I’ve finally finished the mouse pad!  It took a little extra work than what I thought, but it turned out nice.  In case you missed it, here is the link to my original post when I began creating the cork board mousepad

I ended up covering the entire cork board with a new piece of fabric since the edges were not neat and clean when I cut out the original shape.  To do this, I cut out a square in the pink fabric and then began attached it to the cork board with the Heat’n'Bond.

Then, I cut slits around the edge of the square fabric to the edge of the cork board about every 1/2 inch.  This allowed me to hot glue the edges down in pieces on the bottom of the cork board, with still keeping the shape intact.  This is what it looked like when I finished from the front:

I still needed to put something on the back to stop the cork board from sliding on my desk.  I ended up using an old mousepad, which was already falling apart.  I pulled off the old fabric image and cut out the shape of my new mousepad.  I then cut it out and used a hot glue gun to attach the back of the cork board.

And I was finally finished!  Ta-da!!  A completely new pretty mousepad.  Maybe not originally how it was intended, but I made it work and it still looks just as cute and more fun than my old boring one!

Mousepad complete!  Hope that if you try to create your own mousepad that you have better success or learn from my mistakes!!  Also, it would be worth trying and probably a lot easier and quicker to just use some pretty scrapbook paper and attach it to the cork board.  And more financially economical if you have all of the products on hand!

I never really had a fun mousepad for any of my computers.  I always just used a sheet of paper if the desk was not smooth enough.  Nothing sparked my interest or looked cute until I saw this photo on Pinterest.  At first I thought it was scrapbooking paper, which thinking back now would probably be a hell of a lot easier to complete.  Here is the photo:

So cute right?!  Well she actually uses fabric and thin cork board and adheres the fabric to the cork board using “Heat’n'Bond.”  So I read the blog, made a list of all the items I needed and went shopping.  I had a little troubling finding where in the store to find the Heat’n'Bond while I was at JoAnn Fabrics.  They did have it near the stitch witchery—just make sure you get the Heat’N'Bond and not the Stitch Witchery.  I bought the fabric, which was a lot cheaper to get the quilt quarters.  It was 2 for $3, so I bought one that was pink patterned and one that was black.

When I got home I decided that I wanted a more squared off shape instead of a rectangle, so I modified the template she provides on her website for the shape.  I started with a 20cm x 20cm square and then marked the middle of each edge and started to sketch the pattern.  (If there are any scrappers out there, you could also just trace any shape of a mini album you have, I know BoBunny has a similar shape as do many of the other brands).

After that I cut out my pattern and traced it onto the cork board then headed to my ironing table.  I pressed out the fabrics, then traced the shape onto the black fabric.  This is where I started hitting problems.  Since this fabric is not the best, it started to fray in spots where I was cutting.  I was not happy with the shape cut out nor the fabric.  So, instead of throwing in the towel, I decided to modify the project just a bit.  Like Tim Gunn always says on Project Runway, “make it work!”  This photo below is prior to me cutting out the shape:

Instead, I decided that I would cover the whole cork board instead of leaving the trimmed edge on the mousepad.  So I cut out a square shape that was just a little bigger than my original square of 20cm x 20cm in the pink patterned fabric and started to adhere it to the cork board.  A word to the wise, read the Heat’n'Bond directions carefully.. twice!  I had never used Heat’N'Bond before and needed to make sure that the paper side was up and the textured/bonded side was on the cork board before pressing it to heat the glue.  After 2 seconds of heating it with the iron, you peel off the tape and cover it with your fabric and press the fabric for 4 more seconds.  Here are a couple pictures of that process:

As of right now, I just have a poorly cut square over a really pretty shape.  I didn’t have time to finish the project yet, so hopefully today I will accomplish the final product.  Here are my plans:  I am going to tuck the loose edges of the square around the shape so it will fully cover the cork board.  I then plan to trim off the black to the edges on the back side to cover the tucked edges of the pink.  The only thing I need to do is find a way to prevent the mousepad from slipping since my desk is very smooth and slick.  Any suggestions would be welcomed!

I’ll post the final product hopefully this evening!  Wish me luck!  Here is the final outcome of my make-your-own mousepad

Here is the link to my original pin on Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/pin/86342517825569163/)

Here is the link to the original blog Modern Day Moms (http://moderndaymoms.com/make-it-yourself-monday-cork-mousepad/)