decorative bean balls

Scott had to travel for work last week and since I do not sleep well when he is gone I had lots of time for crafting and watching way too much HGTV.  I am so thankful the days of him traveling 2-3 weeks a month are a thing of the past!  Anyway, this bean ball project (tutorial here) kept me busy for awhile.  I had everything on hand and kept glueing beans until I ran out of glue sticks.  Mine are made of white navy beans and coffee beans.  I think they look pretty cool.  The glue is more noticeable in the picture than it is in person.  I painted the styrofoam balls brown before I covered them with the coffee beans.  After I restock my supply of gluesticks I will make a couple more to fill up the bowl.

I found the link to this project at One Pretty Thing.  There is endless crafing inspiration at that site!

cabinet corkboard

I picked up some cork tiles at a local home improvement store, cut them to size for my cabinet door, and used the foam tabs that came with them to mount them.  Super easy, and took hardly any time at all.  The fun part was making the fabric-covered button thumbtacks to make it cute.  I just use hot glue to attach the tack and it works great.  The perfect spot for hanging the menu plan, sweet notes from the kids and cut-out recipes to try soon.  As if I don't have enough recipes already!  :)

how to make a linen pinboard

While I was browsing through the Pottery Barn magazine I noticed the linen pinboard in this picture. I've made a couple of these so I was curious how much PB was charging for theirs. $149! Crazy! My version is $15 - $20. Here's how to do it -

All you need for materials are one sheet of Designer Tack (purchased for $10 at Menards), 1 1/2 yards of fabric (You could choose any fabric you like but I always go for a linen look alike. I buy it at Joann Fabrics for $3.99/yd.), and a stapler (refer to the next picture for the type of stapler to use since I don't know the proper name for it!).

Before you begin, iron your material and remove the plastic from the tack board. Lay your material out and then center your tack board in the middle of it. Staple 2 of the sides that are opposite of each other. Keep pulling the fabric tight as you staple so that you end up with a nice, smooth board.

Before you staple the last 2 edges, you need to do the corners. I'll try to explain how I do this but it's probably better to just look at the pictures or find another way that works for you! First lay the corner out flat, like in the picture above.

Grab the corner of the fold and pull it up to the edge of the tack board. Make sure the fabric is smooth.

Use your thumb to hold the edge in place while you smooth and staple.

Pull up the rest of the fabric, paying close attention to the edge again to make sure it is smooth and tight then staple in place. Finish all 4 corners and then staple the sides remembering to pull the fabric tight again as you staple.

There are several different options when it comes to hanging it. I've used whatever I've had on had. For the one in my sewing closet I used 3M removable mounting tabs and they've worked great. Today though I used two little round screw eyes and wire from my picture hanging kit.

Here it is hung up in Thomas's room. We recently did a little redecorating in his room. He wanted a Star Wars, hockey, football, skateboard, and baseball bedroom. This pin board is my answer to that! :) He chose Star Wars bedding and now he can hang all the sports posters he wants on this pin board.

He's happy with it!