Large DIY Chalkboard Heart

After painting our pantry door with chalkboard paint over the summer as part of our pantry makeover, I’ve loved having a chalkboard surface. But, with our command center, there’s not too much open chalkboard space for fun drawings and messages. So, when one of our Lowe’s Creative Ideas blogger challenge options centered around Valentine’s Day, I decided it would be so fun to make a big chalkboard heart that we could hang on any door or wall for writing fun messages on! To make a large chalkboard heart of your own, here’s what you’ll need:

• piece of plywood
• pencil (and heart pattern if you don’t want to free hand it)
• jigsaw or Sonicrafter Oscillating Tool Kit
• Sander (or sandpaper)
• Chalkboard paint & paintbrush
• Ribbon (or something similar for hanging)

This piece of plywood we bought at Lowe’s was less than $5, so this really ends up being a pretty inexpensive project! Using pencil, draw a large heart onto the plywood (either free hand it or use a template cut from paper). Then, you’ll use a jigsaw or oscillating tool for cutting the wood. We have a basic jigsaw that we like, but recently also got this Rockwell Sonicrafter Oscillating Tool. For this project, with the blades we had, the Sonicrafter yielded a MUCH smoother edge. It took a little longer to cut, but the results were really nice.Once the heart is cut out, you’ll want to sand it. The Sonicrafter also has a sanding attachment which makes things REALLY easy! Such a handy tool! And, the Rockwell Tool’s Jawhorse came in really handy for this project! Once all the cutting & sanding is done, wipe the board down and get ready to paint. For this, we used the same Valspar chalkboard paint from Lowe’s that we used for the pantry makeover. But, had I known that Lowe’s now carries tintable chalkboard paint, I may have gone with red! That would have been SO cute! But, even in black, it turned out great! After 24 hours, season the painted board with chalk and then get creative. Draw pictures, write notes, or whatever else suits you! To hang on the wall, just attach ribbon to the back (using a strong adhesive) or a photo hanger.  Fun, right?

For even more ideas, visit Lowes Cre­ative Ideas and fol­low along with Lowe’s on Pin­ter­est or on Insta­gram! You can sign up to receive their free Cre­ative Ideas Mag­azine, which is full of all kinds of ideas & inspi­ra­tion! There’s also a mag­a­zine app so you can have inspi­ra­tion on the go!

Dis­clo­sure:  I am a mem­ber of the Lowe’s Cre­ative Ideas Cre­ators & Influ­encers Net­work and receive a Lowe’s gift card to com­plete my projects. How­ever, all ideas, opin­ions, & expe­ri­ences are entirely my own.