April CTMH Cross Canada Blog Hop

Welcome to our April Blog Hop featuring a Home Decor project of our choosing.

12x12 chalkboard sheet (pg. 125  $4.95), Chalk Pen (pg. 130 $2.95), Pink Glitter Gems (pg. 120 $3.95), Cricut Art Philosophy leaves in Olive and Just Blooms Paper Shapes.

We hope that you will take the time to leave comments on our posts, as we love to get feedback from our viewers....whether it was something that you really liked or some new technique that was used that you would like to learn how to do....by leaving us comments, we get to hear what you like, and what you want to see. Thank you… now on to our hop!

If you have just hopped onto my blog, you can start here as this is a circular hop, but if you want to follow us across Canada then please start at the beginning and join Michelle Stewart at http://mycreationswithmichelle.blogspot.ca. If you came from Pam Klassen of http://p-inks.blogspot.com/2013/04/cross-canada-hop-april-home-decor.html  then you are in the right place!


Welcome to Karen's Clearly Precious Blog.  I am not such a  frequent Blogger  . . . frequent crafter yes, but I always forget to take a picture and  Blog it!

So, I was really excited when I was invited to join so many other talented, Canadian Close to My Consultants on a Cross Canada Blog Hop.  Due to some injuries I haven't been able to partake until now . . .but the previous Hops have been super inspiring!

Hope you will enjoy my creation:

 This is a great Home décor project that is trendy, easy, fun and CHEAP!!!

The CTMH products used: 12x12 Chalkboard Paper ($4.95), Chalkboard Pen ($2.95), Dry Embossing Stylus ($3.25),Pink Glitter Gems, CTMH assorted paper & crochet flower Embellishments $5.95/pack), Leaves made with CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy and Olive Card Stock.

Other Products used: Dollar Store 12x12 1"thick Canvas Frame and Dollar Store acrylic black paint.

Something this good obviously isn't my own.  I saw this on Pinterest and fell in Love:

This is the Perfect combination of my love of gardening and my current love of Chalkboard Art.  If you go here: www.ellaclaireinspired.com created and blogged the above. You should find complete step by step instructions on her site, however, I just used the print out she created, and copied it to a word document to fit my 12x12 chalkboard paper and print out.  You could make any quote you like . . . and just playing around with various word fonts and sizes come up with something very personal and cool for you or a loved one.    If you look at my December 2012 posts you should find some Christmas Variations I did, one using scripture for a friend and one more generic "Happy Holidays".

So once you have your base design printed out and flourishes the way you like you are going to tape the chalkboard paper onto a work mat (the CTMH Versa Mat is Perfect) then tape your printout on top.  You will then firmly trace over the whole design with your Embossing Stylus.

Remove your top paper and your entire design should be just visible enough to go over with the chalkboard pen, but not so much that you see it after you've drawn on it.

Carefully trace over all the lines and words.  Start at the top and work your way down so that your hand doesn't drag over the ink.  It dries very fast, can be removed with a baby wipe if your act fast.   But the chalkboard pen is PERMANENT and doesn't smudge or wipe off after its dry. (If you have an emergency - like forgot a letter - you can try acetone free nail polish remover with a Q-tip  just gently wipe at the words).  You may wish to go over a few lines twice to get thicker colour or thicker line.

When this is done and dry you remove the adhesive backing of the chalkboard paper and stick the whole page down onto your prepared canvas (use black paint to cover the white sides and first 1/2 inch of top of canvas and let dry completely).  Now you can embellish with the flowers, leaves and  Glitter Gems.

Cost of the finished product is under $15 in CTMH product (not including AP Cartridge) plus another $3-$4 at the Dollar store.

I have given several of these pieces away now and friends have genuinely LOVED them.  This one is for me though!  Sits perched on a shelf above our coat hooks in the entry way as a welcome to guests and a reminder to me!

Thanks for joining me on my first ever Cross Canada Blog Hop! 

Your next stop on the Cross Canada Hop is  Candra Holmes of http://paperdragonfleur.blogspot.ca/2013/04/cross-canada-blog-hop-april.html
 If you get lost along the way, you can head to Michelle S Blog, http://mycreationswithmichelle.blogspot.ca, as she has the complete blog list.

Thanks for hopping along with us - we hope we were able to inspire you to create your own projects using some of the designs and paper seen along the way. Join us again in May when we will be featuring some Canvas projects.


We have 19 ladies on this hop.....should be a great Blog Hop!

1. Michelle ~ mycreationwithmichelle.blogspot.ca
2. Darla ~ stampingunderdoctorsorders.blogspot.ca
3. Rosalynd ~ inmyscrappinroom.blogspot.ca
4. Nicola ~ timelesscottagenb.blogspot.ca
5. Arlene~ arlenescreativespace.blogspot.ca
6. Krista ~ simplycreatingtogether.blogspot.ca
7. Sheri ~ sherisays-justscrapit.blogspot.ca
8. twirlntime ~ twirlntime.blogspot.ca
9. Brae ~ brae-er.blogspot.ca
10. Carol ~ craftycarol55.blogspot.ca
11. Cheryl ~ scrappercherylctmh.blogspot.ca
12. Terry Ann ~ terryanndiack.blogspot.ca
13. Janet ~ worksofheart2011.blogspot.ca
14. Famida ~ getscrappinfami.blogspot.ca
15. Chantal ~ itsahootpapercrafts.blogspot.ca
16. Nancy ~ nancyklein.blogspot.ca
17. Pam ~ http://p-inks.blogspot.com/2013/04/cross-canada-hop-april-home-decor.html
18. Karen ~ clearlyprecious.blogspot.ca
19. Candra ~http://paperdragonfleur.blogspot.ca/2013/04/cross-canada-blog-hop-april.html