Holiday Chalkboard Art

If you are a sucker for subway AND chalkboard art, you should treat yourself to this free holiday download and printable at Smile Like You Mean It. 

Which can't be a cuter name for a blog, in my opinion.

You can also find last year's adorable subway art here.  Need a gift idea?  Either printable would be an adorable gift framed :)

Enjoy!  

Jen

Chalkboard Nails

Sans our very orange (tanned?) hands in the photo above, I give chalkboard nails a big A+.  Cousin A brought a kit to Colorado and one night we dolled up our fingernails.  As the directions instruct, you paint on two coats of the black, matte, chalkboard polish.  Then, once the polish is dry (which takes about a minute), you break out the bright-colored chalkboard markers and doodle to your heart's content on your nail surface.  The final step is a coat of clear nail polish and voila, chalkboard nails!  

Cousin A bought her kit at Sephora ($25).  If you follow this link, you can see the kit - the markers and polish I described.  I also just spied this DIY tutorial for chalkboard nails in case you want to use supplies you might already own.

I pretty much love anything chalkboard and being a teacher, well, this is just my style!

xoxo,

Jen

DIY Chalkboard Ornament

Crafting fuels my soul.  Does it do the same for yours?

This ornament could not be any easier.  Seriously. I'm slightly embarrassed that I am writing a tutorial about it.  But, since not everyone is a crafter, I figure, better to explain the process than leave it to chance.  This ornament is also under $5, which is good because today Lil O and I are bringing the ornament to an ornament exchange and we were supposed to stay under $5.  Mission accomplished.

Here we go....

First, gather your supplies.  The ornament was literally $1 from our local Dollar Tree store.  I purchased the chalkboard spray paint from Joann Crafts with a 50% off coupon.  I think it cost $3 after the coupon.  Yay!  I also used a coupon to buy the chalkboard bistro marker, but in the end decided old-fashioned chalk for ($1.49) looked best.  Chocolate is optional!  Lil O gifted that piece of chocolate to me. Ha!  I will explain the painters tape in a moment.

Tape off the top of the ornament and the string with painters tape, so it does not get covered in spray paint.  Then, go outside and spray away.  I like to keep my arm moving while I spray paint so it doesn't get too globby.

After you spray the first coat, let the coat dry for a few hours.  I wasn't in a hurry, so I left the ornament to dry overnight.   Then, spray a second coat and let that coat dry, too.

The next step is key.  You have to "cure" your chalkboard surface.  You do this by rubbing the side of a piece of chalk all over it.  Lil O and I had extra fun by rubbing the chalk all over the ornament with our hands, too.  Girls just gotta have fun, right?

For the grand finale, with a damp paper towel, wipe off the cured chalk.  Your ornament is now ready for chalk doodles and giving!

Easy, no?

If you make a DIY Chalkboard Ornament, post a photo on our Facebook page here.  I'm certain it will brighten my day (and maybe others).

Speaking of today, have a fantastic day, Upcyclists!  I hope to post more craft ideas before Christmas.

xoxo,

Jen

PicMonkey {for Tech Tuesday} + Free Download

Since still mourning the loss of Picnik, I have at least embraced PicMonkey.  It is almost the same as Picnik - easy to use, lots of cool fonts, neat effects and it's free.  I do miss Picnik's ability to connect directly to Facebook and Picasa photos, though.  That made photo editing sooooo easy.

With that said, PicMonkey is doing the trick lately as evidence by the faux chalkboard art I created above.  If you want to make your own faux chalkboard art, download the chalkboard backgrounds here.  Then, upload your favorite background into PicMonkey.  To make the chalkboard art, I chose fonts that looked semi-chalkboard-ish and then faded them about 25% and blended them using the "difference" option.  You can see those features in the PicMonkey screenshot below.

PicMonkey is also easy-to-use for photo-editing, in case you want to embrace it for what is was most likely intended for.  Also, if you'd like a free download of the art I created above, click here and enjoy.  I think the art would look snazzy framed or on a bulletin board in your classroom.  Plus, I love that quote by Sue Monk Kidd.  My dreams are definitely lined up in a queue.

Onward, you photo-editing-art-creating-amazing-blog-reader,

Jen

PS - Special thanks to Kellie at Nest of Posies for the post that inspired this new pastime. 

More {Free} Holiday & Christmas Art

Image from Nest of Posies

I don't know about you, but I am a sucker for a good chalkboard look lately.  In fact, I have big plans for a chalkboard wall in our kitchen.  More on that another day.

If you like the holiday, chalkboard art pictured above, go to a delicious blog, Nest of Posies to download it.  I think it is tremendously adorable - the art and the blog.

xoxo,

Jen

PS -  Come back this week to see how to use a free web tool to make your own chalkboard art, K?  I will also share some Jedi birthday party photos, too :)