DIY Reversed Sequin Corkboard

Recently, my daughter and I took a walk through the Justice Store for girls.  I usually never do that because of the onslaught of all the cuteness, and coolness that makes even me a 40 something woman want to be a tween again. Who can walk out of that store with daughter in tow and not purchase anything? While I did succumb to a reversed ice cream sequin shirt, we also stumbled upon a silver reversed sequin corkboard in the room decor section.  It was around $50 Canadian. I wasn’t prepared to pay that and the crafty soul inside of me thought I bet I could make one myself.  So here is what I did!

I purchased a reversed sequin fabric from Amazon. We decided on the blue and pink one as she loves mermaids right now. I had bought 1 yard for about $28 Canadian. So far still cheaper than Justice. And actually, I still have lots left over to make other things from the 1 yard. Bonus! I did end up purchasing pink glitter ribbon as well but I already had a corkboard at home and I was determined to use it. Originally, I also bought purple paint to paint the frame of the corkboard too, but in the end, I glued the pink glitter ribbon over it.

First, I removed the existing frame from the cork board and my original idea was to paint the frame purple.  When you see the project finished though you will see that we glued pink glitter ribbon to the frame instead.  I will explain at the end why I changed my mind.  We are allowed to do that when in the throes of creative exploration. We realized something doesn’t work so we try something else. My daughter really wanted the pink glitter ribbon added so I just went with it.

While my daughter was painting I cut the fabric to fit the corkboard. As I wanted to fit the fabric back into the frame I cut the fabric to .5cm from the edge. I don’t usually work with fabrics so I should have watched this Youtube Video before to see her trick for keeping the mess to a minimum.

*WARNING* CUTTING THIS FABRIC DOES MAKE A HUGE GLITTER SEQUIN MESS.

I did this on my kitchen table and so sweeping it all up was pretty easy although, for days, I was still finding Glitter everywhere! I just used scissors, and for a more precise cut, I used my mini Exacto knife to trim the edges where needed.

Once I had the piece cut to the size I wanted I then used hot glue to adhere the sequin to the corkboard.  I only placed glue on the length and width of the board edges making sure to smooth out from the center to avoid air pockets. Next time I would adhere to the fabric with the glue from the center of the board slowly pushing the air pockets out as I placed the fabric down on the board. *SIDE NOTE* I did try an adhesive spray on the backing of the fabric but that didn’t work at all.

Then I refitted the cork board back into the purple frame.  In order to do this, I removed any hardware staples from the frame in the 1 corner I had loosened.  And then with a bit of muscle, I was able to refit the cork board with the sequin back into the frame.  This is the tricky part as depending on how tight the fit is sometimes the sequin would pop out but with a bit of dueling, I prevailed and then hot glued the corner of the frame once I was happy.

Here is where the pink glitter ribbon comes in. I didn’t really like some of the edges where the sequin didn’t quite tuck properly.  I had some pink glitter ribbon and thought it might be wide enough to hide where the frame meets the board.  This was an old cork board that I was attempting to upcycle and I did not want to go out and buy a whole new one.  So we used the pink glitter ribbon. And it worked perfectly! And my daughter and I liked it better.  The pink glitter ribbon gave it even more of a pop.

Here it is placed on her desk. Now I just have to convince her to use it as the cork board because she is too scared to pin things into it.  She doesn’t want to wreck it she says.

It isn’t a perfectly fitted piece but I made it work and most importantly my daughter doesn’t need her mama to be perfect. Process over perfection.  It was less than the $50 one at Justice and multi-colored as well. I do have leftover fabric so I’m thinking of other projects.

Share with me some of your ideas!  Reversed sequin is so much fun!