Chalkboard Paint Ideas

I recently played around with using chalkboard paint. I found it for pretty cheap on eBay. When you paint it on a surface, it turns the surface in to a chalkboard material that you can write on. It looks like black paint, but can also come in different colors. Here are some chalkboard paint ideas:

Labels



I created labels for my last craft show with plain labels and chalkboard paint. You can change the label to whatever you want. Labels are also good for sticking on drawers, anywhere in your home, on pouches, etc.

Old Photo Frame



I had this painting in a photo frame I found at a thrift shop. I didn't really like the painting that much, but I loved the gold frame so I just painted over the glass part and made it in to a chalkboard I can put on display.

Planters

Chalkboard paint is great for planting pots because you can write what plant you're planting and then reuse it with a different label. Here's an example where I wrote "Mint" on the chalkboard area.

Etsy Items



I also played around with using chalkboard paint on some Etsy items I could sell. I upcycled an old mini journal in to a chalkboard paint journal. I still have to list it on Etsy. I am also making a journal from scratch with chalkboard paint on the cover. I think I am going to coptic stitch it with some ribbon I have. I'll post how it turns out. Later, I want to try making chalkboard paint on my boxes and maybe use it on some greeting cards.

Have you ever used chalkboard paint?

Image Editing Tips

These are a few image editing and Photoshop tips I've learned on the web.

This Fresh Rag graphic explains what size your photo should be in pixels if you want it to be high definition. To make an image good quality, it helps to start with the image really big. This is good to know if you're designing graphics or want a really high definition image.

This image from Her New Leaf shows you how to save images correctly. If your image is a photo, save as JPG format. If your image is a graphic or just words, save as a GIF (like my Etsy logo). If it's a combination of text/graphic and photograph, PNG is the best way to save. This will make your photos look better on the web and more high definition.

Another tip I have with Photoshop is to save the PSD version of an image if you're making a complex graphic and have a lot of layers. That way if you need to edit it (like if you need to change text), you can easily find the layer you need to edit and fix it.

What are your best Photoshop or image editing tips?

Extra Big Book of Abstract Patterns

This extra large art book contains 12 original watercolor paintings of abstract patterns. Each page is double sided with a painting on each side. It measures about 34 x 25 inches when closed. The front and back covers use brown book cloth. The book is stitched using the coptic stitch method with twine. The inside covers are painted with white paint and gesso. I made this book as part of a Book Arts class I took in college.

I used the dotting method for these purple and blue rectangles that sort of remind me of a garden arrangement.

This pattern uses purple, gray and blue colors. I made the pattern by experimenting with sponge patterns and dotting the paper to leave white space underneath.

These zig zag patterns remind me of a jigsaw puzzle. The left painting uses different colors. The right painting uses orange as it's color theme.

I made these circular patterns that remind me of the patterns water makes when you drop something in it. The left painting uses the colors blue and green while the right uses red, purple and yellow.

These two painting use an organic, linear sort of pattern with watercolor paint. The blue painting started off as one painting I was doing for another project, but ended up turning in to a whole big book of patterns.

These paintings use x shaped crosses to make different patterns. The pattern on the left uses tan and orange colors with purple. The painting on the right uses different shades of green. 

These two paintings use wavy patterns in different ways. The green painting on the left started off as one texture with light green and blue colors. I then went over it with these dark green waves outlined in black.

These brown and black swirls sort of remind me of bark in trees. If buying, please note there is a small tear in this painting as you can see in the first photo.

For pricing info and to purchase, see my Etsy listing here.