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I DID IT!- I finished the boards-A Tutorial, kind of...

This is how my morning started.  I had 8 boards that needed sanding, holes drilled, wire put on, vinyl added, and ribbon...I had a goal.  They'd be done today.  I think I can..

The boards are stacked and ready to go to the belt sander in the garage. I sand the edges where the paper is attached to the board. It blends so nicely.  The belt sander makes this part go quickly.  If you aren't blessed with a belt sander, a piece of sandpaper will do the trick!

To get holes that are perfectly spaced, I use a wooden square and drill in the lower corner of the square.

See the hole?  It's pretty small. I use a small drill bit because the wire is thin and I don't want big holes.

8 boards, 2 holes per board, let's see, 16 holes later I'm ready to add wire.  Here's what I need: wire, wire cutters, and an object to wrap the ends of the wire around to give it a curly look.  I use a pen.

I thread the wire from back to front.

I then wrap it around the top and go back through again. This gives stability. The wire I'm using this time isn't heavy wire so the double wrap is necessary.

I added a white bead. It reminded me of a cotton tail.  Perfect for my Easter board.

I wrapped the wire around the pen and pulled the pen away.  That's how I got the curl.

Wire wrapped around pen.

This is what the wire looks like when the pen is removed.  You can arrange it however. 

I added beads to this wire to match the candles.

The wires are in.  Now it's time to add vinyl.  Here's a "Santa" board I made for my friend, Jessica. The vinyl is cut out and ready to be applied.  As you can see, pull away any vinyl you don't want on your board.  What's left on the paper should be exactly what you want on the board.

Put transfer tape on the vinyl and rub it to get the vinyl to adhere.  Transfer tape is necessary.  It makes transferring the vinyl so much easier and keeps things straight. You can use a piece of transfer tape over and over. I usually can get about four uses out of each piece.

Peel the paper away from the vinyl.  This is what the letters look like on the transfer tape.

Position the tape on the board and rub it well. 

Pull the tape away and you're left with the vinyl, on the board. YEAH!

After vinyl, I added ribbons. Woops, forgot to take pictures of that!

Here's the finished Santa board.

Here's the finished birthday board.

I really like using different fonts for the vinyl.

Here's the finished Easter board.  It says, "Hoppy Easter".

Here's one of the finished Valentine's Day boards.  I made two identical.... craft sharing, remember! (I hope you like it Jill!)

Here's a not so great picture of our St. Patrick's Day board.  I added a washer to the ribbon. It reminds me of a Leprechaun's hat and it's gold.

There you have it. I completed 6 photo boards.  I also finished the board part of the subway art boards. Jill is going to add the vinyl. You'll get to see them in a future post where we show all the prizes won in our 12 days of Christmas giveaways. 8 boards complete!

So, I wanted to finish these early and have a relaxing evening. I finished at 10:15 pm.  Well, they're done. I  met my goal and I'm ready for bed!  There are so many benefits to "assembly line crafting"; however, I'm usually sick of the project once I've finished it. I'm glad to see these boards behind me.  I'm also glad that I've got a jump start on St. Patrick's Day and Easter.  Wow!  I'm actually ahead in something.

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