Art boards

Last week on my hamster wheel I like to call life I decided to do a couple of projects...yes on top of Hunter in camp 4 days, Dallas starting Kindergarten, my husband traveling pretty much all week, working on Wednesday, the normal house chores, the gym, and a birthday party. Why not add projects in the mix...there are 24 hours in a day, right? :o)
The first one, just came to me as we found Eric's old bulletin board that he used to have in his office when he worked at home...it needed some sprucing up - no need to throw it away (even though I kept having to fish it out of the trash pile in the garage)...don't think hubby saw the potential I did.

I had some left over fabric from when I made a cornice board for our bonus room. All I needed was buttons, ribbon, and spray glue, so off to JoAnn's I went. I picked up some spray glue. I've never used the stuff before but I am hooked. I LOVE this stuff.

I found ribbon on sale for $1.99 for the spool...woohoo, and picked out some white buttons. I got home and wanted to start right away. I got out the fabric, measured and cut it, and ironed over the edges so they wouldn't fray.

I then took the fabric and my new friend, the spray glue and went to the garage where the lonesome bulletin board was waiting. I then sprayed the board and kind of quickly placed the fabric on top. You kind of have to work quick.

It had to sit for an hour, and it was time to pick Hunter up from camp, so I let it dry and off we went.

The glue was dry and I then wanted to add the ribbon. I first hot glued all the edges around the back of the bulletin board so the fabric was secure on the front and back. I think I got too excited and forgot to take pictures of a lot of the next part...oops. But, I measured the ribbon and criss-crossed it in the directions I wanted. I started hot gluing the corners down on the back. 

Once they were all in place, I started to worry that they weren't going to stay. So, I got out my other trusty friend, the staple gun and went to work stapling the edges of the fabric and the ribbon...now it was secure.
Then, I took these huge needles (I think they were upholstery needles) and some white thread and actually sewed the buttons on the bulletin board. It wasn't hard but pushing the needles through was a little tricky. It made all the difference though because the ribbon is much tighter. I bought some big push pins at Wal-Mart, and there you have it!

I love it! I hangs next to our oh-so-crazy monthly calendar in my laundry room. It already has it's first resident too...the hotel confirmation for when my hubby and I go away in a few week.

The second art board idea came to me while I was making the bulletin board. I've toyed with making art board some in the last few months, but haven't perfected them. They always turn out cute, but I don't have the pretty artsy handwriting that a lot of people have so I'm a little self-conscious about them.


Here's the first one I did for a friend who loves pirates.

We had a birthday party on Tuesday, and Monday afternoon I decide I'm going to make the birthday girl an art board but I wanted it different, I wanted to use my new favorite thing, spray glue. I already had the boards (again left over from the cornice board, and my sweet hubby had already cut them for me). I also had some left over fabric that I thought I could use. I bought some clips from the dollar spot and a spool of ribbon for $1.99 at JoAnn's on sale...I already had other ribbon too.

(Oh, I was originally going to paint the center with magnetic paint, but it was old and dried up...oops...on to plan B).
I measured how big I wanted the center to be and drew it off on the backside of the fabric, and cut it out.

Don't know if you can see the pencil mark.



Once that was cut, I took my friend, Mr. spray glue, sprayed the back of the fabric and quickly added it to the board. I didn't have an hour to let it dry, so I had to work around the drying of the glue.

I used some painters tape that I had and taped around the edges so I wouldn't get paint on the fabric.

I picked out a color to use for the center. I used purple. I was hoping that this could go in the birthday girl's room, but when I had to switch gears from the magnetic paint and went with purple paint I knew it wouldn't match. But hopefully they found a special spot for it.
I painted the center a couple of times...it was beginning to be crunch time before we had to leave for the birthday party, but luckily the paint dried fairly quickly. After painting, I hot glued the white ribbon around the edge to give it more depth.

It was coming together, but I felt like it still needed more. So, I looked through my ribbon stash and found some pretty green and added it as well.

I also added some white at the top to use as a hanger. Then, I hot glued on the the clips, and there you have it...an art board that I made in an hour and a half from start to finish...I sure hope they like it.