D.I.Y. Unique As You Are Clipboard!

The last few weeks my brain has been filled with mental lists of things I need, things I want and things I probably don't need but definitely love anyways. But I would never claim to have thought of it all, because just when you think you have-something else pops up!

Somehow I let a clipboard slip my mind. It came to me Monday when I finally got into our class to check it out! I was conversing with the teacher that I will be spending this year (and possibly many years to come) sharing a class with. She was mentioning the list of photocopies she had made for me for bus duty purposes and she said "our clipboards will be full!" I thought nothing of this until I was driving home-filled with building anticipation on the school year, and it clicked! "She said clipboard! I haven't even thought about buying one! DUH!!!!"

So Tuesday I ran to Staples. Well-my husband drove me. I love to run. But my Staples is a half hour drive.

I picked up 2 clipboards for $3.15. They are plain and boring and very depressing.

 I scooted over to Walmart and bought some Mod podge (satin finish)for $6.89 and the rest of my goodies I found lying around in my scrapbooking supplies. I went home with a plan!

It went something like this:

 

 

1. Gather your materials. You are going to need the clipboard, mod podge, a brush to apply the podge, some pretty fancy papers. (I used cardstock stolen from my scrapbooking supplies, but I would advise you to use a printed paper, rather then the cardstock. The cardstock bubbled a tiny bit, and i tried it again with paper and it didn't.) I also used some ric rac, to add a little detailing. But any coordinating ribbon would do.

 

 

 

 

2. Cut your papers to fit on the back of the clip board. I decided not to give you the measurements for this-because you will need to decide what sizes you like your papers. You could do one whole piece of paper, and not have coordinating colours, but I really wanted two.

 

 



3. Mod podge the backside of your clip board. This stuff dries kind of fast, so work quickly. It doesn't matter how neat it looks right now, this part will be covered. Once your backside is mod podged, stick on your papers. (Pretty side up!) Press and rub that paper down really hard, making sure you have all the air bubbles if you used cardstock. Mod Podge right over top of the paper. Try to make this part neat, smooth brush strokes. Let it dry for 10 minutes.

 

 

4. Flip your board over. I used one piece of paper for this side. (It's going to be covered up most of the time anyways.) I cut it to fit the clipboard, and then cut a spot out for where the clip must fit. This took some guess work. Then i mod podged this side the exact way I did the last side.

 

 



5. I added a strip of ric rac along the bottom front. (if you are using ribbon then this is where you would put it.) and I also added a strip of ric rac to the back, along the seam where my coordinating papers met. I just used a little mod podge to glue it down.

6. This is the back. I told you yesterday I had a thing for birds right? Well these birds are especially cute. That's it! Or so I thought. I had extra ric rac and some ribbons that matched, so I cut a few strips and tied them through the hole on the clip, knotted them to secure them, and they just look frilly and cute! :) I did not take a picture of that part. Sorry. I have total confidence in my readers though, I know you could get the job done. :)

Phew! I'm glad that is over with. My first tutorial! Did I suck? Could you follow my directions?

:)