Let’s Make a Memory Board!! (tutorial)

We are going to make one of these!!

Alrighty!  I love these things…. don’t you?   Come to find out….they’re pretty darn simple to make.  The back doesn’t look really pretty…. but we don’t care about the back!!

Anyway… Here is what you will need:

Hot glue gun (& glue)

Staple Gun (& staples)

Ribbon of choice

Fabric of choice

5 Beads, buttons, whatever!

2 Pieces of corkboard (1 sq. foot ea)

Polly Fill stuffing

OK!  First.  Let me tell you about the cork board.  I was at walmart looking to price the regular framed boards that you can buy (over in the stationary department) … and I came across a package of 4 of these Square foot tiles of cork board!  I thought immediately… that these would make a GREAT project!!  They were about $5.  Alrighty.. on with the “what to do’s”

First and foremost – Glue two of the cork boards together with your hot glue gun – Makes the board thicker, which saves the staples from going through.

Ok.  Now that the boards are glued, Take your fabric (I doubled mine up) and lay it down on a hard surface so it lays flat (a table works great!).  Begin stapling the fabric to the cork board.  If you’ll notice… I used two staples to ensure a good grip.

Staple three of the four sides … LEAVE the corners!!  Once stapling is done with the three sides… it’s time to stuff!  Grab small handfuls of your poly fill and work it into the “pocket” you’ve made.  Move your hand on top of the fill to get it to form right and to fill all the spaces. 

Keep filling until the board has just the right amount of “oomph” for you.

Now let’s close that last side!!  Remember to pull the fabric fairly tight… but not TOO tight, or the cork board will bend up.

For the corners – Grab the flap – Push the sides of the flap in tight and then staple.  I threw a few staples on the corners once again to ensure a good grip.

Not too hard so far, eh?  Here’s some fun!  Grab your ribbon – Take it from one center end to the next, leave some extra at the ends, and cut.  Do this a few more times until you have enough pieces to make the pattern above.

Staple your ribbon to the back of the board.  I stapled one end of each without much thought – when it came to doing the other ends, I pulled tight, made sure they were even, and then stapled them down.  When it comes to placing the ribbon going the opposite way – weave those pieces through your existing pieces.

Whala!!  Now you can do the hot gluing.  I chose to place a dot under each ribbon connection to make sure they stay in place.  I then glued some beads my daughter had saved, seeing as how these are the boards I made HER…

For hanging – You can get any type of “picture hanging kit” and glue the hanger on the back of the boards.  Dollar general has a kit for a buck.  Nice and cheap!!  The hangers I used look like this :

Anddddd…. That’s IT!!!  I hope this wasn’t too hard for ya’ll and that maybe, just maybe you enjoyed it.  I’d love to see what ya’ll come up with!!  Feel free to send me your results to me at acpryor@live.com.

T-Shirt Rug!!

Alrighty!!  You're probably wondering....  HUH?!  Well.  I'll tell you!

First... I'd like to say that I'm writing this, because I've had a few ask 

me how I made mine.  It's a tedious process, takes a while, and there 

are blisters involved.....  HOWEVER...

The end result is FANTASTIC!! (lol)

I found the original idea here - Rags By Sock Monkey  (which I found

 by using Pinterest)  All I did, was upped the 'ante' a bit so to speak.  

Maybe I should start calling it my "Scrap Rug" or... my "Anything rug',

 since it's not just T-shirts.

Anyway...

Be prepared for ALOT of cutting.... blisters, a sore hiney, and many 

more small obstacles in your journey into rug making.... lol.  It's well worth

 it though, these rugs are extremely awesome and incredibly comfy!!!  

The original calls for just T-shirts, but for me.. I wanted to  explore more 

options.  SO, I incorporated sweatshirts, 

sweatpants, fleece pullovers, you name

it, I was using it!

The following photos are two rugs I've made.

This is my first.  Trial and error rug.  I made it using a T-shirt as 

the base....  The end result?  The holes in the T-shirt stretch 

big time and the 'tie' pieces are constantly falling out.  

(FRUSTRATING!!)

Here is my second rug..  

Learning from the first, I decided to make the base

a sweatshirt piece instead, and using string, I stitched one small

 little stitch into each 'tie' piece to ensure they'd stay in. Whalaaa!!  

It worked!  So this is the 'tutorial' I'll give to you all.

Ready??

Ok first.  Collect all the shirts, sweats, etc. that you're planning on

using.  I always think of a color scheme I'd like to do...  

whether it's grays, pinks, blues, etc.  This one I'm going to

show you all, I chose purples.  This is going to be my personal

rug....as I LOVE purple!!  Anyhoo...

Once you gather all the items you're going to be using, start

cutting strips.  You probably want to keep them about an inch

wide or so (it doesn't have to be exact, just guess-timate!)

You'll also want to cut them about 6 inches long (again,

you don't have to be exact, we'll trim later).

Get some string (thread) and a needle too, that way

all your supplies are handy with you.  I always sit on the 

floor to do my crafting, it's just easier...and the space is so

much bigger!!

Anyway...  Grab a sweatshirt or fleece pullover for your base.

Cut a big square out.  Look at my pic for an example.

Once you've cut out your "base"... start by cutting or poking

little holes into it, in lines, you can do as many holes as you'd like.

I didn't measure or anything, between holes was about a 'finger

space'.

I spread it out a bit, so you could see how I did my holes.

Ok.  By now you should have your strips cut too... If not,

go ahead and start cutting!!  I use every possible section

of clothing to cut from... and I love using sweats rather

than just T-shirts.  They hold up so much better.

Got your strips ready?

LOL... ALOT of cutting!!!

Ok.  Now we're ready to go.

Figure out your pattern, etc. before you start... this way you have

an idea on what you're going to do.

It's almost like weaving, but not quite.  Confused?

Grab your first strip, (I always work with the bottom

of the rug up, it's easier to feed the strips through and

keep track of my pattern) if working with the bottom

up like I do, the shove one end of the strip in the first hole

and the second end in the one right above it.

Taking your next strip... shove the first end into the hole

that the second end of your first strip went in.  Then shove the

other end into the hole above it.  Now, just with those two

strips, you should have only used 3 holes.  I hope that hasn't

confused you!!  Aside from the end holes, all the other holes

will be double used by the strips.

Keep going until you're done!!

I made a pattern on mine, which is easy to do... if you can't tell

what it is, it's a heart!

When you're finished threading your pieces through... you

can stop here, or reinforce the rug, like I do... so you're not

constantly picking up strips that happen to fall out (all the time!)

This is where you grab a needle and some string (I use

string because it's stronger than just thread).

Start with the beginning strip in a line pinch both ends together

and move your fingers towards the bottom of the strip, pinch both

ends together and push the needle through the front,

then through the back.  I do this twice, then tie

it off in a double knot.

Snip the ends off close to the bottom of the rug, careful

not to cut the knot off!!

This is the MOST time consuming part of the rug making

process, but well worth it!!  After threading the string

and such, I trim off the ends of the strips, so they're all

kind of one length.  You can make them as long or as 

short as you'd like them.

DONE!!  Here's the back of my rug...

And here's the front!!

(Photo was taken with a different camera,

so it looks different, but it's really not!)

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me

and I'll help ya' anyway I can.

I hope you enjoyed this!!
I'd love to see any rugs you guys come up with!!