Got Vision? Make a Board!

In my year long pursuit of finding a hobby, and before I discovered the love of sewing, I tried to be a crafter. I really wanted so badly to be the crafty type....but after many failed attempts, from modge podge picture frames to spray painted chalkboard accessories, I have accepted that I am just not crafty. I am not. And that is okay. Because I love sewing. Love it. So I am glad I am not crafty, because I am a sewer.

That is, until tonight. I crafted. And it was kinda fun.

I am a visual person and I have been dreaming about the different ways in which I could visualize all my ideas and projects and orders in one place in my sewing room....a vision board of sorts if you will.

But I knew I didn't want a boring old dry erase board and while I love chalkboards, I didn't want to actually deal with the chalk. I decided to borrow an idea from my workplace where people in my office write ideas on our giant pane glass windows....

And here is my vision board!



And here is how I made it! In under 15 minutes while I was fixing dinner no less.

Start with a framed piece of artwork. I picked this beauty up at Goodwill on my lunch hour for $5.99. I had every intention of changing the look of the frame, but I will get to that in a bit.


Remove any paper from the back so you can remove the matting and picture. This one had a paper lining covering a piece of thin corkboard for the backing.

Take the frame apart, clean the glass and wipe down the edges if the frame isn't new. Mine was pretty dusty.

Now, here is where the fun begins. Plan A was to remove the matting and wrap the actual edges of the frame in scrap fabric, but I just couldn't figure out how I would make the glass fit flush back into the frame with fabric covering the edges, so I scrapped that idea and moved onto Plan B, which was to wrap the mat in fabric instead. Once I took the matting and glass apart, however, I discovered that this particular picture and matting were one piece, that is, the matting and picture were glued together, so Plan B was scrapped too. I told you, I am not crafty.

On to Plan C! A few weeks ago I ordered this fun stash of Fat Quarters (see those here) and one just happened to fit perfectly over the entire picture and mat!

I then just slid the fabric covered picture back down into the frame on top of the glass and fastened it in with the na-nillion metal fasteners on the back of the frame. Now, if I was confident at this point that I was going to love it, I may have either glued or stapled the fabric to the backing for safe keeping. But, I didn't, mainly because I liked the idea of both being able to use the fabric again down the road AND being able to change it out if I want to. So I didn't. What you see in the picture below is how I left it. With the edges folded down a little more neatly of course.

And here she is! I love her! AND I even like her with the retro-feeling gold frame. And I love that I can use a non-permanent marker to write directly on the glass.

And I have already put her to good use! Fun Orders on one side, Future Projects on the other!

So, what do you think? Do you have a vision board or have you done something similar? I was thinking these would be a great gift idea for a teenager's room, or even a toddler's room for that matter. Or how cute would this be in the kitchen as a menu board? What would you use it for?

I am linking up today over at Sassy Site's Trash to Treasures! Head on over to see all the other projects!