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Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After

Rediscovering Life after Retirement

Categories: Craft and Create, Uncategorized

I Love You Because DIY: Motivational Monday Link-Up and Anything Goes Party

mm1 6-22
[source]

Happy Monday!

I am trying to type this post early on Sunday evening so it will be ready to go first thing tomorrow morning but we are having intermittent electrical outages.  Probably because it is so hot today and it is a weekend so more people are home running their ACs and other gadgets and appliances.  Going to type fast and save after each paragraph so I don’t lose what I do get typed when the electricity blinks again.

I am linking up with Carrie at Curly, Crafty Mom for Motivational Monday where she shares do-it-yourself (DIY) craft and home decor projects.  Also linking up for the Anything Goes Party hosted by Sandy over at Sandy’s POV.

anything goes

  [source]

The little project I am featuring is along the lines of a fancy dry erase board or message board.  I found the idea on Pinterest and then kind of fine-tuned it.

I used to leave messages written in lipstick or eye liner for my daughters and PC on the mirrors in their bathrooms.   Kind of like this, however, this isn’t one of my masterpieces.

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[source]

Sweet and fun.

But I realized that I was making more work for myself because the longer the messages stayed on the mirrors, the harder they were to clean off.  Now that the girls live waaaaay across Texas, I can’t leave them little mirror love notes so I made each of them one of these little message boards for Christmas.

MM6-22

Today I will share the steps with you as I make one for my sweet prince!

Look again at the photo above, to see the message board I started to make for us.  I got through step one and then stopped and it has sat like that on my craft table for a year or more.

I was invited to my friend Martha’s annual fundraiser, “Hobbies for the Cure” yesterday, held in memory of her sister Laura who died with breast cancer about seven years ago.  Everyone invited takes a project they are doing and works on it at the event.  Quilting, cross-stitching, scrapbooking, weaving.  I had planned to take my scrapbooking stuff and did, but then realized I could also work on my DIY for this post there, too.

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Martha makes the event such fun.  We had door prizes and a delicious catered lunch.  Everyone there was working on some kind of beautiful craft.  It was a great time.

I have changed my bedspread since I started the message board for our room so decided to start all over again.  It wasn’t like I had done THAT much on our frame anyway!

For this project, you will need:  a picture frame with glass, 5 X 7 or larger; one piece of scrapbook paper or gift wrap paper a little larger than your frame; embellishments like flowers, gemstones, buttons, pearls; a hot glue gun and glue sticks or craft glue; adhesive letters or a printer so that you can print words onto your paper background.

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First step was to cut scrapbook paper to fit in my frame.

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I used a paper cutter but of course, you can just mark off the size you need on the back of your paper and cut it with scissors.  I just wanted to look really crafty.  I put the background paper into the frame and replaced the backing to see how it looked.

Because my new bedspread has some different colors than the bedspread I was using when I originally bought the embellishments for this project, I decided a little trip across the mountain to Hobby Lobby was called for.

I have a lot of scrapbook stuff but never seem able to find what I want when I want it.

Can I get an AMEN?

 On my field trip to HL on Friday, I bought two packages of fabric flowers, a package of faux pearls, and two pages of adhesive lettering.  Saturday morning, I grabbed up all of the little decorations I had mixed in with my scrapbooking stuff and took them with me, too.

After putting the paper into the frame, I was ready to move onto step two.

I laid out my embellishments around the frame.

I tried different combinations of things until I found an arrangment that I really liked.

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Once I had everything in place, I took a picture of the layout of the decorations then removed them until I was ready to glue them on.

My third step was to adhere the letters of my message onto my scrapbook paper background.

I removed the paper from the frame and slid it back into my paper cutter so I could line up the letters onto the paper using the edge to keep them semi-straight.  Wow, that is not a very clear direction.

Hopefully, the pictures will explain this better.

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I made sure that my letters were not too close to the top of the paper or too close to the left side of the paper so that my embellishments and the frame wouldn’t cover them up.  I used my pinky finger to space between the words and just kind of eye-balled the spacing between the letters.

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I printed the message onto the scrapbook paper for the frames I made Brennyn and Lauren.  In some ways, printing would give you more options as far as the font size and style you can use, but I had a hard time getting the words to print exactly where I wanted them on the paper.  It took several attempts to get it lined up right.

The adhesive lettering was easier to me but made the project a little more expensive.  And a little frustrating by its own right when I realized that I needed one more E than I had in my two packages of letters.

mm9 Of course, you can be sure to have enough letters if you write out what you are going to say ahead of time and buy enough in the first place (rather than doing it in your 57-year-old head and missing an E like a certain someone I know).

I didn’t want to stop there so I stuck a C in place of the missing E and kept on working.

What a champ!

Before I quit for the day, I put the scrapbook paper back in my frame to make sure the letters were all readable and somewhat straight.

mm10

And then I used three little pearls for the ellipsis, the dot dot dot …

I am so surprised I could think of that word…ellipsis.  It will never happen again.

Last night after church and Cold Stone Creamery ice cream, we stopped at Hobby Lobby to pick up another package of letters and guess what?  There was only one package left.  Yikes!!  That was a close call.  

Next time, I have to write out and count the number of each letter I need.

But thank goodness, a colossal calamity was averted.

I waited until today to make my message right.

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Step five, I heated up the glue gun to adhere my embellishments.

This is the point where I should have looked at the picture I took yesterday to see how I had laid everything out.

But I forgot!

So, I laid the little decorations out again, in a new way, and began gluing everything in place.

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I allowed the glue to cool or set for a few minutes while I nursed my glue gun burns.

Finally, I used a transparency or water based marker (not a permanent marker) to hand write the reason I love my Prince Charming on the glass.

Using a water based or dry erase marker will allow me to wipe off the original message and add something different.

How do I love thee, PC?  Let me count the ways…

mm13If you have been following my blog, you may have picked up on the fact that I am not always terribly confident.  Every once in awhile, I will ask PC why he loves me.  His standard reply is because I am a “good woman”. Early in our relationship when he would say that, I would feel kind of like a nun.  Not that being a nun is a bad thing at all.  I guess more like the kind of girl that people describe as nice when they are trying to set them up on a blind date with a friend.  “Oh, she’s REAL nice!”

But over time, Paul has assured me that in his eyes being a good woman is more important to him than being beautiful or intelligent or funny.

So when I finished his frame today…on Father’s Day…(there are those ellipsis again!), I wrote:

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And judging from his smile, I think he liked it.

mm16

Happy Father’s Day, PC.

I love you for being the good man you are.

Hugs and kisses,

leslie

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About Leslie Roberts Clingan

I am an aspiring blogger and children's author, wife, mother, daughter, sister, - in-law, responsible pet owner and recently retired elementary school librarian. I hope to figure out the next chapter of my life as I transition from crazy, busy work world onto totally idle retirement and now to something in-between.

Comments

  1. Sharon

    June 21, 2015 at 10:46 pm

    You made me one a few years back and I love it. So glad you had a good weekend and thanks for sharing YOU with everyone. I’ve known for almost 50 years what a good person you are! 🙂

    Reply
    • Leslie Roberts Clingan

      June 22, 2015 at 9:50 am

      Thank you for always stopping by and reading my blog and leaving me comments to know you have been here. I guess being a good woman isn’t so bad, huh? Love you, friend!

      Reply
  2. Valerie

    June 22, 2015 at 5:43 am

    I love it. If you need to practice your skills, you could make one for Relay silent Auction. You could even do a super hero theme, “you are my hero because…” On second thought, maybe I will try that.

    Reply
    • Leslie Roberts Clingan

      June 22, 2015 at 9:51 am

      Hey, we can both make one for silent auction next year. I love the super hero idea. I should make you one that says YOU ARE MY HERO because… BECAUSE you are absolutely my hero/heroine. Count me in for making one for the basket! I love you, baby sis.

      Reply
  3. Casey

    June 22, 2015 at 7:32 am

    What a GENIUS idea! I love it! Totally doing this for my girls…my boy may not appreciate it…but I’ll work on him! 🙂 Thanks for the inspiration, friend! XO

    Reply
    • Leslie Roberts Clingan

      June 22, 2015 at 9:54 am

      Ahhh, Casey, thank you for coming by and leaving a comment, too. My sister, Valerie, left a message suggesting I make a super hero themed frame for her Relay for Life Team, Andrew’s Super Heroes. She puts a gift basket together every year and would like a frame for next year’s basket. That might be a cute idea for your son. You are my hero because…

      If you make some of these, please come by and share pictures. We could do a post together about them. XO

      Reply
  4. Valerie

    June 22, 2015 at 11:38 am

    No fair when did PC get dressed?

    Reply
    • Leslie Roberts Clingan

      June 22, 2015 at 12:43 pm

      I started worrying that people would think I’m even weirder than I am, so made him pose for another picture with a shirt on. LOL, you make me laugh.

      Reply
  5. Morgan

    June 22, 2015 at 11:47 am

    I’ve made one before but I didn’t do any embellishments. It’s cute! Gotta love Pinterest for all the ideas!

    Reply
    • Leslie Roberts Clingan

      June 22, 2015 at 12:48 pm

      We are thinking a super hero one would be cute for a boy. What do you think? Or even one with little Matchbox (or cheaper versions) car adhered to it. Or those little action figures or toy soldiers!! Wow, I am imagining all kinds of possibilities. I might have to open a store. 🙂

      Reply
  6. deena

    June 22, 2015 at 12:35 pm

    Brilliant! Love this idea!!!

    Reply
    • Leslie Roberts Clingan

      June 22, 2015 at 12:49 pm

      Thank you! It was fun. We are working on how to create something similar for boys. Ideas?

      Reply
  7. Danielle

    June 22, 2015 at 2:19 pm

    This is awesome! Such a simple idea, but an easy way to leave notes behind for loved ones.

    Reply
    • Leslie Roberts Clingan

      June 25, 2015 at 8:39 am

      Thank you, Danielle. I am going to try to come up with a boy version. Maybe something as simple as some scrapbook paper that reads “boy” and a few embellishments from the scrapbook aisles of Hobby Lobby. I want to get in the habit of changing my message to PC regularly. I put ours in the master bathroom on the counter where he can see it in the mornings as he gets ready for work, or at night as he gets ready for bed. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a sweet comment.

      Reply
  8. Sarah C

    June 22, 2015 at 2:43 pm

    You made me laugh “glue gun burns” not that you got burned but so true when you’re using hot glue! These are great! Love them.

    Reply
    • Leslie Roberts Clingan

      June 25, 2015 at 8:40 am

      That glue gun stuff is deadly!! I usually wind up wrapped in a web of hot glue strings!

      Reply
  9. Karen Strand

    June 22, 2015 at 4:55 pm

    I cracked up about coming up with ‘ellipsis’! When you first used the word, I thought “Shoot. That library lady is smart!” What a lovely project. I’ll have to remember this one!

    Reply
    • Leslie Roberts Clingan

      June 25, 2015 at 8:41 am

      Ha! YOU made me laugh. You know what? This message board craft could be a cute wedding gift, huh? I think I should make up one and keep it on hand. Not sure what in your comment made me think of that…I think it was subliminal because you and your husband are so obviously in love.

      Reply
  10. Ginny

    June 23, 2015 at 1:00 pm

    Such a fun idea and I love easily you can change it too!

    Reply
    • Leslie Roberts Clingan

      June 25, 2015 at 8:43 am

      Yup, it would be easy to change out…maybe for the seasons? Like Christmas paper in December, Thanksgiving paper in November. And even the embellishments will pop right off and could be changed out. Thank you, sweet friend, for coming by!

      Reply
  11. Sandy Sandmeyer

    June 30, 2015 at 1:47 pm

    What a lovely gift and a fabulous way to show your man that you love and cherish him. Thank you so much for sharing your post at the #AnythingGoes Link Party.

    Reply
    • Leslie Roberts Clingan

      June 30, 2015 at 7:13 pm

      Oh, you sweet thing! Thank you for stopping by. I need to update the message on my board for hubby. He is struggling right now with some hard times at work. Hope I can boost his morale a bit. Looking forward to linking up with guys again. XO

      Reply
  12. Wendy

    July 7, 2015 at 8:05 pm

    What a great idea, love it! I’m going to make some as gifts soon.

    Reply
    • Leslie Roberts Clingan

      July 8, 2015 at 12:06 pm

      Thank you! I just changed the message on the one I made for PC to read I Love You Because…you make me laugh everyday. We had such a good holiday weekend and both of us laughed and laughed.

      Reply

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In what felt like the blink of an eye, I have gone from full-time wife to my sweet husband, hands-on mom to my two beautiful daughters and elementary school librarian to a retired, empty nester with lots of time on my hands. Join me on my journey to rediscover who I am. Glad you are here...
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