How to make a French memo Board

I'm nesting so I'm doing all these great and crazy projects while being a whopping 8 + months pregnant. But I am being really productive and I want to share! I was also really upset when the kids bent up the first post cards from Daddy and needed a way to keep the things he sends to them while he's deployed nice for later.

This time I've made a couple of French Memo Boards.
1. because I'm cheap and didn't want to ante up the $15-30 a piece
2. because I had the materials on hand already
3. because my life isn't full enough, I like to pop in projects

Before and After

I made the first one at about 9 at night which is almost an hour past my bedtime (seriously). I also don't like to measure and I didn't make sure I had enough materials to do the silly thing in the first place. Which means I was tired and I ended up being short on ribbon and this project lasted longer than it should have. Thirty minutes and you should be done. If it takes longer than that you may need professional crafting help.

Step one.
Get a bulletin board with a wooden frame. I found mine both matching sizes at a thrift store for $2.49 each (yippee!) and it doesn't matter the condition their in really as long as the frame and the cork are relatively still one piece and sturdy. You might even have an old bulletin board around you could use.

Step two.
Gather the rest of your supplies and make sure you have enough before you start. The boards I made are approx 2x3' so here's my supply list based on that.

• 1 yard of outer fabric (I used less but it's nice to be over just in case)
• Enough batting to cover the front and all sides to the back
• 5-6 yards of ribbon
• 20 buttons (give or take)
• Staple gun
• hot glue gun
• Bulletin board with wooden frame

I am fortunate enough to have an electric staple gun (insert manly sounds here) so this project was pretty easy but a non-electric will work just fine. Make sure you have lots of staples and glue.

Step three.
Lay your fabric face down. Lay the batting on top of this and then the cork board on that. Trim the fabric and batting so it is long enough to cover the sides to the back of the board. Start stapling the fabric and batting to the wooden frame of the cork board like this. Make sure you pull and smooth the front side as you staple or you'll end up with a bulge or wrinkle.



Step four.
Cut the corners as shown and fold over and tuck in to make a neat corner. Staple the hell out of it.

Step five.Now it's time to staple the ribbon on. start at the back and angle it so there's not a bulge and staple it to the back of the board as shown. Pull it across and do the same on the opposite side of the board. I didn't measure intervals between ribbon but if you did it might come out nicer. You could also do this up and down but I like the diagonal placement. Go all the way around the board so you have rows of ribbon that overlap.


Step Six.
Staple every place the ribbons meet on the front of the board.



Step Seven.
Take your buttons and hot glue the backside and stick these on the staples you have on the front of the board to hide the staples. This also gives it a more "pillowy" look and secures the ribbon for when you put cards and photos and junk up on it.

Boys room:

Girls room:
Step Eight!
You're done! Your board can be free standing or if you want you can staple some ribbon on the top like a picture hanger or attach real picture hanger hardware to the back or just drill the darn thing straight into the wall. You can finish the back too if you want to give it as a gift by hot gluing a piece of fabric on the back. Enjoy!