Yay! I got the clipboards done just in time to take them to school this afternoon. Except I forgot to take pictures.....oops. But the two teachers and the principal were delighted to get them, and I think a bit surprised. The principal asked "What's this for?" LOL I told her it was for being such a wonderful principal and she wanted to know "Are you guys going somewhere? You're not moving, are you?" I think she was afraid it was a going-away gift or something. I wonder how often she gets a thank you gift from parents? I had fun making them, though, and it's great seeing the smiles on these ladies' faces when the got them. I tried something different with them, though, or at least different than I usually see with clipboards.
First, I painted the front and back. I dyed white MM paint for one, using several drops of inkpad refill. The 2nd one I used straight MM paint and the 3rd I used white acrylic paint (since I'm now running low on white MM paint, LOL).
Once the paint was dry, I stamped on them! :-) I found that the colored SU Craft pads work wonderful for that, and so does the Stazon pads, except when you're short on both of those. So I simply got out white paint (MM or the white acrylic paint) and added drops of SU ink pad refill (Classic ink) and dyed paint again. Then, using a sponge-type paint brush, I pounced paint on my stamp. It worked! I've heard you could stamp on walls with paint, but I've never actually used paint on my stamps before. For simplicity, I liked using the SU Craft pads, but the paint worked, too.
Once all that was dry, I added a strip of paper, about 4" high to the bottom. Two clipboards got patterned paper, the other one got dark cardstock that I then stamped on. I stamped the teacher (or principal)'s name on the paper or cardstock to really personalize their clipboard. On DS's teacher's board, I used my white SU Craft pad and also stamped various words that I thought described her. It looked wonderful, until I used the Modge Podge to seal everything. The Craft ink was thoroughly dry, but for some reason the white Craft ink smeared when I brushed the Modge Podge over it. I was kind of bummed, until I realized it made the clipboard have a sort of aged look. I thought maybe it was because I stamped it on cardstock, so on the 2nd one I used the white Craft ink on the dried painted clipboard. Since I used Modge Podge to adhere the paper down, I was able to see what the white ink would do. Again, it was thoroughly dry, in fact I heat set it, and it still smeared. I sealed that board with acrylic sealer (spray).
But at least I learned something! :-) LOL I'm not sure why, but SU white Craft ink does not work well if you use Modge Podge over it. Nope nope nope. On the other hand, I think I like sealing them with the spray better than the Modge Podge. It's a more even coverage, and it doesn't discolor as it dries.