Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Specimen Board

Ok, don't leave...Specimen Board may or may not conjure up a good mental image, but this is a cute specimen board!


I'm telling you, this is the last Valentine's Day project I'm doing. I mean really. Technically, I was using up scraps from making my heart ornaments for my Etsy Shop, when I came up with this idea.

Here's what you need:

Glassless {is that a word?} frame, I like black, but it could be any color or size..

Burlap

Cardboard or foam board, I used a pizza box

Fabric stiffener

Shipping Tags

Standard 3'' ABC stencils

Scrapbooking paper (of your choice)
Straight Pins



This is one of those projects using everything I had on hand



Cut the cardboard to fit inside the frame. Make sure it's pretty snug. I used an exacto knife and ruler, or if you actually have the glass {I didn't} use that as a template.

Next, cut the burlap the exact same size as the cardboard. Use the fabric stiffener to adhere it to the cardboard



If you have Mod Podge or even elmer's glue, that will do the trick too.

Be careful to pull on the burlap enough that it's pretty straight...you don't want it running down hill...

Using Shipping Tags, stencils, and scrap paper I created "Love". Depending on the size of your frame, you could spell out whatever!


Need more information?

Ok,

use the stencils to trace out your letters on the front of the shipping tags

hand-cut them out with the exacto knife (be careful!)

mod podge the scrap paper to the back of the tag, trim off any excess paper.

If you want to know how to stain your shipping tags check out this post.


Along with the shipping tags, I pinned on a heart and the word Sweet.



You can use anything you have on hand. I think this would be really fun to do seasonally or for everyday things! Ribbon would be cute instead of the string too.



Thanks for stopping by!




I hope you're inspired to try a specimen board!



Visit Becca @ Blue Cricket Designs! Thanks for hosting Becca!




BCD Show and tell



10 comments:

  1. The title had me guessing! :) Love the aged pieces!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is one of those Valentine's Day decorations that I wouldn't want to put away after the holiday! It looks great :)
    Wendy

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks adorable and could be created in any number of color combinations.... but I like yours!

    Di
    The Blue Ridge Gal

    ReplyDelete
  4. I had to stop and read your post when I saw specimen in the title! It's really cute!
    teri

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm always inspired by your blog. I may not try each and every project...but, it makes me happy just to see them!

    Sue

    ReplyDelete
  6. Michelle,
    Another sweet project, you are so creative!
    Dee Dee

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am loving your specimen board (insert chuckle here) so much! I saw something similar to this at Home Goods but your's is 100 times better. It's adorable!

    ReplyDelete
  8. SO awesome! I love it - never seen anything quite like this before.

    ReplyDelete

Thank You for taking the time to comment! Because of the insane amount of spam comments, I had to stop anonymous comments-sorry for the inconvenience.
Michelle