yard back and for the familiarity she had always known. She cried a lot and struggled to find friends. She would try to meet other kids at the park and get rejected, mostly because they already had their little friends with them and she would sit by herself with her head on her knees.
To add salt to her wounds, she had double eye surgery and was uncomfortable for much of the summer. I felt like her little heart was so broken and I struggled to find a way to help it heal. I didn't do a great job either. I wish I could go back and be gentler on her. Maybe not fuss so much about her bedtime or her hair being combed or whatever.
I vowed this summer would be different. It would be filled with friends, lightening bugs, swimming, and ice cream cones. Today was a great example. My friend and I laughed as we watched 4 little girls come running barefoot out of the house in various dress up outfits (ladybug, mermaid, ballerina, and fairy!), jump off the deck and sprint to the far edge of our yard to hang upside down on the swing set and to later exclaim that they had seen fairies in the trees. I am so grateful that we found not just a house but a home that is now filled with friends and laughter!
And it's slowly becoming a home we feel reflects us. I recently added the doors back onto my china cabinet and now it's complete! You can check out the back story on this cabinet here.
Here are some snapshots of the dining room.
I need to put some stuff up on the walls that is still packed from our move. Eventually I'll upgrade our dining set and get a much bigger one.
I mentioned that Jim has been working on the powder room and I am so excited! We painted it with chalkboard paint!! It's so cool. I am going with a vintage school house vibe in it but I don't want it to be theme-y.
As we progress I'll post more! Eventually I hope to do bigger reveals. Enjoy these snips though!
Cheers!
Jenny
I'll be honest. Last summer was incredibly hard. Molly was very unhappy to move so far from our friends and she missed our sweet little house. She hated our apartment, longed for her yard back and for the familiarity she had always known. She cried a lot and struggled to find friends. She would try to meet other kids at the park and get rejected, mostly because they already had their little friends with them and she would sit by herself with her head on her knees.
To add salt to her wounds, she had double eye surgery and was uncomfortable for much of the summer. I felt like her little heart was so broken and I struggled to find a way to help it heal. I didn't do a great job either. I wish I could go back and be gentler on her. Maybe not fuss so much about her bedtime or her hair being combed or whatever.
I vowed this summer would be different. It would be filled with friends, lightening bugs, swimming, and ice cream cones. Today was a great example. My friend and I laughed as we watched 4 little girls come running barefoot out of the house in various dress up outfits (ladybug, mermaid, ballerina, and fairy!), jump off the deck and sprint to the far edge of our yard to hang upside down on the swing set and to later exclaim that they had seen fairies in the trees. I am so grateful that we found not just a house but a home that is now filled with friends and laughter!
And it's slowly becoming a home we feel reflects us. I recently added the doors back onto my china cabinet and now it's complete! You can check out the back story on this cabinet here.
Here are some snapshots of the dining room.
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| The day we closed on the house. |
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| This buffet was given to me by my parents. It had been in the house I grew up in forever and they gave it to us when they sold. The painting is a Jenny original and I keep thinking I will repaint it the right way some day! LOL! |
I need to put some stuff up on the walls that is still packed from our move. Eventually I'll upgrade our dining set and get a much bigger one.
I mentioned that Jim has been working on the powder room and I am so excited! We painted it with chalkboard paint!! It's so cool. I am going with a vintage school house vibe in it but I don't want it to be theme-y.
 |
| What we were starting with |
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| We added a thicker, chunkier than usual cap molding for the top as we wanted to feel a little like a chalk ledge in a classroom of yore. |
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| We changed the fixtures over to new ORB ones. I love it! |
As we progress I'll post more! Eventually I hope to do bigger reveals. Enjoy these snips though!
Cheers!
Jenny
Guest Blogger: Breida with a B!
Hi. My name is Jennifer and I'm a chalk addict. I must paint everything with chalkboard paint so I can then write on it with chalk. And it's an addiction I refuse to give up!! Yay for Breida with a B for giving us all another way to use chalkboard paint! I am so happy she is sharing her sweet tags with us today and she is so so nice too. Head over and visit her! And if you want to be a guest blogger please email me! Juniper20@gmail.com!
Hello there! Let me introduce myself. My name is Breida. With a B. I am terribly excited to be guesting here at Days of Chalk & Chocolate. This is my very first guest post and I want to thank Jenny for the opportunity. I'm hoping to do a lot more of this in the future and I can say it all started here! I hope you will all come over and visit with me at breida with a b. I'm crafting, painting, gardening, cooking, and trying to take pretty pictures of it all! Join me!
I decided that my post for Days of Chalk & Chocolate should be either about chalk OR chocoalte. . . and since there wasn't any chocolate in the house (gotta fix that), I thought up this simple and versatile craft project. You could do this for any holiday or gift giving occasion but since Mother's Day is coming up very soon - that's the theme I went with.
Erasable chalk tags . . . for any occasion - but you know moms eat this stuff up!
This project is very simple and can even be done by the kids with one minor variation. Here are the materials you will need:
Crayola Model Magic - I love this stuff!
shipping tags and baker's twine - more of my favorites. . .
my NEWEST favorite!! chalkboard paint!
You will also need, chalk, a sharp knife (or a cookie cutter-for the kids), a straw, and a rolling pin.
I have done other cookie cutter projects with Model Magic in the past. It's very easy to work with. Here, I simply rolled out a small piece on the back of a cookie sheet and then lightly pressed the shipping tag into the surface to make an impression. If you press too hard or leave it too long you won't be able to get it back off without wrecking the shape. It took a couple of tries before I got it down but then it was quite easy. Once the imprint of the tag shape is made, use the sharp knife to cut out your shape. Don't make any sawing motions - just press the knife straight down. The imprint will include the hole for the string. A standard drinking straw is just the right size to remove the Model Magic where the hole should be. Just press it straight in and if you get lucky the excess will be stuck in the straw when you remove it. If not - you will need to pluck it out with tweezers. Do all of this directly on the back of the cookie sheet. Once you get your shapes cut out you can't move them till they are dry. (about 24 hours). Don't worry, they don't stick to the pan. Once they are dry they will come right off. Put them aside and resist the temptation to poke them. They are not cookies and you don't want fingerprints on your tags!
They look like they should go in the oven now but there is no cooking involved!
All ready to paint. you can see the imprint of the shipping tag - looks like a real tag!
The next step is the most dramatic. I painted these with the brush-on type of Rustoleum Chalk Board Paint because I have a lot of it. A lot. Really. Do you need some? I do, however, think that the spray-on type would work even better. I used a sponge brush but even that left a good deal of texture on the surface of the tag. When the Model Magic dries it is very smooth and I think the spray chalk board paint would keep it that way.
After I painted them - two coats - and let them dry, I just looped the baker's twine through the hole and the tag is complete. All that's left is deciding what you want to attach it to and what you want to write on it. The tags can be written on with chalk and erased so that you can use them again and again. I'm very pleased with how they came out. The lilacs are from my yard and they are usually blooming for Mother's Day. Everything is a bit topsy-turvy this year. The lilac's will be long finished in another two weeks but I'll still have my erasable chalk tags!
Here are a few more examples of the finished product:
I'm so happy to be able to share this simple chalk craft here with you at Days of Chalk & Chocolate. Many thanks to Jenny! Please come by and visit me at breida with a b. I'm having a wonderful time sharing my experiences with all of you! Thanks!
Chalkboard Table
Years ago my father gave me an old coffee table to use in my first apartment. It had been his forever and it was pretty beat by the time I got it. My roommates and I didn't help it any and by the time it landed in our garage a few years ago it looked like this:
I put it up on Craigslist but there were no takers. I thought about throwing it away (which is what Dad told me to do) but I hung onto it. I knew I'd do something with it but I just wasn't sure what. Now that we have a playroom for the girls though I knew exactly what it was really meant to be. A chalkboard table painted pink with flowers you say? Exactly.
Wish I had been able to take pics before it had been drawn on a million times but then again, that's what it's for! They love it, every kid that comes into my house loves it, and I'm glad that I was able to reuse the table that had been hanging around for so long.
What have you been up to? Chalkboard anything lately?
Oh and I need a new camera. I don't want one that's too fancy or too expensive. Any recs? I have a Nikon and it blows.
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| Leather top was cracked and beyond repair |
I put it up on Craigslist but there were no takers. I thought about throwing it away (which is what Dad told me to do) but I hung onto it. I knew I'd do something with it but I just wasn't sure what. Now that we have a playroom for the girls though I knew exactly what it was really meant to be. A chalkboard table painted pink with flowers you say? Exactly.
Wish I had been able to take pics before it had been drawn on a million times but then again, that's what it's for! They love it, every kid that comes into my house loves it, and I'm glad that I was able to reuse the table that had been hanging around for so long.
What have you been up to? Chalkboard anything lately?
Oh and I need a new camera. I don't want one that's too fancy or too expensive. Any recs? I have a Nikon and it blows.
About Jenny
If I can create beauty, you can too! Creativity is within your reach, trust me. I believe that you don't need any special talents to be creative and you only need to have a willingness to try. So in addition to being a mom, teacher, wife, and sister, I am also a creative tryer!
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