Chalkboard Paint Craft

I first saw this chalkboard craft done by The Undomesticated Wife. She did it with an old painting. I started googling tutorials and saw that a lot people used plates.

I loved the idea! I knew I wanted a square plate, because it would be easier to tape off than a round plate. I found a plate at Tuesday Morning for $3 or $4. I started preparing for this project probably a month ago, so some of the details are fuzzy. I just got around to painting it last week. The hunt for chalkboard spray paint was a bit harder. I can't actually remember if I found it at Home Depot or Lowe's. One of them only carried the chalkboard paint in a can. I wanted it in a spray can. It seemed much simpler to just spray it on. I want to say I found it at Home Depot, but don't hold me to it. :)

I'm horrible at tutorials, but I promise this is so simple that you don't even need pictures to follow along.

1. Just take your plate and cover the part that you aren't spraying with painters tape. I did get some spray paint on my plate, because I am not very smart. I thought I would just outline the square. Well, that left the outer part of the plate uncovered. For some reason I thought it wouldn't get touched by the spray paint. I was wrong. After my first couple of sprays I had to go back and put another strip of tape all the way around. But no worries I discovered that the paint comes off pretty easy with a damp rag.

2. Spray your plate with the spray paint. Follow the directions on the can.

3. Let it dry completely. Some tutorials that I read said to let it dry for 24 hours. I ended up letting mine dry for several days, because I hadn't even bought chalk yet to write on it.

4. Remove tape slowly and carefully so that you don't rip any of the paint off.

5. Write a creative message. Try to be more creative than me! :)

The hardest part about all of this is writing on the plate. I was not blessed with cute handwriting or the ability to write in a straight line.
I think this would be a cute gift for almost any occassion!