Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! This is the part where I should say something eloquent and thought-provoking about the importance of remembering our blessings, but no such eloquence is presenting itself to my brain at the moment. Suffice it to say that I'm grateful for a holiday that has no other agenda (in theory, anyway!) other than to step back and be thankful for the many blessings and privileges we enjoy.
We will ignore, for a moment, the irony that mega-consumer Black Friday (now encroaching on Thursday evening, sadly enough) is directly after we're supposed to be content and grateful for what we have. :-)
I worked on a new project for Thanksgiving this year, inspired by the very cool chalkboard artwork that is circulating the web. I made a chalkboard with a permanent central message, but mine is made of plywood which I then coated with a clear chalkboard finish, rather than the traditional black chalkboard paint. The idea is to have the permanent message in the middle and then let everyone use chalk to write what they're thankful for in the blank spaces. I didn't finish the board until the day of Thanksgiving (in between working on the turkey and a bunch of sides and desserts, which I didn't manage to get a single picture of!) and so I couldn't have anyone write anything because the clear finish takes 3 days to dry before chalk is used on it.
The writing was done using a white permanent sharpie, which I had never used before. What a great tool! I had drawn the image out on paper first, then traced it onto a sheet of clear mylar so I could use my overhead projector to pencil the image onto the stained board. After filling it in with the white Sharpie, I sanded it back down a bit to give it a more chalkish look (if that wasn't a word before, it is now!) before coating the wood with the chalkboard finish. I painted some plain wood strips black, mitered the corners, and nailed them on the edges for a frame.
I bought one of those unfinished wooden plaques from a craft store and did the same chalkboard finish thing for my boxwood wreath. For this image, I did a direct image transfer by using a piece of paper rubbed heavily with chalk as the transfer agent (instead of real transfer paper) and traced over the lines with a ballpoint pen to make the lettering show up on the wood via the transferred chalk. Not sure if anyone has ever done that before, but it sure worked great on a dark surface!
My twin turkeys bid you a good day, and we all hope you had a warm and happy Thanksgiving full of family, friends, and thoughts of gratitude for the good things in your life!
Beautiful! I'm amazed at your talents. I especially like your Give Thanks board. Love that idea. Should be an everyday kind of thing for us all.
Posted by: Beverly Atkins | December 04, 2015 at 08:41 AM
Gorgeous as always! If you had time to put your lettering pattern, In Everything Give Thanks, up for sale, people would buy it. me included I love the leaves!
Posted by: Jane Malupo | December 05, 2015 at 07:52 PM
Just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas. Hope to see more of your posts next year, maybe? Hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday.
Posted by: Beverly Atkins | December 18, 2015 at 06:23 AM