DIY Sharpie Fabric Bulletin Boards

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Office Depot, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #inspirestudents http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

Be honest. How many piles of school projects, and papers, and drawings do have stacked on your kitchen counters right now? I'm saying I have at least 3 rotating piles right now. One pile is the "to keep" art projects. You know, the sentimental stuff–hand prints, the I-love-you-Mommy projects, the newest family portrait brought home. Another is the "some action required pile". The stuff I have to read/sign/return. And the last pile is the "let's keep it long enough so the kids forget about it and I can throw it out" pile. It's true. How many half-colored, ripped-out pages of Anna and Elsa does one family need? In an effort to rein in the back-to-school clutter, I got inspired while shopping at Office Max for supplies, and decided to reallocate a little of it to my son's room. 

As I've mentioned before, my son has bunk beds. The beds came with two cork boards and a dry erase board just under the top bunk. Great idea except he was two when he got these beds and well... I guess the distinction between dry erase and cork just wasn't there.

The cork part was pretty much completely "decorated" on each side (there is another board to the left of the dry erase board in the middle). On top of that, the cork part was so thin that a thumb tack wouldn't stick in it. And certainly not if you were trying to tack a piece of paper up. So really, the cork boards were just colored-on eye sores that served no purpose.

For the last year or so I've been debating re-doing these bunk beds totally. I'd really love to paint them but the work involved in that it a little daunting right now. So I decided to start small and redo the cork boards since they served no purpose currently and were really ugly. Here's a panoramic via iPhone so you can see the whole deal. 

Supplies:
I purchased the majority of my supplies at Office Max and right now you can save $5 off your purchase of $20 or more on Select Newell Rubbermaid Brands (PaperMate, Expo Neon Window Markers, Sharpie, Uni-Ball, & Mr. Sketch) while supplies last. I'm all for a deal.

• Cardboard
• Fabric
• Hot Glue
• Sharpies
• Ruler
• Cork Rolls
• Scissors

Step 1:
First, I cut two pieces of scrap cardboard out of a box we had in the garage. I cut them to fit just inside the frame of each cork board. Then I covered each piece of cardboard in cork.

A roll of cork is pretty readily available and cheap. I just hot glued it to the cardboard.

Step 2:
Cover each cork-covered piece of cardboard in fabric.The fabric is just wrapped around the back and hot glued in place. I chose a plain white so I could make my own design with the Sharpies.

Step 3:

Sketch out (or print from the internet) a simple geometric print you'd like to recreate. I wanted a simple triangle pattern and planned it out a little first.

Then I measured out a grid on my fabric in pencil. 

And began drawing my lines with the Neon Sharpies. You could do this before the fabric was attached to the cardboard/cork but I think it would be much harder to keep the fabric from shifting.

I really loved how bright the orange came out.

Then I did a dot at each intersection with a Sharpie marker made for fabric. Honestly I really can't tell the difference for this application, but I guess if it were something you were going to wash, the fabric marker would hold up better. I love how crisp and modern it looks!

Step 4:

Pop in your new bulletin boards and kick yourself for not doing this sooner. I didn't actually attach the new boards to the bed because they fit in the frame so tightly you really have to work to get them out. If they were a little floppy I would probably use some sticky Velcro to keep them in place.

And yeahhhh.... you might have noticed I painted the frame of the bed in that area. I couldn't help myself. It's the same blue I used on his suitcase table and I just love it. It ties everything in so nicely now and that's one less piece I have to paint later on when I redo the entire bed. :)

So now I have a place to pin up some school art projects rather than letting them sit in one of my piles on our kitchen counter. He's already moved everything around and added his favorite masterpieces. I've also provided him with some new Neon Expo dry erase markers for his board and if those end up on the bulletin board panels... it's as simple as popping it out and recovering again.

So hurry off to Office Max for some last minute back to school shopping. Weekly savings from August 31st through September 6th: Sharpie Clearview Highlighter 3PK:  $4, PaperMate Clearpoint 2PK’s:  $3, Select Expo Chisel & Ultra Fine 4PK’s:  $2 while supplies last. What back to school projects do you have in mind?