So, here is some exciting news: my friend Laura Kelly now has an online store, Shop Laura Kelly! To celebrate its opening, she sent some of the craft kits that she has for sale in the shop to some of her blogger pals, and I was lucky enough to be on that list. Yay!
(Disclosure: The craft kit was provided to me for free by Shop Laura Kelly; all opinions in this post are 100% my own.)
The kit I received is for making a little bulletin board, and it came with all of the supplies, even the glue! Here is what the finished product looks like if you follow Laura’s directions:
…but I didn’t follow the directions. Hey, who ever said that there are rules to craft kits?
I love Laura’s design, but I also wanted to see if I could use the same supplies to make my own version of the project. I added a couple of other things I already had on hand and came up with another fun way to make an adorable mini bulletin board. Think that either version would be super cute as locker decor!
If you like this project, please be sure to scroll all the way to the end of the post to check out more fun back-to-school crafts!
To make my version of the bulletin board you will need:
- Laura Kelly mini pin board kit
- Baker’s twine
- Recycled cardboard
- Fabric
- Spray adhesive
The ribbons all come pre-cut in the kit, so this project is super duper quick and easy. First, cut a length of baker’s twine (I used about 10 inches). Fold pieces of ribbon in half and use glue to secure them to the twine, creating a little flag bunting. To make the job a little easier, it helps to clip the ribbon around the twine with a clothespin while the glue dries.
Continue until you’ve added ribbon to about 6 or 7 inches of the twine, leaving a couple of inches of twine tail at each end. Trim the ends of the ribbon with pinking shears if necessary.
Cut a square of cardboard that is a little bit larger than the square of cork that comes with the kit. Stiff cardboard, like the back of an old notepad, will work best.
Cut a piece of fabric that is about 2″ larger than the cardboard, so that it will cover the cardboard with at least 1″ of extra fabric all the way around.
Spray the back side of the fabric with adhesive and smooth it over the cardboard; fold the excess from the edges around to the back side and add a little more glue if necessary to hold them in place. To cover the edges of the fabric I cut a second square of cardboard the same size as the first and glued it to the back. If you want to add a ribbon for hanging your finished bulletin board, you can sandwich the ends between the two layers of cardboard to hide them.
Glue the cork square to the front of the fabric-covered cardboard. You can glue it so it’s perfectly centered on the fabric, or you can give it a little bit of a funky attitude by twisting it so the squares are slightly offset.
Decide where you want the bunting to hang over the board and glue the ends of the string in place; trim off any excess string.
Cover the ends of the string by gluing a button in place over each end. Let the glue dry and your mini bulletin board is ready for action!
You’ll have a whole bunch of really cute ribbon pieces leftover, so after you make a small bunting for this project, you can make another longer section of ribbon bunting to decorate something else as well!
Or, alternatively, you can follow Laura’s directions for the “official” version of the project on her blog.
And now, more back-to-school crafts, as promised! Check out these great projects from some of my friends:
I love yours so much! It is so cute and functional. XOXOXO