9.02.2007

Mission: Accomplished

Well, I FINALLY finished the project that I alluded to here. I created 4 memory boards... 2 magnetic and 2 "French Memory Boards." Here are pictures of the results:
Coffee themed magnetic board - we collect magnets from places that we visit
Gingerbread themed magnetic board (you can click on the picture to make it larger so you can see the detail)
Coffee themed memory board (I have yet to put pictures up!) Please forgive the fact that the ribbon is not totally symmetrical, but I wanted people to be able to see the coffee cup without a line across it. It was rather difficult to get the lines straight and even, but I kind of like the fact that it's not perfect!This is after I added silver paint pen to make the steam stand out, as well as some black magic marker to make the cup stand out against the dark background.
Gingerbread themed memory board
This is after I added silver to again highlight the steam
My dining room area with the boards on the wall.

I must say I was pretty pleased with the results. This is how I made them....

I already had the material from my previous projects of making curtains for our house in MD. I stamped images using the SU! Gingerbread Man wheel, Like It a Latte, Year Round Cheer, and Sketch an Event. The "Thinking of You" steam stamp is from Stampendous.

I cut out each of the stamped images, then took them to my friend, Beth's, house. We scanned them on the computer, and from there I was able to change the sizes, flip the images, etc. I just typed all the words on the computer using different fonts, then flipped them to mirror the images. I printed all of these things out on iron-on transfer paper, then cut all of them out and ironed them on the fabric. Of course, it was rather labor intensive with all of the cutting and trying to figure out all of the placements of each image, but I thought it was well worth it!

After ironing on the images, I then stapled the fabric to the boards. The boards are just 12"x12" cork boards from Walmart. Chris cut the thin board backing from a poster frame to fit and I used spray adhesive to glue the cork board to it. For the magnetic boards, I recycled the metal piece from an old magnetic dry erase board for one, and the other metal piece was a smaller one that I found in my cross-stitch materials box. Apparently, my aunt, from whom I received the supplies, used it to keep her patterns on. Anyway, I just used the double-sided tape stickers that came with the cork boards to adhere the metal to the front of the boards.

The twill tape pieces that I used for the memory boards was originally bright white. They are actually trach ties that I got from work... most people don't use them anymore (utilizing Velcro trach ties instead), but they come in every trach kit. Since they weren't being used, I was able to take them home and use them for cards and crafts! The best part is they are FREE! Anyway, I tea-stained them to make them more beige in color, then used flathead thumb tacks to tack them into place. I secured the ends around the back of the board with my hot glue gun. I used my left-over cut out stamped images and hot glued them to cover the tacks. I added a little sparkle with a red glitter paint pen, highlighted some things with a silver paint pen, and added dimension to the marshmallows and whipped cream with white liquid applique (from Marvy Uchida). I then used regular picture hangers on the back and ta-da... they were done!

Hope you enjoy my creativity! I'm so thankful for this talent that God has given me!

2 comments:

Sarah said...

THose are so cool, Heather! You did a great job (and put alot more work into them than I did mine....) :-) They look really nice in your house. Enjoy them!

Janelle said...

You did a great job on those! I like how you've mixed the gingerbread man and coffee themes together! They do look great and I might have to borrow that idea sometime! I always forget that those things are magnetic!