Last Minute Gift Ideas, Anyone?



Jazz Up a Corkboard for a Personalized Gift

Fabric MemoBoard

            

Dry Erase/Corkboard

Corkboards and fabric memo boards the perfect gift for someone who already has everything else.  It is also fun for kids to create their own boards to hang in their rooms.  Little girls especially love these boards.  I have made several of them for gifts and they are always a hit. Kids love to help with these projects, but watch the hot glue gun!  There’s really no wrong way to make these boards, so dig in and have fun:

To make a Dry Erase/Corkboard like the one in the picture above, you will need:

1.       Corkboard/Dry Erase Board

2.       Ribbon (1/2 “ wide and 2” wide) of your choice

3.       Wooden cutouts of your choice

4.       Smallish coordinating buttons

Your corkboard can be completed in as little as 15 minutes with minimal mess involved!

Directions: 

1.   Start by hot gluing the ribbon on the outer rim of the board.  Most corkboards have a ½” rim, so ½” wide grosgrain ribbon is perfect.  Just use a steady stream of glue.  Don’t gob it on there or it will not look good.  To finish the corners, cut the end of one piece of the ribbon on a diagonal and glue it on top of the other ribbon end.

2.   Make a bow with the 2” ribbon.  Gluing a coordinating button in the center is a cute added touch.  You can glue the bow in the center of the board or in a corner. 

3.  Take a look at the wooden cutout you have chosen.  If there’s any way that you can add buttons or ribbons, it will give it a personal touch.  This is where kids can really get involved.  (On Jaylee’s owl, I decided to add pigtail hairbows, buttons, and eyelashes.)   Once you are happy with your cutout, use hot glue to secure it to the board.

4.   Monograms always look cute on boards.  For this board, I just used a clear sticker with a “J” on it.  Wooden cutout monograms also look really cute.

5.   Add magnets or pushpins for an extra special touch. 

Bottle cap magnets.  For the first one, I used a glitter flower sticker and a button.  2nd one:  zebra sticker with a "J" sticker and two glitter flower stickers.

Bottle cap magnets are easy and fun to make.  Bottle caps can be used to make necklaces, earrings, belts, and all sorts of things, but magnets are the easiest thing for kids to make out of bottle caps.  Kids love this craft.  Although it's not necessary, it will make your life easier to purchase a 1" round hole punch.  Here's what you'll need:

1.   Bottle caps

2.   Clear stickers of your choice that are big enough to cut into 1" circles

3.   Buttons

4.   Monogram stickers

5.   Round magnets

6.   Hot glue gun

Directions:  Choose your sticker and cut it out to fit the size of the bottle cap (1" round).  The hole punch in the picture above can be purchased at Hobby Lobby and it makes this craft so much neater and easier.  After cutting the sticker to the right size, peel off the backing and carefully place it on the outside of the bottle cap.  Add buttons or monogram stickers or anything you feel like.  The possibilities are endless with this craft.  Hot glue a round magnet to the back of the bottle cap.  Be careful because the metal bottle cap will be H-O-T-T hot! 



Fabric Memo Board



I made this memo board to coordinate with the Owl corkboard for the same person.  Had I been making this board for an adult, I would have used “calmer” pattern combinations.  I just fell in love with the hoot owl fabric and the busy ribbons.  I thought it would be perfect for a sassy 6-year-old girl.  Plan to spend around 30 minutes on this project from start to finish. 

Things you will need:

1.        1/2 yard of fabric (you will have a lot left over)

2.       Corkboard

3.       Ribbon of any width

4.       Large Buttons (or bottle caps)

5.       Staple gun

6.       Hot glue

Directions:

1.   Lay your fabric right side down on the table.  Place the corkboard on top of the fabric and position it so that 2” of fabric overlaps on all sides of the board.  Cut the excess fabric off.

2.   Starting with one side of the board, fold the overlapping fabric onto the back of the board.  I like to tuck the raw edges under so that I have a clean edge to staple.  Clean edges on the back also make it easier to hang the board.

3.   Hold the folded fabric down with one hand and staple in a straight line until you get to the end of that side.

4.   Move to the side opposite the side you just stapled.  It is important to pull the fabric taut.  Repeat the folding and stapling process.  Finish the other two sides.  It should look something like this on the back:

5.   Before I staple any ribbons down, I like to lay out my outer ribbon border first so that I can judge how long the interior ribbons need to be.  Don’t glue the outer ribbon on yet.   You are just eyeballing it right now to make sure that your ribbons are parallel to one another.

It's a good idea to lay your ribbons out first before stapling or gluing anything down.

6.   The interior crisscrossed ribbons should be stapled down first.  After you are happy with your pattern, remove the outer ribbon border from the board and staple the interior ribbons.  The staples will not be visible once the board is finished.

7.   Glue the ribbon border down and finish the corners by cutting one edge on a diagonal. 

     8.   Lastly, glue your buttons to the ribbon intersections.  For Jaylee's, I decided to use the same bottlecaps I used for the magnets.

Finishing Touches

If you are giving these boards as gifts, it is thoughtful, but not necessary, to include a pack of dry erase markers for a dry erase board or a pack of pushpins for a corkboard.  When giving a fabric memo board, you could place a few pictures on the board of you and the gift recipient.  Any personal touch you can add will definitely be appreciated by kids and adults alike.  Happy crafting and Merry Christmas!

Corrie