Snow Day DIY

Well, this week has turned into a bit of a SNOWcation.  I must say that I was actually looking forward to an excuse to hole up at home with an excuse not to leave the house, but then our heat went out and both of the girls go the stomach bug.  So, suffice it to say I'm glad the week is over!

Yesterday the girls were finally feeling better, and the house was warm, so I used that opportunity to do a quick project I've had in mind for awhile now.  I've gotten in the habit of saving all of my corks from wine that I open, and even have purchased large bags of corks at thrift stores, with the thought that someday I would do something with them.  I briefly had considered making a bath mat out of corks, like this:  

Source: Houzz

I also considered going the bulletin board route, like this: 

Source: krrb

But when I stumbled across this, I knew I had to do it: 

Source: Vintage News Junkie

Now, I didn't follow the method described at the blog above to create my monogram - I didn't trust my ability to freely create a 'B' without using an outline/backing.  Here's a brief tutorial as to how I created our B monogram out of corks.

Fist off, I began by printing out a large 'B' in my desired font and size onto computer paper.  I used the "Word Art" feature in Microsoft Word, so nothing fancy - I was just trying to create a stencil to trace/cut onto cardboard. 

Then, I attached the piece of paper to a piece of cardboard with a glue stick, so that it wouldn't move around as I was trying to cut it out.  

Then I cut out the B with an X-Acto knife.  NOTE: after this step was completed, I probably should have peeled off the paper from the cardboard, leaving only the cardboard, but I didn't.  It would have resulted in a more professional looking finished product. 

Finally, I was ready to attach the corks.  I grabbed my glue gun, warmed it up, and I was ready to go.

 I started to lay out each of the corks on the cardboard before gluing them down, but it didn't work very well since they were so wobbly, so I just decided to chance it and glue down one cork at a time.  I spread the glue on the cork itself, and then pressed it down firmly onto the cardboard.  For corks that would be touching other corks, I spread the glue on the bottom o the cork, and then also down the side of the cork to which it would attach, if this makes sense - I was just trying to make the corks as stable as possible. I tried to intersperse the red wine corks among the white wine corks, resulting in a slight polka dot effect with the red stained corks popping up throughout the letter. 

The gluing of the corks took the longest by far - I would estimate that it took about an hour.  But when the hour was up, I had this finished product: 

I'm happy with how it turned out - it's a nice addition to our bookshelf, and it was a good way to make a dent in those corks I've been hoarding!