DIY Chalk Boards

Sorry I haven't been updating for a while. My life hasn't been too interesting. However, there is something about being home in Cleveland that makes me extra crafty, plus I made one of the gifts I made my sister. So, here we go!

I made chalk boards. The one I made my sister was just a plain chalk board and the one I made myself has a cork board cut out of the United States. Now, the only reason I gave myself the United States cut out was because I didn't know how it would turn out and I didn't want to screw up her gift!

First, I took some ugly old pictures we had.

For the duck picture it was really hard to take out the glass, and while I was doing so I broke it, which ruined my plan of using chalk board paint on it. After I cleaned off the frames (they were covered in cob webs and dust) I spray painted them.

Then I spray painted the glass with chalkboard paint which I bought at Michaels, but I also saw it at Walmart.

**Note even when it doesn't look like it's windy somehow the newspapers you put down will find its way onto the wet paint. Haha Then for the United States I found this pattern from Lowes. For some reason the link isn't working anymore.The pattern was created to come out on 4 separate sheets, but that was way too big for my small frame, so I put the printer settings on 2 pages per sheet.

I cut out the map and taped it onto the cork board. I then outlined it with a sharpie. I also outlined Alaska. I left Hawaii alone because it was too small and ended up free handing it. The Alaska outline actually came from the 1 page per sheet because it was much larger. I used a box cutter and Xacto knife to cut it out. It is a long tedious process. It probably took me 3 hours to cut out.

I bought foam board from Staples for the frame whose glass I broke. I wanted something sturdier than poster board and something less bumpy than cardboard. It is really easy to cut with a box cutter when you get the size you need. I spray painted it with chalkboard paint and put it all together. The finished products! :)