Make a scoring board for free!

Everyone is raving about the Score-Pal and quite frankly I was feeling a bit left out (but there is no way I am dropping $40 on one, I’d rather spend my $$ on more paper and stamps!) so I decided to make one myself! Here are some cards I made with my faux Score Pal:

I scored the 3 lines on the bottom with my homemade scoring board. Stamps: Inkadinkado, Heidi Grace Designs

I scored the lines on the green panel and bottom of the Kraft card with my homemade scoring board. Stamps: Stampin Up!

And it is great for scoring boxes, no ruler required!

I scored this box on my homemade board too! Note: Homemade dew drops, cute huh?

Here is what you need: A ruler, a drafting triangle, a bone folder or butter knife, a paneling scrap and a permanent marker.

The paneling scrap I used was free, I simply asked my local hardware store if I could have their discontinued paneling samples. They come 12×16 inches in size and the back is completely smooth (A great painting surface with 3 coats of gesso!) but on the front there is at least on groove that works great for scoring. Better still would be to get a scrap of wainscoting since there are many grooves and they are narrower and would be good for dainty score lines!

Glue the ruler to the top of the panel at a 90 degree angle to the groove. That way you can square up the paper against the ruler. I tried wet glue but even with weighting it down the glue slipped so I ended up using hot glue (love that stuff) and it worked like a charm. Just be careful not to use so much it oozes out the front or you paper will not butt up against the ruler right. With the triangle make lines on the board at 2 1/8″, 4 1/4″ and 5″ to the right of the scoring groove. That will help you line up your paper for scoring cards. I printed out an accurate ruler from RedCastle.com and glued it to the ruler so the “0” mark was at the groove for easy reference.

The printed ruler helps placing your score lines.

Use this board for scoring cards or boxes. You don’t need a ruler! just lay the box over the groove and score with a bone folder or butter knife!

Scoring a box "Look Ma! No Ruler!"

Use the triangle against the ruler to emboss a diamond pattern. It’s not perfect but it was my first try!

Embossed pattern with my homemade scoring board

I really love that this takes up so little space. I still can’t believe how well it works, maybe someday I’ll get a Score-Pal but for now I’m lovin this little freebie!

I want to say thanks to my friend Tracy for taking the pic of me using the scoring board, and helping me test out my creation. We spent the morning stamping and gabbing and talking about producing some craft videos for our blogs (as if there wasn’t enough silly nonsense here already!) If you get a chance check out her crafting and photography blogs (this girl can work a camera!)

Thanks for stopping by and until next time happy crafting…and scoring too!