Oops, I did it again!

First off, wow, it has been too long.  Sorry for being MIA.  When I hit the glitch about uploading photos, I guess I got lazy.  Took a little (okay, a long) break from blogging.  Lucky that a great follower, Phyllis, emailed me encouraging me to figure out my photo problem.  It was the kick in the pants I needed.  Thank you Phyllis!  A lot has been going on.  I obviously am going to try to cram a lot of Christmas posts into this week but this is my favorite I am sharing first.

Oops, I did it again.  That's right. I did it again. I changed my entryway. Just did a little tweaking to gear up for Christmas. I had bought a fabulous chalkboard as part of my retail therapy. You know, I fell in love with this and wanted a consolation prize since I was going to start chemo.  My husband only let me play the cancer card for about two purchases. Anyways, I originally wanted to put this above my mantel but seriously underestimated the size of the chalkboard. So, it sat in my garage since March until now.

Don't you just love it?! I had recently purchased a Prism opaque projector and knew this was perfect for it's first use. I printed out some digital brushes of the girl on the sled and traced and filled in. I just love it!  I couldn't resist snapping up this Santos doll from Tuesday Morning.  I also had to put a little ironstone in there to complete my vignette.  Have you spotted our elf? 

Nothing like rocking my little girl and looking over to see such a pretty vignette.

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Make it extra large

I have always adored huge chalkboards.  On one of my weekly jaunts thrifting, I stumbled across this frame.

Most people would walk right past.  It's dated and odd shaped but I knew it would make a great chalkboard.  It was only $15.  I couldn't buy the materials cheaper than that for something this large. 

To make it over, I painted the frame with Annie Sloan's Pure White.  Then followed Martha Stewart's recipe for homemade chalkboard paint.  I already had the paint and unsanded grout.  Here is a hint when making your own chalkboard paint.  I used a tea strainer to mash out any lumps in the grout.  This makes it less lumpy when painting.  I applied 3 coats of the chalkboard paint with a little sanding in between.  Now that it was complete, I knew the perfect spot for it was in my stairway.

As you can see, it really is a large chalkboard.  I decided to put down some bible verses that I need to be reminded of every now and then.

It can really have a lot written on it.  I plan on putting some shorter quotes on it for my children.  Maybe now that I had to put a hole in the wall for this, I can go ahead and start planning a little photo gallery up the stairway. 

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Homemade chalkboard paint and bucket

So, ever since I saw Attempting Aloha's post on homemade chalkboard paint here, I've been dying to try it out.  Then, I saw Freckled Laundry's tutorial for buckets with chalkboard paint here.  Combine them together and you have my project.

I picked up some buckets from Target's dollar bins.  You've just gotta love those bins!  Next, I decided to get all fancy pants and cut out nifty labels outlines on contact paper using my cricut machine. 

I proceeded to mix up my homemade chalkboard paint as directed in Attempting Aloha's post.  I know the whole idea of being homemade is to customize your color but I had extra black craft paint and just had to try it now!!  No waiting for me to pick just the right color.  I guess I can be like my four year old when it comes to instant gratification.  Anyways, I applied the paint as directed by Freckled Laundry's post.  I was sooo excited.  As I started to peel away the contact paper to reveal my chalkboard label, this happened.

Did I mention that I was going for instant gratification. So, I didn't really prepare the surface before painting on the bucket. Lesson learned.  Take two!  Made new label outlines and applied paint.  Then, oops.  I guess the step about priming with a piece of chalk after the paint is dry is really in there for a reason. So, much for instant gratification with this project.

Take three!  I applied just a smidge more chalkboard paint to fix that problem and now I call it done!

Wow!  What an idea following directions.  You would never have thought that I once was a teacher.  I think they turned out pretty cute.

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 Frugal Friday @ 

Waste not, want not...Part 2

Sorry for the absence.  The weather has warmed up a little and I have been enjoying it. 

I have been recycling parts from my kids broken down chalkboard/dry erase board art easel.  I previously took the tray from the chalkboard/dry erase board and transformed it into a magnetic board.  Well, here is what I had left. 

I took an old empty frame only and the chalkboard side of easel.

I cut down chalkboard to fit the frame size, added a little pink pizazz, put them together, and now baby girl has a new chalkboard.

You got to love using what you have!  So, I could have thrown away an art easel.  Instead, I repurposed and now have a magnetic board and chalkboard! 

I plan on cutting up the remainder of the chalkboard and making little chalkboard labels for baskets. Also, hubby is going to use all of those colorful strips of wood that was the frame of the art easel to use as supports for some sagging shelves. The only thing I will wind up throwing away is the warped dry erase board. Before you toss something, ask yourself is it all a piece of trash or just part of it!


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