Chalkboards

I was helping put on a women's conference a few weeks ago, and it wasn't too bad.  I am so much more comfortable working with a group of men than a group of women, but it turned out better than I thought it would.  It's probably because I didn't sign up for the decorating committee, because the frou-frou might make me a little bit crazy.  I designed the invitations and the program, and I think they turned out pretty well.  

Then they wanted some chalkboard signs, so I thought it might be fun to learn how to do that.  It's pretty popular right now, and it wasn't too hard.  

I designed the page in Word using wordart. Not hard.  I printed it out, drew lines on the page with a ruler and pencil.  I just divided the page into four parts across (half, then half again), and eight parts down, since the chalkboards were roughly twice as long as they were tall.  I drew lines on the chalkboard to divide it up the same way, and did the old fourth-grade method of transferring the words one square at a time.

I outlined the words, fixing them as I went, then filled them in.  I smudged inside the letters with my finger to smooth out the chalk.  I erased little accidents and the grid lines with soft rags and q-tips.

It took a little longer for the first one than I thought it would, but I got faster as I went along.  I just had a really tired back and shoulders when I was done.

Angel wanted to help, of course, and she decorated the back of one easel chalkboard while I was doing the front.

I think they turned out pretty well.  Now I want a chalkboard!