With my course in photography I am quite busy and therefore do not get to do as much crafting as I would like. It seems that my creativity these days goes into photography. There are plenty of projects to work on and less time for crafts. But here is a small project, another variation on the theme of blackboard paint.
As the jam-making season has drawn to a close, I had a few jam jars left over. My kitchen dresser is a horrible mess of little bits and pieces that I like to have handy but which haven't got a proper home. I found the solution to the unsightly mess with my jam jars.
I simply sprayed the metal lids of the jars with blackboard paint. Give the lids a good wash, making sure they are not greasy or dusty. Then spray with blackboard spray. Give them at least two coats and let each coat dry thoroughly. If you are too impatient and the paint is not properly dry, you will scratch it off in the process of writing on it with your chalk.
Ok, you can see what is inside the jar, anyway, but the uniformly black lids add a bit of style to the jar display in my storage shelves. You can label your jars easily with chalk and wipe it off when you use the jar to store something else in it. I now have a great home for the children's ink cartridges and my paper clips.
Ok, it's time to face up to the truth: The whole Material-of-the-Week-thing didn't quite work for me. I still like the idea of showing more than one meagre project that involves a particular material within a certain period of time. But my chosen time frame simply put too much pressure on me to craft and to update the blog. After all - there is a life beside blogging...
So I have decided to turn the MoW into a MoM! No, I am not going to focus on mommy-crafts now (how boooooooooring), but instead I will choose a Material of the Month from now on. That will make it easier for me to pick a material and then come up with ways of using it. And besides that I will still have time to update the blog with other crafts ideas which I have come up with but that do not feature the MoM.
Here is this month's MoM: Blackboard Spray!
Ireland is not exactly a crafter's paradise. I do not really know why but there are very few Crafts Shops around. And those that do exist do not have the huge array of crafts supplies that you would find at home in Germany. Generally I find that Irish people are not as dexterous as Germans, for instance. Also, I have the impression that home-made gifts are not appreciated here as much as back home. (Although this does actually not apply to my Irish family and my circle of friends here - they are all special *haha*. Or maybe they have just learned to humour the Queen of Crafts???*thinks*)
Anyway, I was shopping in a stationer's last week and when picking up a can of spray varnish (which I baaadly need because I am slowly but surely running out of my clear nail varnish which has been misappropriated too often for crafts projects), I came across a can of Blackboard Spray purely by chance. I did not really have any particular project in mind, but I knew I had to have the stuff. And at € 5,00 it was a chance I could easily take.
The ideas came pretty quickly, though, and I couldn't wait to use the stuff. So here is what I came up with: Rewritable blackboard labels for storage cans. Here is what you need: Some tins, masking tape, newspaper and blackboard spray.
I still had a few large tins with plastic lids back from the days when I had to make formula milk for my baby children. (Yes, that is a good while ago - I am such a hoarder...) I sprayed the tins with white, matt fridge paint. 
Then I masked off a rectangle on the tin with masking tape. If you want to make it easier, use a credit card or cut a template the size of your envisaged label and then draw around it with a pencil marking the shape on the tin. Use masking tape to create the rectangle on your tin. 
Then use newspaper and more masking tape to cover the rest of the tin so it doesn't get any spray markings.
Then spray away. For best results you should spray at least two coats, leaving the first coat to dry for a minimum of one hour. (If you are too impatient you will botch the label - the chalk will scratch of the blackboard paint when you write on it. Trust me - it's happened to me like that!) Carefully peel off the newspaper covering and the masking tape.
And voilá - you are there. Some fancy rewritable labels on your nice white storage tins. Go with any decor and always look stylish. Ha, and hardly cost anything.
