Under an hour craft project! Week 1: Memo board
So I wanted to share with you an idea I'm always trying to put into practice; making things in a short amount of time. In the 21st century we all seem to lead our lives at the speed of light, and as nice as it is to work on projects that take time (I'm a big advocate of this), it's not always possible. For me, one of the things I love about crafting, and that keeps me motivated is a sense of achievement. So I try to keep a balance of working on big projects where the results will pay off but will take some time, and what I call "short term wins"; projects that you can quickly knock up and get that crafting 'kick'.
In order to share this idea, I'll be trying to post regular 'under an hour' projects I've worked on for you to have a go at too or at least give you a bit of inspiration for your own!
This week I decided to make an incredibly easy (but very stylish) memo board!
- A cork board (I bought mine from Rymans for £9.99 but you could easily pick these up at a car boot or charity shop for cheaper, or make it yourself with some board and wadding.)
- A piece of fabric of your choice (allow for 2 inch seam allowance)
- A staple gun
- Drawing pins
- Scissors
First of all you need to decide what fabric will best suit your memo board. The best way to do this is to cover the board, or pin the fabric to it so you can get an idea. Here were a few of my possible choices:
I decided to go for the Michael Miller teapot fabric I bought a while back as it was bright and cheery.
- Make sure before doing anything that you iron your fabric. I know, I know...it's boring...but it's much better than having nasty creases down your memo board at the end!
- Place your fabric wrong side up and place the cork board in the centre.
- Fold one side of the fabric over the board and pin using drawing pins. Repeat on the opposite side.
- You are now ready to staple!
- When it comes to stapling, I'd recommend keeping the staples few and far between at first. This way if the fabric is on the wonk or you make a mistake you can easily take them out without wanting to throw the whole thing out of the window.
- Once you have stapled both the two opposites sides, you can start on the last two. In order to do this, think of it like wrapping a present. Fold the two corners in and over - like an envelope.
- Finally, pin the fabric in place, and making sure you pull the fabric tight - staple the fabric in place.
- And your memo board is complete! Simply pop in some picture hooks on the back with some picture wire and mount it on your wall!
Tips
The memo boards I was looking at a few months ago, had used ribbon running diagonally across them so you could slip in pieces of paper. In the end I decided I preferred mine plain, but you could easily add lines of ribbon for a bit more "functionality" and (yes I'm really going to use this word...) pizazz!
