how to create a cute, whimsical clipboard (a perfect teacher gift!)

I don’t know about you, but I seriously CANNOT BELIEVE it’s almost time for my kids to be back in school! Where on earth has the summer gone?!?! A new school year usually means a new teacher for your child and I have the CUTEST project for a fun welcome-back gift that you can create in literally NO TIME and it’s also fun for YOU!!

You can watch the complete process right here!

Here are the supplies that I used:

Plain clipboard (I got mine at Dollar Tree!)
Paint (I used Apple Barrel brand in green turquoise, white, red, black, golden sunset, brown oxide, and pink).
Re-Fabbed branded paintbrushes
Re-Fabbed branded raffia
My custom-designed hot glue gun

First, I removed all of the stickers and painted the clipboard white.

Be sure you get it covered really well so you have a nice background for your design! You may need two coats!

I wanted the background to look like notebook paper, so I used the green turquoise Apple Barrel paint to paint the “lines” of the paper. It’s 100% okay if your lines aren’t exactly straight because that definitely adds to the whimsical charm!

After I added all the lines, I used the black paint to create the “holes” on the paper.

If you’re looking for more teacher inspiration, you will LOVE my cute Dollar Tree Teacher Sign Makeover!

Next was the red line. Don’t worry too much about it being totally straight! You’ve got to trust me on this one!!

After I finished all the details of the “paper,” I wanted to add a fun graphic and what’s better for a teacher than A PENCIL?!? I pulled up a cute image of one on my laptop to use as inspiration!

After I sketched in the outline, I filled it in with color and added tons of details!!

I ain’t lyin’ when I tell you that the wording may have stressed me out a little. That is not my strongest skill! But y’all know me – I just jumped in and did it and it turned out SO STINKIN’ CUTE!!! If you just cannot talk yourself into giving it a try, you can always use stickers or a vinyl cutout to add the name!

I finished up the painting by adding a few pink polka dots here and there and white details to give it some depth.

The finishing touch was a super-cute raffia bow that I hot-glued to the top! I didn’t know if she’d actually use the clipboard or just display it, but I glued the bow high enough that she could still open the clip!