My New Birthday Board

I am so excited about this one that I can't even wait until Monday to post it with my other Monday Made Its.... When I discovered Pinterest about a year ago (yes, I am the Christopher Columbus of Pinterest. I mean when I first started using Pinterest), one of the first images to make an impression on me was this one:

I knew from that moment that I wanted one for my classroom. I've been looking at tons of these for months and trying to figure out how I could make it my own, put my stamp on it, do SOMETHING other than just copy the ones I've seen other people do (which I am not above by the way, I do that all the time. I just wanted to challenge myself). I also wanted to make it out of something other than wood. Why? I'm too impatient to wait for good ol' D-A-D-D-Y to get out his drill and sand paper and wait for paint to dry. I know, I'm not much more mature than my second graders. At least not during the summer.

So I kinda shelfed the idea until I happened to be in A.C. Moore the other day when inspiration hit. I hate when that happens because it's always when I'm there to get ONE THING ONLY and I didn't even pick up a basket because that's how sure I am I don't need anything else, and then it comes down to me wandering around with crazy eyes and stuff falling out of my arms and holding things in my teeth and under my arms because I'm too proud to go get a stinkin' cart. Anyone else? Anyone? Just me? Figures.

So anyway, here is my pride and joy.... TA-DA

Yes I took 16 million pictures. So here's the skinny.... I ended up using foam board. I couldn't find an alternative for the screw hooks so I needed something I could stick them into without drilling holes (we already discussed that, I'm too impatient to wait for D-A-D-D-Y and his drill). So I got the foam board. And then the problem was, "how do I make it NOT look like foam board?" That's when I thought of making the whole thing look like a birthday present. I found this great wrapping paper and bow to match my classroom theme colors and went to town. The letters for the months are scrapbooking stickers. They are called Thickers and I love them for classroom stuff. I measured and marked the spots for the hooks. I pre-drilled the holes by stuffing the screws in there, then used a drop of hot glue on each screw as I put them back in for good. They held really well without the glue but I just wanted to be thorough. And that's it!

Now the one thing the birthday board is lacking is birthdays. I don't have a class list yet so there's not much I can do about that. So I slapped my birthday up there. I am using key tags from Staples to write the birthdays on. I used a small hole punch to punch a hole in the bottom of each one to make the chain if there are more than one birthdays in a month. Take note bloggers, mark your calendars. I had plenty of materials leftover and the bow came in a pack of 2 so I am making another birthday board for my home to put family birthdays on. Not sure if you noticed, but the one in the pictures starts with September instead of January. I grappled with that for a while but decided for the school year instead of January to December. I put the months in regular calendar order for the home birthday board.

AAAhhck! I almost forgot! I wanted to share my new mani with you all. Anyone love the movie Up? I got the idea from this pin but did all the handiwork myself.