Chalkboard Cookie Jar for Valentine's Day
; "Pinterest"){kind=small}
I got a new, big glass cookie jar recently, and was excited to put holiday cookies in it. With Valentine's Day coming up, I wanted to decorate it with hearts, but I wanted to reuse it for other holidays (see what I did with it for St. Patrick's Day!), so I came up with a fun changeable design, thanks to some chalkboard glass paint and cling vinyl.
To make the chalkboard surface easy to clean, I opted to use DecoArt's Glass Chalkboard Paint, which is specifically made for glass and — get this — it's dishwasher safe! Along with the paint, I gathered together some rubbing alcohol and paper towels for cleaning, some masking tape, and a cosmetic wedge for applying the paint.
After cleaning the glass carefully with the rubbing alcohol to remove all traces of oils from fingerprints, I masked off a rectangle and started applying the paint. A cosmetic wedge is a fantastic tool for getting a smooth finish when painting glass — just dab the paint on, over and over, blending in the edge.
I applied three coats, letting it dry in between, to get a perfectly smooth and rich black surface.
When I was satisfied with the coverage, I removed the tape. If any paint leaked under the tape, you can clean up the rough edges by scraping it with a razor blade.
The most important part of this process comes next — you've got to let the paint cure and then bake it according to package directions. I let my painted jar sit on a shelf for 4 days to be sure it was completely dry, then I baked it in the oven, following the directions on the bottle. It may be frustrating to have to wait so long to dry, but the results are worth it, because the finished piece will be dishwasher safe.
Once the paint was all dried and cured, the next step was to condition it. My niece, Squirt, was eager to help me with this part. She first rubbed a piece of chalk over the entire surface, then wiped it away with a paper towel.
Once conditioned, I was amazed at how well the paint took chalk. Squirt played around with it for quite a while, writing lots of messages on it. Each time, the chalk showed up bright and clear, and wiped away easily with just a paper towel.
The cookie jar was pretty neat already, but I wanted to add hearts to decorate it for Valentine's Day. And since I wanted the decoration to be removable so I could change it for other holidays, I decided to use cling vinyl sheets that I found in a variety of colors.
While Squirt was drawing on the chalkboard, I traced a heart shape onto the back of the red and white vinyl and then cut a bunch of them out.
Then I wrote my final message on the chalkboard and stuck the hearts all around it, like a frame. I found that I had to spritz a light mist of water on the back of the vinyl to get it to stick. This was probably because my pieces were small and parts of them overlapped the chalkboard, which wasn't a shiny-smooth surface.
It only took a minute or two to create a sweet frame of hearts, and I just loved how cheerful and fun it looked.
My favorite part about this project is that I can replace the hearts with other shapes for other seasons, which is exactly what I did for St. Patrick's Day.
33 comments so far:
Color me boring, but I love circles!
Shamrocks for St Patrick's Day, eggs for Easter, stars for Independence Day, pumpkins for Halloween, Fall leaves for Thanksgiving or Fall or first day of school, gifts or candles for birthdays, champagne bottles or glasses for New Years Eve, footballs for Super Bowl, snowflakes for Winter, tulips for Spring, sunflowers for Summer! Phew!
Dog bones shapes for dog cookies and treats.
Shamrocks for st pattys day, easter eggs for East
can endless
Since Easter is coming up, you could have a bunny head peering over the top of the chalkboard (think Kilroy) and have his paws/hands holding the chalkboard.
Spring rain, umbrellas, and rain boots!
How about raindrops for April Showers?
Stars in red, white and blue for Memorial Day, Independence Day, Veteran's Day, etc.
Since this is year of the water snake, and water is represented by black, you could stencil a nice snake on the jar! And fill it with some yummy fortune cookies!
This would be great to make really cheap and very beautiful canisters for flour, etc. Just leave them sitting on the counter. Thanks for another great idea.
How about an I want sign? so kids could leave a message about the kind of treats they want!
My ideas are shamerocks for march, eggs for Easter, Bows with your white hearts for mothers day, ties for fathers day, fireworks for 4th of July, apples for first day of school, Flags for Veterns day, acorns and leaves for fall, pumpkins for Thanksgiving, Santa hats for Christmas and the numbers 2014 for New Years longer/bigger for top and bottom shorter/smaller for the sides.
I like all the above idea's but I was thinking maybe a school bus for after school snacks
Love the Chalk Board Cookie Jar. Such an Awesome Idea!!!! I also like that it can be used over and over through out the year for different Holidays, Bunny's, chicky's, Easter Lilly's, Eggs, Peeps, for Easter, endless things to decorate it!!!!! Thanks for sharing, now I'm going out to look for a Cookie Jar and supplies!!!!
Use shapes of favorite macaroni and pasta to store all those hiding away in unattractive bags in the cupboards. Fun to use their interesting Italian translations!
This year March will need shamrocks for St.Patrick's, eggs for Easter, and kites for Spring!
This could be dressed up with animal shapes and filled with animal crackers - if you want to stick with edibles. You could also dress it up in different ways for both the bath and bedrooms.
I'm sure everyone is already thinking hearts, but its on my mind since its valentines day. Thanks for the chance!
How about candles for birthdays?
Everyone has such great ideas! It might be nice to make a frame around the chalk board rectangle...maybe in a color to match your kitchen. Then you could add the cute shapes with a coordinating-colored frame for each holiday. The jar would make a great "thankful" jar where you write what you are thankful for and then read them on Thanksgiving. It would make a super teacher gift with vinyl for different holidays included. Thanks for the idea and the chance to win!
Red, white and blue stars for all patriotic holidays.
Sun shapes for summer break.
Apples for beginning of the school year.
Simple shapes like circles, squares, triangles, diamonds in primary colors for kids.
Flowers for spring.
Thank you for the great giveaway.
How about a beach or island theme for summer. Maybe you could paint the sun, sand, and beach chair.
Shamrocks, of course!
I like the beach/island them that someone suggested... Flip-Flops and books!
Bird silhouettes for halloween... the ideas! :)
How about for a wedding? Two of my three kids are getting married in 2013. candy bar - the different candy cut-outs / labels for each kind; bride and groom shapes with the date info in the chalk for vases / table decorations at a casual reception; showers (bridal or baby) shapes; flower shapes; gifts; boots and cowboy hats for a western theme (this would be great with any party theme, not just a wedding); use to put names on drinking glasses; shapes to show a goal being saved towards on a loose change / money jar (vacation, new shoes, etc.); money shapes (currency and coins) for non-specific saving.
Clovers for St. Patty's day,
red, white and blue stars for a variety of occasions
flowers for spring
What an adorable idea. My first thought was St. Patrick's Day because that is the next holiday. Shamrocks would be cute
And Easter is on its way so colorful eggs and or bunnies and chicks would be awesome too!! For anyone who has a Cricut machine, the shapes could be cut in a jiff. The possibilities are endless. Thanks for the craft idea.
Sunflower petals - I would love anything sunny right now. It is so gray outside - the ground is covered with piles of dirty snow and the sky is overcast and getting ready for another snowfall.
Cutouts of fish and fishing bobbers for that fishing fan in my life. Can't wait for the paint to become available. And didn't know you could buy sheets of vinyl cling!!
Hi, I recently tried to make a chalkboard count down to Christmas plate. After finishing the plate I baked it like the instructions said but it all blistered. Just wondering if you had any idea as to why that might of happened? Thank you in advance.
Cathy, what brand and type of chalkboard paint did you use? What was the plate made of?
You could use candy corn for halloween
Rhonda, that's a great idea!