The Writing's on the... Plate? Chalkboard Plate

Hello!

I'm back today to share another quick, inexpensive and reusable decor idea!

If any of you have seen my Etsy shop, you know that I love me some chalkboard paint!  In fact, I enjoy the flexibility of chalkboard paint so much, that I've constantly been thinking of different ways to use it!  Back in December, Target had a 2 pack of red plate chargers in their $1 aisle, so I grabbed them, not really knowing what to do with them, but knowing that I'd be a fool to pass them up.  Surely I could come up with something!

I had also purchases some chalkboard paint by Martha Stewart.  For my signs I use Krylon's Chalkboard Spray Paint, and since I had them both on hand, I decided to do a comparison between the two.

"In this corner, we have the queen of DIY, Martha Stewart Chalkboard Paint...!"

"And in this corner, we have the Kwickest of them all, Krylon Chalkboard Spray Paint..." 

I used the MS paint and used a sponge tipped brush to apply it.  It took 5 coats, leaving an hour between each for drying time.  You could see the sponge brush strokes, which I wasn't a fan of.  It also didn't really have a chalkboard finish, it was a little shiny instead of super flat.

The true test was when I wrote on it.  I grabbed an piece of chalk and wrote - it was fine, although the chalk didn't seem to move smoothly.

 

And when I was writing, a piece of the paint chipped off.  I'm sure I could have avoided this if I'd sanded down the platter or primed the platter first.  Also, when I erased the chalk from the platter, you could still faintly see the writing, which I wasn't a fan of.

Next, I tried the Krylon Chalkboard paint.  I took it outside and spray painted it. I gave it 2 coats with about a 1/2 hour in between coats.  I couldn't actually find a re-coating time on the canister, so I just guessed by looking at the paint as it was drying.

I liked the finish of this platter better.  I liked that it was just a smooth finish, nothing noticeable about it.

I forgot to mention, that whenever you use chalkboard paint, you need to prep the surface after it's painted BEFORE you write on it.  You just take a piece of chalk and rub it all over the surface, then erase.  After that, you're ready to write.  I liked the way the chalk wrote better on this platter, but I still had the problem of being able to see the writing after I'd erased it.  It didn't seem as noticeable to me, but you may be able to take care of this with water.

All in all, I like the Krylon Chalkboard Spray Paint more than the Martha Stewart Chalkboard Paint.  It just had more pros.  I'm sure that there's times that you'd want a chalkboard paint that you can apply more precisely with a brush than a spray can, but if your project could use either, I'd go with the Krylon.

Here's what I used my platter's for at the shower...

As a sign to greet guest's as they came to the door...

And as a sign with instructions at the "Beauty Bar".

 For the Shower Favors, we had a "Beauty Bar", where we had muslin bags that you could fill with all sorts of fun, mini beauty products.  We had the following:
Lip Gloss
Chapstick
Body Lotion
Bath Fizzes
Hand Sanitizer
Emery Boards
Nail Polish

The chalkboard sign said, "Please grab a bag and fill with lots of goodies - Thank you!"

I'll keep the signs and just change the saying's for the different seasons.  You can stand them up in plate stands all over the house. 

That's it for today!  I'll see you tomorrow to share my favorite shower decor!
Andrea