Make Your Own Medal and Bib Holder

I was inspired by both my sister and from a runchat a couple of weeks ago (someone proudly displayed their holder in a pic) to do something about all the medals and bibs I have accrued over the years from various races. Instead of having them hang from a shelf end in the corner of our bedroom where no one can really see them unless pointed out, I figured why not get some sort of holder. I shopped online and realized that medal and bib holders are pretty darn expensive. 

Low and behold, my sister made her own back in May. Here is her blog post. From her post and just seeing what I could come up with, I decided to try and make my own. I first went to Target to see if I could find some sort of base board similar to what my sister got, but I wasn't as lucky. I then ventured to Michael's and found some wooden boards, but they were on the expensive side. 

My next stop was Home Depot. The person I asked was very friendly and led me to an aisle with some shelf boards. It looked like the perfect size and it was only $3.98. Score!

The next thing I needed were some hooks for the medals to hang from. I asked and was led to two different isles, regular hooks and adhesive hooks. The lady I asked said they had adhesive ones, and I thought, those would be perfect as we don't have a drill at home. 

There were many to choose from and different sizes as well.

I went with the bigger and cheaper ones at $3.98. These hooks were pretty pricey as they only came in packages of two. I bought 3 packages.

I paid $17.04 total,so not a bad deal for the major supplies that I needed. I was pretty sure I had the rest of the things at home (paint, small hooks for the bibs, and hook things for the back to hang it with). 

At home, I found some small hooks that I could use for the bibs. I believe the hooks I found are for hanging pictures up on the wall, but I figure whatever works, right? ;) 

So, I put the two hook things on first. I had to hammer them in with small nails into the hooks. 

Next, I followed the directions for the adhesive hooks (pretty simply instructions) and put them on. I spaced out the hooks beforehand, and marked them with a pencil so that they would look evenly spaced.

The next thing I did, was I got the paint out. I used the acrylic paints that the kids use for painting. It's probably not the greatest paint to use for this, but again I was thinking, whatever works right? ;)

I chose to paint on "I love running". Because I do! :) And it filled up the space I had pretty nicely.

The finished product!

Here's what it looks like with my medals. Not bad, for $17! :)

It's a fun project and you could probably make it nicer and maybe even cheaper (as I went with adhesive hooks). These types of projects are all about how you want it to be, so have fun with it and be creative.

Do you have a medal and bib holder? What do you think? Would you make your own?