DIY: Message Board or Wall Décor – No Cork Needed

I had two pieces of canvas art lying around that weren’t being used and couldn’t be returned so I decided to repurpose them.  This is what I did with the first one.

What you’ll need:

Canvas in your choice of size (Mine is 16″x20″)
Fabric (I used two, but you can use less or more.)
Quilt batting
Ribbon
Staple gun
Hanging fixtures
Scissors
Hot glue gun (optional)
Scotch guard (optional)

The original plan with this project was to be a magnetic message board, but it didn’t go exactly as planned so that’s what going on in the first picture (no worries, I WILL try again with that later).  ANYwho, lay your quilt batting over your canvas.  I doubled up in layers with leftover batting, but you don’t have to use two layers.  Do a rough trim around the edge if you have to and then flip your canvas over.  Make sure you have enough batting to go about two inches over the canvas edges and trim the rest.

Lay your fabric across the bottom of your canvas.  Flip it over much like you did before and trim to about two inches over the edge of your canvas.  Use your staple gun to staple your fabric on one side.  Do the same to the other side being sure to pull your fabric tightly.  If you’ve ever stretched canvas or done upholstery work it’s similar to that.  When you go to pull your fabric from the bottom  it’s helpful to fold the edges down much like if you were wrapping a present.  This helps to hold the fabric in place.  Put one staple in the middle and the outer edges.  Then staple in between.  Don’t be afraid to use staples.

Do the same for your upper fabric or skip this step if you only used one piece of fabric. If you bought a new canvas this is where you would attach your hanging fixtures.

Measure a piece of ribbon that fits horizontally on your canvas plus about four inches.  Two inches for each side to be used for stretching.  Working from the back, staple one side first.  Be sure you’ve stapled you ribbon in a place that will cover the seam where your two fabrics meet.  Flip your canvas over and very sparingly hot glue lines across where your fabric meet.  Flip it back over and staple your fabric in place.  NOTE: This step is optional in that so long as your ribbon is stapled on both sides it shouldn’t move.  This is just to be sure it stays in place after use.

And that’s it!  You don’t need cork for this.  Your pins with hold fine in the canvas.  Just pin whatever you need in place OR hang it as wall art.  I would skip the batting step if you choose to use it that way.  Some sort of flower embellishment would be awesome.  I hope this was easy to follow.  Let me know what you think in the comments below or if you have any questions feel free to ask!  Please send me pictures if you do this project.  I’d love to see what you cam up with.  Stop back next week to see what I do with my second canvas.

P.S.  Screw some hooks on the bottom to hold stuff…like keys.  Just a thought.

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