Craft: Papered Clipboard (Tutorial and Template)

Who doesn't love a mini clipboard? I remember loving the chance to use clipboards as a child--made me feel so "official"--and the mini size is perfectly child-sized. (Actually it's great for adults too. I can just imagine an organization strategy leveraging a suite of these....) These make a great party favor (I used them for Scarlett's Woodland Picnic Party a couple years ago), but they are also a great party activity.

For a Back-to-School Party I hosted with a friend recently, we gathered supplies for these clipboards and had girls ages 7 through 11 make some to use for a friendship game we played.  We set out templates, patterned papers, scissors, glue and the clipboards. They loved this craft! It was great fun for them to select papers that suited their own personalities and further customize these with colored ribbons and different mechanical pencils. And then they had a great tool to play our "Fast Friends" game. (See this post for some party photos and the free game template.)

Do you have a papered clipboard in your future? This would be great for a baby shower game or even a game night! It's pretty simple to make, but a bit of a pain to trace the shape around the clip to create a template, so I've got a tutorial and template here for you (click for the details).

PAPERED CLIPBOARD TUTORIAL

You'll need:

• A 6x9 "memo-sized" clipboard (specifically these "Advantage" brand for the perfect template fit--the clip is not as wide as some others) 
• Patterned paper such as scrapbooking paper, or something you print yourself
• Rubber cement
• My template for tracing and cutting the patterned paper
• Optional: ribbon and a writing implement to tie on!

Download, open and print my template for the patterned background (be sure to print this at 100% with no "scaling"). Cut it out and lay it on top of the patterned paper you'd like to use to decorate the clipboard. Trace the template onto your patterned paper (you could do this on the wrong side of the paper if the positioning of the pattern isn't important--I wanted to center my chevrons....)

Cut out your patterned paper in the shape of the template. 

Apply the rubber cement to the front of your clipboard according to the manufacturer's directions. (For extra bonding apply to the clipboard and the back of your paper and wait a few minutes for it to dry.)

Then lifting up the clip, slide the paper under the clip and position it carefully around the clip hardware aligning the curves and straight lines with those of the clipboard.

That's it. Isn't it pretty?