Dry Erase and Cork Board Calendar Collage

Earlier this week I told you I would put together a tutorial for my dry erase collage that got me through the frame theme week at 1 Month 2 Win It.  This morning I received a very nice comment from one of our readers.  She loved this project when she saw it on 1 Month 2 Win It and mentioned she is really looking forward to the tutorial.  I took a few minutes to post this tonight for our new friend.

I had been thinking of making myself a big dry erase calendar in my office for months.  In addition to a big calendar I really wanted a place for my to do list and somewhere nearby for a shopping list.  I thought about using several different frames or painting an entire chalkboard wall to keep track of everything in my mind.  Then I dreamt about having everything in the same place on an organizational collage.  Really, I had a dream about this.  I woke up excited to get started.  I couldn't be happier with this project!

the collage looks small here but is actually pretty big (28" x 38") 

I started with four frames I had in a closet.  The largest frame came from an old hotel estate sale in the small mining town where I grew up.  My dad called me a couple of months ago and asked if I wanted anything from a closed hotel.  I would have LOVED to have been there!!  I figured it wasn't very nice to ask my dad to load up a truck full of awesome stuff, pay cash for everything, and then drive a couple of hours to deliver it all to me.  Instead I was happy to settle for a few awesome mirrors and this frame. 

I took the glass and backing off of the three smaller frames.  Then I figured out how to dismantle the big frame.  This was not an easy task and I was terrified I would break the glass.  Luckily I managed to unscrew all the corner brackets and carefully remove the glass with out any problems.

I applied a couple of coats of Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze spray paint to make the frames pretty. 

picture taken after first coat of paint

I worked on the interior of the frames while I waited for the paint to dry.   I turned one of the frames into a cork board because I wanted to be able to pin ideas and pictures to the collage.  Instead of going on a treasure hunt for a good piece of cork board (thrift stores, garage sales, etc.), I purchased a package of tiles that included one chalkboard, one dry erase board, and two cork boards.  I'm sure I will use everything in the package at some point.

I lined the glass from the frame up to the cork board and cut it with an exacto knife.

I put the cork board into the frame just as you would insert a picture (with out the glass). 

Next I started working on the calendar portion of the collage.  I cut thin strips of black vinyl and laid them down (sticky side up) onto contact paper to form a calendar grid.  The grid has seven rows across (for days of the week) and six rows down (for weeks of the month).  Each square is 2" x 2" (inside vinyl borders).

I had a difficult time applying the vinyl calendar to the glass.  I would suggest doing this with out contact paper and placing the vinyl directly onto the glass.  A cutting mat made it so much easier to be sure my calendar was not crooked on the glass.  I finally had the calendar on straight and I was very excited to look at the other side of the glass.  Major disappointment.  There were so many air bubbles!  I spent about half an hour rubbing out all the bubbles.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of me applying the calendar grid to the glass.  It was not a pretty site and I can't imagine ever getting it done if my daughter wasn't napping.  Fortunately the end result was a perfect calendar grid!  I used my Cricut to cut out the days of the week and a scalloped border for the month.  I ended up using adhesive cardstock instead of vinyl.  It was so much easier to apply the cardstock to the glass!  If you don't have a cutting machine, you could use a permanent marker to trace the words and frame onto the backside of the glass.

I used the same adhesive cardstock to cut out the letters for the other two dry erase boards ("to do" and "shopping list").  I used the cutting mat as a guide to apply the letters to the back side of the glass. 

 I put the glass back into the frames.

Then I covered the back of the glass with pieces of white cotton fabric.  Old tees or a pretty patterned fabric would work great for this!  Just remember that you don't want something too bright because you won't be able to see everything you write with your dry erase markers.  I used the original cardboard backing on the frames.

Once I had all my frames done I used gorilla glue to attach them together.  This was actually my first experience with gorilla glue.  Holly from 504Main uses gorilla glue on everything.  It was one of the first things we talked about when I first met her at Creative Estates.  My dad is also a big fan of gorilla glue.  I crossed my fingers and hoped it worked!  Thanks to Holly I am now a huge fan!  The great thing about this glue is that is expands like a foam so it filled in the gap between the smaller frames and the glass top.  I used my husband's heavy college books to hold the frames together while the glue dried.

A few hours later I doodled on the frames with dry erase markers  Then I had my husband help me hang the heavy collage in the empty space above my computer in my office.

I felt like the collage was missing something.  It definitely was and looked so much better after I added yellow and turquoise embellishments.  I used felt and fabric to make push pins for the cork board.  I made the flowers and left a small hole in the center.  I filled the holes with hot glue and then carefully pushed the back of thumb tacks into the back of the flowers.  I made sure the tops of the thumb tacks weren't poking through the tops of the flowers.  I added a couple of rhinestones for no other reason than because I generally try to add rhinestones or glitter (sometimes both) into everything I make.

I also added flower embellishments to the large frame. 

I love how this turned out!!

Thanks again if you voted for this project at 1 Month 2 Win It! 

I would love to see your frame collage if you make one too!

I'm linking this post here.