DIY Project: Make your own Memory Board!

So here (finally!) are the pictures of my completed DIY project for...um... FebruaryandthefirstweekofMarch. But hey, its done now! I decided to try making a Memory Board, something I'd been wanting to do for a decade.

I know a lot of people make their own memory boards, and probably the way I did it is totally wrong, but I just used what I had on hand, and made it up as I went along. So like it or lump it, here is how I put it together!

I started with an extremely stiff piece of cardboard (it came in the mail about a year ago with a book strapped to it. You've probably received one like it):

I wrapped some thick quilt batting around it,

...and tacked it down with some hot glue.

Then I did the same thing with a piece of fabric. I have no clue how much, it was just a scrap I had that I cut to fit. Here is the not-so-pretty backside:

and the nice, smooth cushy front.

I had picked up some ribbon to {hopefully} match this fabric. I was looking for something with purple in it, but other colors too, and somehow ended up taking home this pink and purple ribbon. So yeah, even though pink and purple stopped being my favorite color combination sometime around 4th grade, it was the best I could find.

I just cut pieces to fit, and glued the ends on the back of the board, where they wouldn't show (along with the rest of the messy parts!).

My ribbon didn't end up being exactly straight and evenly spaced, even though I tried, somewhere in the gluing process things got a little wonky. I really was just flying by the seat of my pants anyway, so what happened, happened.Wonky ribbon is in, hadn't you heard?

Next up, I grabbed my button jar to come up with some colorful, fun buttons:

I had fun sorting through and finding fun buttons, then arranging and rearranging until I had a layout I liked!

Then I just sewed them on. I thought this would be time-consuming, but it really wasn't. I just put a couple of stitches through each one, instead of really securing the button like I would on a garment. I also played around with the direction the holes in the buttons were going, just so it wasn't too  uniform, but kind of uniformly-random instead. OCD, much?

It was a happy accident that I had several small flower-shaped buttons in different colors...I thought those would be fun to add, since the ribbon has flowers on it (you can see the detail of the ribbon in that last shot). Kind of ties things together even more! Oh, and I purposefully wanted several teal or green buttons...I just love how teal ties everything together!

Almost done! I looked through my craft supplies and found a ribbon to hang it with (unfortunately, pink was the best I could do..not sure how all this pink is finding its way into this project!). I tied a knot in each end and glue it to the corners of the board. (I played around with a few ways to attach the ribbon, and just thought the overhang of the ribbon added a little something.)

It made a nice colorful addition to my bedroom wall!

And the best part...loading it up with pictures! It was a great place to put Christmas pictures from friends and family. (Yup, I totally cut up everyone's cards. Sorry folks.)

I really love how it turned out, but if I were to do it again, here are two things I'd change:

1. The color scheme (as I already alluded to). The original plan was to go with a shade of purple to match the room, but the pink makes me think of a bubble gum machine. Ah well. I do like the pop of color it adds, and once all those frames get painted white, perhaps it will tone down the gum vibe. All in all, I don't mind it that much

2. The poofy-ness. Next time, I think I would just lay the quilt batting on the front of the board, so that it lays flat against the wall. As it is now, it sticks out more than anything else on that wall. Not a biggie, just one thing I would do differently (or one thing I learned after flying by the seat of my pants).

When all is said and done, I love the color it adds! Right now there is a lot of brown going on, with so many wood frames that need painting, so this is a refreshing addition sans brown. And I love looking at the pictures!

Have you ever DIY-ed a memory board before? Or how about another project that had you flying by the seat of your pants? Where did that expression come from, anyway?