Beth's pARTy: the finished canvas!

This past weekend I hosted a 5th birthday pARTy for my middle daughter. If its not obvious from the unusual use of upper/lower case it was an ART theme (I posted a pic of the invitation a couple of weeks ago ;)

An art supplies buffet... to cut down on the sugar!

This was the sign we put up at the front of the house

 My 4 favourite aspects of the theme were:

1) The art/craft tables

2) The dessert buffet (minus the dessert ;)

3) Art palette cookies

4) The cake!

1) I had 6 art/craft activities outside: decorated paper mache boxes, cards, foam finger puppets, paper cutouts, foam bracelets and portraits (pictured above are my eldest and her Nanny, getting all creative :)

I had a selection of art smocks as well as a bucket of warm, soapy water and towels, so the kids could wash their hands onsite and not have to traipse through the house with paint or glue on their hands.

2) The art supplies buffet was my favourite feature. Dessert/candy buffets always look amazing, but its just a ridiculous amount of sugar, so I decided on a more parent-friendly option and created a table of colourful art/craft supplies for the kids to fill their party boxes.

Mini water paints: Party Shop (Mornington)
Mini scissors: Reject Shop
Crayon erasers: Reject Shop
Rainbow crayons: Reject Shop
A5 and A6 paper rolls: Reject Shop
White boxes: Pack It In

I also had several lolly options available, but you could easily leave the lollies out all together.


3) I saw these adorable paint palette cookies on a blog (cutest little things) and really wanted to make them, but I couldn't find a palette cookie cutter anywhere. So I took DIY to a whole new level and made my own cookie cutter. I found one in my collection that was the closest to the shape I wanted and used a pair of pliers to bend the metal into the shape. The above photo isn't a great angle, but I was too busy with the party that this one was taken by my 8 year old ;)

4) And of course, for those of us who grew up with the Women's Weekly birthday cake book, the cake is always the most important thing at any party. As a kid, I would spend the weeks and months leading up to my birthday pouring over those pages, choosing the cake with the most lollies/chocolate/biscuits/icing-to-cake ratio.

Now that I am a mum, I am at the other end of the experience, watching as my girls angst over which cake they want- cake is too important to leave until the last minute!

This one was a no-brainer, with an artist's palette cake right there for me to emulate. I added another fun touch by colouring the cake batter and creating a rainbow marbled effect inside the cake.

Beth's mouth was full of food when she blew out the candle. For anyone who knows Beth, this is not at all suprising- that girl LOVES food so much, there's no activity worth interrupting a meal for ;)

Decor was really anything brightly coloured, or vaguely art themed and there was so much available in $2 shops, Reject Shop and party supplies websites- I could have spent a small large fortune on party favours and crafts.

But for Beth, as it should be for all 5 year olds, my efforts paled into comparison to spending the morning with friends and family she loves!

Please post any questions below and I will attempt to answer them as fully as I can.

Love Gubby xo

(Warning: Gratuitous nephew photos)

Beth's pARTy... first sneak peek

Beth is turning 5 in a couple of weeks. A few of her friends had Art Factory parties, so we decided on an ART party at home... so there's still plenty of creating, but Mummy gets to be her usual obsessive party planning self.

It is one of the easiest and most fun themes I have done. Kids craft is so cheap in $2 shops, so there are plenty of different crafts on the day as well as fun, colourful and useful items for the goody bags!

These are the invites and I am so pleased with how they turned out:

Looking forward to sharing more details with you.

Love Gubby xo

Its beginning to look a lot like there's less than 100 days to Christmas

With just over 3 months til Christmas, the time has come to begin making gifts and the mass production of Christmas cards.

I committed to hand-making all my presents this year and have managed it for birthday presents so far. But Christmas might be another story. How am I going to get it all done in less than 100 days!

Here is a sneak preview of supplies for my Christmas cards. At least if all else fails, I'll get the cards done in time!

Do you have any special projects on the go for Christmas this year?

Love Gubby xo

From Paris... With Love

Moving to our new home in Frankston was exciting for so many reasons- its newer and bigger and warmer and close to school and kinder and church and only 4 minutes from my newest nephew :)

It also allowed Francesca to have her own room.
She loves Paris and the Eiffel Tower (her name is FRANCEsca, so you see the connection?)

I desperately wanted to make it a perfect room for her- a comfortable space with personal touches. I saw some beautiful wall decals and thanks to a custom order for some bibs and burp cloths I was able to justify the cost of purchasing them for her:

(not our home, just a generic photo ;)

There were a few other items generously gifted to her from friends and family. And one of my favourite touches was a photo board I made with some lovely fabric I found.

A large canvas with some fabric, ribbon and pretty coloured brads was where I started.

I added a layer of wadding under the fabric to gift it a softer finish. I used spray adhesive and a staple gun to ensure a smooth and firm attachment for the fabric.

I attached the ribbon with a staple gun and then used brads on each cross point to add some more colour and add stronger hold.

 A closer look.

My inspiration was my sister-in-law, who created a lovely board for her new son, Henry
(you can see the incredible nursery she created on her blog, Paper + Ribbons)

So there's another craft project that I hope can inspire you.

Love Gubby xo

Lots of little people

There are so many precious little people in my life at the moment. You know, other than the ones I made myself.

And there are boys everywhere. My first nephew, Leo, and little buddy Tristan are almost 1; my very talented sister-in-law recently produced another nephew for me; and a long-time friend is due in October with another little bundle of blue.

Other than all of the cuddles and smiles, baby boys are a fun excuse for me to use the fabrics that aren't pink or covered in cupcakes :P

This series of bibs was a necessity. I HAD to have this fabric- Humpty Dumpty, what's not to love?! And I just happened to have the coordinating fabric and ribbon lying around.

I made 2 large and 2 small bibs. I have made a lot of bibs lately, so I am getting pretty quick and my top-stitching is pretty neat. I ordered a bunch of coloured press-studs in multi colours, so I should have one to coordinate with any project (I do so love it when things all match).

I just had to share, cause I was so pleased with how they came out- both the sewing and coordinating of fabrics. Very satisfying.

Love Gubby xo

Fathers' Day

My wonderful husband recently traveled for work- he was gone 5 weeks and left me alone with our 3 kids. But he arrived home in time for Fathers' Day... how convenient ;)

We helped my sister move house on the day, so Fathers' Day was pretty low-key, but I wanted to share a couple of ideas that helped make it a special day.

In time for his arrival home from his travels, I framed a gorgeous printable that I found (today's creative blog). I wanted him to know how special he is to us:

I had to prepare a fathers' day related craft for the MOPS group I attend. Cards are a good, simple craft and everyone needs a card at Fathers' Day.

Again, I found an adorable tutorial on The Gold Jelly Bean (seriously, what did we do before Pinterest?) and amended it slightly for a simpler, quicker design. My friend, Janine, used to insist that macaroni is not for grown-up craft, but I think even she would agree that this is an acceptably cute use of uncooked pasta... even for grown-ups!

So its late, but I hope that the ideas are fun, inspiring and useful.

Love Gubby xo

10 years and going strong

This April my husband and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary!

Again, the challeng of hand-making a gift for my most beloved exerted some real pressure on me. I wanted it to be something I had made (obviously), that expressed my love for him, that was significant enough for a 10th Anniversary and that was masculine.

I found this gorgeous idea for an embroidered 'love tree' (from Cat on a Limb). I used hessian and embroidery thread, and picked up the frame for $5 from Spotlight. I was really pleased with the result.

Hanging in the loungeroom- that's a good sign that he liked it :D

We enjoyed a dinner with family and friends on the evening of our anniversary and I surprised everyone by appearing in my wedding dress!!

As you can see, its been a busy 10 years for us ;)

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life- every day I am more aware of just how awesome this is :D

Love Gubby xo

Sharing the love

Last week I held another class. I really enjoy hosting craft classes for a few reasons:
1) I get to share what I know with people I like
2) I have an excuse to do some craft myself
3) I get to talk (and I really love talking)
4) I get to hang out with great people for an evening
5) I get a little pocket money to purchase more craft supplies

See? No good reason NOT to run classes more often!

This class was a 'Mothers' Day' theme, so lots of flowers and swirly things.

My lovely friend Marnie (Our Fields of Gold) took some photos for me to share with you all.

The first card we made was a real surprise. Looks like just a simple mothers' day card on the outside:

But open it up for a bunch of pop-up flowers (thanks to the amazing and talented Martha Stewart for that one)

The 2nd card requires a lot more precise measuring and cutting, but again, the effect is well worth it.

And neatly folds down to fit into a C5 envelope!!

(I will post a detailed tutorial for this one soon)

Marnie considers herself an inexperienced card-maker, but I think she's done an amazing job and there will be some very impressed mothers this weekend (perhaps she just had a really good teacher ;)

What have you been planning for your Mum this mothers' day? Or are you waiting to see what your own kids come up with for you??

Love Gubby xo

A special something for a special someone

My littlest person turned 3 on Easter weekend. With my committment to handmake gifts this year, I knew the gifts I made for my own family had to be super-special.

So I put it out to the facebook community and got some great ideas. In the end I decided on a baby carrier- she really loves dolls and soft toys at the moment.

My very creative friend at Stitch'd lent me a pattern and I found a super-cool set of fabrics at Spotlight.

I had to unpick and restitch a few things that I wasn't happy with and when I make it again I will add some card/plastic in the base and some kind of stiffener in the sides so it holds its shape better.

It is the first gift I have made with such love and effort for any of my girls, so I was a little nervous, but I think she's happy with it :)

Love Gubby xo

No place for a sandwich...

I own a large number of Tupperware containers, including quite a collection of those cool, colourful sandwich keepers. I like being able to send my kids to school/kinder with no throw-away wrappers of any kind.

When it came time to choose a new lunch box for school this year, my 7 year old chose a very groovy one with lots of little compartments. Perfect, I think to myself, no wrapping required, everything has a home. But apparently the perfectly-sandwiched-sized compartment is for the little drink bottle to live, once its been filled with water and frozen overnight (can't deny the benefits as a lunchbox cooling device in the warmer months ;)

So the sandwich has to go in the large compartment in the bottom, where it slides around and the ham and bread say their final farewells before slipping in different directions. Of course, this compartment is too big for a sandwich, but not large enough for a sandwich keeper, so we have been using ziplock bags or gladwrap.

Until my very dangerous trip to GJ's Discount Fabrics!!

I had had a vague idea in my head about making sandwich pockets from oilcloth, but had not had time/money/opportunity in correct quantities at the same time. But Mum and I saw the most beautiful oilcloths- pricey, but beautiful and she offered to purchase some for me even though the price tag said $46 per metre!

These are the pieces cut up, but you can see why I fell in love with it!!

I know that sounds mad, but I only need 30 cm, which made it around $14 and I was able to get enough for 4 sandwich bags, so I figure that's around $3.50 for a bag that will get used every day, and then it doesn't sound so bad (plus, my mum paid for it, so I just have to shower her in love and gratitude and that I can afford :)

Front, back and gusset pieces. No template, just made it up by measuring the bread we use

A perfect fit!

Now she can eat lunch and be inspired at the same time!

I used stick on velcro to seal and although it clings to the oily side perfectly, once the cotton side gets wet the velcro just peels off. So I have added sew-on velcro on the flap side and left the sticky velcro on the oilcloth.

The inside of the pocket can just be wiped clean and left to dry between uses and can take a thorough washing if needed- just hang upside down on the dishrack and allow to dry thoroughly between uses!

Your environmentally friendly crafter,
Gubby xo

How to do it all! (and other modern-day myths)

I love craft.
I do a lot of craft.
I probably do a lot more craft than a mother of 3 should.

People often ask me where I find the time. How do I maintain a home for 5, cook healthy meals, clean, do washing/dishes, post regularly to facebook and do so much craft?

The short answer is: I DON'T!!

I craft because I choose to. I prioritise my time and it always seems to find its way somewhere near the top of the list.

I can't remember the last time I cleaned the shower;
and I could just quickly spray those small weeds that will eventually grow into annoying tree-like shrubs that I will have to dig out of the ground;
and I could grow/pick/prepare/cook fresh vegetables for my kids instead of cooking frozen vegies from the supermarket.

Somehow those things never move higher on the to-do list than:
sew a new baby doll carrier for Penny's birthday;
make an Easter garland to decorate my home;
sew a cute little apron for a good friend who lives interstate;
handmake a card just to let a friend know I love her.

Supermum doesn't exist. There is no-one who really has it all together. Don't get down on yourself when you see others doing things you feel you 'should' be doing.

Remember that creative Mumma who produces sewn/baked/paper goods at a rapid rate is currently squelching along her sticky kitchen floor to make a cup of tea to accompany her creative endeavours :)

(PS This was me recently writing my blog. Decided I could let them lol all over me and then I could check off 'spending time with the kids' as well as 'updating my blog' ;)

Yours, in squalor,
Gubby xo

My pretty little Easter bunnies

Further to my rant last week about Easter bonnet parades, I had the pleasure of watching my eldest daughter in her parade today. This is her creation:

The hat was a $2 purchase from a local Op Shop. She cut up an egg carton, cut the edges in zig zags to look 'cracked', painted them brown and stuck green and pink shredded paper inside the cups- pink for the easter eggs and green for the bunnies and chickens.

The birdhouse was a leftover from a craft book from last Easter and the ribbon was a couple of dollars from Woolworths.

My job was to handle the hot glue gun, but she designed and directed the whole thing.

She was disappointed that she didn't win a prize, but she was really pleased with her hat!

And I wasn't disappointed at all!! I loved watching her walk around the stage knowing that this was her very own creation. And there was enough chocolate going around today at school to soothe her (she's her mother's daughter ;)

Love Gubby xo

PS The little sisters had to be involved too, so I just stuck some bits on a hat for Beth. Her only real requirement was that it had actual chocolate on it (Penny is mid-egg, thus the screwy face ;)

All the leaves are brown...

This afternoon Rob and I were watching our littlest jump on the trampoline in our front yard, when he looked up and noticed that the leaves of the trees were starting to turn brown. When Francesca was little she used the term 'the trees have been autumned'- its one of those little kid sayings that still brings a smile to my face every time I see Autumn setting in.

And in honour of the Autumning of the world, I thought I would showcase my latest piece of artwork.

Beth keeps bringing home paintings from kinder. Some are filed away in the collection I keep for each of the girls, some are sent to Nannies and Mas and aunts and uncles and friends. Some are put on display... for a little while.

She recently brought home a large sheet of colour:

I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I wanted it on display somewhere. I was thinking of a mosaic or similar... and then a good friend reminded me of the frame that was sitting in the hall cupboard:

It was in the cupboard when we moved into the house and, its safe to say, it was not going to be on display as it was ;)

So I mixed a little drawing of my own with a little of Beth's artwork and created a little Autumn artwork for our house!

Have you displayed your kids artwork at home? Or found a creative way to amend it for display? Would love to see/hear about your combined creations.

Love Gubby xo

Easter bonnet parades... a modern day sham?!

My daughter is in grade 2 and so this will be our 3rd Easter bonnet parade.

As a crafty, I have SO many ideas for the kind of bonnet I would like to make- the internet is full of amazingly creative ideas for the kind of bonnet one can make, materials one can use and looks one can achieve.

But I try very hard to remember that my girl has ideas of her own. This is another wonderful activity for her to direct. Its relatively simple, has no life or death consequences, but allows her to work her creative muscles, direct a small project and then display her work in public.

I also understand that my job as 'Mum' is to develop lifelong independence. If I make all her choices and do all her things now, how will she learn what she dis/likes, what she is and is not capable of, what works and what doesn't??

And so I have (painfully) left it entirely to her (my only involvement has been sourcing goods and holding 2 things together so she can staple them herself... lop-sided, of course :P)

I must say, I am really disappointed that the prizes seem to go to the bonnets that are most obviously made by the mums.... NOT the kids. I am all for Mums being involved, but perhaps we should have a bonnet parade for Mums, so the kids can have this one back!

Do you struggle keeping your hands off your kids' projects too?

I hope many more mums will join me this year in allowing their kids the opportunity to create and display something that is their own making :)

Yours in indignation,
Gubby xo

All your cords in one basket!

Do you, like me, have all your power cords and chargers in one big box or basket? All tangled together? Unable to determine when one cord ends and another begins?

It's so frustrating! Especially when you're running out the door for a night or two away with your hubby and you realise you need a charger for your phone... and it takes you 20 minutes to find and untangle it.

Well, I found the best solution. Its pretty and practical. I love creating order. It makes me happy. It makes me even happier when it also looks great and I can make it myself for very minimal (if any) cost!

It started life as a very plain cardboard box. Any box that fits the space you want to store your cords will do- as long as it has flaps to close it. If its a large box, you might want to get some more cardboard to create more compartments- but my nice little square box lent itself beautifully to 9 even compartments.

Cut off the flaps. Mark into 3 even sections and cut about half way into the flaps at marked points (if you have a larger box or wish to use extra card to create more compartments, you will need to measure, mark and cut so that the pieces fit together- see below).

Start with one set of flaps (either the length or width of the box) and place with cuts up. Insert the other set of flaps, matching the cuts you have made (this time facing down). If they don't fit make the cuts a little wider. If they sit up too far make the cuts a little longer so they can reach all the way to the bottom of the box.

Then take out the card pieces and decorate the inserts and the external box. I had some wonderfully colourful papers in my collection, so it was easy to make it look great (you could also use fabric- a thick fabric would give this great support if your box will get a lot of regular use). I found a cute frame image online and used that for the big front label and the labels inside. The small interior labels were actually sized to fit the adhesive mailing labels that I always have at home. So I just had to print them onto the labels, cut them out, peel and stick!

So now, my obsessive tendancies are alleviated for a little while longer and I have a great and easy way to get to power cords and cables whenever I need them (and I used ONLY stuff I already had at home).

Do you have a favourite storage idea when it comes to all your wires? I would love to hear your tips for making sense of the cable jungle!

Love Gubby xo

You can view the original tutorial at the AMAZING 'i {heart} organizing' blog:
http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/you-asked-organizing-cords.html

A bounty of buttons

I have a jar of buttons.
Its not a Vegemite jar.
Its not even a jam jar.
Its a large coffee jar full of buttons.

And I love it!
I love my jar of buttons.
Every colour, shape, size.

Its beautiful.
I love to look at it.
I love shaking it around when I need to find one that I need.
I love running my fingers through them and pinching that tiny little orange one against the side of the jar in an attempt to seperate it and get it out of the jar.
And sometimes, when things get desperate, I love pouring them onto the table so I can find one. I love the sound of them pouring out.

Better than my buttons in a jar are my buttons on display. I use them to embellish cards, as the centre of flowers and now on sewing projects.

I found the perfect project for Easter that allows me to put a bunch of buttons on display.

How cute is this? My 7 year old is desperate to make one of her own- I'll be sure to post a pic when she's all done :)

And best of all, the frame was a couple of dollars at the local op shop!

Love Gubby xo

Stay-at-home-mum- not a job for the weak-hearted!

Late 2011 I made a BIG decision. One I never thought I would make. A decision that scared the life out of me, but that I believed to be important enough to sacrifice my own security for... I decided to resign from my part-time job to be at home full time with my 3 young daughters.

My parenting journey has been one full of drama and excitement- post-natal depression; life-threatening ectopic pregnancy; 3 caesareans and another life and death surgery just for good measure; unplanned pregnancy.

I have not enjoyed being a mum.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my kids. I think they are pretty awesome as far as kids go- bright, hilarious, inquisitive, beautiful, creative, confident, loving... But the job sucks- bad hours, shocking pay, unresponsive patrons, no sick leave, just to name a few.

I expected that as they grew up they would need me less, but actually found that as they get older they are actually MORE aware of what I am not around for. They want Mum to come and do reading at school, kinder duty, choir practice, Christmas concerts and the numerous and various activities they have on.

I also realised recently that in the past 4 years I went back to work when baby number 2 was 8 months old, fell pregnant with my (unplanned) 3rd child, finished work in time for number 3's arrival, went back to work when she was 6 months old, changed jobs a year later and juggled 3 young kids and work 2 days a week.

I know 2 days doesn't sound that much, but juggling timetables, time away from home when I could be doing cleaning, cooking etc; and the mental seperation required when you have more than 1 job was taking its toll on me, hubby and my kids.

So we made the call that I would resign from paid employment to give myself full-time to my job here at Casa de Norris ;)

I was seriously concerned about not having that time out. Time to go to the toilet on my own. Stimulation, conversation, change of scenery. What if I enjoyed my time with my kids only because I knew I could have time away from them... and now I wouldn't get that time?

But you know what? I am really enjoying myself. Today I was a complete Stepford mum- dressed neatly, shopped for fresh fruit & veg, cut up fruit & veg, baked cakes, prepared dinner, picked up a friend's daughter from kinder, entertained my best friend for the day, oversaw the handyman doing some small maintenance jobs around the house and had the chance to support my husband in some important experiences and decisions.

Days like today are not every day. But they sure feel good when they happen.

Each day I feel a little more confident in my abilities as a mum and more importantly as Mum to these precious little creatures God has put in my care. A good day reminds of why I gave up work and keeps me motivated when the bad days come.

I hope that I can continue to make this a comfortable and nurturing home for my family... and for every person that enters these walls.

I hope today was a good day for you, wherever you are in your life journey.

Love Gubby xo

Pin doctor

So, as you know, after many years of firmly refusing to venture away from paper crafts, I developed a recent and fairly serious obsession with sewing.

On the plus side, there are an endless number of new projects available to me now that I can handle fabric, as well as paper. On the downside, craft stores only used to hold 50% worth of temptation for me. Now when I go to Spotlight, the WHOLE store is a source of temptation. And its worse than just the fabrics themselves as I have not had much time to stock up on fun sewing tools and gadgets, so there's so many things I NEED to look at and consider.

One thing I have been working without is a pin cushion. I bought my pins on a plastic wheel and have been just placing them onto the table beside me as I sew and then carefully putting them back into the wheel when I am done.

Its time consuming and... to be honest, not very pretty! And what better use for my new sewing skills, than to make myself a tool to make my sewing easier.

This one I made for myself, using some Amy Butler remnants I had from a previous project. I love it- its big and colourful- pretty and practical- my 2 favourite things :)

When I took up sewing, my amazingly talented mother-in-law let my rifle through her old stash- she doesn't do much craft these days, but is very capable! She showed me the pin cushion she made when she was in primary school (and the history student in me was super excited :) that was really too small to be practical. So I determined to make her a replacement (the little turtle pin cushion will hang around for posterity, but a new larger pin cushion was needed for practicality).


 And then when I showed my sister-in-law she looked impressed so I thought perhaps she would like one too.

(the tutorial is available at Better Homes & Gardens)



I had also seen a really adorable pin cushion idea, using a frame. I picked up a frame for $1 at the local op shop and put together this one for my other super-talented sister in law. This is much more her style and I was really pleased at how it turned out. This one is fun too, cause you can use it lying flat or prop it up with the stand at the back- just like a photo frame !(tutorial at Spin Cushion)

I am so enjoying the ability to make myself pretty things. I love being able to see something online and have a pretty good go at making it.

Hope your weekend has been as productive as mine.

Love Gubby xo

A little something I whipped up!

I have recently had a few friends bemoan the loss of their crafting 'mojo'. Its always so sad when you have time and projects to do, but no impetus to do them.

I have not had this problem of late. In fact, I find myself just sitting down for a few minutes to 'whip something up' simply because I have a few moments to kill before I have to get dinner, pick up the girls from school, put the washing out (insert home-making/parenting task here)...

I went out one evening last week, picked up some fabric at Spotlight on my way out and when I got home at 9:30pm, I used the fabric I had purchased to make an hair clip board for my girls, before I went to bed!

 I had decorated a couple of small tins for the girls' hair clips and hair ties. They looked really pretty and compact. The problem is that when kids can't see what they have, they find a way to make it easier to see... ie they tip ALL the items out of the tins onto the dresser and leave them there for the cleaning fairy (and, no, we don't have a cleaning fairy... its actually just me... I know, you're stunned, right?!?)

So with a donated frame from a friend, a small piece of fabric and some ribbons, I put together a pretty board to make it easier for all of us to see what my girls actually have.

Firstly, wrap the fabric around a solid piece of cardboard.
* Don't use the back of the frame, as you will want this piece to hold the fabric/ribbons in place. (sorry about the misleading photo- I started folding the fabric and then realised it was the wrong piece, but forgot to retake the photo)
*You could use the glass from the frame, but I am not sure if that would put holes in your fabric.
*This frame had a plastic insert so I was able to use that to wrap the fabric around.

 

Use a very strong glue- hot glue gun is a good option- to stick the fabric to your board.

Measure your ribbons, allowing a generous overlap, so there's plenty of ribbon to afix to the back of the board. Use glue to stick the ribbons to the back of board.

Push the board into the frame, with the ribbons facing the front of the frame- it might be a little squishy, but that will also help hold the fabric and ribbons in place- especially when the board is in daily use as it is in our house!

 

Press the back of the frame in and secure firmly. 

I knew we had a lot of hair clips, but seeing them on the board confirmed my suspicions. This frame is an 11" x 14" frame, just to give you an idea of just how many hair accessories we have in this house. This does not include headbands, hair ties and flowers!!

I also came across a few hair clips that had fallen apart and sorted those out with the hot glue gun too.

Its amazing what you can achieve when your mojo is present!!

Love Gubby xo