and it gave me inspiration to create my own chalkboard. So I went to Good Will and found nothing worth transforming. Then I went to the Salvation Army and found this little gem and couldn't resist attempting to get creative with it. So here she is! She was originally a mirror and I turned her around to see her non-porous back side and thought it would be perfect to transform into a chalkboard since it already kinda looked like one! (way to really think outside of the box, Jackie. O well, I'm sure there will be plenty of original crafty moments for me in my future)
Her frame needed a little love, aka paint, so this is where I called in my husband to help.
What I was most excited about was the price! Originally $12.55, she was marked down to $10.05, both of which would have been amazing deals but I got the best one! Talk about a cheap craft (plus primer, chalkboard paint, brushes, and some homemade thank-you cookies to my husband for his manual labor)!
Next came time to separate the frame from the mirror part. Then, make my husband shameless hold the frame as I snap pictures of him. I love taking pictures of him mainly because I know how resistant he is to being a subject in them (note the scowl and blank stare).
Then he hams it up for me. I would kind of love to have this as an actual picture in a frame to put up on my wall but he might disown me and I can't risk that with a baby on the way and everything. lol
This frame is post-painting so it is all nice and un-crackly now.
Next step was to put a primer on the back side of the mirror to help act as both a protective agent for the surface and as a bonding agent for the chalkboard paint to stick to when we put it on. (I think I got that right. My husband graciously agreed to do all the manual labor for the craft because he knew that if I did it that he would just have to fix it later. Smart man he is)
Next step: Begin painting with the chalkboard paint. This is the beginning of the first coat. I believe we put at least 3 coats on. By "we" I actually mean Daniel and me this time. I was allowed to paint because it was black and there was very little room for me to mess it up.
Next we attached our dried chalkboard back to its painted frame and like magic: a finished chalkboard appeared!
So naturally I had to try it out right away. Note: I have absolutely horrible handwriting so this is probably the only time you'll see my actual handwriting on the chalkboard. (I tried really hard to make the words look nice. I even erased a few of the words multiple times to try and make them legible. You can still make out the down slope of the words due to my chicken scratch/angle-y handwriting.) I will most likely be having either Dan or the kids I babysit during the week write on the board from now on. Either way, it is guaranteed to look better than the nonsense that comes out of my hands.
The point of this story is: Even Dan and I have our creative moments and we thought that this would be a fun way to start our little journey off.
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