More Downtown Love Notes

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Chalk street art

Chalk street art

Chalk street art

Chalk street art

We’re becoming notorious for our love notes downtown! I love where I live, and sometimes I just want to leave some love notes to our city. There’s a growing community here of creative, like-minded people who love to spend time out and about, making our city a better place. I think this is just my way of saying thank you and giving them something fun to experience every so often. We’ve done balloons, vinyl, and chalk before — and I found that chalk was the easiest, fastest, and that as soon as it rains it cleans up and there’s no evidence left. So check out some more downtown love notes. (You can see the other things we’ve done on the Instagram tag #lovelyindeedlovesmodesto!)

If you’re interested in the process of creating these, you can read this post. We do have a few updates on our technique, though. This spray chalk still works like a dream. Do note that as it dries, the color fades a bit. We used this stencil paper, because it’s got a sticky backing and the fact that it sticks to the ground is really helpful to get nice clean edges on your letters. I always use the Cricut machine to cut out the stencils because it makes it so easy; it took me about 10 minutes to cut all five of these designs.

Chalk street art

I had two partners in crime this time, which made a huge difference! Last time I did it by myself and it’s kind of cumbersome with only one set of hands. But having some help was awesome. Also,  last time I think I went out a little earlier, because all of the messages had time to dry before anyone came along. This time, somebody stepped in the one that says “You Are Magic” while it was still wet! We came back and realized it and did a little surgery. If you need to do touchups, it’s really simple to just spray some of the chalk on your finger and kind of paint over the area that got smushed.

Chalk street art

Chalk street art

Other things to know if you’re going to try these: take a couple of pieces of scrap cardboard or posterboard to mask the edges of your designs. It protects against overspray and will keep your designs looking super clean. You can see here where I didn’t mask as well and there’s some overspray. Not that it ruins the effect or anything, but I always like a clean look. Also, if you run into a police officer be sure you tell them right away that it’s chalk and not paint. One happened to drive by while we were spraying and I was positive we were going to get arrested but he just kind of gave us a thumbs-up and moved on. 😉

I’ve had so many people tell me that they want to do this in their city! I think we should spread it far and wide. Or maybe I should make a stencil and chalk kit to make it simple for everyone! Whaddaya think? Would you do this in your town? xoxo

P.S. Thank you to my friend Ilse for these images!

Chalk street art

Chalk street art

Chalk street art

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6 Comments

  1. I LOVE that you do this. I have the spray chalk and I wish it dried just a leeeeeetle faster but it looks great!

  2. These turned out so cute – wish could have made it downtown to see them! Thanks for spreading the love around our town. 🙂