here's what my week looks like ...

Do you have a difficult time trying to remember what everyone in your family is doing during the week? I use to before I created this easy diy project for my kitchen. 

I turned an over sized painting that I purchased for $10 at the second hand store into a chalkboard. I hung it in my kitchen in a spot that it would be easily seen and my family uses it to keep track of appointments, school events, games/practices, etc. 

For whatever reason, my husband really didn't want me to put this in the kitchen at first. But everyone that visits our home comments on it and asks us where they can get one ... so now my husband thinks it is a great idea.

I painted the frame using a couple of coats of white chalk paint. I painted over the original painting using a couple of coats of Martha Stewart's chalkboard paint. Luckily the painting did not have a texture so I did not have to do any sanding before I painted the surface.

Tip: Allow the final coat of chalkboard paint to dry for about 24 hours before using it. You'll also want to condition the chalkboard surface by rubbing the side of a piece of chalk over the entire chalkboard. Clean off using a dry cloth.

I knew that I didn't want to have to rewrite the days of the week on the chalkboard every week so I used a chalk marker to write each day of the week and the "good to know" line. I write the weekly notes in chalk. That way, when I erase the board with a dry cloth at the end of each week, everything comes off except for the words in chalk marker.

Even if you don't have great handwriting, it is possible to achieve perfect type on a chalkboard using chalk markers if you follow my handy instructions ...

1. Gather your supplies: white transfer paper, a pencil, chalk markers, print out of your design/type (sized to fit your chalkboard), painter's tape and ,of course, a chalkboard.

I type out whatever words/design I want to put on my chalkboard on my computer first. That way I can play around with different fonts and the spacing.

Note: I print everything in the final size I need for my chalkboard, even if I have to cut up my words/design to print on a number of pages. You just tape them all together.

2. Cut your paper design out to fit your chalkboard so you can see where to place it. Use painter's tape to hold the paper in place and insert the white transfer paper in between the paper and the chalkboard. Make sure that the white transfer side is facing down towards the chalkboard. Now trace the letters (design) using a sharp pencil.

3. When you are finished tracing with the pencil it will look like this. 

4. Now you are ready to write using the chalk marker by going over the fine lines from your tracing. 

And that's it! If you can trace - you can do this.