05/22/2010

Mother and Daughter, by Jan Frederick Portielje,  1829-1908 Belgium

Click on photograph for a larger view

Tin signs with antique roses are quite popular as magnetic bulletin boards, although they can be expensive. Here is a way you can make one, that really does not cost much money.

Using epoxy stickers, you can create magnetic raindrops for the roses, as you see in the photograph above.

Remove the stickers, mount them on paper, then glue them to the magnetic material, and cut out.

An old cookie sheet that cannot be restored to its original sheen, can be used for this project. This one is is very bad condition but I wanted to see what could be done with it.

First, a layer of paint, any shade you like. It can be spray paint or bottled craft paint, like Folkart or any acrylic paint. A small bottle sometimes only costs 50 cents.

For magnets, find flat buttons or fake jewels. Glue pieces of magnetic material (found in craft stores), cut to fit, on the back. I would suggest a sheet of magnetic paper, which you can cut with ordinary scissors, to the size you want. If you cannot get any, just take a magnetic strip off your old refrigerator calendar and cut it in pieces.

Use stencils, decals, or cuttings from scrapbook papers, to decorate the cookie sheet bulletin board.

Put heavy weight magnets all over the back of the cookie sheet if you want to use it on your refrigerator. It is not necessary to glue them, but you can.

Here is the tin bulletin board with butterfly buttons glued to magnet pieces, to hold down the messages and shopping reminder, placed on the side of the refrigerator. The picture is cut from a glossy calendar of roses, which I got at the Dollar Store, which is decoupaged. Elmers white glue can be substituted. Just paste the clipping down and then paint more glue over the top.  You could use any scene you like, or paint one yourself.

Years ago, cookie sheets had a hole on each end. You could attach a wire for hanging. They dont have holes any more, so you have to figure out how to hang them, or else prop them on a shelf that has a groove in it for plates.

If you do not have buttons to use as magnets, you can always cut more flowers, or anything that matches the picture you choose, and glue them to card board, and then glue on the the magnet material. Decoupage the tops of the pictures with glue or decoupage paint, to give it shiny finish. You can treat stickers the same way. For example, if you use a tea pot theme, make tea cup stickers for the magnets.

While it is always nice to buy something that is ready-made, it is satisfying to be resourceful with things that otherwise might be discarded. 

For magnetic memo boards you can buy, go here

and here. I see they are out of stock, in some stores, so it is a good thing you can make your own. The magnets are a lot safer than push pins or thumb tacks, especially if there are children in your home, so your home made one might be just the thing you need.