Make Your Own Chalkboard

I found this chalkboard tutorial on Little Baby Garvin's blog months ago, and fell in love with the idea of doing a weekly picture while pregnant to show the growth of the baby bump. I am not planning on using it for pregnancy pictures anytime soon, but I thought it would be cute for writing other messages. I began searching every thrift shop I came across to find a large frame I liked, but never had luck. Finally, I found one I loved. It is a little smaller than I would have liked, but for $2.95 you really can't go wrong.


Here is a before picture of the frame:

The process for making my chalkboard was a little more complicated than I had anticipated. When I took the picture apart, the wood backing was cracked around the edges. So off to Home Depot I went. I bought the thinnest piece of wood they had, and had them cut it for me. Finally, I was ready to make my chalkboard.

I spray-painted the frame white. Then I used chalkboard paint to paint the piece of wood. I did about 4 coats just to make sure it would look nice. I used paint and a roller, because I heard the chalkboard spray paint didn't work as well. Once the paint was dry, I put the board into the frame, and hammered the nails down.

Then came my first chalkboard creation. Although I need a little practice with the spacing, and some prettier handwriting, I am excited to finally have a chalkboard to doodle on.

Happy Crafting!
Love, Melanie