DIY Wipe Board that’s Pretty too

I love the function of wipe boards but I don’t love their form. So a few years ago, I made my own wipe board. Compared to its white plastic cousin, it’s a breeze to wipe off and I think it looks a whole lot nicer hanging in my home.

Six months later, I made another one, seen above. And took pictures of the steps. Then never posted them. And still not sure I really need too – my cousin (who maintains she’s not crafty at all, but I disagree) made herself a board just based on the picture in the original post.

But I avoided some mistakes my second time around, so here’s my somewhat superfluous “how to make your own DIY wipe board.”

(I’ll leave the explanation of this second board’s purpose for another post – preview: it’s a bit of structure I implemented in our home that actually lasted longer than the usual two weeks or so!)

Materials:

I used a large frame with a glass insert. Some plastics inserts can also be written on with dry erase markers; but be sure to test it first! And be a little more inconspicuous about it than me, who started to write a big “Hello” on another frame insert and realized after the first four letter that it wasn’t coming off…

Also needed a big enough piece of light-colored fabric. I used what I had on hand. A solid with a small stripe/accent of printed fabric might be nice too.

Paint, because I wanted to change the color of my free frame.

And various trims. On my awana verse board, the ribbon stripes were just for decoration; on the larger one, I used them to mark off sections so I wouldn’t have to keep drawing the section lines in by hand.

Oh, and I used some white paper – see step 5 below. 

Oh, and some tools for step 1 below – I used a screwdriver.

Oh, and some tape or hot glue or such.

Procedure:

1. Undo whatever is holding the glass/backing/etc to the frame (in such a way that you can redo it later).

2. If desired, paint your frame. (Clearly, I took these photos a while ago; my driveway is currently covered in about 1/2” of ice… But cold weather is not a reason not to spray paint! That’s what garages are for.)

3. Do yourself a favor and iron your fabric. The glass pressed against the fabric will likely not be enough to squish the creases out. Ask me how I know that… 

4. Do yourself another favor and clean the glass. Both sides. Trust me.

5. If the backing is dark and makes the fabric look dingy because the fabric is so light, cover the backing with some white paper.

6. Wrap the  fabric around the backing, adhering it as needed. I was a little skimpy with my tape. Hot glue might’ve been faster/better/easier but I didn’t own a gun yet at the time. Shocking, I know. That I, as an avid crafter, lived 33 years without owning or even using a hot glue gun!

7. Anyway, then pop the glass and backing back into the frame and redo whatever you undid in step 1.

Here’s a few (overexposed) close-ups of the corner fold I did…

 

And it’s done.

Oh, as for hanging them: The awana one, below, just hangs from its wire deal in back, like a normal picture. Since I only write on it weekly, sometimes I leave it on the wall when I write, but it’s also small and light enough that I can lift it off the wall easily. The other one is larger and heavier and written on a lot, so I used a different method… which will receive it’s own post.

P.S. I move things around the house pretty regularly, including all the stuff on the sideboard under the wipe board. But the short, wide-mouthed pitcher (bottom right corner) usually stays because that’s where I store a couple markers and a paper towel “eraser.”