Quick and Easy Crafts: Spring Chalkboard Art

This latest craft idea has been stuck in my head for weeks now, begging to come out. This one is a lot of fun to do and even intrigued my son last night as I made it. He looked over my shoulder and asked if he could help. I proudly smiled at him and told him it was bedtime and he could help me next time.

This craft takes about 2½ hours to do and overnight to dry.

You will need the following supplies:

- 5x7 wood framed rectangle chalkboard. (I purchased mine at Joann's for around $2.00.)
- 2 unfinished picket fences. (Michael's Craft store for about $.30 each. Measurements: 3 ½" long, 2 ¼" high each.)
- 6 tiny/mini clothespins. (I bought a bag of 50 at Joann's for around $3.00)
- Acrylic paints: White, Carolina Blue, Christmas Green, Light Pink, Bright Red and Yellow Lemon. (I use Folk Art, Apple Barrel and Delta paints.)
- Scribbles3-D fabric paints: Iridescent Shamrock Green, Iridescent Blush Red, Iridescent Tropical Yellow, Iridescent Candy Pink, and Shiny White. (These are at almost any craft store and run about $1.19 each.)
- Round tip and flat tip craft paint brushes & a cup of water to rinse brushes
- Scrap fabric
- 8" of pink satin ribbon (¼" wide)
- White school glue
- Pencil
- Hot glue gun
- 10 or so inches of white or off-white yarn.
- Paper plate
- Newspapers

Spring chalkboard art instructions:

First thing you want to do is to put your newspaper down to protect your table. After that is done, then you want to take out your Christmas Green and Carolina Blue acrylic paints. Using your paper plate as a palette, take your flat head brush and load it with the green. You want to paint the bottom ¼ or so of the wooden frame and across the chalkboard. (Use the above picture for reference.) Only one coat is needed and make sure you get the sides of the frame to give it a 3-D effect.

After that dries, (just a few minutes), then it is time to paint the rest of the frame Carolina Blue. DO NOT paint the chalkboard this time. Only paint the unfinished wood frame, sides too. Put this aside to dry.

Take out the two picket fences and give them a good whitewashing with the white paint. Apply one coat but make sure you get all the nooks and sides of the fence to make it look real. Put aside to dry.

Take your fabric scraps and, on the 'wrong' side of the fabric, draw little clothes. I have a little pink dress, a pair of blue pants and a 'quilt'. For the quilt, all you need to do is cut a rectangle 1" by 1 ½" and glue the pink ribbon to the sides. It is easier if you do the two long sides first, trim off the extra, then do the same for the shorter sides. Do not use the hot glue for this as it is too bulky when it dries. A few dabs of white school glue are fine. Put aside.

Next, take your yarn and place it across the top of the chalkboard frame to measure it. You do not want it to hang down too far and cover the art on the chalkboard, but you do want a bit of a sag to make your clothesline come to life. Hot glue the ends of the yarn to the back of the frame to secure them. Let both glues dry.

Now comes the drawing part. Take your chalkboard and place the yarn under the frame to secure it for now. (So it doesn't get in the way.) Use your pencil and draw the clouds high in the sky. Next draw your flowers. It is easier if you start with the circle a few inches above the ground, and draw your flower head, then the stalk. The flower leaves are simple hearts. Once you have all of your pencil drawing done it is time to paint!

Take your round brush and being with the clouds. Since this craft is on a board, and your hand might smudge the paint, it is wise to start at the top and work your way down. Gently paint in the clouds. Do not worry about outlining the pencil markings; that is why we have the puffy paints. Use nice circular motions to fill in the clouds. You will need only one coat for all the painting in this project.

It is time to paint the flowers. Use the same circular technique you used on the clouds to fill in the flowers. The center of the flowers uses Yellow Lemon, the large flower uses Bright Red, and the smaller flowers use Bright Pink as their colors. After the petals are done, it is time to paint the heart leaves. Take your Christmas Green and dab a slight bit of white into it to lighten it. You don't want the leaf green to match the grass, so just a tad bit should do the trick. Using the round brush, fill those in as well. Set it aside to let all of the paint dry.

While the paint dries, test out your puffy paints. These have very small tips on them and depending on how hard you squeeze the bottle is how much paint comes out. Try drawing or writing your name a few times to get the feel of each bottle. Do not assume they are all the same! Each bottle takes a different kind of finesse and it is easier to make a mistake in practice than on your project!

After the acrylic paint has dried, it is time to puffy paint! Start at the top with the clouds. Gently trace around your pencil markings with the Shiny White. Make sure the yarn does not come around to the front because it will get caught up in the paint and ruin the project. Next take the Iridescent Candy Pink and the Iridescent Blush Red and do the same for the flower heads. Use the Iridescent Tropical Yellow to draw around the center of the flower. To make the petals look real, use each flower's puffy paint to draw little lines on the petal. (Use photo as a guide.) Finally, take the Iridescent Shamrock Green and draw the stems and 'heart' leaves. Gently draw some veins in the 'hearts' for added effect.

Let this project dry overnight, or at least 3 hours. When the puffy paint is dry, heat up your hot glue gun and gently attach the white picket fences to the bottom of the frame. The picket fence should not touch the chalkboard, only the frame. The flower garden should just be above the pickets.

Lastly, take your little clothes and quilt, with their 2 clothespins each, and attach them to the yarn. Your project is now complete!

This is an adorable Spring gift and can be used for Easter, Mother's Day or even a Spring birthday.

The colors in this project are specifically chosen to correspond with their puffy paints. If you want to change the colors around, I suggest pairing the colors in the store before buying them. You want the colors to be just slightly darker or lighter than the main color. If they are the same, then the effects would not be so pronounced.

You can use this with a plate stand, or attach a string to the back to hang it on a wall. I do not recommend attaching a sawtooth hanger with nails, as the nails would split the wood.
Enjoy!

Sources:
Personal Experience
Michaels
Joann's