Tales from the Hill's Country

Quips, stories and observations from our adventures in marriage and parenting (as told by Katie).

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Tutorial: Magnet Boards

Our refrigerator is not magnetic. In preparation for "Extreme Nesting, 2012" I've decided I need more photos around the house. So I decided to create some magnetic space.

For those that like to speed ahead, here's the finished product:
(That's the boards hung with our lobster magnet... to see how it really looks in our house, read ahead...)

I started with these supplies:
 That's some Elmer's Spray Adhesive (which I love), Fisker's utility knife (is that what you call it?), a 5" x 8" piece of magnet board (which I snagged at Pick Your Plum), some fun fabric and coordinating ribbon.

First: cut a rectangular piece of fabric-- larger than the magnet board (I just eye-balled it).

Use the spray adhesive:
and spray the WRONG side of the fabric.

(I sprayed over an old piece of cardboard so that any over-spray would not get on my workspace. Then I picked it up and transferred it to an old cutting board so it wouldn't get stuck to the cardboard!)

So the WRONG side of the fabric is now sticky and laying face up.

Next: Put the magnet board on top of the fabric.
Press down. Then turn it over:
And press out any wrinkles (a credit card would be helpful for this, but I just used my hands).

Flip it back over and get the utility knife. Run the knife around each side so you have a clean cut:
(You can see my project is still on that old cutting board so I'm not hurting my desk.)

I did not have a problem with the fabric fraying, but some fray check would have helped if I did.

If you're feeling the need for some power tools, drill two holes at the top of the magnet board. If not, there are many other ways you can adhere the ribbon to the board (super/hot glue on the back come to mind first).

I drilled the holes at the top (fine, I didn't use the power tools... Chris did!) and threaded the ribbon through. Then I tied a four-square knot (thanks, Ragnot Sailing Camp!), trimmed the ribbon and burned the edges.
I repeated three times and now have a place for some family photos!
I love these panels because I can group them in any pattern that makes sense for the wall space where they are going.

If you end up repeating this project, post a comment with a link to photos (via your blog, facebook, flikr, pinterest or whatever else you want to use!) so I can see!

1 comment:

  1. How clever Katie! Gosh I wish I had time to do that for myself!!

    ReplyDelete