Comin' in for a Landing (Strip)

With all the snow days we had these past two months, I was able to finish off a few sections of my apartment that I hadn't had time to work on since starting school. One of these was the little landing strip next to the front door of my apartment. I had a similar setup in my former apartment - I really like the IKEA shelf with brackets look, apparently.

Former Apartment (details)

Current Apartment

 Those who read my original apartment decorating post will notice the two new wall decorations above my little shelf. The Keep Calm sign is a Christmas gift from my parents - my dad found it at one of my favorite craft stores - Hobby Lobby. The little bulletin board is one I picked up in Big Lots for $3.00 and decorated myself. I knew that I wanted to spruce it up some, but I wasn't sure what angle to take. Stamping? Fabric?

Since I wanted it to match the Keep Calm sign, I eventually selected the airmail border as my inspiration, which would give it a nice vintagy-old world feel. I also liked the connection to international mail, since it makes me think of my friends overseas. Having seen others do a similar sort of design on bulletin boards (chevron stripes), I figured I'd pick up a few bottles of craft paint from my local Wal-Mart along with some masking tape and set to work!

Step One: Gather supplies!

Step Two: Outline border space and stripes. I decided to forgo the white stripes, opting to leave those spaces empty (and a little smaller).

Step Three: Paint! I counted/marked out the alternating colors ahead of time - luckily it all spaced out right (I'm not that talented!).

Step Four: Remove tape! I left it to dry for a few hours, but then I was impatient to see whether or not the paint had bled under the tape (my backup plan was to cover the board in fabric if the paint had bled!). Luckily, it worked perfectly!

Step Five: Embellish! I used a stamp that I had picked up at Michaels on sale a few months ago to really seal the deal on the airmail vibe.

 I wanted something to balance out the stamps on the right corner, but I didn't have any other rubber stamps that would work. So, I made my own stamp out of a mini jam jar I use to hold safety pins. It worked great, and after a little bit of online research for inspiration, I filled it in with text (Kandern is the name of a little German village I've visited three times for English Camp). Another nod to my international friends. :) And there you have it, my favorite little spot to pile junk mail and overdue library materials. :P