A layout using... a hammer.

I mean every girl needs one of those to finish her page, right?

First, let me explain.

I sat down to do a lovely fourth of July layout of my adorable, little niece. Unfortunately, I quickly discovered that I only had two sheets of the October Afternoon paper I needed (I know, I know... you're wondering how that can even be possible!? I was wondering the same thing, actually.) None-the-less... I didn't have enough in the 12x12 size, and the 8x8 tablet pages were just too small.

So here I was, needing 2 pieces of barn wood, and one piece of banners, but only having two sheets total. Darn those double-sided papers!

Trying to embrace my new "use what you have" motto I quickly began scanning my inventory of supplies to figure out how to create barn board strips for my layout. Fortunately, I had some Tim Holtz Grungeboard sheets that were perfect for the job. (More on that in a later post.)

After painting those out it was time to attach the 'barn wood" to the layout. But, as every good mid-western farm girl knows, you don't hold a barn together with Zip Dry, you need nails. 

"Nails?," you say? 

Yes, nails.

Now, most of your average home improvement store supplies aren't so archivally sound, but Making Memories brads are. So, with the use of your favorite trusty hammer, you too can make nails on your layouts.

The technique is really quite easy. Are you ready for the instructions?
Step 1 - Puncture 'barn wood" with paper piercer.
Step 2 - Insert brad through hole and spread back open to attach.
Step 3 - (And this is my favorite part.) Smash the brad with the hammer. I mean it. Really pound that thing! (If you're doing this on a soft surface, make sure the paper is well supported so that you don't push the brads through while hammering.)

After your anger management therapy session is through, you will have nails in your "barn boards" that look something like this...

Click image to bigify.

Shown for reference, the top row is "unsmashed" and the bottom row is "smashed."