In Touch: September 2013

(click on the pics to enbiggan)

The Chalkboard trend is one that seems to be remaining popular and I'm thrilled to see more and more companies producing products we can use quickly and easily to create the look!

Try a quick search in the shop using keyword "chalk" or "blackboard"! You'll find plenty of fun, ready-made products, all in a chalkboard/blackboard theme:

Just because something comes pre-designed one way, you may still be able to modify it--I trimmed out the image from the tag shape so I could have a more flourish shaped element on this design:

Of course, if you want to DIY all the way, don't overlook these great "blanks" and tools:

You can use any stamps you like for this technique, but "Chalkboard" stamps are designed with this particular look in mind.

Most chalkboard style cards and paper crafts are dominated by typography, but it can also work well with images. Here's what happens when you go digging around and realize a bunch of individual word stamps and an image or two from another set can all be combined to make the entire front of a card:

Everything was simply white embossed onto black card stock; due to the length and height of the images, they formed a grid type pattern that I could easily mark with a white pencil and a ruler. Smudges & smears are sometimes desirable on this type of project, which can happen easily with white pencil. If you don't want them, try sealing with a fixative spray.

For the little splash of color to break up the black & white, I misted a white felt poinsettia flower (Hero Arts) with a brighter red Mister Huey's and then attached it and some felt leaves to the card.

These Die cut Stickers/Labels (left photo) have a mat/porous finish so they can be stamped on with white pigment ink and written on pretty easily with white pencils, gel pens or paint pens. We R Memory Keepers has issued a coordinating Washi Adhesive pad that features many of the same patterns as their 6x6 Paper Pad.

Chalk Stock, is an interesting chalkboard finish paper I wanted to mention which you can cut to use as you wish--use real chalk to write on them if you want to be able to erase and re-use. I found my simpler shaped, low profile dies (i.e. labels, basic geometric shapes) didn't seem to have any problems cutting through this thick/stiff paper, however I haven't done it enough to be able to tell what kind of wear & tear that would be on the die blades themselves.

NOTE: The chalk finish did transfer to the die, and marked my Big Shot cutting pads; since I'm lazy and would rather not have to spend the time cleaning any of that up, I recommend sandwiching the chalk paper between two pieces of typing paper, then placing the die on top to avoid the black/chalkboard transfer issue completely.

Check out my fun mini chalkboard card below--I thought it would be a kick to trade back and forth with a good friend--it's "recyclable". Hah! I wrote on the tiny one with the Faber Castell Big White Pen, but I'd use real chalk if I wanted to wipe it and reuse it. These would make super fun labels on my sugar and flour pantry jars and would also be cute as tags on gifts!