I love an easy chalkboard project, and this Dollar Store Chalkboard is not only easy, but oh so cute!
While shopping at the dollar store, I picked up this small chalkboard. I decided to just hold on to it until I decided what to do with it. It hung around in my kitchen for way too long. I even had the small lath pieces with it. Finally, 2 months later I got around to putting it together. It was so easy, I have no idea why I waited so long.
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Here’s the lath I used. I picked this up 2 years ago and haven’t really done much with it. I did make a Valentine project using some of the lath.
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I cut the lath pieces to size and attached them using Gorilla Wood Glue and quick clamps.
I drilled holes through both of the top lath pieces using a scrap piece of wood underneath preventing tear out of the wood.
If you’re not a hoarder and don’t happen to have scrap lath laying around, you could use paint sticks cut to size.
I added jute twine for hanging. I tied the jute so that the knots are in between the lath boards making this dollar store chalkboard reversible. The texture of this chalkboard is a little odd. I couldn’t really figure out which was the front and back because the chalk worked equally well on both sides. Actually the chalkboard didn’t want to “take” the chalk very well.
Enter this fun Martha Stewart Erasable Liquid Chalk. I saw it over on Petticoat Junktion’s blog, and immediately ordered it on Amazon.
Here’s a little tip. Do you know about camelcamelcamel.com ? You can go there, enter the url of any Amazon product and it will give you the price history of the product. You can also set up an alert for a product in case the price drops. If it does go down you will get an email alert.
Just paste the url of your product in that box and hit enter! Easy Peasy!
You can see the price I paid fell sort of in the middle of what it’s selling for now. The 3camel site is really good when you’re planning a purchase and can wait. It’s also good if you just want to see if you’re getting a good deal.
After I got the Martha Steward Erasable Liquid Chalk I tried it out on my new dollar store chalkboard, and my repurposed cabinet door chalkboard I made YEARS ago! I sort of daubed the liquid chalkboard paint on this one when I first got it. Literally—I got it out of the mailbox, grabbed a stencil and got busy. I was so excited! I wasn’t keen on how the liquid chalk sort of bubbled up, so I used a piece of chalk to sort of “fill in” the areas.
Since then I have practiced a little using this DecoArt stencil and realized that daubing isn’t really the way to go.
I daubed the liquid chalk on this chalkboard.
In the image you can see that the flourishes in the corners were daubed, where the monogram and flourishes were “rubbed” on using a stencil.
This daubed on fleur-de-lis (seen at the top of this post) had been on the chalkboard for several weeks. I had to use a soapy rag and scrub really hard to get the liquid chalk paint off the dollar store chalkboard (mostly). There is a little ghosting left behind.
This fleur-de-lis was rubbed on using a stencil. I like this look much better.
I erased the original fleur-de-lis on my cabinet door chalkboard and reapplied using the rub on method instead of the daubing method.
yep! The rub-on method with the liquid chalk paint works so much better!
Tips for using Martha Stewart Erasable Liquid Chalk
- Shake well and prime before use
- Applying water with a sponge or rag to the back of the stencil will act as a light adhesive and help your stencil stay in place
- Lightly rubbing on the liquid chalk works better than daubing
- Only use on preconditioned chalkboards that are well seasoned to prevent ghosting.
- If ghosting appears, use chalk to re-condition and erase your chalkboard.
I’m in love with this new way of decorating chalkboards! My handwriting is awful and I can’t draw a lick! Do you have a good trick for decorating chalkboards? Have you done a project with a dollar store chalkboard? Do tell!
gail
Loved reading this post with all the handy hints included ! I have a bakers dozen of those same little chalkboards “in waiting” for several planned events. Hoping to do some Farmer’s market and craft sale events and these will become pricing signs . I’ll be taking scrap two by four blocks with a groove cut to fit the the depth of the chalkboard, I estimate about a blades width with the saw. These can be changed easily and fit the occasion. I also happened to find a perfect chalkboard chicken and pig at Walmart that came with the stands.
Sara,
Great idea! I did that sort of thing with clip boards, you can see that here: https://www.myrepurposedlife.com/clipboard-stand-and-more/
In addition I made a bunch of small rustic chalkboards that I scatter ALL over my booth at Glendale for pricing and introducing items for sale. You can see those here: https://www.myrepurposedlife.com/small-rustic-chalkboards/
Chalkboards are so handy for pricing. I also made some IKEA pedestal stands into chalkboards: https://www.myrepurposedlife.com/craft-show-glendale-2016-recap/
I hope you do some Farmer’s Markets! I’ve never done those…. but always wanted to.
gail
Use scrap vinyl or in colors you don’t like to cut your own “stencils”. Cutting them yourself allows you limitless creativity plus the vinyl is adhesive so you don’t have to worry about it moving around. You can also use regular chalk but simply filling in the spaces and then rubbing it in with your finger before removing the vinyl. Do be sure to condition your chalkboard first or you will get ghosting. I love that this way I can “write” anything I want and have it look good.
Really neat how it turned out. Will see if Michael’s and hobby lobby sell that Martha Stewart product.
That is a cute idea. I love the idea of stenciling. I really need to buy the blackboard paint.