Noticeboard

I recently started working from home on my computer as a freelance journalist. And I found myself jotting down loads of guidelines and rules on various pieces of paper, only to loose them in the pile of documents that always litter my desk. I needed a noticeboard to keep track of my notes.

So one boring weekday afternoon I took a look around the house to see if I had any material for a noticeboard. That is the way I usually get crafty: A spontaneous need arises and I need to satisfy that need immediately. That means that I am quite good at working with what I have in the house, at economizing, recycling and generally improvising.

A look in a cupboard revealed an old picture frame, slightly oblong in shape, but with a removable board back. I also found a colourful piece of vintage fabric, ca. 1970, some quilting padding, thin red satin ribbon and thumbtacks.

I started out by removing the glass from the picture frame. Then I covered the board back with the padding, tacking it into place with thumbtacks. (I could have used the tacker - except I had run out of staples for it *doh*.) Next I stretched the vintage fabric over the padding and again fastened it with tacks on the backside. Using the design of the fabric as a guideline, I then put the ribbon crisscrossing across the board to form a more or less regular design. To hold them in place, I pushed thumbtacks through the ribbon where they crossed. (I had to use a hammer for that.) When I was happy with the look, I fitted the finished board back into the frame.

The whole project took me literally only half an hour to make. I had the help of my partner with stretching the fabric across the board as it can be tricky holding it and stretching the fabric at the same time.