Memory board tutorial

A couple of years ago I updated the decor in Addison’s room from trains (he “just wasn’t really into trains anymore”) to space. I put up a bulletin board, spray painted silver, thinking this would be a great place for him to pin up his art. I hung it down low so Addison could have easy access to it. I don’t know what the heck I was thinking. Harry was tiny at the time so I must have been functioning on very little sleep. It wouldn’t be long before we would have a baby crawling all over the house. Babies love to grab small, colorful objects and put them in their mouths. Let’s see…small, bright colors, right at eye level in big brother’s room. Thumb tacks. Not my best idea. That bulletin board served no purpose what-so-ever because I hid all the thumb tacks away where no one would find them.

Last weekend I was in Hobby Lobby and it hit me, two years later, turn that stupid bulletin board into a memory board!

Supplies:

bulletin board
fabric – take measurement of bulletin board and add 4 inches on each side
quilt batting
6-7 yards ribbon
8 decorative buttons
staple gun
hot glue gun

Are you using the right batting for your craft project?

Phhhttt…how the heck should I know. I’m just making this up as I go along.

Start by ironing out the crease in the fabric. Next, lay out the fabric, right side down. Spread the batting out on top of the fabric then center the board on top of the fabric and batting. Trim batting so about two inches remain around the board.

Cut a corner out of the batting on all four corners.

Let’s talk about staple guns. If you’re going to be doing any crafting that requires stapling more than two pieces of paper together you’re gonna want to get a real man’s staple gun. DO NOT get a staple gun made out of plastic. It may be tempting because it is so inexpensive but trust me when you will be cursing your cheep plastic staple gun when you’re in the middle of a craft and it’s not working. Just go ahead and get a good one. I’ll sleep better knowing you’ll be a happy crafter.

I like the PowerShot. It has a nice little kick.

Arrow Fastener Co 5700 PowerShot Heavy Duty Staple Gun

Now it’s time to staple the batting and fabric to the frame of the board. Start in the middle and work your way out to the corners.

When you get to the corner, cut a square out of the fabric to reduce the bulk of excess fabric. Fold along the side that you have been stapling. Pull it tight then fold the new side over on top of the corner, pull tight and staple.

Finish stapling all the way around. You may be tempted to cut off the excess batting right at the edge of the frame. Don’t give into that temptation. I did and it left a poofy edge that was difficult to glue down. Hot glue the excess fabric to the back of the board.

Time for ribbon. You can get the ruler out to make sure the space between the ribbon is the same or you can just eyeball it. That’s what I did. I’m a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda girl. Staple one end of the ribbon to the back of the frame, stretch it diagonally across the front, pull tight and staple the other end to the back. Continue securing the ribbon in one direction with about 6-8 inches in between the ribbon. Do the same thing going in the opposite direction.

Now it’s time to tack down where the ribbons intersect. This is where I ran into trouble. The trouble was that the bulletin board is a piece of crap. The back is made out of particle board that is about as sturdy as a piece of cardboard. My first attempt was to staple it down. Fail. My staples weren’t long enough to make it through all the layers of ribbon, fabric and batting successfully. Next I thought I would hammer a small nail all the way through the board and then hammer the nail down on the back side. This is a great idea in theory. When I hammered the nail down on the back side the particle board started to break apart.

FAIL

By this time I’m getting pretty frustrated and running out of options. Hot glue to the rescue. I decided to try and bend the nail on the back side with the hammer as much as I could and then apply a huge dollop of hot glue to hold the nail in place. To make sure this works I had to press the nail in as hard as I could on the front side, apply the glue and then hold it in place while the glue dried.

I have no idea how long this is going to stay in place. Who knows, maybe forever. Or maybe the first time we put a picture in our memory board all the nails may pop out. If you hear a cry of frustration followed by a string of expletives you will know my hot glue-nail rigging job failed miserably.

Almost finished. Hide the nails by hot gluing decorative buttons where the ribbons cross.