Changeable Count Down Chalkboard Frame

Lately I’ve been thinking advent calendars and countdown boards.  I really wanted to make something that would get the kids excited for upcoming events that happen in our life.

I am in charge of a big activity for our Relief Society (women’s organization at church) in September.  Our super saturday craft event is in a couple weeks and we’ve finally narrowed down the projects.  One of them is a count down board.  It is cute but pretty simple.  Plus my kids can’t really read so I wanted something a little more visual for little minds.

So I came up with this

Changeable Count Down Chalkboard Frame.

Perfect for my kids to see what is coming up with just a quick glance.

I found this thick plastic frame on clearance at Michael’s for $2!  Big time score because I knew I needed a thick frame so I could write along the edges.

I took some chalkboard coating and painted it onto the frame.  I started with a layer going horizontal, let it set for an hour and then did a vertical layer.  I let it dry for 24 hours before doing anything else to it.

I found this piece of sheet metal already cut to a 5×7 size at Home Depot for less than $1.

I used a piece of scrapbook paper and some mod podge to cover the metal.

While I was at Michael’s I found these already painted wood shapes for less than $1 each.  I love that they are already painted and ready to go.  Makes less work for me! 🙂

I still need to get something for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter and the 4th of July so I will be on the look out for those as the seasons get closer.

I used E6000 and attached a magnet onto the back of each of my shapes.

After 24 hours of dry time, I prepared my chalkboard frame by rubbing a piece of chalk on the entire surface and then wiping it off.

I bought some chalk pens to do the writing on the frame.

I may have wrote, erased and wrote some more with those pens.  They are super fun!

You could also not cover your sheet metal and just leave it bare if you like that look too.

And you don’t have to write what the picture represents on the bottom of the frame either.

Anyway you want to display it you can’t go wrong!

The kids love it! and it makes our upcoming beach trip so much more exciting!

Ok maybe I the most excited, but we are all looking forward to it.

Michael’s had a ton of fun summer shapes but I picked the bucket because I can use it for many of our vacations: the dunes, the mountains (my kids love digging in dirt just as much as sand) and of course the beach.

Because I already had the chalkboard coating and mod podge on hand, this turned out to be a fairly inexpensive project.  I think it would make a good gift for friends and family too!

Almost time to relax and soak up the sun!

Happy Crafting!

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See what we will be doing while on vacation

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