DIY Upcycle A Large Chalkboard Sign for Under $10!

My spell checker doesn't like the word upcycle, but it's one of my favorite words in all of my vocabulary. I had to look up the definition of upcycle because I wanted to make sure it wasn't just a word I made up and was hoping it would catch on. It's not. Upcycle: also known as creative reuse {side note, love that!}, is the process of transforming by-products, waste materials, useless or unwanted products into new materials or products of better quality {yep and yep} or for better environmental value. 

To be totally honest, the reason I upcycle is because I'm cheap. The environmental benefit {less waste in the landfill yadda yada} is just a good side effect of my cheapness. It's why I cloth diapered my kiddos. But I digress... This DIY upcycled chalkboard sign. It's huge. Like really big and I made it for under $10. If you want the real total it was really only $2, but I'm thinking if you want to make something similar, I would venture to guess that I could steer you in the right direction and you could DIY a large {and I'm telling you this is like 8-year-old child sized} chalkboard for under $10. Want to know how? Keep reading!

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Painted Wooden Hanging Plant Stand with Chalkboard

I love a good hanging basket but I have one problem. Every year I kill the ones I buy. They hang up so high that I usually forget to water them because out of sight, out of mind. Also, I'm never quite sure how much sun or shade a plant gets so it's usually trial and error. But I got to thinking, hanging baskets are so pretty and when they hang you kind of miss like 50% of the flowers and plants inside because you just can't see them. So, why not move them down to a plant stand? I saw one of these wooden hanging plant stands at a home last year while I was going to garage sales and I thought it was genius. So come see how I made it my own and now I have this painted wooden hanging plant stand on my front porch to enjoy all 100% of the plant. Now here's hoping I keep it watered so it stays alive!

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Easy chalkboard art tutorial

Several years ago I posted a tutorial for easy to make chalkboard art. It was my first ever {and only!} time I have been slapped with a copyright infringement lawsuit.  Thankfully, we were able to work things out, but that meant that I had to take my tutorial down.  I have been meaning to re do the tutorial and post it again, because it's a technique that I use often, but the days turned to weeks and those weeks turned to years, but holla!  I'm finally getting around to getting a new improved tutorial up for you!

And I'm using images that you can find as free printables on-line so there is no copyright issue we should run into!

If you scratch your head and wonder how people make such awesome chalkboard art, this is how non artists do it!  And you can do it too!

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Explaining the Difference Between Chalk Paint and Chalkboard Paint

Explaining the Difference Between Chalk Paint and Chalkboard Paint

For years, I heard people talk about the newest rage in painted furniture. A product they called chalk paint. Annie Sloane is quite popular with her full line of Annie Sloane chalk paint. For some reason, my brain never fully clicked over and understood that there was a difference between chalk paint and chalkboard paint. That was until last year, when I met my friend Mandi at her painted furniture shop, Persnickety's Awesomeness Emporium.

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