Wine Cork Memo Board

I love wine. I really do. But I just can't seem to drink enough in order to create some of the awesome projects I come across on Pinterest that incorporate wine corks in the design. So what's a girl to do? Enlist her family and friends, of course! I started asking around, and low and behold, I learned that I am friends and family with a bunch of lushes! No, just kidding. But I did find that many people keep or collect wine corks, just like me! I was in luck!

So this past Easter, my wonderful wine drinking Aunt Carol and my sister's aunt-in-law (is that even a real term?), provided me with large bags filled with wine corks. I know you're thinking "Easter! That was like six months ago!" Remember how I mentioned that I juggle lots of projects at one time? Well here's proof. Six months to tackle a project that took me just a few hours. But alas, I did finally get around to finishing my pinspirational project! I couldn't be happier! And here it is!

Photo on left is Pinspiration and the photo on the right is my creation!

So here's all the deets! The pinspiration is on the left and my version is on the right. I loved the herringbone pattern that they used in the pinspiration and decided that was the way to go when creating my own wine cork memo board.

My version was a lot larger though. I already had an empty frame taking up space in my utility closet. It was left over from a map project gone awry, but I just knew that I could find use of it somewhere else. There was no glass to contend with, just a plain, wooden brown frame. Perfect!

I started by cutting a piece of foam core with a utility knife that would serve as the back of the frame and would be where I hot-glued the wine corks to. Once I measured and cut, I started laying out my pattern on the board before hot-gluing anything down. I learned that a perfect herringbone pattern was not to be for me, but the good thing is since my frame was so large, I was able to hide pretty well the fact that I had to triple up the corks in some places.

Since wine corks really do come in different shapes, sizes and designs, I made sure that I used similar sizes and shapes when pairing the corks together. Its really a bit of trial and error and I made sure to test each pair to see how they stacked up to the pair I glued down before them. Does that make sense? That way it limits the amount of gaps that can occur if they're not matched up right. Thankfully, the corks given to me were full of variety, so I really didn't have to worry about placing two brands of the same wine close together.

You'll notice that I decided to include a dry erase calendar with my memo board. The rationale behind this was that the space this memo board now occupies in my kitchen, was where I used to keep a wall calendar, which I did like to reference. I figured I didn't have to lose out on that functionality and could add a $7 dry erase calendar from Walgreens to my memo board. I just hot glued that down and was able to squeeze in some wine corks around it to keep the look cohesive.

I am so happy with the way my wine cork memo board turned out. I already starting using it to pin up bills, coupons and various items that I don't want swept off the counter and into the trash. The whole process was so easy and cheap! It took just a few hours over two nights to complete and cost me under $30 for the frame, foam core and the calendar (that does not include the wine that everyone had to drink!) It was so easy in fact, that I think that I might have to tackle another wine cork project I found on Pinterest. For this one though, I think I might have to recruit a few more lushes to help me get enough wine corks!

wine cork back splash with picture frames from Houzz

wine cork back splash from Landmark Finish

Cheers!