Chalkboarding

I have a slight addiction to Pinterest which I imagine anyone who has it completely understands. One of the best things about the site is the easy access to some amazing craft ideas. I have recently been pinning madly a wide variety of chalkboard painted objects! I finally decided to stop the pinning on Saturday and actually start a chalkboard project. I wanted to make a Menu Plan and a To Do list board as they would be really handy and save me a lot of paper. I knew I didn't want to spend a small fortune on chalkboard paint as for me that defeats the object. I picked up a small tin of paint from Wilkos for the very little price of £3.50 and I am nowhere near finishing the lot!

I then sourced out things to paint. One of the best things about where I live is the vast array of charity shops so finding things to up-cycle was easy. I spent in total £4.50 on 5 placemats, 2 metal boards and a little jewellery box. All these looked like exciting things to adapt. 

Painting was relatively simply. Applying a good coat the paint will be touch dry in 30 minutes (especially when put in a boiling hot conservatory) Once dry I touched up an areas that appeared to lack paint. I then left everything to dry thoroughly for about 2 hours. I made the error of trying to write with chalk on one of the placemats before it was properly dry and I had to touch this up again.

 Once they were completely dry I got to work making them look the part. The two metal boards became the Menu Planner and the To Do list board. I am a big Scrabble fan and by happy coincidence I own two sets of scrabble fridge magnets (people know me so well). Using these magnets allowed me to give lovely headings to my boards.
The metal boards have little hooks on the back to allow you to hang them up so I used some ribbon to create a way to hang these up in my kitchen.

The biggest of the projects I undertook was a jewellery box. To paint this was possibly the most awkward. Getting the inside lid painted without damaging the mirror proved quite challenging and resulted in me being completely covered in paint myself. This also took a long time to dry in comparison to the other projects. Once dry I had lots of fun deciding what to write on the draws and inside. I really like the fact I can change this as and when I like. 

I would recommend the paint to all keen crafters if you would like to transform something. When we have our own house I would quite like a whole wall covered in chalkboard paint! Below is all the other things I chalkboard painted yesterday. I think my next project will be a coffee table, I love the idea of playing scrabble and keeping score by the side of the game!

Currently Reading: Darke by Angie Sage