Magnet Board gets a Second Chance

Last summer I read a wonderful blog post about making magnet boards for kids to match a non-magnetic stainless steel kitchen.  It was such a visually appealing and cheap idea that I ran wild with it and created four magnetic boards for my classroom.

Fast forward one year.  You can see in the first picture below how well one of my boards held up.  Or not.  And I'll be honest, it wasn't falling apart because of the kids!

My original materials:

large wood frame on clearance for $1 at Hobby Lobby

roll of metal sheeting from the roofing isle at Lowes

foam board from Hobby Lobby

hot glue

black spray paint

spray adhesive

I cut the metal sheeting to size using tin snips.  I cut the foam board to fit with a box cutter.  Then I used the spray adhesive to attach the metal to the foam.  The foam board helped the sheeting fit into the frame more snugly.  I spray painted the frame black and hot glued everything together.  

The finished product looked great!  I was so pleased.  But then the paint started flaking.  And the adhesive hanging tabs gave out.  My poor little magnetic board fell to the floor and fell apart.

I brought it home for the summer to try again.  I sanded off the black paint and the original stained finish.

One coat of primer.

A couple coats of white paint brushed on.

After the paint dried I replaced the sheeting and foam board.

This time I used a whole-lotta wood glue along the edges to keep everything in place.  The paint can held the sheeting flat until the glue was dry.

Forget adhesive tabs.  I'm nailing this sucker to the wall.  I used nails in the top corners (and got them started while the board was on the floor).  

Make sure it's straight...

Ta-da!

Kids Magnet Board

I hung it by the filing cabinet in our home office because Monkey often plays with magnets there anyway.

Oh, and by the way, this is a little sneak peak of the new wall color in the office, dining room, and kitchen.  It is Valspar's Smoke Infusion and I absolutely love it.  Below is a "before" picture I snagged off an old post.  That picture kinda makes me cringe now.  {shudder}

That's all for now.  Time to make the kiddos some lunch!

Amanda the Copycat

Hello F&F! Long time no post!

Well I'm just getting settled and back to crafting after a long hiatus. My husband and I recently made a 500+ mile move from Oklahoma to Iowa, and as anyone who has ever moved understands, it takes a while to get back on your feet! The new house is clean, the boxes are unpacked, my craft area is set up ... now I can breathe!

So this past weekend I decided to try my hand at Katie's Jewelry Organizer project! I have the perfect spot for one in my new bedroom. So I headed to Hobby Lobby, but alas, they didn't have any shadow boxes on clearance. So, I picked up a frame instead and my wheels started turning ...



I was going to need a piece of plywood (I had to beg the husband to cut it for me), some batting, some black velvet, and some cute little knobs, all of which I could get at Hobby Lobby. Except the plywood - for that I went to Menards.

So, Jon cut the plywood and drilled four holes in it for me. Then I put a layer of batting on the front of it and wrapped it with velvet, securing it with staples.

I pushed the screws up through the holes from the back and snipped the fabric a bit so they could sneak through. Then I twisted on the knobs (with a little help!). Oh yeah, I hadn't thought about how the plywood would STAY in the frame, so back I went to Hobby Lobby where I purchased some "turnbuttons" from the framing ladies.


Ok, so once that was done, I was ready to hang it on the wall, right?! Wrong. Jon had to add some little eye hooks and a wire to make it wall-ready. Did I mention my husband was a huge help during this project?!?! I really didn't mean for it to become so involved ... it just snowballed out of control!


NOW it was ready for the wall! Yay! So I hung it and took a bunch of pictures. Here's one:


Then I realized it would make more sense to photograph it WITH JEWELRY. Duh, Amanda. So here is the final product, hung and doing it's job:


I really love the way it turned out, but it was a lot of work, especially for Jon! So, if I had to do it over again, I would rethink my strategy. And hang the knobs a little closer to the top. Craft and learn!

Hmmm ... what will my next project be?

Amanda

Finished Quiet Books!

I've been frantically working on quiet books for the girls before our upcoming vacation.  Monkey hasn't flown since she was a baby and Bean hasn't ever.  I'm so nervous about how they will do on the plane!  Hopefully these activities will keep them occupied long enough to get us to Florida!

The finished quiet books!

quiet books pages 1:  a shoe to lace and hair to braid

quiet books pages 2 and 3: a tent to zip open, more hair to braid, and a pocket with paper and a mailbox to fill with notes

quiet books pages 4 and 5:  peek-a-boo baby with a woven blankie, snap flowers, beads on pipe cleaners, and velcro tic-tac-toe

quiet books pages 6 and 7: counting beads and a mini flash card alphabet book

 My older daughter helped me look for ideas online and requested many of the pages above.  In each picture the top book is for my younger daughter and the bottom book for my older daughter.  Although I'm sure they'll be trading books as soon as they get bored with their own!

Each page was made from a standard size piece of felt and leftover sewing notations I had around.  As I completed the pages I sewed them back to back with stiff felt in between.  The books are pretty bulky, but should hold up well.  

My inspiration for these books have come from these sources.  Thank you for sharing your ideas!

Sew Can Do

Nap Time Journal

faith-love-hope

My Inspiration

Why the name Feathers and Fingerprints?  I think the pictures will explain!  :)

Yes that is a baby falcon in the pictures!  He's been staying with us for a few weeks.  Yesterday he jumped out of his box and followed us around.  I think he wants to play!  The girls were quite entertained by the baby bird trying to play with their toys.  

I hope you enjoyed a little peek into my world of feathers and fingerprints.  :)  You can see more pictures on my husband's blog Little Mews on the Prairie.

Easy Diaper Shower Gift!

I was recently invited to a diaper shower for a pregnant friend.  But diapers are boring.  So I found a canvas bag at the Dollar Tree and prettied it up.  Then I filled it with diapers and wipes.  They are a necessity after all.

I added a ruffle made from leftover fabric I had around and iron-on letters to spell the new baby's name (also leftovers from another project).  The mom-to-be was thrilled!  And this cute bag cost me $1.  Score.

I'm thinking about making similar bags for my girls for when we visit the beach this summer.  

Jewelry Organizer

Check another one off the to-do list!  I finally organized my mess of jewelry.  I found a shadow box on clearance at Hobby Lobby for $4 and some push pins at Walmart for $2.50. This whole project took about 10 minutes!

Here's the finished product!

The Master Bathroom

Oh, the master bathroom.  This is how it looked the first day we visited the house.  It wasn't technically on the market yet, and I honestly don't know if our realtor gave the sweet old man living there much notice that we were coming to look.

We moved in and tore down one shelf, showing the pretty wallpaper behind it.

Below is the pretty wallpaper hiding behind the cabinet over the toilet.  Later I found out these two layers were not the only layers of paper I would have to remove...

One day I casually asked my husband to fix the dripping bathtub faucet.  Turns out, the dripping faucet was the least of our worries.  We had a water leak in the wall behind the shower.  

Everything was rotten.  

And moldy.

It all had to go.

So my handsome handyman tore everything out.  I explained how I wanted the new bathroom to look and he made it happen!  Many, many trips to Lowes and one trip to the emergency room and things started coming together.  

{Side note: In my husband's defense, the trip to the emergency room was not his fault.  As he was lifting a brand new toilet out of the box it broke and sliced his finger.  There was so much blood everywhere I made him go!  Turns out he didn't need stitches so he probably didn't need to go anyway...}

Finished! Love.

One of these days we'll get around to remodeling the hall bathroom.  {Shudder}

Back to the F&F House Tour