Fabric Covered Magnet Board Tutorial

I found a frame at Goodwill a few months ago, and have been wayyy undecided about how to use it. (I know you are shocked that I found yet another frame to rescue)

It is large, measuring 24x36 inches. A nice size! Best of all, it's black, and in good shape. Why was this at Goodwill? I figured that out after I measured the picture opening. 16.5x23 inches. Not exactly a standard size for a picture :)

I finally decided to make a magnet board out of it. I googled around, and searched a MILLION blogs, and could not find a good tutorial. Go ahead, you try to find a good tutorial for how to do this! The few that I did find were really vague about where to find the metal to make a magnet board.


Supplies Needed

Magnetic sheet metal
Spray on Adhesive
Gorilla Glue
Fabric
Gemstones (to make magnets)
Heavy duty Magnets
Hot Glue Gun



WHERE to find your supplies

Sheet Metal can be found at Lowe's or Home Depot. At my Lowe's, it was near the plumbing section, with the air duct materials. It is called JOIST SHEETING. A 16x36 in sheet was $5.24. In a different section of the store, they had thicker sheets of metal that is called "sheet metal", but it is MUCH more expensive. The same size piece would cost you $25. The picture below is where in Lowe's I found the JOIST SHEETING:


Heavy Duty magnets can also be found at a home improvement store. They are much stronger magnets than the kind you can buy at Walmart or Office Depot. Since I was making a fabric covered magnet board, I needed strong magnets.



The gemstones I used were bought at Hobby Lobby. I love how big and chunky they are. They were in the stained glass/mosaic tile section of the store. ($1.67 for about 15)



The reason I am telling you, dear reader, where to find this stuff is because it took me FOREVER to find it myself! I kept getting sent to the wrong place by salespeople who didn't really know that much :D



Steps to a FAB magnet board

(cut your metal to size if it is too large for your frame. You will need a tool called "Tin Shears" which can be bought at a Home Improvement store. They cost around $8.00)

1. Lay your metal on top of your fabric, and cut your fabric out a little larger than the metal.

2. Spray your sheet metal with spray-on adhesive

3. Lay your fabric on the metal (on the side you sprayed...) and smooth out any wrinkles

4. Flip your sheet metal over, and start spraying the extra fabric on the edges with adhesive. Fold the fabric over the sheet metal.

5. Make sure you pull the fabric tight as you do this, so it looks crisp.
it should look like this when you finish all 4 sides:

6. Glue your fabric-ized metal to your frame. I used sumo glue (pretty much the same thing as gorilla glue).

7. While your frame is drying, make your magnets.

8. Hot glue the magnets to the back of the gemstones.

9. Hang up your magnet board


10. Put on some cuuuute pictures, and you're done!



Here are some "final product" shots
(this frame is in a hall w/out a lot of natural light. forgive the lighting!!)

I'm linking up over at Shanty 2 Chic and Shabby Chic Cottage and Finding Fabulous and Craftaholics Anonymous
and fingerprints on the fridge
and The Shabby Nest 
and Funky Junk Interiors 

and the DIY Showoff 
and Making the World Cuter 
and