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!