I do a lot of little projects around here. I rarely share them here on the blog. I have decided that it was high time I did so.
You shouldn't just come here to snicker at my rose eating camel or my sandy nosed kids...no you should also come away with at least something interesting that you might try at home.
So today, if you are willing to give it a try, we will make something with one of my all time favorite things...
Chalkboard Paint!
And because I'm feelin' a little groovy and retro I'm doing most of this post in black and white...well I'm not black and white my pictures are.
Ok, come to think of it I usually am quite black and white...but that is my issue and I won't burden you today with it...maybe tomorrow.
First I started with my glass jars that I store my bulk foods in...
I must say right here that not only do I buy lots of food in bulk but I also have this slight addiction to glass jars...love the things!
I have some HUGE ones for things I use a lot of like flour and oatmeal and some tiny ones I reserve for spices, some are airtight some are not...
I dig each and every one!
My biggest annoyance at these jars is that I couldn't label them in a way that I could easily change when I put something new in. I've tired masking tape and a marker but the tape left a sticky residue each time I relabeled the jar and frankly it just wasn't very cool!
So I decided to paint little chalkboards onto each of my jars!
First I taped off a rectangular shaped section with painter's tape...
Here is a tip for you, I didn't want my edges to be perfectly straight. I wanted them a little rough, a little wavy, perfectly imperfect. So I tore each piece of tape down the middle lengthwise. Purposely making the edge uneven. For those straight edged, perfect angle people out there...my sincerest apologies!
But I figured I'm a bit wavy around the edges so my jars should be too!
Here is my oatmeal jar all taped off...
Yes this does say something about my personality that I was too lazy to find a jar to put my oatmeal in while I did this.
Moving on...after taping off I started to paint.
Another tip here...I ended up doing three coats of paint. When I pulled the tape off it also pulled up the edges of the paint. So the next batch of jars I did one coat with tape, removed the tape, then did the next two coats by hand following along the edges of the previous coat of paint...it turned out much better.
Follow the instructions on the back of the can for drying time between coats.
The other thing I learned is it is best to put on your paint in different directions each time...first I did vertically, then horizontally, then vertically again. It made for a chalkboard that had a slight crosshatch design instead of all the little paint lines running the same direction.
And yes that is my jar of unsweetened organic coconut that also did not get left out in the rain overnight.
All the while it helps to have a lovely assistant hanging around making sure you do all of this correctly...
Here is my oatmeal jar after it was done and I had written on it with chalk...
Here is the whole gang...or the ones I've done so far anyway.
Now you could get all fancy and draw little flowers and vines...you could use colored chalk, but I'm a simple kind of girl and I like the old fashioned white chalk...and have no patience for drawing flowers on glass jars. But if you are so inclined...feel free to express yourself!
Let your inner artist loose...let your bulk shopping self go wild!
Make some little bitty chalkboards on jars...its a fun and cheap project!
After all that's me...fun and cheap!
Note: I found American Made glass through Amazon.com made by Anchor Hockings. The paint I got at Lowe's for around $10, and I can do a LOT of jars with this one can.
If you are interested in other projects that use chalkboard paint here are some more...
Chalkboard paint and sheet metal calendar.
