DIY Wednesday-Felt Board

            Hey folks! It's been a looong time since I've done a DIY Wednesday post (or any non-giveaway post, for that matter!), so I thought I would start September off with one! Felt has become one of my new favorite crafting materials in the past several months. I mean, what's not to love with it being so cheap, right? We have an awesome toy box that one of my mom's friends generously gave to us when we moved back home and it has a felt board on one side, which I thought was totally awesome. However, Myka is still young and would get somewhat frustrated when the pieces wouldn't stay where she wanted them to. So, again with felt being so cheap, I thought I would make our own felt boards!

What You'll Need:
-Cardboard or Foam Board
-1/2 yard of felt in whatever color you want (NOTE: The stuff I bought at Walmart wasn't actually felt. To be honest, I can't remember what it was called exactly, but it looked, felt, and behaved just like felt does.)
-Hot glue gun or spray adhesive
-Scissors

1) Cut some cardboard or foam board to the size you want. We, of course, had just had all of our cardboard boxes taken for recycling the day before, so we bought a cheap foam board at Walmart.
2) Cut your felt slightly larger than the board so that it will reach around to the back side. I cut mine about 1-1 1/2 inches larger.

Felt on left, board on right

3) Center your board in the middle of the felt.

4) Secure two opposing sides of your felt to the back of your board.

5) Next, fold your corners in, kind of like you would when wrapping a gift. You may also want to glue them in place. It's up to you.

6) With your corners folded in, flip that side of the felt over and secure it to the back of your board. You may also want to use extra glue to secure the corner pieces since they're thicker.

7) Let it dry for a bit just to be safe and you're done! Be sure to go around any loose edges and add extra adhesive/glue, especially if you have little ones that like to pick at things. lol

Our letter "B" felt activity. Cute, huh?

Tips and side notes:

-You may want to cut the corners some if they are really thick. I did that on my black felt board and it was a lot easier gluing it down and not so bulky.

-Be sure to pull tight when you are gluing the edges down so the felt is nice and taut against the board on the front. 

-I'm sure you can buy felt boards at stores, but isn't it nice that you can make your own whatever size and color you want? 

-Myka seems to like this one better so far since there's no chance of the pieces falling off since we can lay it flat. 

-Depending on how small you make yours, this could be a fun activity to take on car trips!

All photos copyright of Alicia Owen.