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Sunday, May 18, 2014

Mother's Day Chalkboard Print + Free Download

Life has been very busy for me the last couple of weeks. My brother graduated from college last weekend, we celebrated mothers day at the same time, and this weekend I am heading to Chicago for a baby shower. In order to make this mothers day special I wanted to make my mom her own unique piece of artwork.



After doing some searching, I found inspiration at Dear Lillie with her framed chalkboard printout and decided I really wanted to make my own. She has several different prints that look amazing and you should definitely check them out but I wanted to make my own custom print. I found a quote that I really liked by Stephanie Precourt:

"There will be so many times that you feel like you've failed. 
But in the eyes, heart and mind of your child you are super mom."

When I originally started laying everything out I actually wrote the quote down wrong. I wrote "you are a superhero" instead of "you are super mom". It worked out though because I love superheros! I decided to keep the superhero part since to me my mom is the ultimate superhero.

To make the chalkboard print I used Microsoft Publisher. It took a while but I love how it turned out. The fonts I used were:

I found all of the fonts here for free. The flower came from the font "KG Flavor And Frames Six". It is a font made up of pictures that look like they were drawn with chalk. 


Once your design is complete have it printed as an engineering print at Staples. This way cost me only $3.00 for a 24x36" print. Other places were going to charge me $30+ for a poster print and it was going to be glossy instead of matte which would not be good for a chalkboard look.

So now lets get to what you will need and the steps you need to take to make your own frame! Dear Lillie does an amazing job explaining how to build your own frame. I basically followed the same principal but made a few small changes.

Materials:
  • (2) 1x3x8 pine boards cut to size
  • Stain
  • Drill
  • 1 1/4" pocket screws
  • Kreg Jig
  • 24"x36" chalkboard print
  • Black tape
  • 24"x36" plywood
  • (2) D-Ring hangers
  • 3/4" screws
  • 1/2" screws
Directions:
  1. First, cut your wood boards to size. I used 1x3 pine boards from Lowe's and had them cut down for me. The one I go to does unlimited cuts and they have always been great about it. I cut my pieces to 28" and 33". These were the lengths Dear Lillie recommended but I did not think about the fact that she used 1x4's and I used 1x3's. If I could go back and change anything I would have cut my boards to be 26" and 33" instead.
  2. Next, use your kreg jig and pocket hole screws to combine the pieces together to make your frame.
  3. After you have the basic frame finish it with your choice of stain or paint. I used Rustoleum Walnut.
  4. Coat with polyurethane. I did three coats and sanded in between each.
  5. Tape your chalkboard print onto the piece of plywood.
  6. Flip your frame over and screw the plywood into the back of the frame.
  7. Finally, screw your d-ring hangers into the back of the frame. One on each side about halfway down. All done!

This was a pretty simple project to make. The print took the longest to make and the frame was super easy. I think I may make some of these frames for my own apartment! Let me know what you think about this project!

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