Made It Monday #2

Geoboard Tutorial

This week, I am posting a cute geoboard that I made for Aubrey.  She absolutely loves it and we like to use it during her homeschool activities.

What You Need:

Wooden Board-about 3/4 inch (mine is from Hobby Lobby)

Paint

Paintbrush

Mod Podge

Short Nails

Start by painting a base onto the wood board.  Make sure you get all the sides.

 There isn't a picture of the next step.....

I printed off a graph of 1 inch squares that were 11 squares by 8 squares.  Using that as a guide, I centered it on the wood board.  I, then, poked holes in each corner of the graph with one of the nails and made an indentation in the spot that I wanted them to go.  After I had finished, I picked up the paper and made a light mark with a pencil where each indentation was.  It needs to be dark enough to show through the decorative paint.  My 9 x 11 inch board has 8 nails by 10 nails with 1/2 inch on the short sides and 1/4 inch on the long sides.

Decorate the board with paint.  I used the base of a small cup to trace 2 inch circles to make a geometric pattern.  Since I had already marked the places for the nails, I used that as a guide for the circle's placement.  I used four paint colors and tried to make the colors as random as possible.  I had to do two coats of paint for the circles.

Allow plenty of time for the paint to dry.  Then Mod Podge the entire board.  I put two layers on.

Tap the nails into the marked spots.  I let the nails stick out a little less than a 1/2 inch.

We use colorful hairbands to make shapes!!!

I hope you enjoy this Made-It Monday!  

Today I am linking with:
Brag Monday @ The Graphics Fairy
http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/
Motivate Me Monday @ Keeping It Simple
http://www.keepingitsimplecrafts.com/
Made by You Monday @ Skip to my Lou
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2012/10/08/made-by-you-monday-122/

Check them out to see some more great ideas!

TUTORIAL: Quote Painting

I saw the quote:  "I will be grateful for this day" a long time ago.  I liked it so much that I wrote it on a post-it and stuck it on the corner of my laptop so that everytime I went on the computer I would see that and remember to be grateful.  Well, those post-it's don't last forever and it started to fall off.  I wanted to find some way to make that statement a more permanant fixture in my life (without getting a tattoo).  I have seen some drag type paintings around and figured out a way to do it for myself.

What you will need:

*Two contrasting colors of acrylic paint.  I chose teal and purple.

*White acrylic paint

*Paint medium

*1" brush

*canvas

*stencils

*foam brush

Prepping

Mix your paint with the medium.  I stick to a 2 parts medium to 1 part paint.  This will save your paint and also will make it easier to spread along the canvas. 

  Make a blob of each of the following: 

*First color(teal)/medium 

*Second color(purple)/medium

*Second color + white/medium. 

You want two shades of your second color.

 Start by priming your canvas with one of the colors you selected.  It will show through so I chose a bright color that would really "pop".

Next take your darker shade of your second color and dip your 1" paint brush in.  Start at the top of the painting and drag the paint down the canvas.  Repeat across the top.  You will want it to look jagged so experiment with different amounts of paint on the paintbrush as you go along.  After you finish with the dark shade, start again using your lighter shade.  Don't worry about washing off the paintbrush, it will help blend the colors.  Repeat across the top with the lighter shade.  Press harder so that it mixes a little with the darker shade. 

 Repeat on bottom of canvas.

 When doing the sides of the canvas, don't drag all the way on the corners.  Just lightly paint the corners and only drag partially, so as to just give the allusion of the "drag."

 Repeat again on the other side.

 Paint the sides of the canvas to match.

 Tape your quote/statement stencil to the canvas in the place you want it.  I used my handy-dandy Cricut to make my stencils, using the Zoo font!!!  Using your foam brush paint in the stencils.  I was going to use white, but decided on a really light shade of purple that I mixed up.

Hang on your wall and Enjoy!!!

Homemade Dry Erase Board

I will start off by saying I LOVE dry erase boards!!!  I feel that they are great for staying organized and communicating as a family.  And when they made dry erase calendars, I fell in love even more!  I used them when I was teaching and they were wonderful for the kids to learn to write on without wasting a ton of paper.  The only thing that I don't like about them is that they are not too attractive to have hanging around the house.  The ones with nice wooden frames around them are really expensive, and I just don't want to pay that much.  So when I found out that I could use a regular picture frame to create a really nice dry erase board, I couldn't wait to try it out. 

I went to Walmart and purchased an 11 x 13 frame for only $5.  I then used scrapbook paper I had around the house to make a background for my new dry erase TO DO board.  I wanted something that would coordinate with my kitchen so I could hang it in there. 

This project literally took me 10 minutes to make and looks pretty good.  And the best part is that I can switch things out whenever I get bored with it!

Here's the result, hanging in the kitchen:

And here is my list of TO DO's for today:

Now it's your turn to make a cute scrapbook-ish dry erase board for your home!  Good Luck!