DIY Kid's Art Board | Sense & Serendipity

While browsing Pinterest a few months ago, I came across the cutest kids art board. I loved it. I wanted it. Luckily, the Pin was from an Etsy store so I headed on over to see how much it would cost to buy it.

Isn’t it the cutest? Alas, the store was no longer open. I was bummed, but I moved on.

Fast forward a few months and I decided to host a craft night for some of my girlfriends. While looking for crafts we could do together, I came across my Pin of the artist board and thought, “Hey, I can make that!”

HA. Hahahaha. Sigh. Turns out, yes, I can actually make a pretty good replica of that art board, but boy was it a process. There were no tutorials for me to follow so I had to come up with my own. So I decided to write about it here so that some poor mom with a hankering for a kids art board could google and find my tutorial and be spared the drudgery of figuring it out for herself. You’re welcome, crafty mom. You’re welcome.

Thus, without further ado, here is…

How To Make a Kid’s Art Board

Supplies:

1. Craft board (I got mine at Lowe’s, it’s 4 feet long and 12 inches wide)

2. White or antique white spray paint (I used Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch Heirloom White)

3. Wood stain (I used Minwax Wood Finish in Dark Walnut) and a rag

4. Sanding block (fine grit) and/or a circular sander (I used both)

5. Frog Tape

6. Exacto knife

7. Acrylic paints (I used several different brands from Michael’s)

8. Wooden clothes pins (I got mine at Lowe’s)

9. Computer and printer

10. Patience

The Steps:

I got started by spray painting my board. I applied two coats, sanded lightly with a fine grit sanding block, and then applied the third and final coat.

Once my paint dried I started distressing the edges of the board. Since my board was pine it was a little hard to see how much distressing I was doing so I took it slow. Once I had the amount of distressing I liked on the edges, I sanded the flat surface of the board very lightly just to make sure it was all smooth.

Next I took a small round sponge and applied a coat of the stain on the distressed edges (you can also just apply with a rag). Using my rag, I immediately wiped/rubbed the stain into the wood along the edges of the board. Make sure you work in small sections so the stain doesn’t sit on the painted part of the wood for too long and leave a distinct line. You want the stain to rub slightly into the painted part of the edge of the board to give it an antiqued look.

Once the board was distressed and antiqued, and after I allowed the stain to dry for several hours, I taped off a good 2/3 of the board with Frog Tape.

Using a “stencil” I made (I basically created a Word document, typed my phrase, played with fonts and sizes until I came up with something I like and then printed it out and taped it into place on top of the taped off board), I used my Exacto knife to cut out the letters of the Word document.

Then I traced the letters using my “stencil” and then removed the stencil so that I could cut out the letters from the Frog Tape on the board. (NOTE: if you are lucky enough to have a Silhouette Cameo, this step would probably be a lot easier for you. I do not, so I had to improvise.)

Once all my letters were cut out, I used acrylic paint to paint the letters on the board. I think I painted three coats to get good, solid coverage. Once my final coat of paint was on the board I began to remove the Frog Tape (carefully!). I also painted five wooden clothespins five different colors and left them clipped to a paper plate to dry. Then I left the board to dry overnight.

Once dry, I hot glued the clothespins to the bottom part of the board. Then I took some sawtooth picture hangers and hammered one on each upper corner of the back of the board.