crafty project | Beneath My Heart

DIY Magnet Board {with upholstery tacks}

November 3, 2011

8:35 am

Hey friends! Thank you for all the sweet comments about my new (unfinished) pantry! Cy loved seeing all the comments about what a great husband I have. :)

I was looking through some old posts last night, and I found one that I wrote as a guest post at Tatertots and Jello this past summer.

From what I could tell, I never published that post on my blog. So I thought I would share it with you.

Here it is:

To help your kids (or you) stay organized this school year, I thought I would share with you a very easy DIY magnet board that I made for my boys :)

This magnet board is the perfect place to store notes, reminders, or special keepsakes.

Here is how I made it (in less than an hour!)

I purchased a 24×24 inch sheet of metal from Lowe’s for about $10.00. They have all different kinds of sizes, so you could make your magnet board smaller or larger if you wanted.

I also bought two 1x2s from Lowe’s. Get the cheapest 1x2s you can find. These were $1.97 a piece.

For the embellishments, I bought three different types of “tacks.”

Bronze furniture nails, Nickel furniture nails, and large head galvanized roofing nails.

I decided to go with the bronze furniture nails (upholstery tacks) for this project.

I started by using a hack saw to cut a piece of wood 24 inches long…

Then I used a straight edge to mark where I wanted my tacks to go. (You can space them however far apart you would like. You could also use different color tacks or large head wood screws.)

The upholstery tacks where not strong enough to go through the metal without breaking, so I created a starter hole with a nail.

Again, you can space the tacks apart at any distance you prefer.

The picture below just shows you how the wood was placed on each side. I would flip it over and nail the tacks into one side at a time.

After you finish nailing all the tacks in, you are done! How easy is that?!

Now my magnet board was plain when I hung it in my boys’ room, but I was wondering what it would look like with some lettering on it.

So I uploaded my pictures into Picnik and added my boys’ names on the board to see what it would look like.

I loved it!!

magnet board

So I am planning on creating vinyl cutouts of my boys’ names using my Silhouette machine. If I didn’t have a Silhouette, I would probably purchase some stencils and just paint their names on.

magnet board

In the next picture, I added my son’s name in blue to see how that would look…

CUTE!!!!

Now you are probably thinking that this type of board would only look good in a boy’s room.

Oh no, my friends!

Look how cute the board looks in my office!!!….

I am needing a memo board for my office space, so I am thinking about purchasing a larger sheet of metal to go across my whole desk area. Wouldn’t that be great?! Maybe I will use the silver upholstery tacks to give it a little more “bling”. :)

memo board

For fun, I added my monogram to the board through Picnik to see what it would look like…

memo board

Again…I love it! Who would think a piece of metal could look so feminine?

Here is the memo board with my favorite saying on it (added through the magic of Picnik, of course.)…

memo board

So there you have it! A great little magnet board for your child (or you) to start the school year off right!

For less than 20 dollars….“holla!”

And if metal on your walls is just not your thing, check out the tutorial on my blog to make “Ballard Designs Inspired Magnet Board.”

You can learn how to make these through a written tutorial, or a video tutorial, whichever you choose. :)

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Easy and Inexpensive Handmade Ornament

October 13, 2011

1:00 pm

I shared a tutorial over at Positively Splendid that I wanted to share on my blog too. Amy is doing a wonderful series over at her wonderful blog. You should check it out. :)

I love handmade gifts at Christmas time! There is something so special about a gift that someone took the time to make with their own two hands, don’t you think?

So I started brainstorming about something I could make…and make CHEAP! Let’s admit it. Times are tough for all of us. We want to bless others with gifts at Christmas time, but sometimes we do not have a lot of money in which to do it. Well, I say we get creative and see what kind of beautiful things we can make for pennies!

Here is what I came up with…

These festive and simple ornaments only cost me 45 cents a piece to make! (I’ll explain more about the cost in a minute.)

All I had to do was purchase one of these clear plastic ornaments at Hobby Lobby.

This ornament costs $1.49 at Hobby Lobby, but with my 40% off coupon, I got it for about 90 cents.

I decided to make two ornaments out of this one ball, so I had about 45 cents in each ornament.

I took half of the ornament and traced it on some craft foam board that I already had. (You could use cardboard from a box or anything else that is a little sturdier than paper. Be creative! Just look around your house and see what you can use!)

I used an Exact-o Knife to cut a little inside of the circle so my foam board would fit in my ornament.

Now it was time to decorate the ornament.

Now I have to admit, I didn’t have to pay for the rest of the supplies because they were things I had in my craft boxes from previous craft projects. I already had the ribbon, the alphabet stickers, and the sticky rhinestones in my craft supplies (all of which were purchased at Hobby Lobby last year). You could use whatever left over craft supplies you have in your home to make your ornaments too!

I decided to see what kind of “Christmasey” words I could make with my stickers, and I decided on “JOY” and “hope”.

I simply added the self-sticking rhinestones under the words to give it some Christmas “bling.”

I was planning on gluing the foam board to the inside of the plastic ornament, but I didn’t need to. It fit so snugly inside the plastic ornament, that it is not going anywhere. :) But if you felt the inside of your ornament needed a little extra support, you could apply craft glue to the sides to help hold it in place.

I love the way the white inside the ornament and the bright red ribbon show up against the greenery of the tree!

For fun, I used some scrapbook paper I already had, cut it out in the same shape of the ornament, and glued it to the back with some adhesive spray.

I really do love the way they turned out!

If I had not already had all of these supplies on hand, I would have gotten them at the dollar store. I think you could get some ribbon, alphabet stickers, “bling”, and sturdy board for about $4.00 at the dollar store. That would make each ornament cost about $2.45! Not bad for a gift for a loved one, teacher, or neighbor, right?!