{Photo Clothesline}

I've had my fave photos on a very plain corkboard in my craft room for forever, and it would probably still be that way if it weren't for my need for wall space. I recently made a new ribbon organizer and I needed/wanted it on the wall. That meant removing the corkboard, but I couldn't part with my pictures. I had a long narrow section above my embellishment shelf and a stack of clothespins from my teaching days. 

First I had to make the clothespins cute, and whaddya know I had some patterned paper that coordinates with my room. It's getting a little weird. I traced the clothespins onto the paper, cut them out, then made them pretty with the coolest thing ever made....MOD PODGE!!!!!!  I then sanded all the edges. I used jute twine and these cool wooden star nails I found at a primitives shop a couple of years ago.

Here's how it turned out:

Actually it's much better in the room anyway, and I have the space I needed for the drawer-turned-ribbon organizer . I swear if I hung clothes out on a line I would make some cute clothespins to hang, too!

 How do you inspire yourself in your own craft space?

Have a good one,

{Valentine's Countdown Clipboard}

My kiddo has been begging me to put up a Valentine's Countdown this year! I didn't see a printable that I liked, and I didn't really want to do a treat thing with it (although those are so cute!). We'll be doing a scavenger hunt for her to actually FIND her Valentine this year, so I wanted the countdown to be just that...numbers.

So since I love Mod Podge, and I could make clipboards all day with it, I decided to go with a cute and basic clipboard countdown. It's easy!

YOU NEED:

Mod Podge and foam brush

clipboard

heavier patterned paper

ink (optional)

printer

scrap ribbon

cardstock

sticky strip or other strong adhesive

Start by cutting down your paper to ABOUT the size of your clipboard. You could also cut it smaller, leaving the clipboard as the framing around the paper. Apply mod podge generously directly onto the clipboard.

REALLY press your paper down, smoothing from the middle outward. If you have a brayer, this helps, but you don't need one. Just KEEP RUBBING OUTWARD. Then wait a couple of minutes and rub AGAIN. I have had bubbling once or twice, but only when the paper I was using was really thin -OR- if I didn't press it really, really well.

When you think you're done, rub it out one more time! :)  Trim any long edges, then take a sanding block and sand all around the edges. (You can skip this step if you make your paper smaller than the clipboard.) Distress the edges when you're done sanding.

Now apply mod podge again, even sealing over the edges, too.

Set it aside to dry, and print off your numbers on cardstock. Also print a final day sign and "...days 'til Valentines" for the bottom of your board. Trim to desired size and distress the edges if you want. (I have to distress edges. It's a sickness.)

Once it's all dry, add your strip to the bottom with a strong adhesive. I used sticky strip from Walmart.

I stuck my last day sign to some coordinating cardstock, but the rest of my numbers were on white. Clip them on in order, then tie scrap ribbon around the edges of your top clip for the cuteness factor. There you have it! Put this in a tabletop easel or hang.

Whatcha think? If you have any questions, feel free to let me know!! :) The hardest part of this was deciding how big I wanted my numbers to be. I had a brain lapse when I started it, but that might have been because it was 1AM...., ya think?

This would be cute for a vacation countdown, or other special event, too. (I'm seeing Disney paper on the clipboard and countdown numbers 'til vacation??) 

Enjoy!

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