DIY Magnetic Chalkboard

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These DIY magnetic chalkboards are a fun and inexpensive craft for a group craft night or girls camp.

When I knew I’d be in charge of the craft at girls camp this year, I wanted to create something fun and easy that the girls would love and like to use once they got home. Since I love hand lettering and it’s really popular right now, I thought it’d be fun to incorporate that in some way to our craft. I know, it’s not for everyone, but I love using a chalkboard. And it’s a perfect way to practice hand lettering.

Since the budget for our camp craft was small, I knew I needed to be frugal and smart with the money. I bought a lot of the supplies from the dollar store. I found these electric stove covers there and they came 2 in a package! They had about 4 different styles, but I didn’t care what the style was since I was going to cover it up. I ordered them in bulk on line and had them shipped for free to the store.

I had some concerns that there were 2 different sizes and the girls would make a big deal of not having the same size, but it turned out fine. I just made sure they were all the same size in each class session.

I had my husband use his drill press and drill holes in the edge so that we could add ribbon for hanging our magnetic chalkboard. We used a piece of blue painters tape as a guide and he was able to drill two at a time. Just make sure the holes aren’t too big or your ribbon will slip through once you knot it in the back.

My favorite chalkboard paint is Rustoleum Chalkboard Spray Paint. It is super easy to use and covers really well. I reached out to Rustoleum to see if they’d like to help with my girls camp craft efforts. They were so nice and sent me some chalkboard spray paint to use to make our magnetic chalkboard.

I love using the spray grip on any spray paint can. It totally saves my hand and fingers when having to spray 140 chalkboards. I sprayed each metal cover with at least 2 coats of paint. I used about 15 cans of paint for 140 metal stove covers. I painted them all before we got to girls camp.

For our actual day of camp craft, Each girl was able to choose and attach their ribbon to hang their magnetic chalkboard in their room. Each girl also made 2 glass bead magnets. I cut all the strips of ribbon at about 18 inches and cut all the scrapbook paper into 2 inch pieces before we went to camp.

For the last 20 – 30 minutes of the class, I did a quick tutorial on chalk art. I showed the girls the basics of faux calligraphy, flourishing and layout.

It was fun to see all the different styles the girls had and some of them did some amazing art work on their chalkboards. I also heard from some of the cabin moms that the girls spent time in their cabins writing on their chalkboards. So I feel like it is something the girls enjoyed and will definitely use again.