Up-Cycled Chalk and Cork Message Board

Before I get in to detail of how to create your own chalkboard I must give you a history lesson on my grandfather who i get most of the antiques I will be up - cycling in the future, all of my grandpas tales we like to call them "history lessons" because some are true and allot of it is a fabricated lie with some truth to the story exactly like the man in the movie The Big Fish. That movie is made after my grandpa when I seen that movie I though oh my gosh someone is making money on Mr. Perez's history lessons. Here is the lesson for everybody who doesn't know my grandpa one of his passions are to collect antiques, and when I say collect lets just say he sleeps on top of them literally. My grandfather is one of the most giving men and self less individuals who lives below his means not because he cant afford to but, because he doesn't need too. He has allot of property and doesn't need live in a mansion to show his happiness he lives in a large property in a humbling environment surrounded by what he calls treasures. He is always putting other peoples goals and wants before his own. he enjoys seeing others happy by being able to give what he has in order to brighten up someone else's day, but he does have a strong personality and allot of times we must stay clear because when hes not in the best of moods run!.
He is constantly on the search for new treasures and sometimes he will borrow my van just so he wont have to pass up on a big item like a door or something in Rhode Iron, ouu that's is his favorite Rhode Iron and heavy chandeliers the most heaviest things have the most value to him. he can mearly manage to carry it but, somehow or another he will manage to get it home.

Once getting those "treasures" home he decides who he will gift the item to, it usually will go to his kids or grand children depending on what it is. It always has to stay amongst family so that way when  he visits he gets to see what he brought and oh yes he tells us where we should put it or in my case ill have to pull it out or hang something in a blink of an eye if I know hes coming over other wise he will ask where is that particular item he gave me. Every one of us in his family will tease him not to his face tough because, hell be offended we don't appreciate his antiques but some of the things he brings are just outrageous. We have to take it because, if not he will stay upset with us and tell us "the hell with it then" and even though he is speaking in general, he means the hell with the person who doesn't like his taste and he will make a face stay mad the entire time otherwise.

We all laugh in amazement myself included, at some of the things he finds, sometimes we just cant help it to look at it like Ariel in the movie The Little Mermaid how Ariel discovers the fork and is amazed but, doesn't know what the heck it is, that's exactly how we react to "the yonkero's" junk collection we refer to him as "the yonkero" (in other words junk hoarder). I cant make fun of him anymore since, his syndrome has started to rub off on me and I get excited to snoop around in the backyard and throughout his garage. I have to be sneaky about it though because, if he knows i have an interest in something he owns he gets nervous and starts asking me "what you gonna do with it?" and that's the truth he will say it just like that worried i may steal the rest of his treasures ha ha. As a matter of fact I went noising around in the pool area where he has 80 percent of his finds stored in the pool yup i said it. That's is accurate they are stashed in the pool area theres no water in the pool just antiques and treasures to him but to others just plain old junk. Keep in mind he has the biggest pad lock on the door to the pool too just in case someone such as myself may want to steal his things or as he would say "they stoled it" it makes no sense to anybody else but it just means someone is always going to be blamed for when things go missing and it usually is never stolen they just end up elsewhere possibly because there's so many "treasures" around he don't remember where he placed the "treasure". My grand[a Carmelo is Mexican American and speak both English and Spanish but sometimes his words seem to sound a bit odd because he combines two words to one and flips the second word first or makes up names for things that are similar or sounds like they belong for instance, burger king is called "king burgers" and to say leave him alone he says "leave it alone" theres plenty more saying he says and we tease him about it but for so many years we made fun of his saying it caught up to my family as well as, myself sadly that's what happens when your around someone for so long you pick up on his habits. We all understand what hes trying to say but will still laugh especially his grandchild because, some of the things he says we wonder where did he get that? all he watches is The Discovery Channel, The Simpson's, The History Channel and sports. Many times i catch myself speaking funny of not making sense i know its grandpa syndrome ha ha, I didn't realize i was saying anything wrong the other day till my cousins all looked me weird with their eyes hugely and began laughing at me then i realized what i said, i wanted to say leave me some room because i was hanging Christmas lights and i was afraid if they hung them too tight when adding another strand of light to connect together the electricity would have a short or my bulbs would pop so instead of saying give it some room, i said "let it some room" in mind there was nothing wrong with what i was saying, i knew what i meant and they did too because that's the kind of logic we hear all the time at grandpa Carmelo's house however, since i said it they had to stop laugh and call me out on it for always making fun of grandpas none sense words. I could laugh about it now but at the time i was like oh gosh, be quiet you all know what i meant just get back to work.  Now that you have a little history on where I got this door you can understand that there will be more antiques i up cycle and no they wont be from a yard sale, thrift store or anywhere else there coming from either my uncles garage of treasures or my grandfathers pool. As i was mentioning above my grandpa is very giving when it comes to money and things but if its about his antiques he has to be the one to give it to you, he dislikes people picking what they want because he knows his things have value to them and he wants to keep it forever and ever till it rots or gets infested with termites like it usually will. I was rushed in and out of the pool so quick he told me "okay ma gay you got it" translation (get out now you got what you wanted leave my stuff alone) min around 500 cabinet doors in there but yet he managed to count how many i took, yes i said 500 and no I'm definitely not exaggerating i will need to take a picture for you to see. He wont like that I'm capturing his things on camera, he may think somebody will see the picture and come and "stoled it" because, Justine showed "those peoples" (another word phrase he uses)
those of you who don't know Carmelo personally he says things that its hard to comprehend what hes trying to convey, he mixes up words by shortening some and adding in his own to where the meaning gets a bit misunderstood. It completely makes sense to him so he expects other to understand but , if you don't he will be upset and walk away. At his present age which is, 83 he has decided to start cussing more often and from time to time when upset if somebody doesn't understand him he will say this famous phrase "the hell with them" and he isn't talking about a group of people its usually just one person but he refers to singular as a plural and vise verse.
sentence just so many of us since, then it trickled down to even myself. I went on a scavenger hunt in my grandpas backyard and at my uncle Carlos as well and stumbled upon this old bi fold door it looks as if it was sitting in the garage maybe 10 years, again I'm not kidding when I speak on these men they have everything in their garages and backyards, alot of things are the same they have 3 of everything just in case "someone stoleded one"

**Usually I have no problem finding antiques to up cyle which is why I rumage through my uncles garage or my grandpa's. This project took me two weeks because I was working of five all at once and some pieces needed more work than others. This is a very time consuming task so, if your the typr of person with little patients it probably wont be wise you tackle this one. There are several steps steps to be taken so lets get started.**

Supplies:

*bi- fold door

*sander

*sandpaper

*masking tape

*edging sander for the tough to get grooves in the wood pain

*safety goggle

*nose mask

*drill

*Rust - Oleum satin paint in black

*spongue roller

*Rust - Oleum chalkboard spray paint or paint in the can

*paint thinner just in case you have any mishaps

*hooks to hang things off of like a dog leash or purse for example

Since I wont be using the entire door, you will need to take apart one side of the door. Slide out the wood pain and keep the side that has entire wood pain framed

sand the entire surface to get a smooth area using your sander

make sure to sand every groove and corner as well

start by painting the surface with a base coat, its easier to use black since the wood will then be sprayed in black chalk paint after 

using masking tape, tape off all the areas that wont be painted in black

use a foam paint brush and dont use alot of paint, you want light and thin even coats then let it dry for one hour before applying a second coat

now spray an even coat of the chalkboard paint and let that dry for one hour before applying the next coat of chalk paint. Add hooks for hanging bags, keys or dog leash

Supplies for corkboard:
*masking tape
*level
*spray mount
*xacto knife or utlity knife
*tape measure
*Ruler triangle
*Elmers glue
*cork in the size desired for the surface

tape off the outer area that you dont want to get sprayed with the adhesive spray mount and let that sit for 15 minutes

spray a generous portion of spray mount to the cork as well and nail it down to a piece of wood so it lays flat and wont curl up and stick to itself, wait 15 minutes before placing it on the wood, it needs to be tacky enough so it can stick.

using the measuring tape and triangle ruler measure out how big you want the cork, take either an xactor or utlity knife for precision cuts. Do not force the blade to make a single cut, be gentle with the cork and run the blade several times before the cut is all the way through the cork. It may take 6 cuts for it to loosen and it will release itself dont pull it off this will rip the cork.

now that you are ready to glue the cork to the wood, I used steel rods to prevent the cork from touching the wood, this spray will stick immediatly which is why i positioned rods in between the two materials so it will give me a chance to see where it will sit and hopefully its centered.

no turning back, once the cork touches the wood its stuck permanently

it looks like its centered now using a roller smooth out any air bubbles and work fast

let it dry over night with something that will weigh enough to keep it stuck together. place a towel over the entire suface then place heavy books or paints can work well as long the entire surface is distributed in weight evently

Another message board I made

Some other examples you can do with chalkboard paint:

Simply tape off the area you would like to write in and the rest is history. Its a great way to express and greeting or get a mental note to the recipient drinking from here. I think this mug will be handy to express your moods and how your feeling at the office ha ha so if its not the brightest day your co-workers can read your mug and know not to mess with you

Valentine's Day Crayons

You first peel off all the wrappers off the crayons the adults part of course

Mikey helped me out till he got a little tired and decided to eat them instead so that's when I had to take over

he enjoyed this part, which is where you can break the crayons to make them smaller to fit in the mold.

place in the oven for 15 minutes at 250 degrees and let cool so all the colors combine, we used darker shades of colors like blues, black and greys so the crayon is going to melt at a much darker shade than if using brighter colors. Allow the crayon to cool for more than a hour before coloring with it.

Finally the part we have all been waiting for, let's see how it work, he seems to enjoy it.

Paper Mache Calaveras

This year I decided to decorate my house for Halloween with calaveras (Spanish for skeletons) so I bought these really cool paper mache skeletons @Michaelsstores they were only around $1.00. I have to say this was a very easy and fun project. I recommend it for kids with parent supervision in the case of the hot glue gun. If you do choose to take on this project please share with me your results and any feedback, I would love to see how your skeleton turned out. Some of the skeletons I spent more time on than others by adding allot of details but, its entirely up to you how artistic you are willing to get. I got a little crazy with mine because that's just me! I will be demonstrating how to design a simple version of a spider web across the forehead and creating that upside down heart around the nose. Lets get started!

Here is what you will need & all available at Michael's.
*paper mache skull
*puffy paint
*Acrylic paint
*paint brushes
optional:
hot glue gun and glue sticks to glue any details if necessary
synthetic flowers, rhinestones jewels for the eyes, tull to make a vail

As soon as you finish yours I'm sure everyone will get many compliments and everyone will be asking  you to make them one, at least that's how it went for me.
 I wanted to create a unique personality for each by adding different elements and details, giving them each their own personalities in a sense.

First make sure the entire surface is painted and be mind full of spots, black tends to not cover as easy so you may have to go over it with a second coat of paint.

 Now that the two colors have dried I can start adding the fun details and dimension with the puffy paint. To make a spider draw 7 lines in different angles starting from the center to keep them uniformed. spider webs aren't perfect so some lines may be longer or shorter than others.

Now connect the lines to each other by making like the letter "n" until all the web is completed. Now lets move on to the nose. The nose has a upside down heart so all your going to do is trace around the nose with the puffy paint with the color of your choice. . Your going to start to outline the nose from the top at a peak as if you would draw a triangle and then at the bottom make a "w" so it looks like a heart upside down in the end. Were done, and the rest is up to you if you want to stop there or continue by adding some pizazz. 

Here is a peak of the ones I did hope you had fun!! I love it that with puffy paint you can add just the right amount of dimension. These have glow in the dark in the eyes and teeth so at night they look even cooler!! You can add anything to them all you need is some hot glue a little imagination and time.

Funny story, so my cousin Briana came over and thought it was really weird that i had so many skeletons in the living room at one time, she made this funny comment and said "those are so weirdddddd!" she is a teenager so her facial expression said it all, and it was quite funny. I thought she didn't like them and didn't want to be rude so she didn't know what else to say however, she ended up wanting one so she quickly back pedaled her comment and said "No I meant it like weird but in a cool way". I made her A bright turquoise one with allot of glitter and eyelashes to match her girly and colorful personality.

  I gave her a bow by cutting piece of the tull, I just layered all the pieces of tull and glued the synthetic flower in the center and added some glue to the paper mache skull as well. It dries fast just hold to keep it in position for a couple minutes and be mindful of not burning yourself because those glue guns can leave welts on your fingers.

 The purple skull to the far right pictured above is my favorite because of the spider webs i drew on each side of the head with a heart around the web. A pop of glitter at the lashes makes this calavera look like she's ready to hit the town for a night out with her other friends! there not actual lashes its a feather i found during the Christmas display at Michael's they had allot of bright & fun colors.
I trimmed down the feather and cut it to look like lashes and just added hot glue to keep them in place and finished it off by gluing them directly to the skeleton. Then add jewel rhinestones for the eyes by placing hot glue directly to the face of the jewel and squeeze your hand through the opening of the skeleton where the jaw bone is to glue the eyes in. By gluing the jewels through the inside it will look more realistic. Add plenty of glue to reinforce the jewel to stick and hold for a few minutes then cover the excess glue with glitter by going over the glue till its all covered.