Chalkboard Paint Plaques

This week's project took a little longer than expected, so please excuse the delayed post! It seems that chalkboard paint is everywhere right now - on mugs, walls, jars, you name it! The Girls Team wanted to see what all the hype was about and try a project with chalkboard paint. We decided to make simple plaques. After trips to Michaels, Home Depot and Lowe's, my fellow team member acquired all of the necessary supplies: chalkboard paint, primer, brushes, a wooden plaque at my request, and a metal sheet for herself.

We set up our work station in the garage. As usual, Lola tried to help. 

First we had to paint one layer of primer onto our plaques. My mom wanted some of the metal sheet to show as a border, so she taped one inch off around each side before she began to paint.

The instructions say to wait 2 hours before painting the chalkboard paint onto the plaque, but it was a warm night so our primer dried in about one hour.

We tried to use a roller brush, as recommended by the instructions, but the chalkboard paint started to bubble on the wood. So, we switched to normal paint brushes for more even and smooth paint application.

After painting two layers of chalkboard paint, we had to wait three days for the paint to dry before we were able to write with chalk. We covered our plaques with one layer of chalk, and then wiped it off with a dry cloth. The instructions say this step allows for the chalk to write more smoothly on the painted surface. 

By Friday, our chalkboard plaques were finally complete! We now need to wait 7 days before we can erase our boards using a wet rag. After that, we will be free to write whatever we want, whenever we want on our plaques! My mom made her plaque for my brother, affectionately known as "Pook" and I will use a plate stand to display my chalkboard as decor.

Aside from taking about 5 days to complete, this project was really simple. Both Girls Team members were very happy with how our chalkboards turned out, and we didn't run into any problems or surprises in the process, which always makes for a successful craft project :)