Magnetic Dry Erase Board Makeover

This is what I did last night - turned my blah, boring, plain magnetic dry erase board into this cuter, funner, magnetic weekly planner board. This was about as easy as a project as it gets. Truly this takes minimum supplies and very little time. Let me walk you through what I did.

I started with the previously mentioned BLAH dry erase board:

I went through my fabric scraps and found one that was thin enough to still use magnets through and big enough to cover the entire board (you need a little extra to wrap around to the back). After cutting the fabric I wrapped it tightly around the board, hot gluing it into place.

You could use a less sheer fabric if you didn't want to see through it - I like seeing where I can use push pins if I wanted to

I used some pre-cut letters I had picked up ages ago at Michael's and attached magnets to the back to make markers for days of the week.

Continuing to dig through my never-ending craft supplies {such a problem to have, I know} I found some wooden hearts and knobs that my mother-in-law had given me. With a touch of paint and some magnets attached to the back, I quickly created some magnets for adding our weekly events to the board.

Now all I have left to do is make some laminated cards that I can use to write our weekly commitments on using a dry erase marker. Then I can easily wipe them off and use over and over. I may add a pocket to store those in as well. But you get the idea!

Making Bean Bags

Let the 1st birthday related posts begin! We are going pretty low key when it comes to presents, seeing as he is only turning 1 and his brothers already own 75% of the toys on this planet. I did want one of his gifts to be homemade. I have been so good about doing that for my niece and for other friends and family but not so much with my own boys. So I decided to make him some bean bags...nice and easy but lots of fun for a 1 year old!

What you need:
~ Fabric
~ Beans. I used small white beans (no really, that's the name on the bag!) and it took about 7 1/2 cups worth.
~ Something to cut with
~ Something to sew with

Let's get started:
You'll want to start by cutting squares out of the fabric(s) of your choice. I wanted 10 bean bags made from 5 different colored pieces of fabric so I cut 4 5inx5in squares out of each piece of fabric for a total of 20 squares. I used a rotary cutter just because it made cutting nice and easy but good ol' fashion scissors work just as well:

I decided to make my bean bags a different color on each side so I matched up my color combinations and begin pinning squares together (the right side of the fabrics should be touching):

Now to begin sewing. You could easily do this project by hand but it is of course much faster if you have a sewing machine. You are going to want to sew along 3 sides of your square, leaving one side open so you can fill them:

Flip your square right side out and fill it with beans. I used 3/4 a cup, you can adjust that based on how full you want your beanbags:

You ready to finish 'er up? Fold down the open side and pin it shut. Then sew across the top and voila...you have yourself a beanbag!

I love this project because it took minimal time and very few materials. I am hoping that Isaiah loves them as much as I do!

Aren't they pretty?

If you are wanting something a little more elaborate, check out these counting bean bags.

This project was featured over at The Happy Housewife, Attempting Aloha, and Play Pennies: