Our 2010 Family Christmas Letter: Making a Memory (Board)

I got crafty and never posted it. You would think I would've been proud of one of the four things I made for my house and posted the how-to before the Christmas letter mass production. But 'tis not so. At least I'm posting it now, right?

So, I had a blank spot on the wall in Claire's room and had a lot of trouble deciding what to do. I wanted to do something that involved photographs in a cute way. I now see how stupid that was considering the photographs we have are all digital and rarely printed. Whatever. I'm also considering making one for a Christmas card display. Yay, another post!

Okay, so here's what I decided: it's a memory board. There weren't so many of them available in stores this time last year, and the ones on etsy are horribly over-priced. I considered joining and selling because they turn that big of a profit. It cost less than $10 to make, but I no longer have exact prices. Sorry. The O/C blogger in me is a little bit ashamed.

I set out, armed with Google and a desire to make something cute for the ladybug. Here's the website I started with. I disagreed with some of his/her directions and went my own way. I think it worked out.

-16" X 20" stretched artist's canvas

-2/3 yard cotton fabric in a cute pattern

-2/3 yard polyester batting (in a sheet)-4 1/2 yards woven ribbon

-Buttons (see notes)

-upholstery thread and a tapestry needle

-staple gun

How-to:

1. Cut fabric into a 20-inch by 24-inch rectangle and iron.

2. Cut two 16-inch by 20-inch squares from batting. Stack on artist's canvas. Place fabric over batting. Carefully overturn canvas so you're working on the backside.

3. Staple fabric to frame of canvas, in approximate one-inch increments, pulling fabric tightly as you go. Fit should be snug but not so tight it distorts the pattern on the fabric. Fit fabric to corners carefully, folding as necessary to make it fit.

4. Attach ribbon in an X shape. Staple one end of ribbon, pull tightly across the canvas and staple the second end. Do two corner-to-corner, then arrange next ribbons parallel to the X to form diamond shapes.

5. Using upholstery thread, sew buttons through all layers at intersections of ribbon. Tie ends of upholstery thread tightly.

Notes:

-Yes, I can iron. Somewhat. Impressed?

- Use whatever size of canvas you want. My favorite is 16X16. You can usually find the canvases in two-packs at any craft store for fairly cheap.

-Stretchy ribbon is really, really hard to work with for this.

-I could never get the shanked buttons in the original directions to work properly. I sewed regular four-hole buttons on and then had Alan cut the shanks off so I could hot glue them on for the decorative effect.

-He/she suggests pulling the ribbon taut but not tight; I disagree because if it isn't tight the pictures or whatever you put on it will slip through.

So it worked out well enough that this board contrasts nicely with the curtains I (my mother-in-law) made a few months later. More on those in an upcoming post.