I’m a tiny bit obsessed with magnet boards.  Here’s a magnet board wall collage I created to keep my kid’s school work organized (using the clips) and also to display notes, weekly menu, etc.

I found these picture frames at Joann’s for $10 each – they were on sale 50% off which they do pretty frequently – just have to wait it out for the deals.  The 2 at the bottom though I could only find online in black so I spray painted them bronze to match the other 2 frames (found bronze spray paint at Home Depot).  I bought a piece of 2′ x 2′ piece of foam insulation board at Home Depot for the center piece.  I found all the fabric at Joann’s fabric – it goes on sale all the time so I waited for the sale.  The hardest part is having the patience to wait for all the sales! :-p  So, the 2 on top are a combination dry-erase/magnet boards and the one in the middle is a pin board.  The 2 on the bottom are just magnet boards (no glass on front for dry erase).  When you put the glass on front, the magnetic part is not as strong so you can only hang light stuff like pictures and cards.  I took the glass off the bottom ones so that they could hold some heavier school papers, artwork, etc.  Also, I hung these as I hang everything these days using Command Picture Hanging Strips – they are a life-saver – I no longer have to wait for my husband to hang things.  Those suckers work really well and don’t leave big ugly holes in your wall – woohoo – win win!

To make these:
1.) Prepare the sheet metal: Get some sheet metal at Home Depot in the plumbing/duct work area (about $9/sheet).  You will have to cut these to size with metal cutting scissors (sheet metal shears – you can get these at Home Depot also).
2.) Prepare the fabric: You will need to cut out the fabric to size – leave about an inch extra on each side to fold over and lay it out pattern side down on a flat floor – make it as smooth as possible.  Be sure to iron the fabric if it’s wrinkled.
3.) Stick the fabric: You will need to spray the adhesive glue onto the sheet metal and place it on the laid out fabric.  Then spray the back edges of the sheet metal and gently pull the fabric on each side and stick it to the metal.  Tada!  Now, just place the fabric covered metal back in the picture frame and there it is!  For the foam board, you just spray the board with the adhesive and stick it to the fabric the same way you did the sheet metal.  You might need to smooth it out a little bit more – it seems to get crinkled a little easier – so I flipped it over and got all the crinks out before folding the edges over.  Note: More recently I have done without the gluing for the dry erase magnet boards since the glass holds it in fine and this way I could switch out the fabrics if I wanted to, but you have to make sure you iron especially well b/c wrinkles will show.
4.) Make the magnets and pins: To make the magnets, I just walked around Joann’s craft section and found some cute felt things and necklace charms, etc that matched the decor then I hot glued some super strong magnets to them (also found these magnets at Joann’s).  To make the pins, I did the same – just hot glued the cute things to the pins.  I love these – I went bezerk and made some for my girls’ rooms and for our dining room – I’ll have to post those as well!  :-p

Things you will need to purchase from the store:
Joann’s:
Cute things to put on magnets and pins
Spray adhesive
Fabric
Picture frames
Super strong magnets (I think they are actually called that)
glue gun and glue sticks

Walmart or wherever:
Gloves (for cutting the sheet metal – it is sharp! I just used my leather ones I wear in winter)

Home Depot:
Metal cutting shears (tin snips)
Sheet metal (make sure you don’t buy aluminum – bring a magnet and make sure it sticks before you buy)
Magnet clips (found these in the check out aisle) also Walmart and Target has some too.
Piece of foam insulation board for pin board (Found this in the insulation aisle at Home Depot – literally, in a box in the middle of the aisle).  It’s the perfect size 2′ x 2′ so I didn’t have to cut it or anything.

Here’s a pic where I didn’t glue the fabric down:

Final Product: