How I Upcycled an Old Frame Into a White Board

Funny what you end up with when you go to the tip to throw out some things from your garden. In my case I swapped a hose with a hole in it for a print of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's. 

The print wasn't up to much, but the frame was fabulous and I had a sudden flash of inspiration to turn it into a whiteboard for the Crafty Basement. 

Of course it took me a good few weeks of overthinking it, but the end result is, I think, a fabulous addition to the craftroom and am very pleased with how it turned out. Here's how I did it:

1. After cleaning it with some alcohol I use for cleaning my Copic markers, I took the picture out of the frame - turns out it was just a piece of board with the image printed on top - and covered the print with some Fablon Sticky Back Whiteboard plastic I found in Hobbycraft. 

3. I had to cut it into two main strips and a small piece to cover the corner. I smoothed it out with the edge of an old credit card and polished it over with a cloth. I found that the join isn't really an issue at all and hardly noticeable.

4. Following the instructions, I had cut excess around the edge and now folded it over and using a warm iron, attached it to the back of the print.

5. I then simply put it back into the main frame.

6. As an addition, I wanted to be able to attach some of my loose dies to it, so I found some magnetic A4 sheets I bought many years ago, and using some double sided tape, attached it to the back of the sheets and stuck them to the front of the board.

After thinking about it for a good couple of months, the whole project only took me about 45 minutes to do and as always, I wished I'd done it sooner!

I attached it to the wall using some 3M strips as we can't use any pins or picture hangers on the wall as this could damage the special membrane behind it. So far it's staying up nicely.

I hope you enjoyed this project - a little something different!

Have a crafty week!

Cataloguing Cardstock...

I love Stampin' Up! cardstock, that's no lie. There's such a lovely selection to choose from in various colours with such delicious names as Soft Sea Foam and Bubble Bath. Who wouldn't want it all?

I particularly like that they bring the packs together in packs of 20 sheets, with 2 of each of the ten colours in the pack. You can buy Subtles, Regals, Brights, and Neutrals, as well as the current In Colors for 2026-2028 and 2025-2027.

I have a Kallax unit that, when we recently converted our basement into Ruth Gets Crafty Headquarters (yeah, so I share it with my husband's model railway room and the utility room, but most of it's mine, OK?), I moved into the space. I added some drawers and some shelf inserts into a few of the cubes, and turns out, they are great for putting your cardstock into.

All of the cardstock I put into poly pockets to keep them nice and clean, and have catalogued them by colour in almost rainbow order. The In Color cardstock that I have I've kept in a magazine file, like my white and watercolour cardstock, because I seem to have more of it than the other colours. I've even organised my scraps neatly too - no more just shoving it into an IKEA tub!

Because they're not always on display, I decided that I wanted something that I could easily refer to when deciding on what colours to use for different projects, so I used a 2 3/8 inch circle punch to punch out a circle of cardstock, used my Crop-a-dile to punch a small hole in it, and wrote the name on the front.

I kept the colours together in colour groups with a piece of baker's twine that I can use to hang it up somewhere if I feel like it, or just leave it on the desk next to my craft mat.

I am so happy with this. I can refer to really easily, as it's close to my craft desk, and see quickly what colours match.

I do love a bit of organising - I am a librarian by training after all! - and what nicer way to organise than with all the lovely rainbow colours that Stampin' Up! provide us with.

Happy crafting, and happy organising!