DIYs Sometimes Fail

So for my little brother's room, we were looking to get this cool chalkboard: 

source

Remember?  I talked about it when I made my mood board for the room.  It's from Pottery Barn and it's actually on sale right now.  Me being the DIYer that I am I thought for sure I could make something comparable. 

So I started on my way of making this little chalkboard.  I bought a $3 piece of thick cardboard, I had the chalkboard paint and a roller.  The process began...

This is what I started with:

Here it is after it's painted:

Then came the hard part...
I had to cut it out in the shape of the United States. 
Not easy.  First problem... I needed a template.  While looking for a template, I came across another blogger - Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss - who tried to recreate this as well... AND she had a template to share!  Score!  So the above turned into this...

I knew this was a long shot to try anyways... figured I should have used particle board, plywood or something... See how it's curls up a bit?  Yea, that won't work to hang on the wall. Fail. 

I did like it at this point and was really pleased that I actually accomplished something that semi-resembled our nation!  haha.  I asked Mr. K if I could use his Jigsaw, but he said I would hurt myself.  Someday I will over come this hurdle. 

So... since this project failed and only cost me $3, it was worth a shot.  I'm glad I tried it... I now have a template of the US that I might actually use for something in our guestroom.  And soon we'll be ordering the original from PB Teens.  It will look great in my little brother's room.