Saturday, January 8, 2011

Make Your Own Chalkboard Paint!

Still waiting on the Mod Podge- it’s due Wednesday. Next time I’ll just order the Hard Coat and go to Wal-Mart for my regular Gloss.

I am managing to make a little progress. Work on the Nook is somewhat low priority right now because my daughter has an ear infection and is a cranky little mess (not napping!), but I have still found time here and there to work on small projects. Yesterday I put chalkboard labels on a bunch of plastic storage boxes, and I used paint that I made myself.

Why make your own chalkboard paint? For one, you aren’t limited by whatever colors the manufacturers choose to make. The paint I made for this project was just black, but I have made teal too! But for me it’s also about making do with what you have. With no craft stores in the area, I couldn’t find brush-on chalkboard paint in anything smaller than a quart bucket, and only in black. I could find tile grout at the hardware store, though!

The recipe is simple: 1/2 Tablespoon un-sanded tile grout to every 1/4 cup paint.

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I mix mine in old baby food jars. Not only do they seal after, but if you are using 4oz jars, you don’t have to measure your paint! The jar already holds the required 1/4 cup. It saves me the trouble of washing paint out of my nice measuring cups.

The results:

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You get to see a peek of my mess. This is why I need so much organizing done…

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As you can see, I didn’t get a good seal on my painter’s tape and had a lot of leaks around the edges. I tried scraping off the excess but I was getting scratches on my box. I’m trying to think up a solution but in the meantime I am charging forward. I’ve got more organizing to do!

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35 comments:

  1. This is brilliant! Sadly, Sexy Nerd just bought some chalkboard paint last weekend. We're painting all our bedroom doors with it!

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  2. I keep thinking I'm going to try out the chalkboard paint, but haven't got around to it. I love the idea of using it on totes! Now, I'm going to have to try it out. Oddly enough, I'm pretty sure we have unsanded tile grout and paint in the garage. Sounds like a good project for tomorrow! Thanks for sharing!

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  3. This is too cool! Thanks for the recipe - my daughter wanted to make a chalkboard but didn't want to spend $13 on a quart where she would only use a little. I ended up buying her a can of spray on - wish I knew about this before - we just renovated our house and have tons of paint and unsanded grout. Thanks again.

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  4. This is GREAT! For some strange reason, there was a half full box of unsanded grout under our sink when we moved into our house! Finally, I have a use for it...Thanks for sharing such a great idea!

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  5. Wow, I am about to do some chalkboard painting and never imagined I could make my own! Thanks for sharing! Would love to see you at my weekend linky party!

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  6. This is brilliant! Thanks for sharing this awesome tip!
    ~Amanda

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  7. Thanks for linking up, hope to see you again!

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  8. Awesome!
    I am going to have to try this!
    Thanks for sharing!!

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  9. I have heard that the green painters tape ( I think its called frog tape or something) works WAY better than the blue painters tape.

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  10. Very cool! And I like the running of the paint, it looks neat! lol

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  11. WOW! Thanks for sharing..can't wait to try it!

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  12. Wow, so simple! I had no idea. Great project~

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  13. I heard that you could make your own chalkboard paint but haven't tried it. I bought a quart to paint my kitchen back splash and wow! do I have a lot left over.

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  14. Thanks so much for this! I am going to make purple for sure!

    Blue Skies,
    Charlotte xo

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  15. Can it be any type of paint or a certain one?

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  16. Corina, as far as I know it can be any type of paint. I, personally, have only used water based acrylics, so I can't speak from experience on anything else.

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  17. Awesome! I've been wanting to try my hand at some chalkboard paint crafts, but just couldn't justify buying it. Thanks for sharing this awesome "recipe" :)

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  18. What a simple recipe. Way cheaper too if you have tile grout lying around from a former project.

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  19. Great idea! I love the look of the uneven edges where it seeped beneath the painters tape. I say just pretend you were going for that look!

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  20. I love this! I need to make some! Where did you get those adorable storage boxes? If I had some of those maybe I would want to organize hahaha!

    paige at marston dot ws

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  21. Thank you Miss. :) The darling little storage boxes were a Target find. I knew they had to come home with me!

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  22. A great way to get organized. Thanks for the tips. loving your storage boxes. need some of those too! :-)

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  23. This is awesome!! I'm featuring you tonight at Keeping It Simple!

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  24. This is the best thing i have ever seen! I can't wait to try this!! Thanks for sharing!

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  25. Yay, what an awesome thing! I had no idea you could make your own chalkboard paint, I definitely will be trying this. I am SO hoping the grout we have in the garage will work, I'm off to find out. Thanks for sharing!!

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  26. LOVE love LOVE love LOVE love LOVE you for posting this!!!!!! PLEASE come share it at my link party this friday smallfineprint.blogspot.com


    Would it be okay with you to feature this?


    Mandy
    smallfineprint@gmail.com

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  27. This couldn't come at a more perfect time. I have a bunch of projects I wanted to use chalkboard paint with.

    My brain might have just exploded with the realization I can make it in any color now.

    Alicia {Protodoom.com}

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  28. Wish I were that organized!
    I'm following from the blog
    hop. I'd love a follow back at
    www.mikaspantry.blogspot.com
    Thanks,
    Mika

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  29. Thank you for sharing this, I can only get tiny tins of black chalkboard at my local craft store, now I can go crazy making chalk paint!

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  30. This is a fantastic idea and I would love to be HALF as organized as you. I'm following from the blog hop and would love it if you could visit and follow me back at my blog,Divalicious Deals . The post I linked to is about what V-Day means to me now that i'm a mom and I'd love it if you could commment on it. BUT I see that you have tons of comments before mine so I understand if you don't get a chance. I would love it if you could follow me though - thanks!!

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  31. This is a really cool idea. We just built my daughter a loft bed and we are determined to use a bunch of different ideas to finish off the wood. So far we have mod podged pages from an old book, and wall papered some of it. I love the idea of adding chalkboard paint to some if it also.

    If you glued some ribbon or created a sticker to go around the chalk labels on the totes, that might make the edges look neater.

    Enjoying your blog!

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