The Message in the Mess
Bloggiversary; Birthday

Where Scrappy Gets Crafty – Pt 1

When I first started blogging (a year ago yesterday!?!) I featured my home office space and mentioned that I had plans for my cork board. Remember how it looked back then? Yeah, well it sat that way until Monday of this week when I decided enough was enough. Here’s the before – cluttered, messy, only barely functional:
Well, that’s all over now! I hinted a couple of months ago that I was working on a fun and exciting project. Well, I can’t keep it to myself anymore. I’ve revamped my side of the office as my very own crafting studio! We use The Hubs desk for home office stuff and my side of things is all for me to create and craft! While it’s not completely finished, I couldn’t wait to show you the positive change in that area of the space. Here’s the cork board today:
Sorry for the nighttime shot. It was a dreary day and I waited too long to take the picture.

As part of my craft area I really wanted to clear the clutter and make the cork board work for me so I stripped it bare. So far all I’ve reattached is the clipboard that holds my weekly chore schedule (something I’m going to offer very soon here on the blog), our small clipboard of important tax receipts (OK – that’s not crafty, but it’s a necessity and that’s where I’ve always kept it so I’m in the habit of going back to it there. When I purge the filing cabinet, I’ll remedy that.) and a small dishwasher detergent box turned organizer with some scrapbook paper. My plan is to use push pins to hang things I use often for crafting and scrapping like my good sewing scissors, my fabric marking kit and large scrapping projects in progress.

Here’s how I did it:
1. Remove everything from cork board.
2. Using spray adhesive and a yard of fabric of your choice (for my board I used a yard, yours will vary so make sure you measure twice) cover the board with the fabric making sure you have a good stick without over-saturating. My best advice here is to read the back of the can. I do every. single. time. Oh and as a precaution, only use spray adhesive outside in a well ventilated area and wear a mask if you have asthma or other breathing issue.
3. Using my X-acto knife I trimmed the fabric down to inside the metal edge of the cork board.
4. Pick a fun ribbon and hot glue to the metal border of the board. (I really wanted an old frame for this, but after hunting around forEVER I gave up and went with ribbon – but I actually love it now.)
Next Up – the felt “flowers”. Here’s a close up shot:
To make these I simply cut three different sized circles out of felt. (I used the Fiskars circle cutter templates as a guide) Then, using a small thumbtack I just pushed the tack into the cork and used a dab of hot glue to secure a black center. These are totally removable if I get tired of them! 
Here’s the cost round up:
Corkboard – FREE! (We had one, but you can still get one relatively cheap at yardsales, etc.)
Fabric – $2.75 (It was $5.99/yd but I had a coupon.)
Ribbon – $3.99/roll (I used one)
Felt for flowers – $1.60 for four sheets
Hot glue, and thumbtacks were things I had around the house.
Total cost: $8.34! 
I’m so stoked about it. Since becoming a housewife and living in a cramped apartment while we save for a house I realized that I hate visual clutter so having all that clean open space on the wall in such a bold color makes me giddy! 🙂
PS – How the heck did I miss my own bloggiversary? I’ll try to celebrate this weekend with something fun. I blame it on the cold I’ve been down with the last two days. Also, the offer is still open if anyone would like to guest blog in honor of my 1 year on in the bloggiverse. Anyone? Pretty please?
This post is partying at:
House of Hepworths – Hookin’ Up with HOH (see sidebar for link)

Christina’s Adventures – 20 Below Thursday (see sidebar)


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8 Comments

  2. Eva Scott Reply

    Looks great! I really love those flowers you created! I would totally guest blog if I didn’t have my hands full. {wink wink}. Can’t wait to see what you come up with!

  3. thedistractedblogger Reply

    It’s almost the weekend. Did you want a guest post for over the weekend or next week? I could modify any of my current posts or given a little time have a furry halloweeny post. I don’t really feel worthy since I am so new to all this though.

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