Monday, June 2, 2014

Pledge of Allegiance Chalkart

I really love chalkart. I don't know why, but I do. For my boutique a few weeks ago, I designed a chalkart piece to sell in the show and for me to decorate my house for the July 4th holiday.
I really wanted a chalkart piece that was patriotic. I looked around the internet, but found nothing that I liked. So I set out to design my own. But before I could do that, I had to learn how to use Photoshop. Since my husband is a Photoshop pro, he showed me the basics, and after playing around with the program for a while, I got the hang of it and designed this Pledge of Allegiance.

I then submitted the file to Staples.com to be printed as a black and white 18" x 24" engineer print. It only cost about $2 to have it printed. Go HERE if you are interested in this service.

Just a hint, do not select the next day printing. It cost $5 and is not necessary. I have always submitted my prints the night before and they have always been ready for pickup by noon the next day.

As soon as you get the print back, trim the white margins off the print. I used my rotary mat and cutter to make sure I cut the sides nice and straight.

Next, cut a piece of 1/2" MDF to fit the size of your print.

After cutting the MDF, sand the edges, then paint a black 1" stripe around the front of the board. You need to also paint the sides.

After the paint is dry, spray the front of the MDF with spray adhesive. Make sure you coat it evenly. On a smaller print of this, I tried to use Modge Podge. It was a disaster. You can try it if you want, but I found that spray adhesive works just as well.

Next, carefully lay the print on the MDF board and smooth it down.

To add some cuteness to the board, I added some lathe slats to frame the print. I painted the slats red, let them dry then nailed them to the MDF.

So cute!

God Bless America!

If you want a make this project, you can purchase a digital copy of the Pledge of Allegiance Chalkart in my Etsy shop for $5.00!

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