Summer Projects

This summer has just whizzed by....I'm a little sad about it, but also excited for this school year.  My girls are both excited about being in 3rd and 5th grade...I cannot believe it!!  This week I am working on some decorated clipboards for teacher gifts and getting the girls' stuff all labeled, organized, and packed up.  One of the items I wanted to make for them this year was a personalized pencil pouch.  I love to paper piece, but these little letters were the smallest I had ever made!  The pattern was created by Diane at from blank pages  and can be found on etsy here.  It is very clear and easy to use, but it still took me 3 hours to do all these letters, ahh!  I love how they turned out though!!

Here are the finished pencil pouches!  I didn't want the other fabric to be so busy it took away from the letters.  The girls LOVED them, I'm sure it's because they had their names plastered across the front :o)

Another fun project I have been working on this summer is another EPP project, pattern by Becca at Bryan House Quilts.  I decided to just use a ton of different fabrics, with the low volume for my neutral fabrics.  This picture isn't stellar quality, thank you iPhone,but you get the general idea.

 I need to start using my "real" camera again, but I still have to dump 1500 pics off my memory card, eep!  Guess I know what I will be working on this fall!

Back to School -- Decorated Clipboard Tutorial

Last year I bought 2 of these clipboards from a sweet lady on etsy last year and after I got them, I thought "I could totally make this!!"

Materials:
wooden clipboard with rectangular clip*
mod podge
foam brush
several sheets of coordinating scrapbook paper
straight edge--I used my good ole library card!
variety of ribbons

Optional:
fabric glue
vellum embellishments
stickers

Lay out your scrapbook paper and decide how you'd like to decorate your clipboard.  I had to cut a couple of pieces to fit onto this clipboard.

Cut your scrapbook paper just a bit smaller than your clipboard so the mod podge will seal correctly.  I also used a corner rounder for my corners and it came our really nice!  Once your paper is ready, apply a moderate layer of mod podge on the clipboard and apply the first piece of paper.  Run your straight edge (or library card :o) over the paper to ensure there are no bubbles between your paper and the clipboard.  Apply each piece of scrapbook paper one by one until the front and back is covered.  Trim edges and any over-hanging paper.  It is very important that all paper is adhered to the clipboard with the mod podge...it will bubble later if not.  I also used a hole punch to help the paper on the back lay flat over the metal.

back of clipboard

Allow your clipboard to dry completely...I learned this the hard way, but the longer it has to dry, the better!!    Using your foam brush, coat the entire front with mod podge.  Allow this side to dry completely, then apply another layer.  Repeat for the back.  I wanted to make sure there were NO bubbles, so I took a few days doing this, too, but I don't think you have to.

Once your clipboard is dry, you are ready to embellish the clip with your ribbons!  Cut several different lengths of a variety of ribbon.  The more, the merrier!  Tie each ribbon in a knot onto the clip...at this point I used a small dot of fabric glue to the inside of the knot before tying...just to make sure it didn't come apart with use.  Some ribbon is satin and won't stay tied, no matter how tight you make it to start with.  Once the ribbons are all secure, trim away pieces too long and heat seal the ends, or use fray check.  Since this might get a lot of use, those ribbons could get very frayed if not treated.

I know we did this for back to school, but you could do this for any occasion, or just for fun!

*Wooden clipboards are not the easiest to find...look in the home office section of Target, Walmart, etc, instead of the "back to school" section!