Alphabet Cards Make a Great Nursery Border
March 15, 2009 by Katelyn Thomas
Filed under Home & Living
I like a few traditional elements in a young child’s bedroom. One of them is the ABC border that has been popular in children’s nurseries for generations. It is colorful, fun and practical. Usually, you’d need to paint a border or hang wallpaper, but I found a much easier solution – oversize flashcards. I picked up an entire box of them at the thrift store for just a few dollars.
Photo by K. Thomas
Once I got the flashcards home, I measured out how much space I’d need between them and then put them up with small finishing nails. If I did it again, I might go for a border about halfway up the wall instead, because it would be easier for the kids to see.
If you don’t have any oversize alphabet cards hanging around the house, don’t worry. I found the most adorable solution and it will only cost you the price of some printer ink and paper: Jan Brett printable ABC’s . They’re absolutely perfect for a kid’s room.
If you’re putting up the border in a preschooler’s room and he or she loves to color, you may want to look for the printable coloring sheet option instead. By the way, if I was printing these out to hang, I’d either find 26 frames on clearance or I’d have them laminated. Clear contact paper is probably the cheapest way to laminate the cards.
Very cute idea!
This is too funny because I have a box of oversized (8″x10″) alphabet cards set aside for precisely this purpose. But I haven’t put them up yet because I’ve been hesitating about the best way to put them up. I googled and your site came up … I’m hesitant to go the nail route for fear of pock-marking the wall. I thought about (a) blue tack, (b) stringing a ribbon and securing the cards on the ribbon somehow — maybe with clothes pins? ??other ideas??
Karin,
I actually tried blue tack first and then about half of them gently floated to the ground. Maybe I had a bad batch or maybe the cards were too heavy? Anyway, I think the ribbon idea sounds really cute. You can find mini clothespins or if you don’t mind making holes in your cards, you could punch two holes near the top and thread them onto the ribbon. I’d try it with a few sheets of cardstock first to see how it looks, though.