DIY Beer Flight Paddles

Awhile ago I came across this link via pinterest: I immediately added it to my boards to make for my husband for Christmas. My husband, as well as, 3 of his brothers and 1 of my brothers, all brew their own beer. It has become quite the hobby in the family. Well, Christmas is still far away, so I thought it would be the perfect gift for Father's day this year...so on the very slight chance any of my brothers or brothers-in-law are happening to see this post- look away, you will probably be receiving these for Christmas this year!

 We are fortunate to live in Colorado with so many craft breweries nearby and my husband and I often go to tasting rooms for a flight of their latest brews. He has now gotten to the point that he usually has 3-4 beers brewed and ready at a time and I thought he may enjoy a way to let family and friends taste his batches. I followed the original link's idea for chalkboard paint as a quick and easy way to label the different and ever changing beers. Here are the steps I took to create these beer paddle flights.

1. I had my neighbor create the paddles for me. He is a woodworker and I gave him the picture from the original link and in about 15 minutes he had these made for me...and for free!!! THANK YOU :) Now, I realize most people don't live next door to such sweet woodworkers but the original link does reference a website you can purchase these from too.

2. Next I sanded the paddles and sprayed them with a couple coats of spray paint. I used a light gray paint I had leftover from a nursery project. So again this part was free for me...woohoo!

3. Then I taped off the sides of the paddles with blue painter's tape and sprayed the tops of the paddles black using chalkboard paint. This is the first part of the project I had to pay for :(

4. When I peeled off the tape sadness ensued...there were marks in places that it had run...and I was out of spray paint. So I decided to mix my own paint using two acrylic paints I had in black and white. The resulting gray was not a perfect match so I ended up going around the entire side again with paint. Fortunately it went quickly and in the end looked good. Once all the paint was finished I decided to add cork "coasters" to the bottom of each circle. I bought a roll of cork at Joanns and cut out circles to fit each hole. I then filled the hole with a layer of modge podge and placed the cork on top. To help hold it down to dry I placed glasses, filled with water on top of each circle for about an hour.

5. The glasses I purchased to fit were from Ikea called REKO. I can't remember how much they were...but it wasn't much.

6. Finally I flipped the paddles over and added a couple strips of felt padding to the back side. This was to help make sure they wouldn't scratch up a table...if you know my husband, you would understand that this was a necessary step- he tends to be quite particular about such things :)

Overall I am very pleased with how they turned out and I hope he doesn't read this post until after Father's Day so that it will be a surprise :)

Shannon