My little niece just turned TWO!  I can’t believe how fast she and my son are growing….time slow down!  I love dabbling in Photoshop and creating digital designs, especially chalkboard posters (that’s why I started my All Things Chalkboard series).  So just like with her and my son’s first birthdays, I created this zoo-themed birthday chalkboard poster to help celebrate the occasion.

These posters also act as the sweetest keepsakes to help remember all the little things from these years….and keepsakes also hold a special place in my crafty heart (I’ve got lots of them in my Project Gallery).

The theme for Elena’s party this year was zoo since she LOVES visiting all the animals at the Cincinnati Zoo (especially the goats, as is evident in the adorable photo that is featured on this poster).  Here’s what I came up with for her! :)

 

Zoo-Themed Birthday Chalkboard Poster

I made this design the same way I make all of my chalkboard posters: with lots (and lots) of font and dingbat layers in Photoshop Elements!  If you’d like a complete tutorial on my easy method, check out this tutorial….you’ll be amazed at how simple it really is!

 

Since she was having a pretty realistic zoo-themed party, I didn’t want to use any cartoons or cutesy graphics of animals.  On the other hand, I also didn’t want anything that was too formal or scholastic.  This was still for a two-year-old’s birthday after all, so it needed to be fun!

I got lucky and found a hand-drawn zoo animal dingbat called Zoo Woodcuts M.  It worked perfectly for this design!

 

More Chalkboard Fun!

Here are some of the other chalkboard posters I’ve shared:

This Alice in Wonderland-themed beauty for Elena’s FIRST birthday!

 

I made this colored chalkboard for my son’s first birthday and also a black and white version that we displayed as a super cheap-o engineering print at his party!

 

Here’s a simple one that I threw together for a photo prop on Rowan’s first day of school!

 

I’ve also recently ventured beyond digital chalkboards and gave a stab at a real hand-lettered one!

Check out my Thankful chalkboard….and learn a super simple trick for getting beautiful chalk lettering by hand (even if you have terrible handwriting like me)!

 

All Things Chalkboard Series

Like I mentioned above, since I love creating chalkboard posters like these, I’ve started a series called All Things Chalkboard!  This is where I share lots of tips and tricks (including my favorite fonts, dingbats, and how to make those little banners) for quickly and easily creating these cute and special designs.  Make sure you check that out too!

 

And did you know that if you have a Mac, you have an awesome FREE program that can also be used to create chalkboard posters?  Yep, sure do!  I’ve also got a tutorial showing you how!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!