I won’t lie, I keep this baby up all year and it has been a permanent fixture in our home and previous rental for more than three years. I love corralling the cards and memorabilia I’m not yet ready to put away in one pretty place. But for others, this might be a good idea just for the holidays. You could paint it to suit your decorating colour scheme (or paint it to clash!)
In any case, it is a super easy DIY with lots of opportunity for personalizing. I started off with a hideous retro gold frame and painted it a warm white. But you could use any frame that fits your style, what you have on hand or even make your own frame if you’re extra ambitious. Scroll down for the “how-to” . . .
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| The finished product |
Supplies:
Frame
Piece of foam core, cut to fit inside your frame
Fabric
Ribbons
Buttons
Thin gauge wire/carpet thread/embroidery floss (to “sew” on button)
Large needle or awl (to pierce foam core)
Glue
Small framing nails or staples
How-to:
- Lightly sand, prime and paint your frame to suit
- Cut your foam core to fit (or use very thin plywood)
- “Upholster” the foam core, pulling your fabric tightly around the edges and glue in place
- Arrange ribbon in a random/grid pattern and affix to back of board using glue
- *Note: we didn’t wrap the ribbon tightly enough and they stretched a bit so pull super tight!
- Select where you want the buttons to go (where two ribbons cross) and pierce the foam core
- “Sew” on the button, using the thin wire or carpet thread and tie off at the back
- Insert finished board into frame and affix using staples, or small nails
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| “Before” |
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| The cats were suspicious |
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| The painting got a new frame (but no new home-yet) |
After I made mine, I saw a version in a House & Home. They did something a bit different and covered a bulletin board with paper which, I think, doesn’t give you the flexibility to shuffle stuff around (eventually the paper will be very holey) but it might work for you. Their styling is much better than mine—it looks so pretty over the mantel with colour coordinated cards and props. I have mine plonked on a wall, in the hall.
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| Mine |
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| House & Home November 2007 |
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| House & Home – so stylishly accessorized |
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| Try a pop of colour! House & Home April 2004 |
This is really a very beautiful project… I love this… !!!
I love the way you repurposed this frame. It really makes a stunning display. Nicely done!
Thanks! Jeesh, photos from my older posts are so embarrassingly bad. Glad you like the project, though. It looks much better in real life 😉