Summer Projects–Part I

 

    Ahhh . . .  the lazy days of summer!  It is wonderful to have the long sunny days back for a few months here in the northeast.  And, now that these beautiful days are upon us, my mind starts to think of what projects I am going to tackle.  I always try to plan on doing the things that require fresh air and open windows while the weather is nice.  So, here are a few of the projects in the works at the moment in our house.

     Painting the chalkboard paint

 

     Time to finish up the wall projects I started this spring.  I was originally planning to paint the chalkboard paint at the same time I had painted the magnetic primer which I previously posted about, but due to the stink factor I decided to put off the project until the weather was warmer and I could open up the windows.  Well, the little monkeys are off to visit the grandparents in a couple weeks and I am going to use that time to finish up.  I am hoping that having a few days of empty rooms with open windows will help with the airing out.

     Primer painting

               

    I have this handy dandy little workout room in my house, which I even occasionally use!  Hubby and I moved into our home a few years ago and I have slowly been working my way through the house doing all the painting.  This is the last “room” I have to go (still have to do the stairwells too).  And, this is another one of those projects where it is nice to let the fresh air diffuse all that paint smell.  And, it is also on my list of things to do while the monkeys are away.  It is going to be a busy couple of days.

     License plate wall art

    

       My little guy loves trucks and cars and all sorts of things related.  He is a little man’s man.  So, my father-in-law found this bag of old license plates and gave them to me after I mentioned I wanted to look for some for his bedroom.  I need to pull them all out and see what I have and then I am going to turn them into an as yet undetermined decoration for his room.  Stay tuned.

  There it is . . . the start of the summer projects.  Hope you are enjoying the warm summer weather wherever you are.

Out of Hibernation!

 

     Well, it has been a long, cold winter.

 

    And, over the winter I have to say, I have not been inspired by my crafty side!   Life just seems to take over sometimes and before you know it six months have come and gone.  BUT, spring has returned and so I have dusted off my glue gun and I am ready to get back to my crafts!!  The first project I decided to work on was a magnetic chalkboard on the walls in my son’s and daughter’s bedrooms.  I had taped a section of wall in my daughter’s room this winter but then tabled the project because I was hesitant to paint when we could not open the windows.  With the nice weather, I decided it was time to get the project in motion.

      The first thing I had to do was to decide what section of wall I wanted to be the chalkboard section in my son’s room.  And, I will admit that I may have been a little overeager with the area that I chose but I really think it is going to look pretty cool when the project is done.  Once I decided on the area I wanted to paint I drew a line on the wall using a level and then taped it off with painters tape (I am not good with straight lines without a lot of help!).

               

      Once I taped on the area, I prepped the magnetic primer to paint on the wall. 

    I bought my can at Lowe’s quite a while ago because I was planning to get to this before winter, and, well, we know how that worked out.  So, when I shook the paint can a little and then opened it up, I found that the paint had separated into a clear liquid on top and a thick section of a sludge-like substance underneath.  I do not know if this happened because I had the can in my house for such a long period of time before I used it, or, if this is just what happens to this type of primer but it took me a good thirty minutes to mix the paint to a point where it was sludge free.  A lot of shaking and stirring and shaking and stirring . . . .  You get the idea.

    After I mixed the paint, I painted my two coats on the wall.  Just a note – it says you need two coats on the directions, and, you do.  I tried one magnet on the wall after the first coat thinking it would stick a little but no.  But, the magnets stayed on the wall beautifully after two coats.  All together it took me about two hours to do the entire project – set up through clean up.  And, I used a little brush.  FYI, I used a majority of the quart size can painting these two areas – there was just a minimal amount left.  And, the finished project:

                            

    This is just the magnetic primer.  I still have to paint the chalkboard paint but unfortunately I have had to procrastinate yet again as there was a HUGE stink factor with this paint.  The smell was really potent even with the windows open.  I completed this project on Thursday and we are still working on airing out the rooms.  Thus, I am waiting until it really gets warm so that we can get great ventilation in order to do the chalkboard paint portion.

      My overall thoughts on the magnetic primer:

             1.   It worked really well and it is definitely a product I would use again if the craft project I was doing called for it.

             2.    Having said that, I would definitely wait to buy the paint until I knew I was ready to complete the project and have the paint mixing center shake the can for me before I brought it home to ensure it was well blended.  Save yourself a lot of time and potential aggravation and have it shaken at the improvement store.

              3.     This paint really smells – BAD.  If you are planning to use it I would recommend painting indoors when you are able to have a lot of open windows for lots of ventilation.  Even better, if it is a mobile project take it outside.

              4.     I tend to get a bit messy when I am working – even if I try not to be.  This paint seemed to splatter a lot when I was painting it.  Even if you are just planning to do a small area or a small project, make sure you have things covered up around where you are painting to avoid getting the paint where you do not want it.

   There it is!  The start of my magnetic chalkboard! I am excited to start the spring off with what will hopefully be lots of fun projects!

Happy crafting everyone!!