DIY Chalkboard Globe & Musings on Change {Anthropologie Knockoff}
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Seasons come and seasons go, and I’m feeling a shift in the electricity signaling that I’m entering a season of transition. It brings to mind the Mary Poppins quote: “winds in the east, mist coming in, like something is brewin’ and ’bout to begin…”, the feeling of change around the corner is seeping into my heart. I’m not sure if it’s because we’re facing change with my kids moving into full-time school mode this fall, or if it’s something larger– a big move, perhaps– but it’s there. I’ve been thankful to experience contentment the past few years; a wild, chaotic, treading water sort of contentment, so change is feeling uneasy but necessary. The words of the Phillip Phillips song ‘Home’ dance in my head as I contemplate where ‘home’ really is:
“just know you’re not alone
’cause I’m gonna make this place your home.”
NO JUDGING. You know you love the Phillip Phillips station on Pandora too. 😉
Needless to say, I’ve been looking for a surface in our home to write those words (no lie, I was about to do it on our stair risers. I SAID NO JUDGING.) Then it hit me– a few years ago I picked up this generic looking black globe at HomeGoods, and it was begging to be decorated. You could easily find a globe at a thrift store and give it a good coat (or three) of chalkboard paint to get the same effect, but that day this already prepared globe jumped into my cart. Amazingly I found the exact same chalkboard globe on Amazon but I did not pay that price for it; however I wanted to give you the option if you wanted one as well and were having a hard time tracking it down at a discount store.
I’ve been staring at the surface for awhile, thinking it needed to put down roots more permanent than chalk. Then I spotted this in the Anthropologie catalog, and thought, YES!
After contemplating several quotes about stars and dreaming about constellations, I instead decided to use the lyrics that have been running in my head all day long. I found a font I loved, and using a free font program typed out the lyrics and hit ‘print’.
Various methods of transferring it to the globe failed, so instead I carefully freehanded it using a mechanical pencil. I have notoriously terrible handwriting, but I found as long as I kept a straight line of text and uniformly sized letters I could freehand the lettering no problem.
TIP: I quickly figured out that you can fake a modern calligraphic script with thin lines on the upswing and thicker lines on the downstroke.
Then came the fun part– giving it the midas touch with a fine-point gold Sharpie paint pen. This is an actual oil-based paint pen, NOT the gold Sharpie marker (which I also love, but I wanted a true gold that would stand out against the black surface).
I actually wish I’d used an extra-fine point Sharpie for this, but the font came out pretty nicely if a bit thicker than I’d hoped. The pencil lettering was prettier and the fine-tip would have helped, but ah well. Whatcha’ gonna do about it now.
Finally, woo-hoo! A chalkboard globe for the ages. For, oh, at least $100 less than the Anthro version.
This guy sits in our dining room, reminding me that home is where the heart is. Promising me that change is good, and that balance is overrated.
Or, maybe it’s just pretty.
I’ll go with pretty.
What words are speaking to your heart lately?
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