Chalk It Up To Good Clean DIY Fun

I have had an old picture frame from my Papa's junk collection for forever.  I figured at some point I could paint it and place a picture in it or something...but its just been sitting in my attic.  Typical.  After reading A Penny Saved, I was inspired.  So without any supervision from Crafty Caity, I set out to make a chalkboard.  Naturally without her help I made some mistakes and it took me much longer to complete this easy craft, but at least I completed it.  Now for authentic sake, I will admit that I texted her for assistance a couple of times...I can't do it completely on my own.  I'm new to the DIY crowd.

So here's how it went:

1st--Carebear and I set out for Goodwill and Goodwill Outlet.  Yes, you heard me correctly there is a Goodwill Outlet.  You purchase everything by the pound.  It was quite an interesting experience.  I think I will be back. There are some great finds and some interesting ones.  

Cara was a bit freaked out about the germs...especially when we saw people walking around scavenging for things wearing rubber gloves.  But gloves or no gloves...look at this awesome book!

Do you remember Babar?!!  I loved him!

2nd--We picked up our supplies at Home Depot.  Spray paint for the frames.  Chalkboard paint for the glass...Caity Shinnick suggest the regular paint not the spray paint version...So of course I obeyed.  Roller and tray to poor the paint into.

3rd...We spray painted the frames like crazy with the fabulous colors of our choice.

Before...

After...

The green frame isn't as neon and bright as it appears.

4th--I painted 3 coats every 4 hours on the glass with the small roller shown above.  It's a bit of a long process but you can go do another project while you wait on it to dry!

5th--I cured the chalkboard paint by rubbing a piece of chalk all over it then rubbing it in and cleaning it off with water.

This is a very important step.  You need to cover the chalk board super good then cover it some more.  I don't think I did it well enough.

Here is my finished product.  Its not on the wall yet but with my crazy school it takes me weeks to finish home projects so I'm blogging now because it might be Christmas before I get it hung.  

I am trying not to get the Chalkboard-aholic bug...but I do have a whole can of paint waiting to be painted all over my house.  So that was my mini-craft.  One day I will be a DIY-expert...but for now my novice status is cool with me.