Wall Art Memo Board

In August’s Stampin’ Success (a super magazine for Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators) there was a really neat memo-type board for the wall that was created using four 12″ x 12″ canvases, one of which could be used as a magnet board, as it had been covered with sheet metal.  The memo board was used to display photos, a calendar, stamping projects, etc.  When I saw it I thought it would be an awesome idea for my stamping studio as I had one big blank area of wall between two windows.  Because the wall was fairly big, I wanted something that was bigger than the one shown in Stampin’ Success.  I had a dilema though.  I wanted the entire thing to be magnetic.  I called up a local sheet metal workshop and asked them if they could customize something for me – and they did!  This is actually 2 panels, each 2′ x 3′.  I had them fold the edges over twice, so that from the side it looked like an unfinished canvas (in metal) and so that the edges would be smooth instead of unfinished and sharp.  The depth is about 1/2″ . 

Unfortunately, the picture doesn’t really show the true colors – it looks so much nicer in real life! To decorate it, I started by using 12″ x 12″ sheets of Certainly Celery, Almost Amethyst and So Saffron Prints Designer Series Paper.  The Rose Red paper is from the Cutie Pie collection.  I adhered it using Paper Mod-Podge.    I started with one sheet of paper at a time, added a thin layer of mod podge to the metal, then carefully smoothed the paper on top.  I did all the sheets of paper like this, then let it dry for a couple of hours.  Once they were dry, I applied a thin layer of mod podge on top of all the sheets of paper. If I were to do something like this again, I don’t know if I would use mod podge.  I used it because it increases the durability of the paper, the problem is, no matter how careful I was, the paper still buckled. I’m sure it’s more obvious because I don’t have anything on the board yet, and hopefully once I use it for its intended purpose, the things I add will cover the “buckles”.

While my mod-podge was drying  I pulled out my chipboard letters from the On Board Lots of Letters collection. I actually purchased 2 sets to make sure I had enough of each letter.  I covered them with White Craft Ink. The other flowers come from 2 other collections:  On Board Blossoms and Basics and On Board Ginormous Pieces.  I used a combination of the Prints Designer Series Paper and Craft inks (in Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Almost Amethyst and Rose Red.). To embellish them I used Circle Rhinestone brads from both the Fire and Ice Collections.  On a couple of the panels I used Apricot and Celery Grosgrain ribbon.  To adhere the letters and flowers to the board I used Crystal Effects - an awesome, super strong glue.  Once I actually have stuff on it, I’ll take another picture and post it.  All supplies are Stampin’ Up!.  Thanks for looking!

**Update (Sept. 10th) : I’ve had a few people asking me about how I got the sheet metal and how much it cost.  I looked up a local sheet metal workshop and called them and asked if they would be willing to create a custom panel for me, and they said yes to come on in and explain to them what I wanted. I went to the shop and talked with one of the guys that worked there and explained to him that I wanted the edges to be folded over twice so that it looked kind of like an unframed canvas (picture a rectangular serving tray, with straight sides that are about 1/2″ deep, then flip it upside down so that the part that you decorate is the underside so to speak – does that make sense?). I had him cut 3 panels – two were 2′ x 3′ and one was 2′ x 2′.  My total cost was $60 CAN.  A suggestion I would make if any of you decide to do something like this is not to go as big as I did I would say that about 2′ x 2′ is as big as you want, because when we mounted it on the wall (each panel is sitting on 2 screws with anchors) the bottom of the panels didn’t sit flush against the wall – the corner on one side was sticking about 1″ away from the wall.  My solution?  I used Stampin’ Up!’s Pop-up glue dots and stuck the corners down.  It’s working well so far!