Chalkboard Christmas Countdown

If you follow me on Instagram, then you've seen my latest Chalkboard chicken scratches Art!

I freehanded, rather quickly I might add because I was running out of natural light and it's hard enough to get a photo of our chalkboard since you practically have to climb inside the pantry to do so! It's across from our pantry in a small walk through hallway.

I wanted to reuse the magnetic snowball numbers I had made from our Olaf Disney Countdown last year, so was looking for something with a round shape that I could put them in. I have an entire board full of Chalk Art on Pinterest, so turned to that for inspiration before I got started. 

The truck with a wreath was perfect, if you want to see the original, Jenn who blogs over at Clean and Scentsible is the original artist. I just looked at hers on my phone, while sketching and created my own little Pinterest knock off!

Tips for creating your own chalk art : Make it your own & have fun! Keep a pencil sharpener handy to create a nice outline. Turn your chalk sideways to fill in large areas. Use your finger or a Q-Tip to blend away harsh lines and fill in small areas.

Above the words, I now have envelopes for each of our children, they are doing extra jobs/chores around the house to earn money for Christmas presents...

Christmas will be here before we know it!

Olaf Disney Countdown

Look how fun....Summer!!!

A quick wipedown and free hand drawing on the magnetic chalkboard

and we have a happy little snowman helping us countdown to Disney!

Olaf is a favorite in our house and our two year old calls him "Summer"...

With my Ipad in one hand for visual purposes, I free handed Olaf and lettering with regular chalk. I find that keeping your chalk sharpened helps with more precise lines. You can just use a regular pencil sharpener. I keep one in my chalk box so it doesn't grow legs and run off.  No orange chalk for his nose, so I just layered red and yellow till it looked a bit on the orange side. Grey was also used for his arms and hair since brown chalk wasn't in my box. Another helpful trick when you are drawing or lettering on your chalkboard. Rub your finger over your lines to soften them up a bit. This also helps with shading, since you can pull the chalk with your finger.

Next I took my 2-1/2" Circle Punch and cut out some white circles for snowballs. Made some sparkly red numbers with my Sizzix dies and Big Shot and then attached a small piece of magnet strip to the backs to make them magnetic and easily moveable on the board.

My hubs said he was more impressed with my Disney lettering than Olaf...haha!

I apologize for the lighting, the chalkboard is directly across from our pantry in a hallway and doesn't get natural light.

I hope you enjoyed and are inspired to give freehand chalk drawing and lettering a try, it really is much easier than you think!

DIY Magnetic Chalkboard

If you're not a fan of a messy fridge and you have

a blank wall just begging to be beautified, a DIY 

magnetic chalkboard just might be in order.

My dear hubs doesn't like clutter (which is why

we are a perfect match) and so, to drive this DIY to

the finish line...I started to "clutter" up the space where

I wanted the magnetic chalkboard to go, by taping

the kids artwork and school papers to the wall with

Washi Tape...it worked!

Shopping List:

2-1X4 Pine Fence Boards

3X2' Sheet of 1/4" thick Aluminum

Black Chalkboard Paint

(Leftover) White Paint

He started by cutting the fence boards down to size 

and adding angles for the corners. Clamped it all 

together and then painted the metal board with several

layers of Chalkboard Paint. The frame was painted 

white with some leftover paint. The magnetic

chalkboard is held behind the frame with metal 

brackets on  each corner and he also taped around the 

board, so the back would be smooth. Heavy duty metal

hangers hang this heavy duty project straight into

the studs. We had the metal filing baskets and added 

them to the wall for extra school papers.

The frame size is 42-3/4" X 31" but you can

customize it to fit your space.

The perfect way to organize all the papers and crap 

from collecting on the counter, yipee!