Birthday number 2

So the second birthday in our triumvirate (is that the right word to use?) of birthdays was my lovely mum’s.

She has been dropping some reasonably heavy hints that she wanted a pinboard/memo board for her new kitchen, so this is what we decided to make.

And this is how you do it…

What you need:

• old picture frame-we found a picture in a nice big frame on a trip to Glastonbury Reclamation Yard (if you live anywhere near, go for a mooch-there is some awesome stuff!)
• paint to paint it with
• piece of sheet metal
• metal primer (optional)
• something to cover the sheet metal with-fabric, old map, comics, magazines, stamps, anything you fancy….
• glue to stick things with-I heart mod podge-it is awesome, but watered down PVA is the next best thing
• craft magnets, and things to stick them to
• glue gun or super glue

What you do:

• Disassemble your picture, and put the glass somewhere it won’t get broken…

• Paint the frame (or you can cover it with fabric/stamps/magazine bits etc)
  I painted the frame with about 3 or 4 coats of purple (which is the ‘accent’ colour of the new kitchen…) acrylic paint I found lurking in my craft stash.

• Get your lovely Hubby to Very carefully cut a piece of sheet metal to fit the frame (use the backing piece of the frame as guide)
• Prime the metal with some spray primer if yours is a bit rusty like ours

• Use your mod podge (or equivalent) to stick your chosen fabric/magazines/comics etc to the primed metal-taking care to smooth out any air bubbles or creases. At the back, just fold it over like you are wrapping a present, and glue it down

• Allow the frame and the covered metal bit to dry, and then reassemble

• Make some magnets by gluing a random assortment of items onto craft magnets, and job done!

(I will admit that a lot of the items we used in this project were stuff we had lying around after being bought new a while ago-pre MMDAMY-for previous projects, but still a pretty frugal present, and 100% homemade!)

• Then you need to find something to wrap it in…Back upstairs to the fabric stash…

Couple this with a batch of homemade Millionaire’s Shortbread, and a candle, and I think that makes a pretty good pressie!