Craft a Bulletin Board to Share Your Christmas Cards/Photos All Year!

by Lynn @ Nourish and Nestle

Easy

I have this very clever and creative friend named Jane. One foot inside Jane's home and you're awed by all the impressive decor of her home, all done by Jane. Heck, she Venetian Plastered her foyer...ALL.BY.HERSELF!! We met while volunteering at the middle school library, but quickly realized we were creative kindred spirits. The first time I went to Jane's home, I spied a bulletin board that she kept in her laundry room which was populated by all the photo Christmas cards that they had sent out featuring their family or children. It was a great annual snapshot of how much her beautiful children had grown from year to year. Not being bashful on adopting/borrowing/stealing another's great idea, I promptly came home, rummaged through my photos and keepsake boxes and collected the Christmas cards or Christmas card photos since my when my oldest was a wee one.

craft a bulletin board to share your christmas cards photos all year, christmas decorations, crafts

My next challenge was to find an appropriate collection space for these annual snapshots. Ever since refinishing the storage cube for my daughter's dorm room, I've been looking for another project to use nailhead trim on. Creative Kismet! I love it when two ideas collide to make one fantastic project.

What you'll need to make Nailhead Burlap Bulletin Board:

Bulletin board in your desired size. I had a 24 X 36 bulletin board already, so I opted to reuse it.

Burlap to cover your board. My burlap was 45 wide, so I only need 2 1/2 feet of burlap. The burlap cost me all of $3.00!

Decorative Nails. Buy more than you think you need. These nails bent rather easily (maybe it was operator error), but I ended up going through 72 (3 packages) to ultimately put 46 on my board. I got the brass, but in retrospect think the antique brass finish would've looked really cool too.

Hammer or rubber mallet. I used a hammer that we had put moleskin on to prevent it from scratching the nails.

Staple gun with 1/4 staples

Small pliers to hold nails while you hammer.

Here's how I made the Nailhead Burlap Bulletin Board:

First things first...WHAT NOT TO DO...Don't glue your burlap to your board first. I did this seemingly clever move only to find out that the glue discolored the burlap. Back to the fabric store...good thing burlap is cheap!

The wooden frame around my bulletin board had previously been painted red, so I gave it a coat with a neutral beige that I already had at home. The burlap is a loose weave, so I didn't want the red showing through.

I cut my burlap so that would cover the wood frame, with about 1 extra.

Staple on the back, up against the wood frame, keeping the burlap taut as you go.

Corners are always tricky. I wish I could tell you exact step by step instructions, but it is a function of minimizing the fabric that will be in the fold by cutting away as much as possible, but not too much that you see frayed edges on the corner. Then I always resort to my training as a present wrapper at Sears during college...make your corners as sharp as possible and your folds as crisp as possible. Here's how I do it.

Ready to put the nailhead on

This was a bit of a challenge. It seems that a 24"X36" bulletin board is not exactly 24"x36", but more like 23 1/8" by 35 1/4", which made finding equal increments with my US Standard Measuring stick a headache-inducing trial. So...I resorted to using my metric ruler and it worked like a charm. I measured every 6 cm, after putting my corner nails 1 cm in from each side. I had to fudge a few, say every 5 3/4 cm or so on some, but you'll never be able to tell unless you get up there and measure with a ruler. I did alternate from side to side, measuring between nails frequently, to make sure that I didn't end up doing one whole side and then realizing that my measurements were off.

This is where you need small pliers. I think mine are actually jewelry pliers as they have a very small nose, which was perfect for this job.

What I used to display my Christmas Cards on the Nailhead Burlap Bulletin Board:

Applique/Sequin Pins. I used a size 8 or 1/2.

I made little tags to identify the year of each picture. I had some metallic gold cardstock on which I printed the years.

I used a 1 paper punch to make the circle year tags. I did print up and punch out the years up to 2019 so that I can easily add the new cards to my board in the same font and with the same paper. I put the future years in an envelope that I've taped to the back of the bulletin board.

I have room for a few more annual Christmas Cards...and then I guess I'll have to make a second board!

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2 of 3 comments

Lynn @ Nourish and Nestle on Nov 09, 2015
Thanks Hannah! I love having it in my office and seeing how my babies grew each year.

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Leny Masola on Mar 22, 2017

Wow! Very simple and yet memorable! I'll definitely do this!

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