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| Rust-Oleum Chalk Board Paint |
I started out by visiting a look arts and crafts store and found wood slices that were around $2 a piece. That is fine and good if you are only making a couple of them but I knew once I got started that I wanted to make a gazillion of them so I got resourceful and enlisted the help of my super handy, super obliging and very skilled husband. Yes, I am most definitely trying to earn brownie points here with him here! This girl is no dummy as there will undoubtedly be many more projects in the future that I will need to enlist his help with. Did I mention he is super handy and almost always game for a new challenge!
Back to the project! I had my hubby secure a dead branch from our very wooded back yard and he then produced dozens of beautifully rounded little future ornaments like manna from the sky! The most wonderful thing about it was they were all absolutely free! We tried to keep the size or each would be ornament to around three inches in diameter. As with natural wood however, there was a lot of variation which makes each ornament completely unique. I did find that the bark on the outside of the ornaments wanted to fall off as soon as they were sliced so it is a good idea to seal the bark with a coat or two of polyurethane before you start slicing. We learned that by trial and error so you're welcome for the tip that I had to learn the hard way. It's also a good idea to drill a hole to hang the ornament from before you paint as drilling them afterwards mucks up the paint a little bit.
After you have cut out the wood slices and drilled the holes, you are ready to start painting. I found that using small foam brushes worked great for applying the chalk painting. We laid out a drop cloth on the table and went to town painting the wood slices. Allow them to dry overnight before you start applying the chalk for best results.
Once you have painted the ornaments with chalk paint, you can either freehand your lettering on there or you can use another method to get a crisp look in your favorite font. You can download lots of great fonts online for free with a quick google search. I will go into more detail on that in a future post. Once you have chosen your desired wording or artwork, simply print it to scale on your home computer and cut it out to where you can make sure it fits on your ornament. Once you're sure that your wording fits on the wood slice, just turn the paper over and rub the back side of it with a piece of white chalk turned on its side. You are trying to get as much chalk on the back of the paper as possible so that it will trace on to the chalked ornament.
Now flip the paper over and center it on the chalked wood slice. Carefully outline the wording or artwork with a pencil going over it several times to ensure it transferred on to the chalk. I find that using a blunt pencil works better than a sharp one as it leaves a little thicker outline. After you outline the desired wording on the wood slice, you should be left with an outline that you can fill in with a chalk pen. You can purchase chalk pens on Amazon or at your local craft store. I used a 40% off coupon that you can find online at any Hobby Lobby store. The better chalk pens are a little more spendy but they are worth it as they don't bleed and they leave a crisper line.
Now just erase any left over chalk lines, dress it up with some ribbon and voila...you have a beautiful ornament to decorate your tree or give as gifts. Please post any ornaments that you have made using this tutorial. I will be adding lots more tutorials in the coming weeks so don't forget to follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!
Happy Crafting everyone!!
Maureen
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