Corkboard States

Aaaaaaaaaalabama, Alaska, Arizona, ArkanSAS! 

Get your state pride on with this  practical and decorative DIY.
Tweet your pics of this DIY to us at @thecobaltco or on Instagram with the hashtag #cobaltcocork! Cheers,

Jacqueline

Materials

• Cork roll (it's thinner cork, I got mine at Michaels)
• Exacto knife
• Stencils of the states
• Acrylic paint
• Paintbrush
• Thin sharpie or dark pen
• Blue painter's tape

Inspired by this tutorial by the creative peeps at Brit + Co.

1. Make your paper templates. I wanted mine to be on the larger side, so I had to print different parts of each state and then tape them together to form the whole.

(This is the easiest to do on Photoshop, it is possible on Microsoft Word but much more difficult)





2. (No picture) Cut out the state stencils.

3. (No picture) Lay the stencils on top of the cork, and trace around the outline of the state with your thin sharpie or pen. 

4. (No picture) Using the exacto knife, carefully cut along the outline of the state! 
It's ok if you can still see the sharpie on the state once it's cut out - from far away it won't be visible.




I chose to do a cork version of every state I've ever lived in (the states are California, Missouri, Virginia, Texas, New Jersey if you need a refresher in geography). 10 points if you can guess which order I've lived in these states! 

5. If you'd like, add color to your states! I chose my colors based on the color scheme of my dorm room (reds, yellows, and oranges with random accents of light blue). Tape off pieces of the states, and fill in the sections. Make sure to get the sides too!





6. Once the paint is dry, apply a second coat to make the color pop.

7. Once the second coat of paint is dry, peel off the tape! 

And voilá!


I'm really excited about this new addition to my dorm room - perfect to organize all my random receipts and paper clutter while still being an interesting decoration and cool conversation piece. 

Hung up on the wall of my dorm!