Tales of an Ugly Wall Display

I have a big problem.

I am seriously jealous of the wall displays my first grade teammates put up. They are amazing!  Every year, they transform the hallway into an ocean, a rainforest, a desert.  These displays are so beautiful that when kids walk through the hallway, they kids hold their breath and "swim" through the desert. Jenney Alvis and Heather Worf (creative wonders extraordinaire) even pipe in sound effects.

I have this.

On one side, an ugly window  with peeling film.   I've tried clipping student artwork to clothespins on a clothesline that I strung across it, but the clothesline kept falling down. I don't want to tape directly onto the glass and further damage the film, and I don't want to cover the window with butcher paper because I like the light it lets into our dark hallway, and thus my classroom.

On the the side, a difficult brick wall.  I can't staple into it, tape falls off, and even velcro and hot glue won't adhere to the brick.  After years of spending hours trying to figure out how to keep something up on the brick wall, I've given up.

 So...what's a teacher to do? I got the idea from Pinterest and another blogger, and made a few modifications.  This is what I've come up with.

Decorated, magnetized clothespins stuck on the metal window sill!

Here's what how I did it.

1) I spray painted the clothespins and let them dry.

2) I glued on pieces of bright ribbon.

3) I used a glue gun to attach magnets.

4) I taped a bulletin board border onto the metal sill and then put of the clothespins. (You can see that I still have to trim the ribbon on this one.

Whew! What a relief! We'll see how it work out.  If I do it again, I'll do a few things differently.

1) I won't spray paint. Instead I'll dye them with Rit Dye if I want them to be colored.

2) I won't glue on ribbon. Instead I'll use Washi tape. I just got some tape that I ordered from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Washi-Masking-Rolls--Starter/dp/B007VTTNTM/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1375026163&sr=8-8&keywords=washi+tape+set

It's WAY easier and I love the patterns!  I just pulled the tape off the roll, tore it and formed it around the clothespin.  I can't wait to use the taped clothespins on my clip charts! They are super easy to write student names on them!

So, what do you think?