fabric-covered bulletin board tutorial

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I've had a basic bulletin board above my desk for about a year now, but ever since I hung it up, I've been wanting to fix it up a bit. It looked a bit too blah and classroom-like for my taste. And so I decided to cover it up with some fabric. The process was much easier and hassle-free than I expected it to be, and it turned out quite lovely. Other than gathering the supplies, I'd say the whole thing only took about 20 minutes.

I used this tutorial as a guideline, but this is how I did it:

Materials: a piece of fabric large enough to cover the cork (I used some extra white linen I had from another project), fabric sheers or scissors, masking tape, spray adhesive, a piece of ribbon or trim long enough to cover the border of the cork, and hot glue or tacky glue

1. Cut out a piece of pre-washed material to fit the interior of your bulletin board. The piece of fabric should fit right up to the frame, but not past the frame. If it's not perfect, that's alright. The ribbon will cover up the inconsistencies.

2. Iron the material, if needed.

3. Using the masking tape, tape off the frame of the bulletin board so that you do not spray any adhesive on the frame.

4. With your material ready and on hand, spray the cork with the spray adhesive and immediately apply the material onto the board. Flatten out any wrinkles while the adhesive is still wet.

5. Once the adhesive is dry, cut out lengths of the ribbon or trim to fit the four sides of the bulletin board. Using hot glue or tacky glue (I found hot glue worked better), attach the ribbon or trim along the edges, within the frame.

And that's it! You could also paint the frame of the bulletin board before doing this, if you didn't like the coloring of the frame. And while I wanted something sort of understated and plain, there are endless possibilities with patterned fabrics or bolder colors.
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valentine inspiration

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A few things I've been staring at recently:
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1 | embroidery heart pins from maggie makes
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2 | there aren't enough words valentine from melt
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3 | heart-shaped cherry chocolate chip scones from such pretty things
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4 | heart pictures from a beautiful mess
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5 | love is sweet valentines from design sponge
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6 | lace tealight from mint
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7 | chocolate strawberry ice cream sandwiches from mint
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8 | heart-shaped zipper pouches from the purl bee
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9 | valentine cottages from melt
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fabric pom poms

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I can't get over how pretty these are.
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DIY Fabric Pom Poms
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{images via OnceWed}
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flower stationary

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Early in December, while I was still in the throes of art history and statistics and getting desperate for break, a completely crafty mood came over me. I spent my few free minutes every day perusing craft blogs. And while unfortunately my wonderful plans for crafting every spare minute of my Christmas break didn't happen, I was able to fit in a few crafts, one of which was these super simple flower stationary cards. I found the idea from Ashley Ann.

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I chose them mostly because they looked quick and simple and because I had most of the materials already. All you need is a glue (I used a hot glue gun), some plain note cards, and some silk hydrangeas. It was a fun way to use up the enormous stack of white note cards I've collected from my past rubber stamping years.

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I followed what Ashley Ann did and used colored hydrangeas on white note cards, but I was also thinking it would look beautiful to use white hydrangeas on brightly colored note cards, yes?
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For the full instructions (though it's really nothing more than arranging the flowers on the note card and gluing them on), go here.

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I didn't have any raffeta for the packaging, so I just used some matching ribbon that I had laying around and used that to package the note cards. And inspired by Ashley Ann, I stuck one of the hydrangea leaves in to add a bit of color. It is not my favorite handmade stationary ever, but it makes a simple gift!

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