Clipboard Display Stand for Your Favorite Quotes

I recently shared a photo on Instagram of a big box of memory keeping goodies that I had received from the new Heidi Swapp collection (available exclusively in Joann’s Stores and on their website). You guys were almost as excited about it as I was! Seriously though, who wouldn’t be excited to have the chance to play with all of this stuff? It’s gorgeous! This collection has all of my favorites – yellow, aqua, grey, polka dots, hearts, shimmer, and glitter. *swoon* I love glitter.

I couldn’t wait to try out the Color Shine, a spritzer of iridescent color that quickly and easily covers your paper in colored shimmer. I may or may not confess to having been excitedly geeking out over a YouTube video demonstrating the awesomeness of Color Shine just about a week before I got these little bottles in my hands. Let me tell you guys, this stuff did not disappoint!

The Color Shine goes on as an ultra fine mist and quickly dries smooth and shimmery. If you accidentally spray too much, you can easily dab up any excess color with a paper towel or tissue. In fact, Heidi’s Color Magic Resist Papers are designed just for that! Dabbing at the wet Color Shine spray will reveal patterns, text and images that have been applied to the Color Magic paper with a special resist medium that allows it to remain white. See the subtle stripes on the “Today” paper above? Half of those stripes will absorb the color from the Color Shine spray, and the rest will stay white. So much fun!

I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to make with all of my materials {Remember? I’m the most indecisive person in the world! How could I narrow down my options with all this incredible stuff?!}, so I started by making a pile of my favorite supplies from the package – the wood clipboard stand, enamel confetti, glitter alpha stickers, a clear tab page, some patterned paper from the 6×8 stack, and a sheet of die cut Color Magic paper and a scallop banner that I had sprayed with the Color Shine sprays.

I started playing with all of the pieces, layering and rearranging until I felt that it looked just the way I wanted, and the materials started to take form as a photo display for my desk top. I built my project, layer-upon-layer, as I tried in vain {ridiculously  indecisive, remember?} to decide which photo was going to claim center stage in the middle of my new display piece.

I painted the base of the clipboard stand with a mixture of decoupage medium and rose gold glitter. The glitter on the base looks a bit spotty and sparse in some of these photos since it’s sort of difficult to photograph, but I assure you that in real life there are five coats of glitter on this baby, and she is 100% sparkly and shimmery to the max!

While I was mulling my options and dragging my feet on choosing which photo was going to get the coveted starring role, something happened in world news. World renown poet Maya Angelou passed away at age 86, and I couldn’t help but be affected by her death.

When I was a child and a teen, I spent a lot of time with my grandmother. She happened to be a big fan of Maya Angelou, and I often spotted I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings on her nightstand. I was around thirteen when I finally asked Grandmom what the book was about and if I could read it. She told me that it told the true story of a young woman who had endured some horrible things in her life, but who eventually used her life lessons as a way to connect to other people and teach them how to live and love. She warned me that the book was graphic, but since she generally allowed me the freedom to make my own choices, and she never explicitly told me not to read it, I did. I was a voracious reader who had devoured hundreds of books at my young age, but Maya Angelou’s book was the very first book that inspired me and touched me in a deeply emotional way, and I will forever hold that in my heart.

I immediately switched creative gears, and scrapped my photo display idea. I decided instead that I wanted to use my display board to showcase beloved quotes from people who inspire me. I loved the idea of creating a display piece with interchangeable words of wisdom, encouragement, and motivation, and the Heidi Swapp materials that I had already chosen lent themselves perfectly to this new crafting plan. Heidi’s new line has lots of great basics combined with what I call “personality pieces” that work well together across many different styles for all kinds of home decor projects, memory keeping and gift ideas {what I’m really saying is that you can’t go wrong when it’s ALL awesome and customizable!}.

I decided to keep the wooden backing piece of the clipboard display stand as-is so that I can easily change out the background paper as I swap quotes. To achieve the look, I simply layered (from bottom-to-top) a full sheet of triangle paper, floral paper, “favorite” cutout grid paper, and the scalloped banner. A loose clear divider page (with the “♥ this” wording on it) tops everything off, and the silver clip holds it all in place on the wood clipboard. The quote card simply slips right between the paper layer and the clear divider – easy peasy! I was falling in love with my quote stand, but it definitely still needed a few finishing touches.

Paper feathers! How could I resist? I wanted to add some dimension and personality to the silver clip, but I didn’t want to go the traditional route of adding ribbons and bows, so I used my craft cutter to make a few of these funky feathers instead. I seriously love them so much that I made about a zillion more later that day {how could I not?! That paper combo is gorgeous!}

Next I added some of the enamel confetti and glitter alphabet letters to pretty things up even more.

Just looking at this makes my heart happy – the colors, the scallops, the florals, oh my! I have a tendency to want to keep adding more and more layers of embellishment and bling, so this might not be the final-final version of my display stand, but for now I’m exercising restraint and embracing the beautiful simplicity.

I still haven’t decided what I want to put inside the label space yet – any suggestions?

Since the display area is perfectly sized to fit a 3″x4″ journal card, I created a few appropriately sized Maya Angelou quotes that remind me of my grandmother, and I’m offering them for download if any of you would like to use them in your memory keeping endeavors, too.

{CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD}

Don’t forget to go take a peek at the Joann Stores exclusive Heidi Swapp line, and check out all of the spectacular project ideas available on Heidi’s blog. Her new line has all kinds of gorgeous supplies in different styles and at various price points, so you’re sure to find your own inspiration to #makeprettythings!