A Homespun Year....Altered Clipboard Art & Free Printable Crown Collage...

 

These Altered Clipboards are all over Pinterest.

 

They come in varying degrees of complexity and ingenuity.

 

Some use vintage photographs for embellishment, others gingham and rhinestones (an odd combination, but it works on this particular project!). Brown paper, twine, found objects and old lace are other favourites.

 

My daughter and I find our own way with these. They are a popular gift amongst her Couture Stationery loving set, and the prettier, the better.

 

This one is a gift for a friend who has a birthday celebration this weekend. There is a co-ordinating Dreamcatcher under construction to pair with it...Dreamcatchers are another winner amongst teen girls, it seems. I'll share a photo of that later in the week when it's completed.

 

I actually meant for this to be a tutorial, but I neglected to photograph this one before, during and after embellishment, and the local discount store is currently bereft of the Craftboard style of clipboard necessary for this project. A task for another day, I guess.

 

Materials required:

 

Craftboard style office clipboard. These often come in pack of two for under $3.

Scrapbooking embellishments including flowers, rows and flourishes of pearls and rhinestones

Twine

Craft glue

Scraps of fabric and lace

Sandpaper or sanding block

Pearl effects paint

 

Then just:

(Note that this is a four step process, that you need several hours for, and preferably overnight drying time for the paint)

 

1. Sand the aluminium clip to give a more distressed and pearly look. I also hit this one with a hammer and nail in a couple of spots to make it more distressed and aged looking.

 

2. Paint the clipboard with Dulux Pearl  Effects Paint. One coat is sufficient, but you can do multiple coats to get a warm, pearly depth of colour if you wish. You just need to allow more drying time, obviously.

 

3. Glue embellishments as desired. We designed a Collage using PicMonkey that depicts a crown over some sheet music, wreaths and branches, and a few birds. You can download the Collage at the bottom of this post. The other embellishments used, were offcuts of lace we had on hand, scrapbooking bits and bobs, and a twine twirl, glued into place carefully as we twirled. A sliver of fine tulle dusted with faux sequins was layered over this, and pre-made rhinestone flourishes added to finish.

 

4. Finally, inexpensive rows of faux rhinestones and pearls, again inexpensive scrapbooking items, were added to the base of the clip. We were tempted to continue layering, but in the end, my daughter decided this was lovely as is.

 

 

The crown collage is a little creased from the gluing process (a hazard of allowing an impatient teen to take over the task...lol!), so we may decide to disguise this is some fashion. But I don't think it matters when it's this semi-distressed type of project, really.

 

We've made a few of these now in different colour schemes, and usually with this Olde Worlde touch. They're always enthusiastically received, both as an artwork, and as a practical piece of stationery.

 

Each one takes no more than an hour or two over a couple of days to complete, and costs well under $10, if not under $5.

 

Make a sweet altered clipboard of your own, or as a gift, and use my free printable Crown Collage to embellish it....

 

Printable Crown Collage

...Mimi...

Budgeting & Insourcing....Rainy Weekends....

 

How do you fill in time on rainy weekends?

 

I know lots of folk head off to a movie, restaurant or café to feel warm and cozy, and be entertained.

 

We like to stay home, snug as a bug in a rug, as my Mother used to say.

 

The rain was torrential in our part of the world over the last 48 hours. We had more than 20cms, or over 8 inches of rainfall in that time. We have a rain gauge and my husband takes great delight in reporting this information to me, so I can assure you that is correct.

 

For us, reading and snuggling under cosy rugs was the order of the day. This beautiful copy of Les Miserables was a Mothers Day gift, and I've been looking for an excuse to get started on it, so this was perfect book reading weather!

 

Our 19th Anniversary passed without comment from either of us earlier this month as we've been so busy, so in a fit of guilt, my Darling went out and splurged on not one, but two bunches of my favourite Columbian Roses. These I split up and spread all over the house, as both singles and smaller bunches. Do you love this thrifted vintage pink jug with apple green handle as much as I do?

 

 

 These ones just look like velvet, don't they...

 

 

Butternut pumpkin (squash) was inexpensive this week, so after roasting one whole in the oven for an hour or so to soften it, I discarded the seeds, removed the flesh and whizzed it with the stick blender to yield a lush thick pulp. Adding some milk, chicken stock cubes, ground ginger, garlic and onion to a third of it, made a gorgeous soup which we served with a dollop of sour cream and a drizzle of honey. There's still at least two more meals of soup left or perhaps a pumpkin and ginger slice or a pumpkin fruit cake in the making....hmmm...decisions, decisions...

 

 

I succumbed to marketing pressure and tried the Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cookie Mix. At around $4, it was a cost effective alternative to a café treat, giving us 16 large cookies, for just 25c each! Winner, I say!

 

 

When you're housebound, it's time to make a little more effort with making home the place to be.

 

Setting the table beautifully is always a priority here, so we did just that for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. Here's another little thrifted pretty....some vintage placemats housed in a sweet box, and with pretty English countryside scenery on them. Smaller than the usual placemats in my stash, I can only assume they are meant for a caravan. I use them for setting the Breakfast table. With pretty plates, and vintage cutlery, they're a lovely way to start the day, however gloomy.

 

 

A dreamcatcher was started for a teen friend...

 

 

...to go with a sweet altered clipboard for the same friend. We love doing these. A coat of pearly paint, sanding of the clip to make it more distressed looking, and then embellishments of all kinds to pretty them up. They're almost too lovely to use as clipboards. I'll be sharing a tutorial on how to make these, this week...

 

 

We enjoyed a couple of old favourites from our movie collection....The Others, which is sensationally spooky on a rainy afternoon, even if you have seen it a dozen times before...The Grinch which we love all year round, and a new purchase we hadn't watched yet, Mad Max Fury Road...a wonderful bit of escapism if you haven't seen it yet!

 

How do you spend a rainy weekend?

...Mimi...