Making Spirits Bright

6 Comments

Posted by Rebecca, December 18th, 2012

I think we have all had heavy hearts lately, saddened that the world can be such a cruel place for those who are so innocent. After watching/reading the news all day on Friday, I decided to doodle on something I made the weekend before. Doodles always make me smile, maybe they do the same for you.

I started with an Ikea frame we already had.

I checked to see what the backing to the frame looked like. Turns out, it was a nice smooth board. Perfect for some chalkboard paint 🙂

As a kid, I always loved playing school and writing on the blue chalkboard I had in my room. I was always the first to volunteer to write on the board at school and I loved trying different types of handwriting (my middle school speciality was that I could write on a chalkboard just as well with my left hand as my right). With the chalkboard trend making the rounds, I have wanted one for over a year. We’re planning on making one wall of the office a chalkboard wall, but I got impatient. Need. Doodles.

While I was taking an initial look at the frame, I broke the glass. It was a total accident that actually worked out for me because I felt bad wasting it. Now the only part I wasn’t using was the mat, which I ended up placing behind the board to keep everything fitting tight. Whew?

I used Valspar’s chalkboard paint in black and rolled it on with a foam roller we had hanging around.

Each coat took me about… 1 minute. I waited maybe 10 minutes between each coat and ended up doing 3 coats.

I let it completely cure overnight, then I rubbed some chalk over the entire surface. The Valspar can said nothing about doing this, but I had seen it all over other blogs. Better safe than sorry.

Once it was all done, I got to writing. In the past, I’ve watched some YouTube videos of professional chalkboard writers and took some hints. One of these days, I’ll try something elaborate with proper spacing and planning but for now, this is what I did in a total of 10 minutes.

Needs work, but not bad for a first attempt at chalkboard art. I then stuck it on the mantel, which is still a work in progress.

We’re waiting for some Christmas prints of Easton to arrive to fill a frame or two, then I might add some wrapping paper to the remaining ones. Once that happens I can take some decent daylight pictures of our Christmas mantel.

I planned this post out in my head and then jumped in the shower. It didn’t feel right to me to not fully address what happened in Connecticut, though I really don’t feel like I have the right words to say. “Making Spirits Bright”, while positive, still felt like I was being cold.

So I just ran downstairs, erased my chalkboard, and changed it to this.

Twenty little hearts, for twenty little hearts.

Because a picture is worth more words than I could string together.

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6 Responses to “Making Spirits Bright”

  1. Mary says:

    Beautiful chalkboard, and beautiful sentiment!

    On a completely unrelated note – is that an OXO Tot Sprout highchair in the background? I’ve been considering one… are you happy with it?

    • Rebecca says:

      Yes that is the Oxo Sprout high chair, good eye! We only got it around Thanksgiving (it was an early Xmas gift from grandma & grandpa), but we absolutely love it!!!

  2. Love this! It turned out great and what a nice sentiment.

  3. Gabbi says:

    Forget the “needs work”…it’s gorgeous! I absolutely love how it turned out! Great job!! 🙂

  4. I feel the same, nothing seems important to post about after the horrific tragedy. I love, love what you did. It reminds me of the hallelujah song The Voice did on their opening song on Monday. If you haven’t seen it, it’s on YouTube. It will give you goose bumps and a tear to your eye (or two)It’s all so heartbreaking. Thanks for sharing!

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