Makeover a notice board 3 ways.

Do you want to turn your notice board into a gorgeous office accessory? Would you love somewhere attractive to display your notes, inspirations and keepsakes? Using a notice board that I got from the Post Office's online shop, I will show you how. The techniques I will use in the makeovers include; applying paper, using stencils and covering with fabric. Lets start off with the easiest and by far the quickest way you can transform a notice board, which is by using paper.

Paper

I gave this notice board above a makeover using glitter gift wrapping paper and it took me approximately 15 minutes to do! It has to be one of the quickest ways you can transform a notice board and it is so simple to do.

You will need:

A notice board, paper (big enough size to cover your whole board), glue and scissors. 

• Cut your paper to size. Cut the paper to the exact same size of the cork part of the board or if your noticeboard has a slight gap between the frame and cork part like the one I used, you can measure and cut the paper a few millimetres larger all round so it overlaps slightly onto the wood frame (this will be tucked into the gap at the next stage).
• Apply a small amount of glue along the back edges of the paper (tuck in the gap if applicable then) adhere to the board. 

That's it! Really quick and easy. If you don't have a large piece of paper, why not try using smaller pieces of paper overlapped in similar or contrasting colours. Just remember when choosing your paper that pin holes may be visible when you take the pins out.

The best bit about this type of makeover is that it is very easy to change if you want a different colour scheme etc. 

Stencilling

You can turn your notice board into a piece of art using stencils. Making patterns using paint and stencils can really brighten up your board and make it a focal point in your room. You can make your own stencil templates like I did or buy them online or from your local home decorating store.    

You will need: 

A notice board, a stencil, paint (avoid watery paints as they can seep under the edges of the stencil), a stencil brush or sponge and some tape to hold the stencil in place.

• Before you start painting with the stencils try and have a rough idea of how you want the stencil patterns to be arranged. 
• When you have decided on how you want the layout of your stencil patterns place your stencil flat onto the board in the desired position. Secure in place with some masking/washi tape.
• Using a stencil brush or sponge apply the paint all over the cut out parts of the stencil. Apply the paint quite thinly so it doesn't seep under the stencil.
• Repeat the last step for each place you want a stencil shape to be painted until you are finished and allow to dry.

If you are planning on overlapping your stencil patterns you will need to allow the first layer of paint to dry first before applying a second layer of paint on top, so smudging doesn't occur. Also remember, if you are using different colours of paint to clean and dry brushes/sponges thoroughly in between.

Fabric 

Finally the third option, and probably the most popular way to makeover a board, especially amongst diy fans and craft enthusiasts. This option is to cover the notice board in fabric. I love the way the fabric softens the look of the board.

You will need: 

A notice board, enough fabric to cover your board and adhere to the back, wadding (note that thick wadding will make pushing pins into the board difficult, so go for a type that is thinner and light weight), scissors and glue (or staple gun if you have one).

• Start buy cutting the wadding so it is the same size as your notice board.
• Glue along the front of the wooden frames edge and stick down the wadding. You can glue the wadding to the center of the board to if you want it to be extra secure.

• Iron you fabric if it is creased. Then measure and cut it so that it is a few of inches larger each side than the notice board. The fabric needs to be a bit larger than the board so that its edges can be glued to the back of the board.

• Finally. lay the fabric pattern side down on to a flat surface. Place the notice board centrally on top of the fabric front down so that the wadding is sandwiched in between the fabric and the board. 
• Fold over one side of the fabrics edge to the back of the board and glue down. I folded the fabrics long edge twice to give it a neat finish in case I wanted to use the felt back on the board I have. The edges don't really need to be folded over twice and glued neatly if no one is going to see it though so don't worry about it looking perfect. 
• Stick down the rest of the fabrics sides. In between gluing each of the sides turn the board over so you can see the front and check if the fabric is still laying flat. In order for the fabric to lay smooth across the board it will need to be adjusted and pulled slightly over the edges as you go.
• Allow the glue to dry then hang the notice board up.

I would love to know if you use any of these techniques to makeover a notice board and how you get on.

Free downloadable mail art anyone?

It has been a while since I shared some mail art with you so I thought I would show you my latest attempt. This American mailbox themed mail art above took a couple of hours to do. I would like to do more mail art but lack of time often prevents me from doing so. 

This got me thinking that there may be other mail art makers/fans who also lack the time etc to make mail art to. So why not, I thought, offer my own mail art (new and old) to download for free? The downloads would be in the form of an envelope template with the mail art on the front that you could print off at home, cut out, assemble and send out. Would anybody be interested in downloadable mail art?

The first free mail art download I would like to offer as a download would be this UK letter box themed envelope above. The brown envelope would be left blank so you could write the address you want to send it to and put your own stamp on. Is this something you would like? Please let me know in the comments section below and I will get to work making it into a free download for you.

Here are a couple of my previous mail art envelopes that could also be available to download. Any preferences or suggestions you have for new pieces of envelope art are very welcome.

Thanks so much for the continued support of my blog, I am really looking forward to replying to any feedback you may have.

DIY: Easy card for snail mail lovers

I thought it would be great to make a card that stamp/mail lovers would like. This is the design I went with. As you can see it is very simple and you don't need many materials.

All you need to make this card is a piece of smooth A5 size card folded in half (I cheated and bought some ready made blank cards), a pen, glue stick, scissors and either a real stamp, a printed off image or drawing of a stamp.

I started off with writing the words in white pen. If your wanting to use a white pen I recommend a good one like a Pentel 1.0mm, I couldn't find mine and ended up using a cheap pen which smudged a lot.

I then glued the stamp in place in the middle of the card. I was going to stop there but decided to try adding some washi tape, so applied it to the top and bottom edges. That is it, easy peasy!

Junk food mail art

This week I made this junk food mail art envelope out of some chip gift wrap paper (bought from a Tiger store), a takeaway leaflet, a piece of white paper and an envelope. I started off with covering the envelope with the chip paper then gluing a burger cut out of a leaflet onto the bottom corner. I then cut out and glued a receipt shape out of white paper and applied the stamp at an angle to look like a little flag (flag stick shape cut out of a post it note). I then used a pencil to add a bit of detail. Do you think the postman will feel peckish when he sees this envelope?

I post all my crafty makes on Instagram if you would like to see them you can follow me there to. 

Easy mail themed wall art using washi tape

I really love art and have been meaning to create a piece to go on my wall for ages. I particularly like the idea of doing a painting and went as far as buying the canvas, paints and brushes. My problem is  that I am not confident enough to actually put any paint on to the canvas. I get thoughts like "What if I make a mistake and can not cover it up? What if I don't like it when it is done? Do I throw the canvas in the bin?" So I never start. I looked online at other mediums I could try and was inspired by some washi tape art I had seen. Washi tape seemed the perfect thing to create a piece of art with. It is so quick to apply, easy to change/remove if you make a mistake and as I am not short of washi tape, cheap to put together. I knew straight away what the subject of my art would be, my love of letters (of course).

So I started off by sketching out my design. I then practiced placing the washi tape on sheets of paper a few times to see where, how and what size the strips of washi tape should be. Once I got it how I liked on the paper I just copied it onto some thin card. I measured the lengths of washi tape against the practice version I had on paper to get it the same but you could lightly draw the design with pencil and go over it with tape if you prefer. If you want to use paper instead of card for your art you could simply trace onto a new sheet of paper with tape over the your practice sheet.

To make this washi tape art all you will need is:

• A frame (mine was from a charity shop).
• Thin white card or paper same size as your frame.
• Washi tape (colours according to your preference)
• Scissors

That's it! A very quick and easy piece of art dedicated to happy mail, what do you think? Hope you like it.