Lapboards

How many of you just love Family Fun Magazine? I DO! There are so many great ideas in each issue! Right now they are celebrating their 20th anniversary, so they are doing some really fun things. One of those things is the Family Fun Badges. Each month, there is a new badge to earn, with ideas to help you earn them. There is a poster to display the badges on, too. Anyway, August's theme was "Hit the Road" and all the ideas were for travel games, car organizers, etc. and one of the ideas was for lapboards to use in the car for kids to color or draw on. They took a clipboard and decorated it and then glued it to a small pillow. I wanted to make them for the grandkids, but I wanted them to be washable, so I changed things up a little.

I had some heavy canvas placemats that I was planning to stamp or paint on, but they were just sitting in a box waiting for me to do something with them. I used two placemats for each lapboard. I cut a rectangle of denim from an old pair of jeans, making the rectangle about 1 1/2" bigger all the way around than the size of the clipboard. I also had some clear, heavy vinyl that I cut 3/4" wider than the clipboard, with the top cut to go around the clip on the board. I think you can see that pretty well in the pictures. I stitched the denim, right side up, to the right side of one of the placemats. I sewed a rectangle about 1 1/2" to 2" smaller than the clipboard. Then I centered the vinyl on the denim and stitched right on the edge of the vinyl. Fold the placemat out of the way so you are sewing only on the denim and vinyl. Be sure NOT to sew the top edge, or you won't be able to get the clipboard into the pocket. :)

I trimmed the denim evenly around the vinyl and clipped the edge of the denim into a fringe. When these are washed, the fringe will really even better.

I took another placemat and placed them wrong sides together and stitched around two long sides and one short side, leaving one short side open. Then it was time to decorate! Cameron didn't want to decorate his, but Hally had a blast! We used some rubber stamps and fabric paints, plus some freehand swirls and dots. Then I took an old bed pillow and cut it into thirds and it was the perfect size. I stuffed the lapboard pillows and stitched them shut.

2/3s of the bed pillow.

All that's left is for the kids to decorate the clipboards, and for Hally to decorate the top of her pillow to match the back. Now, when the pillows get dirty, we can just slide the clipboards out and throw the pillows in the wash! How handy is that?

In closing, I have a question for all of you. If Wal*Mart is lowering prices everyday, how come nothing is free yet? Until next time, Gramma G.