Thursday, December 26

Happy Holidays! Chalkboard Christmas Ornaments + Chalkboard Chargers


This year, my Christmas decorating was inspired by the movie It's a Wonderful Life - and when I think about that movie, I think simple, lots of snow, and black and white.  What else is black and white that I adore?  Chalkboards, of course!  This train of thought led to what I'm pretty sure are my favorite crafts I've done in 2013: Chalk Art Christmas Ornaments and Chargers!


When I saw these plastic ornaments at A.C. Moore, I knew I wanted to turn them into Chalk Art Christmas ornaments.  These kinds of ornaments are wonderful because they are fillable, paintable, sticker-able - you could really turn them into anything to fit your decorating theme.  I especially like that they aren't fragile like glass ornaments, and that they can usually be found for $1 or less each.  I also picked up 4 shiny gold chargers from the Dollar Tree with visions of chalkboard paint dancing in my head.


I invested in Rust-Oleum Chalk Board spray paint, also available at A.C. Moore.  This is really similar to the Krylon paint I used for all of the chalkboard crafts for our wedding, but I think I like Rust-Oleum's formula better.


This is the really fancy apparatus I set up for spray-painting the ornaments - kitchen skewers and planters.  I like to use what I have to get projects done quickly.  I just plopped the chargers right down on top of the leaves.  I sprayed one coat, waited an hour, sprayed a second coat, then waited 24 hours for everything to dry completely.  Thin coats of spray paint are key on the ornaments; otherwise drips are very evident when they are dry.


When the paint was completely dry, I "seasoned" the chargers and ornaments by rubbing all over with the flat side of a piece of chalk and then a dry paper towel.  If you skip this step, your chalkboard projects won't be erasable.  Doing this also leaves a chalky residue that keeps your projects more "rustic chalkboard Christmas" and less "goth Christmas with Alice Cooper."


I had way more fun than I probably should have playing with my new chargers and ornaments.  I think the ornaments would make great "placecards" for Christmas dinner (that guests could take home and add to their trees!).


Monograms also look really great in chalkboard form... but I had bigger plans for these babies...


Mr. Q and I picked some of our favorite Christmas-inspired words and I used my best teacher cursive to chalk them onto the ornaments.


Then, to make the ornaments permanent, I went over my chalk with a white paint pen.  See how much crisper the paint looks?  For a slightly less permanent version, you could use a chalk marker, which would be removable with a wet paper towel.


I decided to go with regular chalk on the chargers because I have a lot more plans for them over next year's holidays!  I went with an easy little snowflake design.  I love how they look on our table paired with Mason jars, Goodwill milk glass, knockoff mercury glass, and Dollar Tree plates.

Happy Holidays Everyone!  Linking Up With:

6 comments:

  1. What a cute idea! I love chalkboard...I am so doing this for next year! I found you through The Shabby nest linky party...following you know too!...would love for you to visit my craft blog, I am Paula at LifeSimply http://paulaboudreaux.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Paula! I will definitely be paying your blog a visit as well.

      Delete
  2. What an original and cute idea! I appreciate your tips. Thank you for sharing. -Brenda-
    Footnote: For those who may be looking for clear plastic ornaments ( perhaps for a project next year) I picked up a stash of them at Walmart in Ogdendsburg, New York which I paid only 50 cents U.S. $'s for. (They didn't carry them here in Canada). Had an assortment of styles and were quite a nice size. Also, they were in the Fabric/Craft section and not with the Christmas décor.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Correction: To you and your readers, Heather. I checked the price tag and the price of the ornaments were actually 88 cents each. Sorry about that. ☺

      Delete
  3. such a brilliant idea! i'm already envisioning next year's tree. i'll be pinning this for sure :-) visiting from the boogie board cottage link party.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love this idea. A must do for next Christmas! Saw you featured on Catch as Catch Can.

    ReplyDelete