Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Chalkboard Masterpieces

After a recent trip to the Children's Museum of Manhattan, I was inspired to make these outdoor chalkboard murals for Jake. The museum had a fun outdoor play space with a lot of different water-based activities. We had a lot of fun "painting" with water on these pieces of framed slate:


Once the water dries, the image vanishes...magic! I loved all the kooky frames in all the different shapes. I originally wanted to do something like this to hang on the fairly unattractive fence in our backyard. However, when I got to the wood store, I realized that A.) I would probably never finish this WITH frames because I don't have the proper saw and would spend most of my time trying to figure out how to get that done; and B.) bigger would be better...he would have more room to draw and create his own masterpieces.

I've been wanting to try out some projects with the ever-so-popular chalkboard paint, and thought this would be the perfect project. It's super easy. Once you have the wood cut to size (which you can have done at Home Depot), you just prime, paint, hang up, and you're good to draw!


My husband added a cute note...he's been having fun playing with them too!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

This is such a great idea!! I love the framed slate, but like you, I would probably never get it done! I love your version with chalkboard paint... and it's perfect for the backside of a wood fence.

Minnie said...

Oh those are super cute! What a great idea. I get so tired squatting down to use our chalk on the cement floor. Do you keep the chalkboards out all the time? If so, are they standing up to the elements pretty well? We have similar fencing and I think my kids would love chalkboards like this too.