My daughter Chloe isn’t really a chocolate/candy kind of teen so every year when Valentine’s Day comes around I try to think of something creative to do for her. Like every other teen. she asks for gifts cards (and scratch off lottery tickets) but putting them in a card just wasn’t good enough for me so I made her a chic memo board.
Getting Crafty
Lately, I have been seeing a trend in macrame, crocheting, and string arts from the 60’s and 70’s popping up, so here’s my updated version of a string art. I thought it would be a creative way to give her a Valentine’s gifts and still have something that she could use for a long time after. She loves Tiffany Blue so I steered away from the tradition reds and pinks and give her her favorite color. I started with a 12 by 16 inch pine board that I purchased from Michael’s Arts and Crafts. I was in a pinch and didn’t have any extra lumber hanging around the house so I opted for a finished piece of wood. If you want to use reclaimed wood or any boards that you have that are relatively larger that 12 inches wide go right ahead. I purchased black and white Baker’s twine from the dollar bins, picture hanging hooks and 100 pack of large silver headed push pins. Regular nails would do too. I found a small container of turquoise paint on the Oops shelf at Home Depot. I also bought from the hardware store metal mailbox letters spelling out Chloe’s name. If you can’t find the metal letters you could always stencil on a name or use stickers/decals or omit the name all together depending on the look you want.
I painted the board and cut out a heart the old fashioned way by folding and cutting paper in half. Then I was assured to have an even heart. I traced the heart and then painted the inside of the penciled heart a shade lighter turquoise. I simply added a bit of white paint to tint it (Optional). I then hammered the nail heads around the edge of the heart making sure they were secure but not fully hammered all the way into the board. I spaced them out roughly 1/3 to 1/2 inch apart starting with the bottom of the heart and working my way around.
I then took the baker’s twine and made a knot leaving some extra string hanging and knoted the pushpin at the base of the heart. I cris-crossed along the entire heart randomly making sure that I hit every pushpin at least once and ended up at the same pushpin that I started with. I tied a knot. The memo board was coming together!
I used a ruler to maker sure my metal letters were spaced out even and hammered them in with tiny brads. I added her gift cards to Alex and Ani, Starbucks, and Marshalls along with her scatch-offs and her DIY memo board was done. I loved it!
Total time for project was 1 hour and 15 minutes and cost around $22. Now Chloe can place her friends photos, gift cards and mementos in her heart memo holder for years to come. I might need to make one for myself…..
Happy Crafting! Amie
