Simply Radiant

I keep getting emails from people with questions about how I made the chalkboard Christmas tree I had hanging in my living room last Christmas.  I wasn't going to post about it because there's not really much to it, and I didn't have any good pictures of it, but when I mentioned that to my sister, it was Candice to the rescue because she had pictures of Ollie in front of it last Christmas.  How could I keep these to myself?

 Can you believe how tiny he was just a year ago?

 He was a stinker when we tried to take pictures so I'm so happy Candice caught a few!

What's that you say? You wanted a tutorial, and my cute baby photos did not make you forget.

It all started when we were staring at our big, empty living room walls and wishing we could buy a giant Christmas tree, but it was not it our remodellers' budget nor would have it been safe for Ollie.  Then I remembered this idea I saw for a chalk Christmas tree on a drop cloth, and I knew we could do a huge version so I was off to Lowe's to pick up a painters canvas drop cloth and chalkboard paint.  The only advice that I really have is to lay a cheap plastic drop cloth below because the paint will seep through the fabric onto whatever is underneath your drop cloth.  I only did one coat, because I didn't want to buy another pint of paint, but had I known we were going to keep this up and continue using it, I probably would have done a second coat.  The fabric soaks up a lot of paint so you'll need more then you think.

 Since my drop cloth was so big, I drew my Christmas tree while it was still laying down in our garage and just touched up any smudges after we hung it up.  So simple and cheap for such a big effect.

 By the time Valentine's Day rolled around, I still hadn't taken it down so I just washed it off and drew something new.  My advice for erasing is to first vacuum your old drawing to remove as much chalk as possible and it will be much easier to erase (I just use our shopvac).  After that I use a wet washcloth and wash everything else away.  Use lots of water and scrub lightly or you'll scrub off some paint like I did the first time.

 Now we use the chalk board for just about every holiday/party around here.

But I have to say last Christmas is my favorite

All the pictures with Ollie are by Candice (the rest obviously are not)