U Create

It's a good day to create!

8 Jan

DIY Clip Art Rails

DIY Clip Art Rails by Ana White
 I quit blogging.Then, by chance, I checked my blog. And I had one follower. My very first follower. And do you know who that follower was?Kari.

Yes, Kari the author of Ucreate.

If Kari from Ucreate, the Oprah of crafting on blogs, was following me, then perhaps I was wrong. Women are ready to build, not just glue, sew and refinish. Perhaps I just had not reached the right audience.

Kari, thank you for supporting me. And once again, thank you for giving a carpenter another chance. I am so proud to be guest blogging for you today.
My name is Ana White and I am the author of Knock-Off Wood. I am a carpenter, whenever I am not while I am between peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or having once upon a time conversations . I have spent the last few years building furniture to sell to retailers, for custom orders, gifts, my own home, and designing and helping others build.Now, I help the world build furniture through my blog, Knock-Off Wood. On Knock-Off Wood, I focus on giving you the styles you want – yes, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Restoration Hardware, Ballard Designs, West Elm, Land of Nod – that is what I recreate for you. I hope you visit my blog, because the tutorial I am going to show you today is a micro representation of what I do.
Today, I am going to show you how to build the Clip Art Rails. Plans for these bookcases are also available on my blog. Both of these bookcases were made from 1 sheet of MDF, 1/2 gallon of paint and 10 1×2 pine strips, a total of about $60. The storage bins from Pottery Barn Kids . . . were a little more.
The orginal plan was to show you how to build these bookcases today, but after I put these Clip Art Rails together, there was no question.
The Clip Art Rails are the perfect tutorial for Ucreate.
Fabulous,
yet simple and inexpensive.
Just about anyone has the skills and budget to make these. I spent at total of $7 on both rails (using leftover paint, spare screws and Grace’s Elmer’s Glue).Materials List2 – 1×2 pine or MDF strips, 8 feet long (I used firring strips from Lowes for 75 cents each)
2 – bags of small clothespins, 24 count each (bought mine at Joanns for $2.49 each)
Glue (I used Elmers)
Paint (I used Valspar Antique White Satin leftover from the bookcases. The fastest method would be to spraypaint)
4 screws or 4 Picture Hanging BracketsTools and Supplies

Paint Brush (if you are not spraypainting)
Tape Measure
Level
Drill (If you are not using Picture Hanging Brackets)
Scewdriver (If you are using Picture Hanging Brackets)

Directions

The Clip Art Rails measure 8 feet long and 3″ overall high by 2″ overal thick. You can cut the board to any desired length to fit your needs.

1. Remove the springs from the clothespins.
2. Paint the wood part of the clothespins and the boards.
3. Reassemble the clothespins. Then glue the clothespins to the boards. I glued the clothespins ever 4″ starting 2″ from the ends. You can do this by marking the board at 2″, 6″, 10″, 14″, 18″, 22″ . . . and so on, every 4″ until the last mark at 94″. Alternate pins facing upwards and downwards.

4. Attach the Clip Art Rails to the wall either using the Picture Hanging Brackets or screw through the face of the Clip Art Rails into a stud in your wall (or a drywall anchor). Hang your artwork, photos, or other lightweight objects. For the letters GRACE I simply printed out each letter, cut the paper down to 8″ x 8″ and glued it to a 12×12 scrapbooking paper. The photos are simply black and white prints of favorite photos.Here is the before and after animation. I cannot believe I just shared that photo with the entire world! Amazing what $70 in lumber, paint, and some clothespins can do for a room!Grace can actually play in her room now! And I just checked on her. Gone are the beautiful black and whites, replaced with stick figures with suns in the upper corners that look more like ugly beetles.

I like her artwork better.

Love, Ana

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Comments

  7. I love this new idea – I am about two weeks out from closing on our home. I am checking out all sorts of new crafty blogs to get ideas for decorating – I Think you can do this idea in any color and would do great for an office!

    Great job!

    reply to this comment >

  8. Thank you!
    I was just brainstorming how I could clip my kids art to our play room wall. This is way better and cheaper than what I was thinking. I am going to see if I can wrangle my husband to help make those shelves too! Exactly, Exactly, Exactly what I wanted for our tight budget play room!
    I will be a knock off wood follower from now on!

    reply to this comment >

  13. i just found your blog the other day but didn’t have the chance to fully explore it. wow! thank you so much for all your awesome plans. i don’t know a thing about building things but i feel like with your amazing guidance i might be able to do it!

    reply to this comment >

  15. I LOVE this stuff. I will definitely be checking out this blog more in-depth. And, I can hardly wait to start on a project all by myself. You know what I mean–usually, I have to beg my husband to make this or that for me so I can get the look I want. Now, I am feeling empowered! Amazing!

    Thanks!

    reply to this comment >

  21. This is soooo perfect! I have a wall in my kitchen that is covered in artwork that my kids do. I just scotch tape them up and they fall down sooner or later. This would be fabulous. I will also be checking out the instructions for making the bookshelves. I was seriously planning this exact same thing with the cloth storage bins! I just didn’t know where to start. SAAAWWWEEEET!

    reply to this comment >

  24. I’m guessing there will be a whole bunch of new followers for Knock Off Wood. I love those Clip Art Rails…and the shelves. Gonna have to do some building the next time we go to Grampa’s house! (For the garage…and the tools!)

    reply to this comment >

  27. I am so happy to have seen this post and found your blog. I would really, really like to start building some of my own stuff and you have inspired me to give it a try. I LOVE your ideas and will follow your blog from now on.

    reply to this comment >

  31. Kari, Thanks so much for posting (and following) Ana’s blog! I love it and am now a follower. I don’t have all the tools to make any of it. But I believe the big box hardware stores will cut wood for me, if so I am going to make my daughter one of the beds…I can’t decide which one I like the best! If they won’t cut it, my dad has the tools, I will just have to wait until I visit him.

    And i have been stressing out over getting her into a “big girl” bed because of the cost! Thanks, Kari and Ana!

    reply to this comment >

  35. Thank you everyone for taking your time to look at what I love to do! I read each and every comment and am so happy that I could provide you will a tutorial that could be useful to you.

    I just wanted to comment to the Oxford Family that carpentery does burn alot of calories – around 300 per hour. I have a link on my blog to Self Magazine’s Carpentry Calorie Counter. I have actually lost alot of weight since becoming a carpenter.

    And thank you Piccolina Designs for your nice comments. I would love a show! With a show, I could not just talk about building furniture, I could show people how to build.

    Thank you, thank you! Love, Ana

    reply to this comment >

  36. Ana should totally be one of the carpenters on Extreme Home Makeover or trading spaces. She is so talented and she is beautiful.

    I checked out her blog and she has some wonderful plans. I so wish I had a shop or area to build in so I could make some of them. They are so practical, but so pretty. Maybe I will have to talk a brother-in-law into making me some of them with his shop.

    reply to this comment >

  38. LOVE this! I too have been glued to your blog since I ran across you via another blog last week. I went and purchased MDF and Pine 1*2’s and borrowed some power tools from friends yesterday. Now I am just waiting for the arctic blast to move back north and I am building those shelves! I have always wanted to take up woodworking but always felt to intimidated. I am quite handy with power tools and have no problem installing trim work but all jargon and tools necessary for cabinetry just left me less than confident that I could be successful. Thank you so very much for taking the time to set the example! I hope that my own little Ana is pleased with the new shelves in her room and the additional space and self-sufficiency they will offer her. You Rock, Momma!

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  41. Oh my gosh, I randomly came across Knock-Off Wood the other day and was so impressed, and now was so excited to see her again! What a fantastic website and creativity, I bookmarked her site for my husband, he should be busy every weekend now for the next few months!

    reply to this comment >

  42. Wow! I’m glad you’re still blogging! Just checked out your blog and I LOVE it! It seriously has been driving me crazy that I can’t have sweet bookshelves to store and organize my kid’s toys simply b/c we’re struggling college students. But you have given me hope. I’m excited to make the shelves and the art rails. What a cute idea to show off your kids’ artwork! Thanks for the inspiration and for sharing your plans with us!

    reply to this comment >

  46. Ana,
    I found your blog just a few days ago and my brain has been churning ever since. I keep reading all your plans and trying to decide what my first attempt should be. Your site makes me feel empowered!!
    Heather

    reply to this comment >

  47. Cute tutorial. I am doing a guest spot at Ucreate tomrrow and say your post. I will sign up to follow and I would love it if you did the same. I just posted a PB knock off the other day.

    Cheri

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