chalkboard diy!

Steven and I had been talking about making a chalkboard for quite a while. I finally bit the bullet and purchased chalkboard paint from hobbylobby.com. A few weeks later, we took a trip to Lowes and a craft store and picked up the rest of the supplies:

– Decorative Molding
– Wood Stain
– 24inch x 36inch by 1 inch wood panel
– Chalk
– Wood glue
– Sandpaper
– A paintbrush for the chalkboard paint and one for the stain
– A saw to cut the wood

Here are photos of the process!

1. Cover wood panel (vertical strokes) with chalkboard paint.

2. Let dry for one hour.

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3. In the meantime, we sawed the molding to create a frame.

4.  After an hour, we painted chalkboard horizontally with a second coat.

5.  While the second coat of chalkboard paint dried, we sanded the edges of the frame.

6.  We then stained the frame and allowed to dry for 4 hours.

7. As the 2×3 board dried, it had bowed a bit. Thus, we glued the frame to the board and piled massive amounts of books on top to flatten it out. We let the chalkboard dry overnight.

8. I wanted to create a typographical chalkboard treatment to our headline, “Adventures of Beavins and Puffin.” It took me a good while to work out on paper. Post-comping, I copied onto the chalkboard in chalk

9. The finished product!

puffin top ten

I had SOOO much chocolate today, I very well might be growing a sizable puffin top! In other news, I’m compiling a list of my favorite discoveries.

1. The color palette in this entire showcase at Hugo and Marie. I’ve always been drawn to colorful compositions, and I am quite fond of how the pieces here combine both brights and muted palettes.

2. Back to the tastefully applied color motif, I LOVE the patterns of Amy Sia. Beautiful and organic, the colors blend seamlessly. Each work evokes a personality, a feeling or a place – however your mind decides to spin it. Below is one of my favorites – it reminds me of my view whilst snorkeling in the ocean in Boracay Island, Philippines.

3. Candlescience.com. For the past two months, I’ve gotten super into candle-making, first for gift-giving purposes, then as a possible entrepreneurial endeavor. I’ve made about 20 thus far, first failing at Paraffin wax candles then finally succeeding at soy. My soy candles burn from 80-100 hours and are all-natural. Candlescience has great prices and a vast array of fragrances, jars and pretty much everything you need to make large batches of candles. They ship pretty quickly too. Below are some of the candles I’ve made in Honeysuckle, Lemongrass + Black currant (with hints of patchouli and sugar cane) and Lavender. Hopefully coming soon to an Etsy shop near you.

4. Free People’s blog. I really love how much of a lifestyle blog this is – it tastefully flaunts Free People products but also offers posts that support the spirit of Free People – DIYs, quotes, how to create a cozy atmosphere in your home.

5. Lastly, not something I have seen yet but am nonetheless looking forward to, Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight (the third of the Before Sunrise, Before Sunset series). I loved the roving quality of the first two and hope the third (also set in Europe) adopts the same feeling.

a puffintroduction

As we may very well interpret from its title and subtitle, this blog evades specificity. To flit, to fly, to flee, to float, as we learned in a certain musical set in Salzburg, Austria, is to seek freedom, to migrate to places unknown in search of betterment, or perhaps enlightenment or simply entertainment. Generally speaking, The Puffin Times is about exploration. New hobbies, adventures, learnings and discoveries!

A very special person to me nicknamed me Puffin, as in the bird, which I like to think reflects my exploratory tendencies, and we embark on many of our adventures together. Here here to all the wondrous things this world has to offer!

xo, puffin