Here we go, friends! The holiday season is upon us! From here to New Years I’ve got projects lined up to make the dark part of the year festive and I’ve come up with some of my best stuff ever. Since Halloween is the first holiday it likes to sneak up on me and then I’m chasing the calendar for the rest of the year. But this year I’m on it, with a little help from my countdown calendar. I have a million advent calendars for Christmas, it was about time I came up with something for my second favorite holiday.
I got this wooden plaque from my craft store, but just about any surface you can imagine will do. Using a pencil and ruler, the first thing I did was mark out a section that would become my chalkboard. I centered it along the width, and positioned it near the bottom, but not all the way near the bottom, so I’d have plenty of room for decorating.
Since the chalkboard needs to be as smooth a surface as possible, I kept all my decoupage and stamping away from it. I mod podged some old dictionary pages around my square and stamped on a diamond pattern.
The back and edges got painted bright orange, and then I covered the edges with glitter. Because that’s the best thing about the holidays. Be careful to keep that glitter away from your chalkboard space!
I added the rest of my decorative elements at this point, basically just because I had the glitter and glue out. I decoupaged cardboard letters with coordinating paper, pulled out some of my special glittered cardboard letters, and painted and glittered some wooden Halloween shapes.
Finally, with all of my glittering done, I painted on the chalkboard paint.
When the paint is thoroughly dried and cured, you’ll need to condition the chalkboard before using it. Just rub a piece of chalk all over the area and then erase. This distributes a layer of chalk dust evenly and then your markings will erase easily instead of leaving ghostly impressions. A little sequin trim completes the look.
I know I’m getting older because I still feel like we’re just getting this year started, and yet here we are in the final rush to the end. This calendar is cute and festive, but it will also make sure that I don’t spend Halloween night covered in glue and stray threads as I try and get all the costumes done in time. There’s no excuse for letting it sneak by me now.
