Fabric Covered Bulletin Board and a Confession

Hi!  Did you think I'd disappeared?  I'm still here.  There are just lots of activities going on already in the New Year. 

Today I'm sharing one of my finally completed projects.  It is a fabric covered bulletin board for Thing 1's bedroom. 

 

I started with this giant old frame I found at Good JuJu in K.C.  I sprayed it hot pink.  This took LOTS of coats.  Plus, I'm not a very good spray painter.  I'm just a novice at it. 

 

This next part required lots of help from my hubby.  I took an old sheet I found at a garage sale for a quarter and covered a 24"x36" pre-made bulletin board I found at Hobby Lobby.  It just happened to fit exactly into my frame.  We used a staple gun and just pulled and stapled the fabric evenly tight all the way around. 

Then I cut strips of ribbon and I just eyed how many I needed.  I did measure them and make sure they were evenly spaced on the board.  I used the staple gun again to attach them to the back of the bulletin board.

 

We found some old leather upholstery tacks in a container out in the barn that someone had saved eons ago just for me :)  I stuck them in a piece of cardboard and spray painted them to match the frame.  I just pushed them in where the ribbons crossed.

 

It was ready to insert into my frame.  Hubby cut some thin pieces of wood (plywood possibly?) and drilled it in place on the back of the frame. 

And VOILA!  A new bulletin board for her room. 

 

This was a fairly low cost project for us.

 

Frame $12.00

Bulletin board $16.00

Paint $4.00

Fabric $.25

Ribbon $3.00

Upholstery tacks FREE

Total $35.25 + tax

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Well, it is the 10th of January and we've not had a single measurable snow here at our place.  I'm not really too broken up about this either.  I did want some snow around Christmas, but now that time is past and we're on to new things!  We did get quite a bit of rain when others out in western and southwestern Kansas got all of the snow you probably heard about on the news.  I believe I even heard about one college-aged girl getting stranded in it for three days and she lived on Snickers.  Not a bad thing to be stranded with...which leads me to tell you about a deep dark secret I've been keeping.  Well, it's really not that dark, but it makes it sound more interesting.  Snickers are one thing I've NOT been eating lately.  I've been eating healthier now since May.  I'd just reached my limit.  I couldn't stand myself the way I was anymore.  It was affecting my life and my family's.  It was keeping me from doing things I wanted to do.  Since my Dad died in November of 2010, I've been getting closer to God.  I really NEEDED Him and found myself seeking for Him.  I listen to KLove radio all the time and heard about a new book that had come out.  It was called "Made to Crave" by Lisa TerKeurst.  I got the book that day and started reading it right away.  I began to realize I wasn't alone in making the weight come off.  I'd been relying on my own strength and willpower to do it and was failing every time.  Now, I know God is my strength.  I've never believed in "diets" and I've never been able to lose any weight any other way.  I'd gained 100 pounds since high school.  Since May I've lost 30 pounds.  I've still got a long road ahead of me, I know.  I may talk more about it sometime, but for now I just wanted to share this with you.  It's one of the biggest things going on in my life right now and it felt strange not to.  I hope you are all having a bright and happy new year so far!!