Vegas Wand Chalk Markers - Two Thumbs Up!

After doing my little chalk art for the first time I came to the conclusion I am no artist and certainly not with chalk! I'm not even going to pretend that my chalkboard is the best and the board is some kinda of pressed board that Home Depot sells but even with that excuse I still can't blame my lack of skills on the material that was used. Although I was using Prang chalk and I'm quite sure it isn't top of the line chalk. There was some discussion on Facebook on one of my posts where the topic was chalk and a friend of mine said she got some chalk pens at Hobby Lobby that she liked and my dilemma is that I am at least 60 miles from the closest Hobby Lobby so off to Amazon I went in search of chalk markers.

As you may know anytime you search something on Amazon you get a plethora of results and sometimes it is difficult to wade through the results. I often sort by review so I can find a good product, which is what I did with the chalk markers. I decided on the Vegas Wand White Chalk Markers since they had 5 stars and the price was decent, $10.99 for the four of them and since I am a Prime member I got free two day shipping *okie so loves the two free day shipping*. I also liked the idea that they markers have dual tips, one with a point and one with a chisel tip. You do have to switch the tip manually as they are not on both ends but since there were 4 markers I wouldn't have to try and switch during use.

This is the first chalk art I did and I was using the Prang chalk I got from Staples. While it was okay I did find it was a bit difficult to use because of all the dust. I also had to "sharpen" the chalk with a nail file so I could get a half way decent point on the end and repeated that frequently. When I tried to make more solid heavier lines there was a LOT of dust and sharpening going on.







 
Here is my chalkboard after I used the Vegas Wand Chalk Markers. It was very easy to prepare the markers following the instructions and it works like a paint pen where you have to shake and then pump the tip a few times to get the ink flowing. The lines are nice and solid and the ink flowed nice. While I haven't tried any shading with the markers, I'm not sure how it would work out since it is more fluid. For this chalk art I used the Prang chalk for my shading.

I found it easy to remove any boo-boos with a damp paper towel. Make sure you don't use them on a porous surface.

My friend David said he thought it looked like a professional did it and I thought to myself he probably hasn't seen much chalk art. Even so, I am really happy with the markers and am thinking about maybe ordering some of the colored ones but then again I really like the simplicity of just the white.

I don't have other chalk markers to compare these to but I definitely would pay the price again for them and give them two thumbs up!

My Weekend Project - Little Red Table

After I moved two month ago I decided I wanted some sort of theme for my kitchen and I thought something along the lines of French Country, actually the idea came from a the GRAPHIC 45 FRENCH COUNTRY MATCHBOX PROJECT that I did two years ago. The previous renters left a really hand island because they didn't have room for it and it was painted red and with red being my favorite color I knew that was going to be the base color for my kitchen. I have been slowly trying to figure out what else I could do with the kitchen and over the weekend completed a little wall area that I am quite pleased with.

Right after I moved I was in Home Depot and they were having Diva Day and one of the projects was a chalkboard and I thought "why the heck not" and knew exactly where I would put it in my new kitchen. Most people stained their chalkboards but I decided to paint mine. I used Behr paint and chose the color Allure. My friend Wendi was there and she was staining her chalkboard with some ebony stain. Just out of curiosity I rubbed some of her stain over the paint and loved the effect. Oh and you can see the island over on the left of the picture. I kept wondering what I could put under the chalkboard to make that little area look complete and then one afternoon after work I stopped in Goodwill and saw this little white table and knew that was perfect and the price was only $4.99! I did know it would have to be painted to match the chalkboard. Oh the dog in the picture didn't come from Goodwill, he was suppose to be my daughter's dog but I quickly became his primary caregiver and now she can't have him, but that's another story.

On Saturday I decided to get busy on the little table and I couldn't find my good paint brush and ended up using a crappy paint brush for the first coat of paint on the table. I knew I was going to have to do more than one coat and didn't think it would really matter too much for the first coat. I ended up taking pictures of the different stages because my friend Carmen wanted to see how it was coming along. After I got done with the first coat I really did wonder if it was going to turn out how I wanted and thought back about how different my chalkboard looked from the first coat to the finished project and so I kept my hopes up.

After the second coat of paint I knew it would be okay and I also knew it was going to look a lot differently after I got the stain on. It was at this point Carmen asked me about the little engraved swirls and I told her that for the theme of French Country I might paint them with gold paint. I knew I had some in the craft closet somewhere. 

I spent Sunday doing two coats of ebony stain on the table and painting the engraved areas with the gold paint. I really think it turned out nicely and I absolutely love, love, love the color!

Here is a picture of the table completed and in place under the chalkboard. It looks quite excellent in that spot and they compliment each other nicely.

If you notice the chalk art on the board please don't judge it harshly. It was my first attempt at chalkart and I used some cheap Prang chalk. I've never even attempted chalk art until I did that and I told Carmen "ya know it was really quite relaxing". I do have some Chalk pens ordered so maybe I can do some more art that will look a little nicer. I'll keep ya'll posted on that.