Late to the Chalkboard Paint Party

Bam. Take that, over achieving Pinterest pinners. This project is right up there w/ all your impressive shit, that’s for damn sure. I feel like a real blogger over here; a recipe and a DIY project in the same week? Aw snap. Now I just need an outfit of the day post, complete w/ me holding an overpriced milkshake coffee and showing off my fleek manicure #squadgoals

Seriously though, this project is probably the first DIY craft I’ve attempted since the wedding. Since those favors were such a smashing success (no sarcasm here, they really were cute), you’d think I have been on the DIY bandwagon, but honestly, it’s just not my thing. I usually walk into Michael’s, survey the scene, and then promptly walk out, saying, “not my circus, not my monkeys.”

Is this post making no sense to you, either? Sorry, my mind is all over the place right now. It’s been a weird week, and although I’ve been able to get shit done like the boss I am, it’s also made me realize if I didn’t have the structure of a normal routine, I’d rarely put on clothes other than pajama bottoms and eat food not on the very tippy top of the food pyramid. 

Wait, they don’t even use the food pyramid anymore? Now I’m really lost. 

Back to my DIY success, the real star of this post. Beth and I were at Kohl’s on Sunday, combing through the home goods clearance, and we kept seeing all these graduation frames and knick-knacks marked way down. Graduation 2015 is old news, and Kohl’s has Christmas junk starting to arrive and needs clear aisle space stat. After passing by that clipboard plaque thingie for the tenth time:

Beth: Too bad we’re not crafty, this thing is $2.

Me: eh, $2 too much, if you ask me. I can’t make diamonds out of coal.

Beth: What?

Me: You’re right, I’ll buy it!

The next stop was Michael’s for some chalkboard paint, which according to all the chalkboard-covered mason jars dancing around Pinterest, I'll be able to use again and again. I got some paint, brushes and chalk for under $10, thanks to those 40% off coupons Michael’s is always throwing down from the skies. Then I just printed some of our wedding pictures at Walgreens and was ready to begin.

Total cost: approximately $12. It could have been a dollar more or less, but we’ll go w/ 12 b/c that’s my favorite number and it’s pretty damn close. 

The verdict: A success! And a failure. It’s not great, I’ll admit it. The first coat of paint was great, but I read the directions like a dummy and applied a second coat, brushing in the opposite direction, and then the writing underneath started showing through. Then I tried to cover it up by blotting at it w/ no discernible pattern, the same way I always paint my nails. It didn’t help at all, but it sure took a huge chunk out of the remaining blackboard paint. Which isn’t a problem, since after the headache of all this, I won’t be using it again. I envisioned myself writing some adorable lyrics or quote about love in chalk, but after remembering how crappy my handwriting is and buying chalk w/ no clean writing tip, the word “love” and a few hearts was about as good as it gets.

Just call me Martha Stewart.