Made By Me Mondays #3: Chalkboard Menu!

This weekend I got together with some of the girls from my Bible study and we had some good hang out/crafting time and we made Chalkboards!

We decided to make chalkboards for our project but I had never used chalkboard paint before and didn't plan ahead very well. The bottle said "allow 1 hour to dry between each layer painted" and of course I didn't even think about drying time!

We all painted our first layer and used a hairdryer to dry it a little quicker (this is actually a pretty good substitute if you are short on time!). When we painted our second layer, it did make a few lumps but now that it is fully dry you can hardly tell.

Since it had to dry for 24 hours before you could put anything else on it, our craft night had to come to an end before we could put chalk on our finished projects but here are some pictures from our craft night!

We had 4 girls there total (including myself) but for some reason I only got pictures of two of the other girls! Sorry Erika! I will be a better picture taker next time!

Ok! Now on to the tutorial!!

Step 1:

As always - gathering the right materials! Here is what you will need:

Picture frame - whatever size you want. (Michaels) I got a frame that was tall and skinny so I could make a weekly menu.
Paint brushes (Michales)
Chalkboard Paint (Michaels) I used Martha Stewart paint and it worked great and was the cheapest of the ones I could find.
Painters Tape (Michaels)
White paint pen (Michaels)
Chalk (Michaels)

Step 2:

Prep the frame. Take out the glass, matting, and stock photos that are in the frame. You can can choose to not use the glass like I did or you can keep it like the other girls did (which seemed to work great!)

Step 3:

Start painting! You can either paint the backing of the frame or the glass! Both look good and as far as I can tell, both work!

Step 4:

Let first layer dry and paint the second layer. (Sadly, this is when girls night ended) :(

Step 5:

Tape off the places that you want to paint with the grey chalkboard paint and paint the areas that you want to be grey with 2 layers of the grey paint. Once its almost dry, peel off the paint.

Step 6:

Once its fully dry, use your white paint pen to make little dots (or whatever you prefer) in between the colors.

Step 7:

Once dry, place the painted board (or glass) back in the frame! Be sure not to write the days on it before you put it back in the frame! I did and I had to paint over them because they were hidden by the frame once I placed it in. Must I always learn the hard way? :)

Once the board is in the frame you can write "MENU" at the top like I did or whatever else you like! Here is what it looked like when I finished:

You can see it right when you walk into the kitchen and it just happened to have the perfect spot in our home!

Thanks girls for a great craft night!!

Before you go, I have an exciting announcement!! I will be starting my own weekly link party here on my blog!! I am SO excited! It will open up on Tuesday at midnight so get ready to link up your creations!!