DIY: Magnetic Chalkboard

I'm back with another simple DIY project! My sister and I decided that we wanted to make a graduation gift for our cousin Jami. Money is the customary gift but since neither of us has enough money to give her a gift that would seem even slightly substantial, we decided to go the DIY route. With Jami beginning college in the fall we thought we would make her something that she could use in her dorm room. We settled on a magnetic chalkboard that she could hang on her dorm room door. When I was in school people had those white boards on their doors but we wanted to make something way cooler than any board that you could just pick up at the student bookstore.  Obviously this is the way we did it but you could change it up to suit your taste.  It was not difficult at all but it took awhile.  Mainly because of drying time for the paint and the fact that I can only spend about 15 minutes at a time crafting before I have a little one crawling all over me...or I start it at 10:30pm after dinner, bath and bed and I don't last very long... 

Want to make your own?

1}. Gather your supplies: wood board, magnetic paint, chalkboard paint, painters tape, acrylic paint, wooden letters, magnets, embellishments, ribbon, clothes pin, glue gun. 2}. Tape off your board to paint the top. 3}. Using your magnetic paint, paint several coats onto your board.  Suggested 2-4 coats, we did 6, lol!  The more you use, the more magnetic it becomes. 4}. Let paint dry for 24 hours then lightly sand to smooth surface.

5}. Select the wooden letters you are using. 6}. Paint several coats of acrylic paint. Let dry. 7}. Paint the edges any color of your chosing. Let dry. 8}. We taped off the letter "J" to make the line for the logo for SJU, representing the "t" and the "j." 9}. Top letters with any additional paint and/or touchups. Let dry.

10}. After magnetic paint is dry and board is sanded, use chalkboard paint to cover the magnetic paint. 11}. We painted 2 coats. Let dry for 24 hours. 12}. Dismantle clothespin and paint. Let dry. 13}. Assemble clothespin with chalk.

14}. Hot glue small magnets to embellishments.  We used a strand of 6 jewelry beads that matched our board. 15}. Pick out coordinating ribbon. 16}. Paint the trim of your board. Let dry.  Using a gloss paint, coat the trim of the board, the letters and the clothespin to give it a good glossy shine. Let dry. 17}. Using hot glue, attach the ribbon to the back of the board.  I also used a staple gun for extra durability. 18}. Cut out small felt circles and cover staples. 19}. Add two more felt circles to the bottom of the board to prevent banging or swinging when hanging.

Hot glue your letters and add your magnets.  If I were doing it all over again, I would add a magnet to the clothespin instead of gluing it down so it could be removed if necessary. 

FINAL PRODUCT!

The board was a hit at her graduation party!  Let me know if you decide to try it out and be sure to send me pictures!!

The Last High School Graduate of My Generation...

My grandparents had 6 kids, one of which was my dad.  Belonging to those 6 kids are 12 grand kids, one of which is me.  I am the 4th oldest of the 12 grand kids.  We have all graduated high school, some of us have married and some of us even have babies of our own.  But on June 10th, the baby of our generation graduated from Clayton High School.

Since Deuce and I were already down here working, we headed over to Clayton to meet Pop and the rest of the family before the graduation started.  Ed & TJ met us at the school.  After the ceremony, we went back to my Aunt Rhonda's house for a graduation party to celebrate.  Jami graduated with honors and is headed to St. John's University in New York City this fall.  We are so excited for her and so proud of her!

 seriously, she's the tall blonde {that obviously comes from her dad's side and not the Edgerton's because all of thsoe genes missed me - the tall, the skinny, the blonde - you get the idea}.

 pointing at Jami Grace with Pop.

 "Jami Grace Berube"

 Class of 2011

 the graduate with her gift from us

{tutorial on that later}

yea! i love jami!!

M.I.A.

Yes, I have been missing 'round these parts! Apologies... I have been so busy these past two weeks that my brain feels like a pile of mush that I can't make sense of. So much has happened from graduations to overwhelming work loads to throwing a bridal shower for the entire floor of my building {yes, i was appointed to be THAT person - thank you blogger...}, that I have been left with very little time to sit down and punch out a post.  However, I sense the calm after the storm coming next week so I have a bunch to catch you up on.

In the mean time...we have big news my friends.  Tuesday, June 14th, by the mommy powers vested in me, I officially declared my child big enough to turn around in his new "big boy" car seat.  Heck, he's almost 14 months and almost 30 pounds.  The seats arrived last week and I finally found 30 minutes to put it in my car on Monday night. {This after Ed had unpacked it but we had been distracted by something else so it just sat in the house for several days. The one for Ed's car is still in the box.}

{What up peeps?  Facing backwards is for babies...}

It didn't take long before the little guy was passed out in his new digs...check out milk splatter all over mommy's car door and crumbs all up in the seat. sigh.

And I love that he can face the front because I can see this whenever I want:

It's a big deal people.  My little dude is growing up so fast.  Now if we could just get rid of the pacifier...ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I think that may be our hardest challenge yet.

Water Play

For his birthday, my sister gave Deuce a blow-up beach ball that you hook the hose up to and it sprays out water.  He absolutely loved it!  Ed & I took turns blowing it up {it was pretty big} but once we were done, we just screwed the hose in and let it rip!  It was amazing!  It's like the perfect yard sprinkler/babysitter you could ever have.  What a combo!  We just sat in our chairs in the driveway and watched him go at it!

He would run in to it and wrap his arms around it and try to drink it.  He just couldn't get enough.  He was trying to pick it up and move it, only his little arms weren't big enough.  We moved it a couple of times to different spots in the yard to get as much to hit the grass as possible.  This 100+ degree weather has really burnt up everyone's grass!

After his shirt was soaked and he was walking around looking like a drowned rat, I lathered him up with some more sunscreen and let him strip!  His little belly just makes me giggle and if you ask him where his belly is, he points to it with both hands like he's some fat, jolly old man.  I {may} be a little biased but I think he's pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen...

After he was done playing he dried off in the driveway with his shark towel.  He was playing peek-a-boo with us and pretty much had a tantrum when it was time to go inside.  Two things I have learned for fact: 1. He loves water. 2.  He loves to be outdoors.

A few more pics of peek-a-boo.  He was so entertaining just laughing at himself while I was taking pictures.  These pictures were taken very close together.  Notice how quickly his hair curled up, lol!

Here, it's starting to dry out...

And here is a shot of his 3 1/2 teeth...

Happy Friday!

Sweet Carolina Summer Concert Series

This past Thursday I took Deuce over to University Mall in Chapel Hill to see The Embers play.  I love beach music and I love that the mall is making an effort to bring the community together by hosting a free concert series all summer long, featuring some of the greatest beach music bands!  We brought our lawn chairs and set up camp in the mall parking lot right next tot he great big stage.  There was a checkered dance floor perfect for shagging and by the end of the concert, there were some pretty darn good shaggers showing off their smooth steps.  Me? not so much.

Deuce was mesmerized by the big stage, the loud speakers and the shiny instruments.  He only wanted to be near the stage.  He especially enjoyed the trombone and watching the slider go in and out.  He even showed off some of his favorite dance moves, consisting of his hands on his thighs with some bouncing and rocking from side to side.  He is definitely my favorite dancer at this point in my life.

At one point, the dance floor was covered with kids. In large part because the Chick-fil-a cow was out there.  I was surprised that he didn't scream and try and run away.  Those things have the biggest heads.  But he kept getting closer and closer to it.  When the cow stuck out his hand to get a high 5, Deuce quickly pulled his hand back and was like {no way Jose.}  Pretty funny.  But he kept following the cow around.  Sometimes so close that I was afraid he would get trampled on because the cow wouldn't see him with that ginormous head!  Deuce put on quite a show himself, keeping the little old ladies entertained as he ran back and forth between us and the dance floor.  I look forward to many more Thursday nights at the mall. Come join us!  Click HERE for more info! {Liquid Pleasure is June 30th!!! That's a MUST!}

Bath Time

We know Deuce loves the water.  He loves it anyway he can get it.  Last week TJ asked if he could give Deuce his bath so I let him have at it.  He washed his hair and lathered up the washcloth.  Then he made sure to get under his neck and armpants really well.  {Yes, you read that right.  TJ called them armpants until he was about 6.}  He also washed off his "goods" but definitely couldn't do it without laughing.  And as most 9 year olds would do, he attempted to sneak a pour in his mouth and in his ears.

Daddy was excited too {and super loud}.  You can see that when he is in he room, Deuce rarely takes his eyes off of him.  He loves water so much that when I got home from Zumba on Tuesday night, I found Deuce with daddy & the water hose... this 100+ degree weather has made for great water play in the evenings.

{Decorative Birth Stats}
I had quite a lot of people contact me after yesterday's post about wanting a print of their own.  I am more than happy to customize an 8x10 one for you for $10 each.  If you are interested, send me an email at rach36293@hotmail.com with all of the information that you want to include {full name, date of birth, weight, time, length, place of birth}.  Don't forget to include color scheme and/or theme {for example: her room has ladybugs or his has boats or no graphics is great too!}.  I'll send you a proof and the final product will be delivered via .jpg image for you to print.  It will center on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper, perfect for framing.  I would recommend you print it on a high quality color printer on 100lb matte paper.  If you want me to print it & mail it to you, I'd be happy to for an extra $5 to cover paper, ink & shipping.

Decorative Birth Statistics

Just last night my husband said to me, "Deuce weighed 7 what?  And how long was he?"  Immediately I shot back with "7 pounds, 1 ounce and 22 inches long."  With an attitude.  He said "Why is it that dad's can never remember that stuff?  I knew he was 7 something and 20 something." 

Hmmm, maybe it's because you didn't carry him for 10 months inside your body?  Maybe it's because while I was getting fatter by the minute I was thinking this baby outta be huge for how much extra weight he is making me carry around!  I specifically remember what was happening when I heard his birth time was 11:23pm.  I couldn't see him but I remember hearing a nurse say "Time of birth: 23:23. I don't think I've ever had one born at 23:23."  I will never forget that.  I remember what I was doing when I was told how long he was.  I was being wheeled from the recovery room to my personal room and they wheeled me by the waiting room.  It was like 1:30am and Ed was with all of my family in there.  I still hadn't heard about his length and I asked as they wheeled me by.  I remember my mom shouting "Rachel, he's long!  22 inches!"  I held up my arms as much as I could as though I had achieved a victory for creating a long child with my short self.  Then Ed said to me "They said most babies are between 18-21 inches so maybe he will be tall like me."  That made me smile.  The doctor told me at my ultrasound two days before he was born that he appeared to be 7 pounds 2 ounces and I couldn't believe how accurate they were.  Only off by an ounce!  I will never forget these stats.

So to help Ed out, I created a decorative wall hanging for the nursery.  No excuses now.

Then I changed up the colors and stats and made one for my sister's boyfriend's nephew...follow that?  She decided that catching a glare would add coolness... jk.

And this is one I made for Annie & Aja.

Want one for your little one???