....is Magnetic Chalkboard Craftiness

Mrs. M had a great plan for her New Years Goals. She wanted to put up a list of things to accomplish in 2012. Seeing them would then be additional motivation for doing them and once completed she wanted a way put up pictures of the tasks. They were separated into three categories: Memories (photobooks, care of Blurb), Home (projects around the house) & Travel (places to go and people to see).  My craftiness came into play with the 'how to' of the actual board. I came up with the idea for a magnetic chalkboard after a friend of mine made one that filled the better part of a wall in her place. So here's what we did....

'Ingredients':
A Lovely Frame
Sheet Metal
Tin Snips (if necessary)
Paint for the Frame (if necessary)
Paint for the Chalkboard
Large White Sidewalk Chalk
Chalk Pens
Damp Cloths
Magnets

Mrs. M and I found a frame (on the left) at a local shop that fixes up finds from flea markets.

The frame wasn't exactly the color she wanted, they have a tendency to repaint things a lovely seafoam green but it doesn't match everything, so we painted it an off-white with a satin spray paint.

Next was the sheet metal. Standard sizes we found were 12"x18" and 24"x36" the frame was 16"x20". It took a pair of tin snips to cut the sheet metal down. Then we got to painting the metal. We did one coat of just the paint, a chocolate brown, and then two more of the paint & grout, care of Martha Stewart custom color chalkboard paint.

Follow the sanding instructions and then season the board. (I'm not sure if that's the right term but it's like seasoning a cutting board.) The first thing written on the chalkboard will forever remain if you skip this step. Take a large piece of white sidewalk chalk on its side and run it across the board, cover it fully.

Wipe it off once with a dry cloth or paper towel and then again once or twice more with damp cloth. We tested the board with a chalk pen in the corner to make sure it would come off, it took a damp cloth to remove it but it came off cleanly.

We then Velcroed the metal to the back of the frame. It had a lip to take the bulk of the weight, though the metal wasn't really heavy so the Velcro was for stability more than structure. There are plenty of other ways to permanently affix the metal but this allow Mrs. M the flexibility to change the use the frame someday. Just be sure to put the fuzzy part of the velcro on the frame side.

Last step was to write up the goals for the year, Mr. M kindly hung it on the wall and then Mr. M attached a picture with a magnet of the first goal completed, a trip they took last week.