Chippy Chalkboard Calendar

I've been itching lately to do a project for our home! I love doing pieces for other people but there's just something so freeing about doing something for myself! I can experiment and be creative in a way that I can't when I'm doing work for clients! This little project was like therapy to me!

A calendar is something we desperately needed in our home! Can you believe we didn't have one! As my kiddos are growing life is becoming more and more busy. Most "normal" people just go buy a calendar at the store but I just couldn't find anything I liked. I knew I wanted to make one and when I found a large ornate frame recently on this shopping adventure, I started to envision using it to make my calendar.

I'm sorry I don't have any before pictures of the frame! I'm terrible about that! I just get too excited to dive in to a project and I forget to take pictures. But just picture a large ornante gold frame that was falling apart.

My hubby helped me glue and clamp it down in several spots to secure the frame and then I glued my chalkboard on. I made the chalkboard using plywood from Home Depot that I spray painted with chalkboard paint.

Next came the fun part! I painted the frame using Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint. I used a similar mixture of colors that Miss Mustard Seed used recently to create a mint tone, she called her mixture Layla's Mint. I had Eulalie's Sky and Lucketts Green on hand but instead of using Ironstone I used Linen to lightened the color a bit. This was only my second time using Milk Paint, I used it to make this sign...

I'm getting practice with these smaller pieces before I tackle something bigger! I'm in love with the Milk Paint so far though check out this awesome chippyness...

And crackle affect...

The variation in color happened on accident. I painted my frame and left a small amount of my paint out for a few hours and when I came back I decided to add a bit more paint on a few areas of the frame that I originally didn't paint. The paint was clumpy and thick since I left it out but I just added a little bit of water and went for it. This created the variation of color that you see on the frame. And although I didn't plan on this to happen, I love it!

Now I just need to start using my calendar! If you haven't liked my Facebook page you should! I'm getting close to 150 likes and then I will be doing a giveaway! Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Linking up to: http://www.missmustardseedsmilkpaint.com/blog/,  http://tatertotsandjello.com/, http://elizabethandco.blogspot.com/, http://www.lizmarieblog.com,  http://www.stonegableblog.com, http://cityfarmhouse.com/, http://www.thegoldensycamore.com, http://www.joyinourhome.com, http://www.findingsilverpennies.com/