Sunday, August 7, 2011

Just a Few of My Favoirite Things Treasury

A quick thank you to DistInk Designs for including my Tapestry Clutch in her treasury titled:
 ....Just a few of my favorite things....then I don't feel so bad.  


Are you searching for a summer clutch to take you into autumn?


Made from a lovely cotton print from Valori Wells Cinnamon Tapestry Collection in beige, orange and brown and an eco-friendly 10oz canvas cotton fabric  interior.  The clutch is finished with recessed zipper to keep all your valuables safe.  Perfect for evening parties with your favorite maxi or summer dress or great with a pair of jeans.

You can purchase this item in my shop: HMMills


 

Saturday, August 6, 2011

DIY Cork Bulletin Board

A few months ago I moved my studio into a larger room in my house.  When I started putting the room back together, I decided not to use my old bulletin board which was about 20x30 as I have limited wall space and wanted to hang my thread racks.  I was finally inspired to use some of those wine bottle corks and two smaller Ikea frames to create a smaller bulletin board.

To create your own Cork Bulletin board you will need:

  • Some type of frame(s) to hold your corks together
  • Wine bottle corks
  • Glue (I don't think regular glue is strong enough for this project, I was thinking about Elephant Glue but i expands or hot glue.)  I ended up using some marine glue DH provided. 
  • Wall Mounts
  • Hand Drill
  • Patience


First I removed the paper backing from my frames... 







Next, using a hand drill, I attached two wall mounts that I picked up at Home Depot.

Next is the fun part, arranging the corks in a pattern. I found it's much easier to layout each row first as corks tend to be different sizes and I wanted a snug fit. This is much easier to due without glue.

Once I was happy with the layout, I attached a strip of glue to each cork and pressed into place.




At this point, the process is the same, arrange, rearrange, add glue, press into place and repeat until you are complete.

To help set the corks into place, I laid a few heavy items on top of the board while the frame dried overnight.

Ta da...