CHALK PAINT & MASON JARS DIY

FROM THE PROJECT FILE~

Best Homemade Chalk Paint Recipe

Happy first day of the Christmas season! I highly value the tradition of the Thanksgiving holiday and resent the degree to which the retail industry seems to ignore Thanksgiving in an effort to zoom from Halloween mania to Christmas decor. Therefore at our house nothing distinctively Christmas is donned until the Friday following our day of thanksgiving; with one exception. I don't have a sizeable enough fall wreath to hang by the front door, so I jumped the gun and used something evergreen. But it's there I drew the line. 

I hope your Thanksgiving day was blessed, and the meal delicious.

In my last post I promised I would share my best homemade chalk paint recipe and chat with you about my technique for painting mason jars and other glass. So let's get started~

Perhaps the most time-intensive exercise in any project is assembling needed supplies.

You will want to find a variety of Mason jars or glass bottles. You probably have a random assortment already, but in case you need to buy something, I found that Hobby Lobby had the most choices and the best prices. Often times the jars are on sale for 50% off.

I have tried three of the four chalk paint recipes written about by bloggers. The common ingredient is good quality paint. This really matters, and I can't stress it enough. After a lot of experimenting, I've decided my personal favorite is Valspar's best quality flat paint. However, brand doesn't matter. Work with whatever you prefer, but choose the highest quality the brand offers.

In order to make the paint chalky, you will need to choose one additive from this list of choices~

1. Baking Soda
2. Plaster of Paris
3. Sanded Grout
4. Calcium Carbonate

Calcium Carbonate is far and away the proven winner for me, though admittedly I have not tried sanded grout.

I ordered NOW Calcium Carbonate from our local health food store about 5 years ago. At that time a 12-ounce bottle cost about $9. Unless DIY stores have started carrying it, you will have to order it in advance. Therefore, this is not a project you can just decide to do without some prior planning unless you want to use one of the additives you happen to have.

Recipe~

1 Cup Flat Paint
1/2 Cup Calcium Carbonate
1-1/4 Cup of Water

To begin with, pour one cup of paint into a suitable small container. Next, sift the CC (I used a fine mesh strainer) into a small bowl. Add the water and mix very well. Then add the CC paste to the paint and mix thoroughly. If you have an old hand mixer or an electric paint mixer, I strongly recommend using. Don't worry. Chalk paint cleans off anything very easily with just water.

The next step is to take a sea sponge (I like to cut the sponge in half) and begin dabbing paint onto your glass jars. Below you can see my jars with one coat of paint.

Simply rotate the jar around until you've covered them completely with paint. Let them dry completely in a warm spot. This will only take about an hour.

Follow up the first coat with another coat and let that dry. After two coats I noticed that there were still some thin spots, so I just dabbed here and there to fill in.

A note of caution. I wash my sponge completely in warm water between coats of paint. However, you must make sure you squeeze all of the water completely out of the sponge before using it again. Squeeze with your hand and then wrap the sponge in a towel and squeeze again. I created a mini-disaster when I tried to spot-paint my jars with a sponge that was too wet! I actually pulled paint of the jars with the wet sponge which made a clumpy mess.

When your jars are completely dry and you are satisfied with the appearance, take an emery board or a piece of sandpaper and shabby them up a bit. You accomplish this by sanding the high points on the jar, such as the writing or the little fruit embellishments.

Aren't these cool? I think they are.

The next important step is to spay your completed jars with a fast-drying polyurethane. This is necessary to ensure that your paint is impermeable to water, oil, fingermarks, and the likes. Larry sprayed mine in the house by setting them in a cardboard box turned on edge. Currently, it is much too damp to spay anything outside.

Lastly, if you want to really add some wow factor to your jars, add a cute knob.

Hobby Lobby again to the rescue~ knobs at a deeply discounted price.

I painted a few other things in addition to these quart sized, wide mouth jars~

You need to just start playing around with the paint and your technique as I did. After a while, you will figure out what works for you. An example is that I like to use the flat part of the sponge. That's why I cut it in half. I did not have any luck with a brush. I felt like a brush on glass leaves marks, even with 3 or more coats. This project is a lot of trial and error, but the results are worth the time you invest. 

The jars make great gifts; empty or filled with something special. I'm giving one friend a white jar filled with spa cloths that I've knitted this year. 

Perfect for a bathroom.

Alternately, you could paint the jars beige or brown and fill them with a baking mix or cocoa perhaps. I actually think the possibilities are limitless. If you have good quality flat paint left over from redos and updates, try it! I have some lovely French blue paint that I intend to work with after Christmas.

I hope you've enjoyed my tutorial and will give the painted jar project a try. I encourage questions so feel free to be in touch.

~Dana

Dried Hydrangeas and Linen Napkins

FROM THE PROJECT FILE~

Thanksgiving Tablescape.

This year's Thanksgiving table is inspired by our Northwest Washington coastal setting; both the colors and the textures. Our seascape is a blend of rugged coastlines, evergreen forests, and sparkling blue water. My goal for our table decor was to reflect the textural elements that surround our house and provide visual interest with high contrast.

Larry named the table, Pumpkin Soup~ very appropriate. 

This time of year the light is in constant flux, and photo shoots are interesting and challenging. The conditions change minute to minute. Sometimes the fleeting effects are fun to catch. Other times the grossly overexposed images are a disaster.

I made a set of four linen napkins and a table runner especially for our Thanksgiving meal. I used 100% linen in a very natural color. It has a rustic appearance, which I love, but is very soft to the touch. I am glad I made these napkins because I learned so much about working with linen. But this was one of those projects that was touted as easy but was in fact time consuming and somewhat stressful. Remember my discourse on "perfect enough"? These napkins are a case in point.

The runner is in the center of the table and the Give Thanks sign, which I painted about 3 years ago actually, is laying atop. Varying heights on a dining table is always a good idea, even just something as seemingly insignificant as the 1x6 board.

My dried hydrangeas provide a bold statement. The blooms on one of my bushes are dark pink all summer and then become gradually maroon and pale green. They are all but dry by the time I cut them, and only need a bit of coaxing in the house.

I also added an assortment of candles. The short mason jar candles were really fun to make and if you need an easy gift idea, this is it. Here is a link to the tutorial I followed~ Soy Mason Jar Candles.

I also embellished the Dollar Tree jar candles, which add even more texture.

And my tablescape is never complete without the vintage candlesticks that were a wedding gift to my parents. 

A final note~ glass bottles are easily transformed into small vases. Sometimes it is more effective to use 3 or more short vases than one large vase of flowers (which often blocks dinner table conversation). It is much more interesting, in my opinion, to scatter, in a sense, flowers about the table. Why be predictable? Variety is more appealing, which is why {for example} I combined woven placemats, wood chargers, Mason jars, and Waterford crystal.

In case you're interested,  I will show you how I paint bottles and jars with homemade chalk paint in my next post. I have been on a lengthy quest to find the perfect recipe and I promise to share.

Until next time, blessings!

~Dana

Linking to other quality blogs~

Have A Daily Cup Of Mrs. Olson

Savvy Southern Style
Between Naps On The Porch
French Country Cottage

FROM THE PROJECT FILE~

Autumn Musings.

Have you ever experienced a season of life in which you can no longer define normal? I feel as if I will have lived through five seasons by year's end, or at least an additional sub-season that eclipsed late-summer early fall. Every week seemed scripted for me by the force of outside circumstances. My mom was plagued by a variety of health-related issues that required my attention and energy. Larry was unexpectedly derailed by a condition known as sudden sensorial hearing loss, a condition that without warning robbed him of all auditory function in his right ear. Sensorial compromises are especially profound for those who have spent their lives in military service or careers such as commercial travel. And honestly, it was just plainly sad. Its onset was a tangible reminder that Larry is a few steps further into the autumn of his years than I, and I had an intense emotional reaction.

I've accompanied Larry to doctor visits for exams, injections and hearing tests, but there has been little significant improvement.

Here's an artsy interpretation of my beloved Scion

In my recent posts I didn't tell you that just before Labor Day I bundled my mom and our stuff into my car (affectionately referred to by Larry as, Red Happiness), and drove her 2,000 miles to Minneapolis. Although we had a lovely trek, the purpose of the trip was not pleasure-based. My brother wanted Mom under the care of his cardiologist and we had misgivings about allowing her to fly.

Generally, it was a happy excursion. I detoured from our Interstate 90 route so that Mom could experience Mt. Rushmore for the first time.

Visiting Mt. Rushmore together was intensely moving me, and I will be forever grateful that I was able to provide her this once in a lifetime opportunity.

And because we happened to be in the neighborhood, we also drove through Badlands National Park.

Anyway, an encapsulated rest of the story is that unbeknownst, Jolene had other potentially serious health issues brewing and the cardiologist strongly urged us to return home and seek medical care here. And so after only five days at my brother's, I drove the 2,000 miles home. Upon our return, tests and a major surgery ensued, along with the first-ever visit from my brother and sister in law. We all know the stress of house-perfect, right? There is no greater project impetus than visitors.

A few lovely moments shared with my brother.

Fast forward. Mom is home and mostly fine, I'm exhausted.

In the interest of returning to real life, my life, and inspired by the colors of fall, I have undertaken a few crafty endeavors. So, in addition to my verbal ramblings, I am actually sharing a project today.

I created a Mason jar canister set; an easy autumn project that is both decorative and useful. There are 5 jars of varying sizes in the set, though in this photo the most diminutive jar has taken a backseat. You can see just a narrow sliver on the right side.

I chose two different spray paints. A chocolate brown for the jars and a hammered gold for the lids. Alternately, chalk paint is a good choice for glass jars and can be brushed on. I am conceding defeat where it concerns spray paint. I am really, really not good at spraying and in the future will leave that task for Larry.

I think the most fun part of this project was choosing the door pulls for the tops. and all of these came from Hobby Lobby. I love the little globe especially. The pulls are the most defining element of the project and I chose a mix rather than a matched set. This, of course, is just a matter of personal style.

Larry drilled an appropriately sized hole in the lid and we just attached the knobs with the screws provided.

It was difficult to get a group photo because we have one tall guy in the mix.

I have the jars nestled together on this cute little tray I picked up at an estate sale for $2. The colors are just right for this time of year. I set the tray on the kitchen island.

A friend suggested I give a set as a Christmas gift. I am not sure I would make another set, but the thought did occur to me that perhaps one jar filled with something fun such as a hot chocolate mix would be a nice gift. A pretty jar, probably in a lighter color, with a cute knob would be a sweet accent even after the chocolate mix or (cookie mix maybe?) is gone. I just now had the notion that I could tie on a cute cookie cutter or a wooden spoon, a wire whisk, or something. Any clever ideas? Whatever, you can bet I won't be spray painting!

If you decide to undertake this project and would like any additional tips or information, please let me know. You all know I don't do well attempting to compose tutorials.

I wish for you a beautiful November day! Thanks as always for reading.

Hugs.

~Dana

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