A Pin A Week: Canvas Chalk Board

Who doesn't love chalk boards, right? And who, having seen the amazing invention that is chalk board paint, hasn't wanted to do a project with it? Truth be told, I would love that the boys have an entire chalk board wall in their play room, and if we had a home of our own they would. Living in base housing however, it's not in our best interest to cover a wall with chalk board pain. It would be a pain to paint over, and all the work we put into it would be a waste of time once we get orders. (Which I have to keep telling myself will happen one day.)

There was no reason that I couldn't make something for them that was portable though, and cute to boot. I saw lots of different ideas on Pinterest, but nothing using a canvas, which was what has been stuck in my head for some time now. So, I decided to go ahead and do it myself. 

Now, anyone who knows how much canvas costs might think I'm crazy. And I would be if I were to have paid full price for a large canvas. I got lucky though, and found a nice sized canvas at the thrift store with a small hole punctured through the top. It was a tiny thing, and the canvas was about 1/4 of what it would usually cost, so I was happy to snag that up. 

I bought a small thing of black chalk board paint (Oh yes, they have different colors.) for this project. I have to admit, I was almost giddy to start this one. I've been sitting on this canvas for about two and a half months.

The instructions called for me to paint two coats, allowing an hour to dry between each, and alternating going vertical one time and horizontal the next. Since I was working on canvas, which is a little more flexible than a wall or table, I decided to do some extra coats to give the canvas extra stability. I ended up doing six in all, alternating between horizontal and vertical strokes each coat. (I did this over the course of a couple of days, so I had a little more than an hour between some of the coats.)

After allowing my last coat to dry for several hours, I decided to doll our canvas chalk board up a bit. (And also to cover up the tiny hole, though you couldn't really see it anymore through the paint.) I took some of my owl ribbon, which I am very stingy with, and measured out a strip for the top and a strip for the bottom. Then I used Mod Podge (what did people do without Mod Podge) and put a very thin coat on the top and the bottom edges to affix my ribbon. Then I put a thin layer of Mod Podge over the top of the ribbon to help give it some extra stick. :0)

After everything was dry, it was time to hang. Simply use some command strips, (which are amazing for hanging, by the way) ribbon, nails...whatever you want to use to hang it, and there you are! Your very own, fully portable chalk board! I'm pretty happy with it!