Guest Blogger: Breida with a B!

Guest Blogger: Breida with a B!

4 comments

blogs, chalkboard, crafts, family, guest blogs

Share It:

Hi. My name is Jennifer and I'm a chalk addict.  I must paint everything with chalkboard paint so I can then write on it with chalk.  And it's an addiction I refuse to give up!!  Yay for Breida with a B for giving us all another way to use chalkboard paint!  I am so happy she is sharing her sweet tags with us today and she is so so nice too. Head over and visit her!  And if you want to be a guest blogger please email me!  Juniper20@gmail.com!

Hello there! Let me introduce myself. My name is Breida. With a B. I am terribly excited to be guesting here at Days of Chalk & Chocolate. This is my very first guest post and I want to thank Jenny for the opportunity. I'm hoping to do a lot more of this in the future and I can say it all started here! I hope you will all come over and visit with me at breida with a b. I'm crafting, painting, gardening, cooking, and trying to take pretty pictures of it all! Join me!

I decided that my post for Days of Chalk & Chocolate should be either about chalk OR chocoalte. . . and since there wasn't any chocolate in the house (gotta fix that), I thought up this simple and versatile craft project. You could do this for any holiday or gift giving occasion but since Mother's Day is coming up very soon - that's the theme I went with.

Erasable chalk tags . . . for any occasion - but you know moms eat this stuff up!

This project is very simple and can even be done by the kids with one minor variation. Here are the materials you will need:

Crayola Model Magic - I love this stuff!

shipping tags and baker's twine - more of my favorites. . .

my NEWEST favorite!! chalkboard paint!

You will also need, chalk, a sharp knife (or a cookie cutter-for the kids), a straw, and a rolling pin.

I have done other cookie cutter projects with Model Magic in the past. It's very easy to work with. Here, I simply rolled out a small piece on the back of a cookie sheet and then lightly pressed the shipping tag into the surface to make an impression. If you press too hard or leave it too long you won't be able to get it back off without wrecking the shape. It took a couple of tries before I got it down but then it was quite easy. Once the imprint of the tag shape is made, use the sharp knife to cut out your shape. Don't make any sawing motions - just press the knife straight down. The imprint will include the hole for the string. A standard drinking straw is just the right size to remove the Model Magic where the hole should be. Just press it straight in and if you get lucky the excess will be stuck in the straw when you remove it. If not - you will need to pluck it out with tweezers. Do all of this directly on the back of the cookie sheet. Once you get your shapes cut out you can't move them till they are dry. (about 24 hours). Don't worry, they don't stick to the pan. Once they are dry they will come right off. Put them aside and resist the temptation to poke them. They are not cookies and you don't want fingerprints on your tags!

They look like they should go in the oven now but there is no cooking involved!

 

All ready to paint. you can see the imprint of the shipping tag - looks like a real tag!

The next step is the most dramatic. I painted these with the brush-on type of Rustoleum Chalk Board Paint because I have a lot of it. A lot. Really. Do you need some? I do, however, think that the spray-on type would work even better. I used a sponge brush but even that left a good deal of texture on the surface of the tag. When the Model Magic dries it is very smooth and I think the spray chalk board paint would keep it that way. 

After I painted them - two coats - and let them dry, I just looped the baker's twine through the hole and the tag is complete. All that's left is deciding what you want to attach it to and what you want to write on it. The tags can be written on with chalk and erased so that you can use them again and again. I'm very pleased with how they came out. The lilacs are from my yard and they are usually blooming for Mother's Day. Everything is a bit topsy-turvy this year. The lilac's will be long finished in another two weeks but I'll still have my erasable chalk tags! 

Here are a few more examples of the finished product:

I'm so happy to be able to share this simple chalk craft here with you at Days of Chalk & Chocolate. Many thanks to Jenny! Please come by and visit me at breida with a b. I'm having a wonderful time sharing my experiences with all of you! Thanks!