C'est la vie!

Hi friends, I don't know about you, but there are phrases we hear that just fit our lives for a time.  The French version of "That's Life" is one of those that has stuck with me since high school French class.  For the past couple of years events in our lives that have changed things for us have us saying, "It is what it is!"  Sometimes you can control things and sometimes you can't -- c'est la vie!

For some time now I've been wanting to make a chalk board.  They are all over Pinterest and Blogland.  But, I didn't really want to jump in with both feet and do a wall or anything big, so decided to start small before tackling making one of the larger frames I have into a chalk board.  You know -- work out the kinks on something not quite as significant!

This little chalk board was purchased in the late 80's or early 90's, can you tell?

This little base was part of a gift.  The other part was a tile with strawberries painted on it and the purpose was a white board.  I never quite got around to using it, but decided the base could work for the little chalkboard.

So I painted it white.  I also antiqued it, but I didn't take a photo of that step.

Then I taped off the chalkboard so I could paint the frame.  You do know that if you hold a razor blade down tight you can get a clean cut, don't you?

So much easier than trying to use scissors!

More of the white paint for the frame which was also antiqued -- again, didn't take photos of that step.

Next the frame was taped off in preparation for the chalkboard paint.

This is what I used.  It just seemed like a sprayed on surface would be easier to use.

This is after the first coat.  In between coats I sanded.  This was especially necessary on this project because the surface had the country greeting and heart snowflakes painted on it.  I did 3 coats, sanding in between each coat to make sure the surface was smooth. After 24 hours, I rubbed chalk all over the surface to season it.

I used a Bistro Chalk Marker from Hobby Lobby, but I think the next message may be done in regular chalk.  This looks a little "painty" to me.

The key is from Sweet Salvage Now Showing that I told you about here and here.  The little chalkboard measures 9-1/2 x 7-1/4 so you can see how LARGE this key is!

And the key to life?  "C'est la vie!"  Just take it one day at a time -- and pray a lot!

Hope your life is wonderful today!

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois