DIY Chalkboard Teacher Gifts With Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint

*Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint graciously provided the wonderful milk paint products for this post. However, all opinions are honest and 100% my own.

As we approach the end of the school year, I thought it would be fun to create a special handmade gift for your favorite teacher. Last year when we transitioned to homeschooling during quarantine my level of appreciation for teachers increased tremendously! I have always appreciated teachers, and I think it is so important to show them how thankful we are to them. Enter today’s handmade gift: DIY Chalkboard Teacher Gifts.

I love this DIY because you can use any picture frame you already have, and you can personalize it to match your teacher’s favorite color. I chose 4”X6” frames because I envision the chalkboards sitting on a teacher’s desk, but you can choose any size you want to.

To finish off the picture frame, you can tie up a piece of chalk with your favorite ribbon. I used my handmade silk ribbons (affiliate link) from my Country Peony Vintage shop.

If you have been here for a while you may know that I love Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint. Their paint makes anything look amazing, even a piece of scrap wood. So follow along to see how I turned some wood into a chalkboard gift for my children’s teachers.

Watch My Live Demo as I Make These Teacher Gifts on Facebook!

Click HERE to watch the recording of my live stream demo on Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint Facebook page to see how I made these chalkboard teacher gifts. I take you through every step of the process.

Follow Below for the Step-by-Step Picture Tutorial to Make Your Own Chalkboard Teacher Gifts!

Cut a Piece of Wood to Match the Picture Frame Size

Cut a piece of plywood or particle board to fit inside your picture frame.

My husband cut out (3) 1/8” pieces of plywood for my picture frames.

Mix Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint

Mix 1 part paint powder to 1 part water. Since this was a smaller project, I used 1 tablespoon of milk paint to 1 tablespoon of water.

I always recommend starting with less so you don’t waste your product. You can always make more paint later. A little bit of milk paint goes a long way especially with this small project.

Whisk the paint together with the water until the paint is fully integrated into the water.

I have found that a miniature whisk is the best mixing tool to ensure the milk powder stays fully integrated into the water.

Your paint mixture should look like a thin pancake batter once it is mixed.

Paint the Wooden Boards with Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint

Apply 1 thin coat of milk paint to the wooden board.

No prep is needed since you are starting with raw wood. The milk paint will soak beautifully into the raw wood, and won’t chip.

Let it dry!

Once dry, apply a second coat of milk paint to the wooden board. Then, let it dry!

Season the Chalkboard

Once completely dry, rub chalk onto the milk paint to season it and create the chalkboard.

Then wipe off the chalk with a dry cloth to get the “smeary-chalky look”.

Once you season the chalkboard, it is ready to go!

Place the Wooden Chalkboards into the Frames

Add a Special Message to the DIY Chalkboard Teacher Gift

Use the the chalk to add a special, custom message for your teacher.

You can even get your children involved by asking them to draw a special message for their favorite teacher. Like I did with my five-year-old daughter.

*Use a dry cloth to erase any chalk letters or drawings so you can re-use it for many years to come.

Finish off the Handmade Chalkboard Gift with a Ribbon and Chalk

Lastly, tie the sweet handmade gift off with a beautiful ribbon and some chalk. Then gift away!

*I used my handmade silk ribbons from my Etsy shop. (linked above)

Enjoy Gifting Your Handmade Chalkboard Teacher Gifts!

I just love how these sweet handmade gifts turned out. I also love how the color palette plays together.

This was one of the simplest and cheapest handmade gifts, but I believe it turned out so well!

I truly hope you enjoy making these and gifting them!

Thank you to Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint for providing the wonderful products for this post.

Thank you so much for following along today. I hope you enjoy experimenting with Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint as much as I do!

Be sure to visit the link below to see the full blog post!

Thank you,

Elizabeth with Country Peony