Felt Boards. Oh- how I love you! They are like my own 3D cozy squares of wisdom. They can be snarky, silly, personal or uplifting- and man! They look so darn cute!

My love for these felty real world Pinboards has of course worked it’s way into one of my favorite designs, Shiplap Style because they can capture a sentiment in such a unique and simple way- letting the beauty of the words stand out on their own- take a look at what I mean:

 

Now truth be told there are a few tricks to using these boards in a stress free way– and I thought I’d take a minute to share them with you here today!

1. The Felt Board: Of course, you need a felt letterboard. And truth be told- they can be pretty pricey.  I snagged this one on Ebay.  It’s 10×10 and was advertised as having a defect- so it sold for about $16.00- but happily- I still haven’t found it! The downside of the Ebay one was that no letters were included, so if I had to do it again, I would get it from Amazon (linked above) with letters.   I have this one in the front entrance of my home- and tend to put more inspirational quotes on it. One tip I use to clean off any dust or specks that may fall on it is using a fabric lint roller on it when it’s blank and before I change the sayings.

 

I got this second one for my kitchen from AC Moore Craft Store. It’s an American Crafts Letterboard–  which you can get on Amazon and you can find it almost all Craft Stores.  What I love about that one is that it’s not really felt- it’s plastic.  When you think about it- plastic makes more sense in the kitchen because it’s super easy to clean the kind of yuk that accumulates in that room.  Since the kitchen is where we tend to hang out as a family and goof around- this one is usually filled with more wit and snark.  The kids get a kick out of finding a new saying on it each week!

 

2. Herd those Kittens. Now- at first, I had all my letters in a Jar- and would spread them out on the table and hunt for the right ones to use. It took about 20 minutes to do the boards- and was a little frustrating when I would realize I didn’t have enough letters to say what I wanted- after completing 80% of the board.

So- I got an organizer box from Amazon for about 10 dollars and gave my little guy a plate of cookies to separate the letters into the boxes. Now I can grab letters easily, see when I am running low on one and life is good.

 

3. Set your ducks in a row!  And by ducks- I mean letters. It’s a no brainer I wanted to make my boards pretty. And when things are way off center- it bugs me. I don’t want to grab a ruler and level when I play with my boards (buzz kill!) – but I also don’t want wonky off centered ones either. My work around? I measure the halfway point on each side and put a tiny pencil mark.  When I line up may sayings I cross 2 pieces of twine as guides- and I’m always happy with the results!

 

4. Copy shamelessly. Finally, to arm myself against writers block- I have a Pinboard of my favorite felt board quotes and ideas. Yah- it’s blatant cut and paste- but no one in my family is on Pinterest – so they think I am awesome at this!

 

As for the felt leaves and acorns? – I found them here on Etsy. I also use brads and other pretties from my scrap stash with paperclips bent over.

 

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