I have to thank a friend, Jordan, who made a cute bulletin board for me last year. I used her idea, and decided that it would make a great display for my boys’ artwork. I started at Home Depot and purchased 3 of the industrial ceiling tiles (in the building supplies department):

They cost about $3 each.

I let the boys pick out paint colors (and chose coordinating colors in the shades they wanted). I purchased each color as a color sample (the small containers of paint on the paint counter). $3 per color.

I got some of the cheap foam brushes to use to paint with. I also stole an idea from pinterest about putting something under what is being painted, so the item doesn’t stick to the paper:

A plastic cup on each corner was enough to hold up the board, and made it easier to paint the edges of it.

I also picked up some letters - ‘R’ and ‘N’ to place on the corner of each of the boards for the boys. I painted each board in a color we selected, and then painted their initial in the color they chose.

Here is the yellow board almost done. I did 2 coats of paint on each board, and used about 1/2 of the color sample I had purchased.

These were fairly easy and quick to make! It only took about 30 minutes per board to do the painting (allowing a little time to dry in between coats).

Once the boards were done and the letters painted, I used some of the Aleene’s glue (the one in the gold/brown colored container) to glue the letters on the bottom of each board. I used the 3M picture hangers to hang the boards on the wall. I got the medium holders which will hold up to 12lbs. each. I figured that the boards don’t weigh anything close to 12lbs, but after putting some artwork on, it will need the additional support. I hung them in the upstairs hallway between the play room and the bedrooms:

I want to get or make some cute push pins (for some reason we own none) to use to hang their artwork. I didn’t like the same color on the boards, so I mixed the green and blue. The yellow board is for additional pictures/artwork/whatever that we want to hang up (it was more to help fill up the space).

Totals:

$3 ceiling tiles (x3) = $9

$3 per paint (x3) = $9

$0.50 foam paint brush (x2) = $1

Wooden letters (x2) = $2

Total project cost: $21 for 3 boards

(I still have paint left over that I could use for another project for the boys too!)

Happy crafting!