Chalkboard Wall: How I Made a Magnetic Art Gallery for $5

Today I wanted to show you how I turned the new chalkboard wall in the kitchen into a gallery wall to hold the Bub’s artwork. I showed you the Christmas version of the wall a couple weeks ago:

The art on there started out like this:

The small magnolia wreath didn’t make it up there, didn’t look right (I just hot glued the leaves onto a paper plate with the center cut out). The deer head was from Michael’s and I just glue the paper on like I showed you here.

The big “S” was from Michael’s too if I remember right. It stands for Sarah. I kid. It’s for our last name.

I just gave it a quick stain with my dark walnut and called that done. The three felt snowflake ornaments were from Target for a buck each and I just stacked them on top of each other with a little hot glue.

The little paper poinsettia flowers were just hot glued together after I free handed the leaves and cut them out:

I just did one leaf and then traced it seven more times to get enough for a flower.

So I had a plan to make this wall more function for art throughout the year too – I wanted to make it so I could use magnets on the whole wall, but did NOT want to mess with magnetic paint again. I tried that before and even with one meeeellion coats, it doesn’t magnetize well.

So I came up with an idea, courtesy of the roofing area at True Value – I grabbed a few of these small metal sheets:

I have NO clue what they are for – I just know they were cheap (about a dollar each) and they were magnetic.

I learned years ago you need to find the right metal for these types of projects – magnets will not stick to so much of the metal sheeting you find at the hardware store. You need to look for galvanized metal – when in doubt, take a magnet with you (that’s what I do!).

I just put them up with tiny nails:

The holes are perfect!

I centered them in each frame:

They aren’t big, maybe 2 1/2 inches by four? So either direction worked.

It took just a few seconds and I was able to use my magnets to get some art up:

I can use my cute DIY magnets I made a couple years ago – they’re just scrapbooking brads with the prongs pulled off, then magnets glued on (I used Liquid Nails):

I kept the S for Sarah up  just because I think it looks cool, but I’ll probably replace it to put bigger art in there:

It’s a great spot for school papers, art work, cards – I hung two cards up:

The Bub is obsessed with writing us notes lately, and the other day he pulled out a few of my random greeting cards and wrote us sweet messages in them. It was too darn adorable for me to be upset about the losing the cards.

So there you go, a chalkboard art wall – with magnets! The whole project only cost about $5 because I had the chalkboard paint, the frames and the magnets. I LOVE this new wall! And we still have plenty of room to write our lists and notes and the kiddo can still draw all over it too.

A little fun, a little art, a little organization – that’s what I’m talkin’ about!

Happy New Year to you!! Please stay safe and have fun!! See you next year! HAR.