Chalkboard Art

I've had a few people asking me to do a tutorial for my chalk art.  So ...here it is!

I've had my 4th of July chalkboard up for quite some time, so I decided that with it being almost August (craziness!) that if I was going to do a "Summer Chalkboard" that this would be my only time to do it, because Fall (MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE TIME OF THE YEAR!!!) is just around the corner y'all ;o)

In this tutorial I'm going to show you how to clean your chalkboard, how to get rid of "ghosting" (as best as possible) and how to draw on your chalkboard and make it oh so pretty :o)

So here is my chalkboard...

Cute right? LoL :o)

So to begin cleaning my board I just took a regular old washcloth and wiped it down.

Pretty bad right?

So, then I took that washcloth and wiped it down with warm water.

It looks great wet, but then it starts to dry and looks like this...

No bueno!! The "ghosting" from my previous masterpiece is showing through pretty bad.  So I researched online (God bless the world wide web!) and found a simple solution of warm water and vinegar that gets rid of most of the "ghosting".

You mix 1/2 c of vinegar with warm water and wipe off your board with a microfiber cloth (to prevent leaving lint on your board).  I washed my board twice with this solution and it came out pretty good!  There were still a few marks left, but not nearly as bad as before!

So, now that your board is clean figure out what you want to draw.  I got my inspiration from a pretty little picture of someone else's chalkboard that I found on Google images (the old school version of Pinterest LoL).

So let's get started!  To make your drawing bright and vibrant just dip the tip of the chalk into a glass of water.  When you first start drawing it's going to look like its barely showing up, but don't worry you're doing it right.  When the chalk dries it will show up super bright!  The first thing I like to do is draw out my border so I know how much space I have to work with.  

Once the border is drawn out, I take a ruler (or a ridiculously long yardstick because I can't find my ruler) and draw a faint line to help with the lettering.  I do everything free handed.  And even though I'm somewhat of a perfectionist, I find that the "not so perfectionism" of doing everything free handed adds to the charm and character of chalk art :o)  I think that's one of the things I like most about chalk art is that you can play around with it, tweak it and make it your own (even if you're copying someone else's chalkboard art)!

Once I'm finished I like to get a wet q-tip and erase all the lines I made for the lettering and for the little mistakes I've made along the way to clean up my board.  And the q-tips are great for getting in those small spaces!

And viola!  Now you have your very own personalized piece of art that you can change year round and for all occasions!

So hang that bad boy up on your wall and be proud of it!  Because you my friend are now a master at chalk art ;o)

What type of things do you like to draw on your chalkboard? If you have any tips and suggestions about chalkboarding I'd LOVE to hear them!  Happy "Hump Day" and I hope you are all having an awesome week!

Summer Fun!

Well, another weekend has come and gone :o(  These weeks seem to be going by faster and faster now that it's summer!!  Our family is constantly out and about and doing something outside ...even though it's starting to get seriously hot down here in FL!  We've found that the best way to beat the heat is to be out on the boat and in the lake :o)

(Yes, we're Floridians but it's the beginning of boat season!  So, please forgive our whiteness!! LoL)

  

This is our first year having a baby out on the boat and thankfully HE LOVES IT!!  We definitely have a water baby on our hands :o) 

I was surprised at how much he LOVED being in the water!  He would start whining when we picked him up!   I'm guessing he probably liked the feeling of being weightless :o) LoL

When we go out on the boat we are always making yummy food on the grill!  My hubby is pretty much the grill master ;o)  He has a way of cooking chicken to perfection!  Putting BBQ sauce on this chicken would be a sin!  His chicken is perfectly cooked through, never dry and always super juicy and delicious!! :o)

We gave Hunter a chicken bone to gnaw on and he went CRAZY!!!  This little boy thinks his daddy's chicken is pretty tasty too ;o)

My hubby loves to snorkel while we're on the lake to look at all the fish and see what he can find on the bottom of the lake floor.  

This time he found a $20 bill!!!

All the fun on the boat wore him out!! LoL

I'd say it was a pretty great day on the lake :o)  What are your favorite things to do during the summer??

I hope you all are having a great Monday and that you have a wonderful holiday week filled with summer fun with friends and family!