For Lily’s birthday party, I kept picturing this lovely chalkboard propped up on hay bales that welcomed people to the party with a big ‘ol “Happy 4th Birthday, Lily!” on it. When I started to price out the purchase of a new frame, wood or plexiglass to go inside of it, paint, etc, I really considered not having a chalkboard at all.
Then I had an idea. I’m lying. Bob had the idea. But I did the legwork. So I will share the idea.
So anyway.
I went to the local thrift store (ReStore in Chalfont, PA for local readers). I found the most glorious, large, shabby chic frame in the store – which just so happened to be framing an old oil painting. I bought the frame for just $8 and scurried on home with it.
Now, the oil paint gave the painting a little bit of texture. I could have scraped that off… I could have just covered the whole area with wood or plexiglass like I mentioned above. But I decided that I liked the textured look to it and left it just as it was.
I used blue painter’s tape to cover up the inner edges of the frame.
I sprayed a coat of primer right onto the canvas and let it dry in the sun for about 30 minutes.
Next came a coat of chalkboard paint. I let the whole thing sit to dry overnight before attempting to write on it.
When it was completely dry, I removed the tape and grabbed a piece of white chalk. I scrawled my message on the canvas and here’s what it looked like:
On the day of the party, there was no doubt in my mind – this chalkboard was the perfect party accent. Simple and frugal but absolutely adorable!
