How to make your own beautiful pin board!

I enjoy crafting; but I wouldn't have said I was particularly good at it - the perfectionist in me always comes out and I get frustrated that what I've imagined in my head never looks quite the same in reality. However I do get inspired by projects and sometimes I even get round to doing them!

I saw some amazing message boards on Pinterest that were sold in the US and cost an absolute fortune! I was doing a bit of research and discovered a tutorial on how to make your own and thought I had to give it a go. You can check it out here... 

It looked fun and more importantly not too difficult, so I decided to have a go. I really enjoyed sourcing all the materials, I love buying craft bits; but normally end up never using them, they just seem like a good idea at the time then when it comes to getting creative I go blank!

I had most of the material already and some scrapbook papers, I went through my stash of crafts, mixing and matching to see what worked. I had to buy some 12 x 12 cork tiles which were about £9 for a pack of nine.

The tutorial used a clip frame which I thought was genius; but I wanted to do a square board, so on a trip round Hobbycraft we saw some canvases (100cm x 100cm) and I thought they'd work just as well. They were even doing an offer buy one get one free so I had them delivered - we'd never have got them into the car, plus my wheelchair.

Once I'd got everything together and had worked out the layout, then came the scary part - cutting the material! I always get freaked out about ruining it. It was actually really easy, I just used my cutting mat and quilting board/roller cutter, it just took a deep breath and a prayer.

I stapled the material on because I have bad experiences with glue guns, i.e. I always end up in tears with horrible burns. Don't ask about the Nut Wreath of '99!

I had a left over pot of magnetic paint - yes they really do make such a thing! I painted up two of the tiles (the checked squares) and then stuck paper on top - I found double sided tape attached to the tile and then Pritstick on the paper held them in place.

Once all the tiles were covered, it felt more real, all I had to do was stick them down. I did try with a mini glue gun I had, I thought it was the only thing that would hold the tiles, so I risked life and limb.... but it didn't work, the glue dried before I could stick them down, so I used UHU instead, my glue of choice. It worked and I left it overnight before standing it up - half expecting them to all fall off when I did!

It was a heart in the mouth moment; but the next day I stood it up and ta-dah! I pinned on some paper flowers and tags and I might add some extra bits; but all in all I'm really pleased with it. It's going to go in my Creative Room - office come craft room. Now all I need to do is work out exactly where I want it and arrange for our Handy Man to come and put it up. I can't wait!

I'm pleased I've actually seen this all the way through and not got distracted. I've got the material to do a second board for our spare room/sewing room, so that's my next project!

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