Easy Gift Idea

This Christmas, I had no idea what to get for my boss and a co-worker.  I didn't want to spend a lot of money but I definitely wanted to make a big impact.  

I came up with the idea to paint clay pots with the left over chalkboard paint I had from this project.  And what could be more perfect to put in the clay pots at this time of year than Poinsettias?  

Luckily, the chalkboard paint drys super fast, so I was able to slap two coats of paint on each pot in under a half hour.  I lined the top rim of the pots with painter's tape in order to get a clean line when I painted the top half of the pot.  I found that setting the pot upside down was the easiest way to paint it.

All said and done, these super cute gift ideas cost $10.49.

Materials:

1. Clay pot and drain - $6
2. Poinsettia - $3.50 (on sale).  I was lucky enough to find two nice plants among many dried out and dead ones.
3. Colored Chalk - $.99
4. Chalkboard Paint - HAD

I set each Poinsettia on the desks of the receivers (as shown above) before they arrived to work.  So this is exactly what they saw when they turned the corners to enter their cubicles. 

On each pot I drew an x-mas tree and snowflake, and wrote, "Merry X-Mas.  Love, Rachel."

My boss has a young daughter who she said was going to love this idea.  She also grows lots of herbs in the summer time -- and this is perfect for just that.   Also, my co-worker is a wonderful gardener so this gift idea will surely come in handy for her.

This is a great gift idea for any time of year!

Chalkboard Paint

I spent my Saturday night playing around with Chalkboard paint and creating my front door bling.  Hey, I had fun!  

I've been wanting to use chalkboard paint for awhile but held off because I wasn't sure what wall was best to paint.  There were several factors that led to my final decision, such as the wall's visibility, usage, and size...matters.

This is a small wall which is good because when I'm over the chalkboard paint and want something new, painting over it will be a breeze.  Also, there are always people congregating in the kitchen and we always play board games at the dinette table so this is perfect for taking score and to keep guests busy.  Finally, I hate to scramble for a pen and paper when I want to take note of something - so this wall proved to be perfecto!

Here it was before.  You can see more pictures of our kitchen, here.




And after just two thick coats of this paint, priced around $11.00, and some chalk I picked up for a $1.00...

 

 I created this awesome chalkboard...

  

The possibilities are endless. I'm so happy with how it turned out. I'll use this wall to create a fun sign for my sister's baby shower (being held at my house), and to also welcome my family coming to visit for the holidays, to take score during our next Taboo gathering, to jot down notes and SO MUCH MORE!!!

There's Roxy Gurrrls chillin' against the wall.  She almost always finds a way into my pictures :)

I purchased a pint of the chalkboard paint and after I painted two thick coats there was still about 2/3 left.  I used the left over paint on something else too - but I'll save those pictures for another night. 

Thanks for reading.  Have a good night!

This project is partying with the best of them at: