Chalkboard Menu to Die For!

This weekend I wrapped up three chalkboard projects that I've been lingering over.  Tonight I'll show you the first one.  


I found this awesome vintage frame at a flea market last summer.  It was missing one of its finials, but that didn't deter me!  We cut off the lone finial and attached two matching ones that I had from a previous project.

It has fabulous carving and detail but you just can't see it.  So, let's paint it!

I gave it two coats of ASCP Old White.  After giving it a coat of clear wax, I brushed on my homemade glaze to help show off the detail.

"Before glaze" is on the right, "after glaze" is on the bottom.  

I had my husband cut a board to fit the frame and then I painted in with black chalkboard paint.  

Then I headed over to my favorite graphics spot, the Graphics Fairy for the perfect graphic.  I printed it out and rubbed chalk on the back of the paper.  Then I traced it and it left a chalk outline of my image.

I filled in the design with white marker.  It turned out awesome, if I do say so myself!

We mounted the board into the frame and it's ready for the shop

Or the kitchen!

I'm gonna party hearty at these fun places:

Another Stool and Another Challenge

By now you probably know I have a soft spot in my heart for stools. I've rehabed wooden ones and metal ones.  I've put numbers on some, words on others.  So when my husband found this stool by a dumpster and brought it home, I was excited to see where it would take me.

See those white legs?  They're metal!

This has real potential.  The light-colored wooden seat spoke to me so I painted it ASCP Arles.  That color then spoke to me and I began to hunt for a bee graphic.  Where else to look for graphics than the Graphics Fairy!

I found the perfect one and needed to figure out how to transfer it to the seat.  Karen at the Graphics Fairy pointed me to this tutorial.  It seemed simple enough so I decided to try it.

You can read Katie's tutorial, but basically you glue the image to the stool and then wet the paper and rub it away, leaving the image intact.  I couldn't believe it as I began to rub the paper away and the image stayed behind!  One thing I learned was that the color of the image may change.  I printed mine out in brown because I thought it might go better with the yellow.  When I rubbed the paper away, the blue pigment went with it and I was left with a rusty red.  It works!  Just want to give you a heads-up because that might not be good on your project!

I brushed on a coat of wax and took it outside to dry.  That's when I discovered the "challenge."  

You see, this transfer method has you put a coat of glue on paper before you print your image and a coat of Mod Podge on the stool.  Then you put the image face down on the wet Mod Podge and leave it overnight.  What I discovered was that when I wet and rubbed away the paper, the Mod Podge stayed behind.  You can see it in the light (above).  

Here's the same shot taken from the other side of the stool.  Now you see it, now you don't!

Have you tried this transfer method?  Did you have the same issue??