52 Week Challenge

Have you guys heard about the 52 Week Challenge?

I read about it on Pinterest, and it totally piqued my interest.

Basically, every week you put money in a jar. $1 in week 1. $2 in week 2. $3 in week 3 and so on. By the end of 52 weeks (one year), you'll end up with $1,378!! And just think of all the things you could do with that kind of money. (Including buying a KitchenAid Mixer, which is what I'm saving up for, and I'm already getting close thanks to some birthday money!)

To house all my monies, I decided to revamp an extra mason jar by painting it with chalkboard paint.

Over the summer, I received a sample of Deco Art's Glass Chalkboard Paint, which can be used to paint a chalkboard surface on any glass item. It was pretty easy to use, although, I was surprised that you had to wait four days after painting your last coat and then bake the item in the oven. Baking it makes your item dishwasher-safe, so I guess that's a good step to do if you're planning on washing this. However, the back of the paint bottle says "Not for direct contact with food".

To paint my jar, I used my Spellbinders Grand Calibur to punch out a cool shape, and then I taped that template onto my jar. I used a sponge brush to sponge paint the chalkboard paint onto my jar. I did two coats of paint.

disregard the paintbrush - I used a sponge brush

One thing I would do differently next time is remove my paper template after I'm done painting. Some of the paper stuck to the chalkboard paint, and it was a pain trying to remove the paper scraps before baking the jar. I didn't want to set my oven on fire!

Honestly, I think this would have worked better if my jar had been a completely smooth surface. Maybe I should have picked a smaller shape and placed it closer to the top of the jar where the area is smoother. Oh well.

Are you guys doing the 52 Week Challenge this year? If you haven't started yet, you still can! There's no set start date. Just start whenever you want, and then 52 weeks later, you'll have monies!!!