I made a new corkboard for my sewing room. I got the idea from a house we rented in Paradise Valley, Montana on a trip to Yellowstone. They had one in the kitchen by the phone and used it for posting photos & messages.
I fell in love with the concept, and even though I’m not a wine drinker, I started a campaign to collect as many wine corks as possible so I could make my own. After 2 years, I had only collected half a shoebox full. Thanks to the miracle of Craigslist, I found a wine collector who had saved 12 years worth of corks from around the world and had decided to unload them for $10. Imagine my surprise when he handed me a trash bag full. Seven one-gallon Ziploc bags full, to be exact. I was stunned and thrilled simultaneously. I went straight to Hobby Lobby and bought a frame and a black foam backer board and got to work. It took about 2 hours to arrange and then individually glue each cork into place.
I love it. It looks great, and it’s fully functional. And it was inexpensive to make, since the frame was on sale. Total cost was about $35. Because it’s made with a foam backer board, an open-back frame and natural corks, it’s very lightweight, so it was easy to hang. I added a metal hook rack (also from Hobby Lobby) below it to hang my scissors and sewing stuff on. Now it’s fun and functional. I had made a larger corkboard last year so I could post all my crafting dreams for inspiration, so it’s nice to have a matching set.
The ribbon rack below the larger corkboard is a metal paper towel holder I found on a clearance rack for $8. It’s the perfect size to hold spools of ribbon for future projects or gift wrapping. And I found a black silverware drawer organizer for $4 that holds spools of thread perfectly (under the acrylic sewing platform). As you can see from large jars in the back corner of this photo, I still have gallons of corks left. I love it when I can be creative and cheap at the same time. Sometimes the stars just align.
Inside NanaBread's Head 
Hey NanaBread,
i was just looking at my ever growing collection of corks and was thinking about making the a “cork”board this Christmas break. So, I dug into your achieves and found just what i was looking for! Did you hot glue the corks to the foam board? Also, my corks aren’t from around the world, I’m pretty much a “one hit wonder” as far as my taste in wine goes so i was just wondering if I could take a few of those many, many extra corks off of your hands when we have our Christmas cookie lalapalooza?
Absolutely! I’d be happy to let you go through my big jar of corks and pick out a selection to go with yours. I’ve got plenty to choose from, so just remind me on Cookie-Palooza Day. I started with a black foam board and an open-back frame (50% off) from Hobby Lobby. I did hot glue my corks down so they wouldn’t pop out someday. It just took a little dab under each cork. I also had to cut a few corks to make them fit, but I did that along the outside edges so that the cut ends went under the edge of the frame. Worked great – none of them showed. Happy to help with extra corks and any advice you may need as you put it together. Can’t wait to see how it turns out!