Shutters Memo Board

I am going to be honest, this latest project threw me for a loop. I came out of our local Habitat Restore with some great miniature indoor shutters, but couldn't think of a thing to do with them!

I have seen awesome tutorials on making shelves, mail racks, jewelry stands, wall hangings, etc. with them; but nothing seemed to fit into my style or tickle my fancy. I half-contemplated just sitting them around for interest, but quickly decided they were too "cookie cutter" and not vintage enough for that. So, after racking my brain for awhile, I just pulled out all the materials I could think of and started winging it. I have mixed emotions about the results, so I am definitely going to need some opinions on this one!

Without further ado, here are my new shutters:

First, I decided it was only natural to number my shutters. I mean, I really do number everything, as I will show you next week! I used the easy pencil mark transfer with simple Times New Roman numbers. I used acrylic paint to make them black.

Next, I secured the shutters with hot glue. Then, before adding the final elements, I came up with a cheater hanging solution. I was out of picture hooks, so I just screwed in a tiny screw and pulled out my handy picture wire. It hangs very well this way!

To make my shutters semi functional, I added scrap booking clothes pins to the bottom of the front to make it into a memo board. They now hold mail, notes, grocery lists, or whatever else.

The final elements I added were a silhouette and a monogram. I painted both on teal polka dot scrapbook paper that fits into almost every color theme in the house since I am already extremely non committal about where it should hang. I then mounted them behind glass and hot glued them into place. I can't figure out what to call this look, but I kind of like it. Also, it was my first attempt at a silhouette, so don't laugh at me. My sweet little girl looks cute even in black and white though, that's for sure!

So, in the end, old shutters+hot glue= kitchen memo board (for the moment, could possibly also = future craft room memo board, future kids room memo board, well you get the picture!)

Here it is in the kitchen entry way. Sorry about the picture quality, my kitchen is incurably dark. Well, at least until I knock out the entire back wall and make it completely glass... oh Matt...

I'll be linking to these parties this week. Hope to see you there!