Heartfelt Creations Festive Christmas Altered Chalkboard Tutorial

Hello, Friends!  Welcome to Heartfelt Creations Wednesday!  I have a sweet Festive Christmas Altered Chalkboard tutorial to share with you.  It’s a photo step out, so lots of photos ahead.  You might want to go grab a beverage and a snack to sustain you!  LOL

I bought several of these little chalkboards on clearance, thinking that they would be a fun project to alter.  I was right!   I had a blast stamping on real chalkboard and then altering the frame.  Let’s take a step by step look at how I did it.

This is how the 5 1/2″ x 8 1/4″ chalkboard looked at the beginning.  The “slate” area was more grey than true black, so I began by painting the chalkboard surface  with black chalk paint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Any black chalk paint will do.  This just happened to be what I had in my stash.  I used a foam brush to apply the paint being careful not to leave a lot of brush strokes behind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t worry about getting paint on the wooden sides.  You’re going to cover that up anyway.  You can let this dry overnight, or if you are impatient (like me) you can use your heat gun to dry the surface.  You want it to be thoroughly dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, I used my little embossing buddy to prep the surface for my ink.  You can get these in lots of different forms.  This one is from Stampin’ Up.  It’s just a little open weave pouch with cornstarch inside.  The cornstarch prevents the embossing crystals from sticking where you don’t want them to land.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used the Festive Yuletide Doorway Stamp for this project.  I just love this rustic image.  It’s a limited edition, and it’s on sale now, so if you like it, buy it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ink up your stamp.  I used a white pigment ink.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the stamped image.  It doesn’t quite fit the surface, but that’s OK.  Use a white superfine embossing powder to emboss the image.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sprinkle it on liberally….

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then tap it off onto a sheet of clean paper or into a funnel tray and put back into the jar for next time.  I did sprinkle some grains around above and below the image to make it look like snow was falling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After I heat embossed the stamped image, I went in with some white Viva Decor 3-D stamp paint to create “snowbanks.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just picked up a small amount of stamp paint on my fingertip…..

 

 

 

 

 

And tapped it along the base of the chalkboard until I was happy with the way it looked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It dries all on its own in just a couple of minutes.  No heat gun required, even for this impatient girl!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Select the paper you want to use to cover your mirror.  I used this sheet from the Festive Christmas Paper Pack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After cutting the paper to 8″ x 12″, I laid the chalkboard face down in the center of this rectangle.

 

 

 

 

 

I folded the paper around all sides of the frame.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I flipped the paper over, placing it on the decorated side of the chalkboard and burnished all the edges with my bone folder, as you can see here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what your paper will look like after that step.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, lay the creased paper on top of your frame, making sure it is all lined up. Use a ruler and a sharp craft knife and carefully cut a small triangle from one of the corners inside the frame.  I always use my craft knife on a glass surface because it cuts through the paper like a hot knife goes through butter!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once you’ve cut out that small triangle, use a sharp pair of scissors to trim out the interior area of the paper.  This is where the stamped image will be on your finished chalkboard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Voila!  Now you are ready to glue this onto the front of your chalkboard frame.  I always ink cut edges with a little bit of Vintage Photo Distress Ink to cover up any raw edges. Don’t worry if your cutting is not 100% perfect.  We will fix that in another step down the line.  Just relax and remember, this is supposed to be FUN!

 

 

 

 

 

Next, I folded all the corners on each side, forming a triangle shape as you can see here.  If you’ve ever upholstered a chair, it’s that same type of fold. This is a little tricky, but just work one corner at a time, burnishing each fold with your bone folder as you go along.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, fold each adjacent side in as you see in this picture, burnishing with your bone folder as you go along. Once these are all folded, and well creased, run beads of glue along the back side of the frame.  Glue the  bottom “pleat” down first, then add a bit more glue and fold in the sides as you see here.  You’ll have to hold them in place for a few seconds so the glue sets. Do this on all 4 sides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, looky here!  A neatly covered chalkboard frame!  Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?  Now we’ll just fix any little uneven edges in our cutting job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Run 1/8″ red line tape all around the inside edge where you cut the paper panel out.  You want this to be right on the edge and as even as you can get it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, just run two rows of Natural Jute String around the frame, pressing it into your red line tape.  When you are done, your framed chalkboard is ready for you to embellish!

 

I trimmed my ribbon with the following items:

• Ornamental add-on die
• Holly Berry PreCut Set
• Layered Poinsettia Shapeabilities
• artwork from the Festive Christmas Paper Collection
• Viva Decor Carmine Red Metallic 3D Stamp Paint
• Viva Decor Lime Green Metallic 3D Stamp Paint
• Silky Crush Champagne Ribbon
• Ivory, Rust and Gold Plaid Ribbon

On the back side of the frame, I used a chipboard mailer envelope to create a pocket for storing photos from the holiday.

I just covered it with beautiful papers from the Festive Christmas Collection, added a poinsettia and some leaves, added a stamped greeting, and now it’s all set for giving.  I used small magnets to hold the envelope flap closed.

That’s it for me today, friends!  Be sure to visit the Heartfelt Creation BLOG where you will find a wealth of creative inspiration in the gorgeous designs our team is sharing this week.  If you have any questions about this project, please feel free to ask in the comment section below. I’d also love to hear your thoughts about this Festive Christmas Altered Chalkboard tutorial. You’ll  find a complete supply list and detailed tutorial below.  Thanks for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy

TUTORIAL

Festive Christmas Altered Chalk Board

Heartfelt Creations Products and Products Carried by HC:
Stamps: HCPC 3623 Festive Candlelight PreCut Set, HCPC 3551 Holly Berry PreCut Set, HCPC 3489 Festive Yuletide Doorway PreCut Set
Papers: HCDP1 246 Festive Christmas Collection
Dies: HCD 738 Ornamental Die Cut
Other: 125156 Spellbinders Layered Poinsettia Die, 119391236 Carmine Red Viva Décor Metallic Stamp Paint, 119390736 Lime Green Viva Décor Metallic Stamp Paint, 159224 Paper Blossoms Molding Mat, 459222 Paper Blossoms Tool Kit, 452255 Spellbinder Grand Calibur

Other Product: Paper: Red Cardstock, Ribbon, Glass Beads, White Pigment Ink, Superfine white embossing powder, Kraft mailing envelope, small magnets
Directions: You will find a step by step photo tutorial for preparing, stamping and covering the chalkboard frame at www.kathybydesign.com
Wrap the base of the chalkboard with Champagne Crushed Silky Ribbon. Create the bow and add to the frame.
Die Cut 4 sets of poinsettia flowers from red cardstock. Shape, stack and tap with white pigment ink. Tap with Carmine Red Stamp Paint. Use hot glue to add the glass beads to the center of each flower.
Die cut and color the holly berry vines. Tap with both red and green Stamp Paint. Use a hot glue gun to secure to the frame.
Add 3 of the prepared flowers.
Cut out the greeting from the paper collection cutting fishtail banners on both ends. Ink the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Secure to the frame with foam adhesive.
For the back of the frame:
Cover the top 2″ of the front of a 5″ x 7″ kraft mailing envelope with paper from the collection. Add the sentiment banner.
Add the small magnets to the inside flap and the base of the kraft envelope.
Cover the back of the envelope, the top flap and the inside flap with paper from the collection. Cut out one of the Christmas card fronts and trim to fit the surface of the envelope. Stamp the sentiment and heat emboss with clear embossing powder. Glue onto the envelope.
Add the 4th poinsettia to the envelope and then glue to the back of the chalkboard. The envelope can be used to store Christmas photos.