Holiday Chalkboard Placemats

These quick and easy chalkboard placemats are the next step in my DIY holiday tablescapes this year.  I always like to combine cute and functional, so I was looking for a way to keep kids entertained while still giving adults something pretty to look at.  The chalkboard vinyl from Silhouette is perfect for doodling while everyone is waiting for their holiday treats.

To start, I covered cheap vinyl placemats from Walmart (less than a dollar a piece) with Silhouette Adhesive Chalkboard Vinyl by simply rolling the vinyl slowly over the top and then trimming the excess with a pair of scissors.

The decorative designs on the placemats would all be cut out of white vinyl, so I just scrunched them all into about a 9″ x 25″ piece to save material.  I always have a heck of a time cutting long pieces of vinyl like this because I don’t insert the media straight and then it feeds all crooked…enter my new Silhouette Roll Feeder:

If you do a lot of large vinyl designs, then this might be an accessory you’d be interested in.  It has a few slots on one end that allow you to slip the roll feeder under your CAMEO and kinda lock it into place.  Then you sit your roll between the adjustable arms and feed it under the guide and into your machine.  After a little practice, I’ve definitely found my vinyl is feeding straight now.  I don’t use the little blade attachment they include though…maybe I’m just not using it properly, but it doesn’t cut right for me!

Once my vinyl was cut, I transferred it to my chalkboard placemat using transfer paper.  The title design was easy to center because I could make marks with chalk and erase them later!  I just eyeballed the corner designs though.

The “family” quote can be found here in the Design Store and is super easy to weed.  The oak border pieces were cut using this design and I love how intricate they look…at this size, they were a bit of a pain, but I was looking for a border that coordinated with my split leaf napkins.

While I was making up placemats for Thanksgiving, I figured I might as well start ones for Christmas too.  This gorgeous title from Kolette Hall cut perfectly and I added these intricate snowflake flourishes to the edges to match my split snowflake napkins created in this earlier post.

I wanted to show how well the chalkboard vinyl works…here I’m using chalk markers that I found at an office supply store, but regular chalk works just as well.  I thought it could be fun to use the chalkboard placemat as a placecard for Christmas dinner.  For Thanksgiving, I’m thinking of asking my nieces and nephews to write down what they’re thankful for this year.  Although I didn’t have any at the time of photographing, it would be nice to add a piece of chalk to each place setting (maybe folded into the napkin).

And speaking of photographing…I’ve been trying to get this project posted for a while now, but it seemed like the world was working against me!  First, the lighting has been terrible lately in my dining room…so sorry the placemats look much grayer than they actually are, but I did my best!  Then, my first guest kept showing up in frame and eating my greenery…don’t worry, she didn’t actually manage to eat any, but I think she is going to tear apart my home once all of the Christmas decorations are up this year.

I’d love to hear what you think!