From Elizabeth
Being a perfectionist comes with the territory as a wedding planner. I find myself apologizing to staff not to take it personally if I rearrange how they set up the tables or chairs. Some might call it OCD—which I’m sure I am a little—but it’s just making sure the day goes exactly how my brides envision it!
Chalkboards have been my ENEMY from the very beginning. It’s too easy to make a mistake or a slanted letter or whatever might bother a perfectionist. Finally, I learned a way to make my chalkboard dilemma easier than just free-hand writing.
Items you’ll need—
- 1 stick of regular white chalk
- Chalk pens- 1 small & 1 normal size (in any color but we stick with a classic white)
- Pen or pencil
- A pair of scissors
- Chalkboard with a wet rag just in case of a minor mistake
- Print outs of what you want on the board (may take a few tries due to figuring out the right size)
After you have all your supplies ready, you’ll cut out the words so you don’t have extra paper in your way while designing your board.
First, use the regular white chalk to shade the back of the paper.
After shading, place the paper on the chalkboard and begin tracing the letters with a pen or pencil. Once you’re done, lift the paper up and you should see a faint outline of the letters in the chalk dust.
Take your chalk pen and fill in the letters, and you should see everything starting to come together. Here’s a time-lapse video.
Since I’m a perfectionist, I decided to draw some lines for the rest of my board to make sure I stay even and straight. This way is VERY time consuming but because it’s something that will be photographed, it’s definitely worth it.
Now you have a beautiful chalkboard AND you’ll please those with perfectionist tendencies!
Of course, looking at the board, I’ll still find minor things I’m dissatisfied with, but overall, I love the look of this chalkboard writing hack. Plus I’m able to design details that I wouldn’t be able to do on my own—for example, the flower!
I hope this helps future brides. Good luck designing your chalkboard for your reception!