Creative Gift Wrapping Day #4

What happens when you have more gift wrapping ideas than presents? I guess I could go buy more presents, but I think Pretty Handsome Guy might not be too happy about that. So, I'll have to stick with just six days of Creative Gift Wrapping. That's right, two more posts filled with creative gift ideas! I hope you like them.

Yesterday I showed you some nature inspired gift wrappings, today we're delving into the popular toxic spraypaint hobby of chalkboard painting! I think 2010 can officially be declared the year of the chalkboard paint. I have seen it EVERYWHERE!

Chalkboard Note Gift

Materials:

Chalkboard paint
Foam core
Chalk or chalkboard pen
Wrapping paper
Ribbon
Hole Punch
X-acto knife
Pencil
Ruler

Measure and cut out a 4" x 6" rectangle of foam core. The trick to clean cuts in foam core is to use a brand new x-acto blade! It is that simple.

To make perfect diagonal corners, measure 1" from the corner (across and down) and make  marks. Then draw a diagonal line connecting the two points. Cut off the triangle.

Use your hole puncher to punch a hole in the middle of the top edge.

Spray paint or paint chalkboard paint onto your foam core. Let it dry.

Season your chalkboard rectangle by rubbing chalk all over the board. Then wipe it off. This will eliminate the chalk message "burning" into the chalkboard and will allow the recipient to re-use the board.

 Write a message on the chalkboard tag.

 Wrap your present and attach the tag to your present's bow.

Now your gift recipient has a cute little re-useable chalkboard tag.

 

 Merry Christmas Renee!

Clothespin Clipped Chalkboard Message Board

Materials:

Chalkboard paint
Foam core
Chalk or chalkboard pen
Wrapping paper
Ribbon
Hole punch
X-acto knife
Pencil
Ruler
Clothespin
Silver or Gold acrylic paint
Paintbrush
Hot glue gun

Follow the instructions above for making a foam core chalkboard. Eliminate the steps on cutting diagonal corners and adding a hole for this one.

Take apart the clothespin and paint both sides using the silver or gold acrylic paint.

Wrap your present as you would normally.

  Wrap ribbon around your present, but don't tie a bow. Just make a knot.

 Make a separate bow out of the same ribbon and use hot glue to attach it to the clothespin.

Clip the clothespin over the knotted bow on your package and slide your chalkboard into the clothespin.

 "Merry Christmas Baby!"

Bonus: I thought I'd share with you two more gift packages that were pretty simple and quick. The first one I hot glued crocheted snowflakes from Lillian Vernon onto them (thanks for bringing them to my wrapping party, Renee!)

The second one is an ovaltine can that I wrapped with gift wrap, added some monogram stickers and put a bow on top. Easy peasy!

I hope you will swing on by and check out Day #5 of my Creative Gift Wrappings!

Chalk it up...to a busy day.

...to another busy day in the life of Pretty Handy Girl!

I had fully intended on posting a tutorial on distressing furniture for you today. But, I got side tracked today and then let's just say that my evening ended up with a visit from these guys:

 Thank you Raleigh Fire Department for putting out my oven fire! 

Let me tell you, it is a scary thing to see your heating element turn into a 4th of July super-sized sparkler! Luckily no one was hurt and our kitchen is still white (not smoky gray.) Needless to say, we will be in the market for a new oven this week. Any recommendations or "steer clears" would be appreciated. And a word of advice, if your heating element shorts out, sparks and catches fire, turn off your circuit breaker.

Not exactly what I planned on dealing with today! I did have plans for one tiny little project. This little project had me on a hunt for the illusive and extremely rare chalk marker. I have been looking everywhere for one of these exotic creatures. 

Target - nope

Walmart - nope

Ace Hardware - nope

JoAnn's Fabrics - nope

Jerry's Art-a-rama - Ding, ding, ding! Finally found it!

If you've been around the blogosphere lately, you have seen chalkboard paint projects everywhere! I probably wouldn't be surprised to see a chalkboard painted dog next week.

I had some leftover chalkboard wall decal material, so I cut a little label for our jar of colored pencils. But, I really wanted a chalkboard marker so I could write on the label and not worry about it smudging from little hands using it daily.

So, naturally after using my new chalkboard marker and LOVING IT! I decided to paint some more things with chalkboard paint and use my new marker. 

I put up my homemade spray tent (I'll have to show you how I made it later.)

And got busy. My mind played "Back in Black" in my head as I sprayed. (Any other AC/DC listeners out there?)  I decided to use automotive black primer (for better adhesion on the plastic spice lids.)

First up where these Goodwill candy jars all four and the rack for $6.99!

U-G-L-Y oak lids, but not for long...

Blackified, labelled and now looking good.

Next victim was a spice rack and jars (I'm embarrassed to say)
that I repainted years ago.

That's right, back in the sponge-era.
The gold ink labels are impossible to read.

I carefully lined them up and made a list of the order 

they were in to make re-labelling them easy.
Seemed like a great idea, UNTIL my oven caught fire.
Then I swept everything off the counters and away from the stove.

 After testing my sense of smell, I put the lids back on. And now that I can read them,
I shouldn't mix up red pepper and paprika anymore.

The rack received several layers of treatment to give it a distressed look.

Here is the tutorial on distressing.

Finally, I spray painted a Goodwill picture frame heirloom white and distressed it.

I cut a piece of foamcore to size (since I accidentally broke the glass) and sprayed it with chalkboard paint. Easy framed chalkboard.

Message Center for the Mudroom

If you came by for my mudroom tour, you saw this message center made from a curbside window frame.

This was a super easy project and I built it in about 2 hours.

First, I gave the whole window a fresh coat of white paint. Then, I taped off the edges of the upper left and lower right windows and used 2 coats of chalkboard paint in those panes.

While the paint dried, I cut two pieces of foam core to size for the upper right and lower left panes. Then added some batting and wrapped the fabric around. I used a hot glue gun to attach the fabric to the back of the foam core. Then positioned the black ribbons on top and glued them to the back of the foam core as well. While the glue gun was still heated up, I ran a bead of glue around the edge of the window panes and inserted the two upholstered foam core pieces in place. (Pictorial directions for the upholstered foam core can be viewed here.)

Next, I had some leftover cheap mirror glass* that I used for the the mudroom coat rack. I used my glass cutter and cut those two panels down to size. Then I put some E-6000 onto the window pane and inserted my mirrored glass. To seal and hide the edges of the mirror, I used white bath and tile caulk around the edges of the mirror.

* Cheap Mirrored Glass Source: Find those $10 back of the door full length mirrors. Buy one at Walmart, Kmart or Target. Just peel off the glued frames and paper backing and cut your mirror pieces from it.

To build the little curved shelf, I actually already had the curved board leftover from another project. But, you can cut a piece of 1" x 6" with a jigsaw. Then use a router to give it a decorative edge. Then sand it, prime it and paint it.

To attach the shelf, I used 3 L-brackets on the underside and painted them white to be less noticeable. I also nailed a piece of 1" x 2" (painted white) to the bottom of the window so I could screw the brackets into it.

Once the message center was finished and dry, I located the studs on our mudroom wall and hung the window with two L- brackets on the bottom (see pictures above) and one on top.

Now I have a cute place to welcome guests, hang postcards and birthday invites, and check for ORT (object remove from teeth) before heading out the door.