Chalkboard Paint

Another thing that made my beloved house of 13 girls from 4th year of college great: chalkboard paint. We painted the wall in the living room with this ingenious paint and had endless fun writing messages and drawing pictures on it all year. 

So when I saw this creative idea...

I knew I could make it myself.

I bought a strip of wood...

and 3 types of paint from Michael's (oh and some stencils).

Measured out the areas and painted each end with the black chalkboard paint. 

Then painted the inside area with regular black paint. 

Used the stencils (first kind didn't work, too thick for the paint, they definitely know me by name at Michael's) to sketch out the letters,

and filled in with white paint.

Tested it out empty...

Got some chalk from the "totally outdated and never used" bin at school, and got my countdown to Christmas going!!

As the original picture showed, this can also be used for other fun countdowns besides Christmas. But I think it looks so good with the other holiday decor!

Oh, but it's actually not for me. It will be gifted to an amazingly thoughtful friend Kerry, in attempts to be half as thoughtful back. She loves to do cute things with her 4-year-old, Ronan, and I think she will love this!