DIY Friday

I had off work yesterday. That being said, it was time for DIY FRIDAY!!!!!

For my first edition,  I decided to do something I've wanted to try for a long time: CHALKBOARD PAINT! My initial idea was to use the paint to make a chalkboard at the top of my stairwell that opens up into my condo; however, I wasn't willing to actually live with the consequences if I messed up.

Instead, I decided to use chalkboard spraypaint on a few old pictures that I had laying around, and then hang up on said wall:

                                                                         Old Pictures

                                                                          Wall

The first thing I did, was mark out on the wall where I wanted to hang the pictures. I decided that I wanted to do them diagonally from each other to add a little pizazz to an otherwise boring space (yes, I am aware that the one on the right is lopsided, but this was just to give an idea of how it would look):

Using a leveler app that I found for my iPhone, I made sure the pictures were even (obviously I didn't use them how they looked in the picture) and then drew a line in pencil across the top of each as a placeholder.

Thanks to a trick that I read about on pinterest, I then used toothpaste to mark where I would need to put the nails in on the wall. Yes, TOOTHPASTE! I put a dab of toothpaste on the picture hanger located on the back of the frame, and using the lines that I previously traced on the wall I lined up the pictures again and pressed hard, which left a toothpaste mark on the wall exactly where I would need to put the nail!

 Toothpaste on hanging hook located on the back of the pictures

        Toothpaste and lines on the wall

Then came the fun part. Out on my porch, I laid out an old towel (due to my lack of newspapers) and carefully taped the outside of the pictures so that I would't get paint on the frame. 

The directions on the spray paint can say to first do short, horizontal lines across the surface, and then short vertical lines:

 

After letting them dry for 24 long excruciating hours outside, I then removed the tape from the frames and covered the whole surface with chalk (as per the instructions).

Then, of course, I wiped it clean, and hung them on my wall!

And that, my friends is how you chalkboard (spray)paint! I'm soo happy with how they turned out!!!!

Shout out to my sister, Kayla. for helping me with this project! I couldn't have done it without her!!!

DIY Friday?

For the first time in a while, I woke up this morning ready to go to the gym. I don’t know if its just because it’s Friday, or the fact that today starts my schedule of having off EVERY OTHER FRIDAY until September(!), but it.is.glorious.

Anywayyyyy, I’ve been trying to think of a Friday theme for the blog, and am considering “Do it Yourself” Fridays, where each Friday that I have off I would attempt to do something “crafty” around our condo and post about it. I have to admit, when I requested to have every other Friday off from work, part of my intention was to do crafty things on those days anyway (and go to the pool, obvi).

I really want  (read: need) to do the following things around the house:

-Paint the living room/hallway areas

-Put up some (homemade) wall art

-Organize my closet

-Decorate my patio area

-Put together our wedding album/decide what pictures to hang up and give out

-Get a head start on homemade wreathes and decorations for all holidays

Hopefully DIY Fridays will motivate me to get some of these things done!

In other news, the weekend is here and tomorrow is Drinko Cinco de Mayo. Does anyone have any fun plans? Me and the Hubby are still deciding what to do.  One year we went to a bar that had a totally legit Mariachi Band and may go back again this year. I'll keep you updated....

Hope you all have a great weekend!!!!!!!