How To Make a Chevron Chalkboard Photo Frame

Today I am sharing how I made a Chevron chalkboard photo frame that I created using a random assortment of crafting supplies sent to me in a mystery box from ScribbleShop.com as part of their Scribble Challenge to 40+ creative bloggers.

When I first opened the box and saw the mixed assortment of craft supplies, I laughed and thought, Good Grief!!! – what am I going to make that uses all this stuff. I think the Scribble Shop people had a good time coming up with what they were going to include in the box.

I looked at this challenge as if I were back working in display, where I used to have to make miracles happen in decorating the store using only items available in the prop room. I had to put my thinking cap on for this challenge and kept it on for quite some time. The wool roving and the feathers were the big challenge for me.

I am excited to say that I used every single item – even the tissue paper all the items were wrapped in and a few packing peanuts as well to create this-

Chevron Chalkboard Photo Frame

Presto-Change-o

I couldn’t decide which of my little dollies I wanted in the frame, so I did both :) When you want to change the photo it is easy to do – just pull the Velcro attached frame off – slip in a new photo and change the writing on the chalkboard.

This is what came in the box:

Pre-cut Fabric Squares in green and turquoise, American Brand chalkboard paint, Felt Works wool roving, feathers, Martha Stewart glitter and glue, 3 colors of Elements brads.

There was also a 3 pack of these – they were delish. I used one of the gold wrappers to cover a button that is on the flower embellishment on the frame.

I added from my own stash:

14” x 18” piece of plywood, 4 x 6 photo frame, Needle Felting Kit, Mod Podge, Sticky back Velcro.

Other items I needed:

Cardboard to make a template, ruler, pencil, paint brush, scissors, craft knife, plastic wrap, saw-tooth picture hanger, hot glue gun and glue stick, sewing needle and thread.

Having a full yard of fabric would have made making this much easier as I had to cut and piece all these fabric squares to fit the chevron pattern. I placed plastic wrap on my worktable and then added one coat of Matte Mod Podge to each square and let them dry. I did this for 2 reasons:

1. To make the fabric more rigid and easier to cut into patchwork pieces.

2. To stop the fabric from fraying when I cut it into pieces.

I taped two pieces of cardboard together to the width of the plywood and then drew a Chevron pattern on it with a pencil and ruler.

Then cut it out with a craft knife.

I used it as a template to draw the pattern onto the plywood.

I used the chalkboard paint to paint the chevron pattern on the top of the board and I also painted the sides of the board.

I had a gold frame in my basement stash and covered it with two coats of the chalkboard paint.

When the Mod Podge was dry on the fabric squares, I cut them to fit into the unpainted sections on the plywood. I tried to keep the colors the same in each zig-zag stripe. I used Mod Podge to apply them to the board.

Wool roving was new to me, but I did remember seeing how to felt on Martha once and knew if I was going to do anything with it, I would have to get felting needles and a foam block. It was $4 for the kit. To felt, you break up the wool a bit and layer it, then start stabbing it with the needle, shaping the wool as you go.

I made two leaves with the green and a little ball with the blue and green wool.

I also set aside two squares of fabric to make into fabric Yo-Yo Rosettes. I also cut out a petal portion from one of the fabrics and used the tips of 5 white feathers to make the flower embellishment. To learn how to make a Yo-Yo Rosette you can find the steps in my post – How To Make DIY Decorative Trim

I added sticky back Velcro tabs to the back corners so I could easily remove the frame from the chevron pattern board when I wanted to change the photo.

I cut the tissue paper into 1/2-inch wide strips. I used Mod Podge to attach them around the sides of the plywood board.

The brads that were sent were in 4 different colors. I wanted them to all look like aged brass and used the gold glitter and glue to make them into a matching set.

To keep the board from making marks on the wall when hung, I cut 2 packing peanuts in half-

and glued one to each corner to act as bumpers. I evenly spaced the gold glittered brads around the sides of the plywood board.

To hang the frame I nailed in a saw tooth hanger on the back.

The layers of the flower embellishment: wool roving that I felted into leaves, feathers, fabric I hand stitched into Yo-Yo’s, flower shape cut out from a fabric square, button covered with candy wrapper, blue and green wool roving felted into a small ball.

What would you have made using these items?