Upon arriving at college, I realized that I forgot my cork board back at home. Instead of having my parents mail it to me or even :gasp: going a whole term without a cork board, I decided to make a cheap, geekified version of my own! For less than $10, I made an eye-catching art piece that also has a functional purpose!

Step 1: Tools and Materials

Tools you will need:
-Scissors or box-cutter
-Tape measure or ruler
-Markers
-Straight edge (if you don't have a ruler handy)

Materials:
- Cork board tiles -- I bought a pack of 4 on Amazon for $6.79
- Tape or other means of sticking the boards to the wall

Step 2: Come Up With a Design!

Pac-man is only one of many designs you could put on here. When choosing what you want your cork board to be shaped like, keep in mind that the image cannot be too detailed, because it will be too hard to cut out (unless you have a laser cutter, in which case, go for it!). Also keep in mind that it is a lot easier to cut out straight pieces than round ones.

Once you have chosen a design, create an image of it using your image editor of choice; I used GIMP photoshop for my design. To make it easier to transfer the design onto the cork board, scale the image so that the longest side is 12" (or whatever length your cork board is.)

Step 3: Put the Design on the Boards!

Once I had created my templates, I reset the rulers in GIMP to show inches instead of pixels (see picture below). Using the templates as a guide, I then used a straight edge and a tape measure to draw the image on the cork board. To do this is very simple; For example: if the first corner on the image is 1.5" from the left in the image, then make a mark 1.5" from the left on the board. If your design is simple enough, you can make all the marks on two edges of the board, then use a straight edge to draw the lines in.

Step 4: Cut Out the Images!

This part should be pretty simple; just cut along the lines that you drew in the previous step. I used scissors for my cutting, which worked pretty well unless I had to make tight inside corners. The part I had the most trouble with was the bottom of the ghosts, but I think it turned out pretty well. I'm not sure how well a box-cutter (or any other knife) would work, but I would imagine that it would be easier to use.

Step 5: Put It on the Wall!

Now all you have to do is put the cut out pieces on the wall! I used painter's tape to put mine up because i'm staying in a rental house and I don't want to risk tearing any paint off the wall when I remove them. The cork boards also came with some double-sided foam tape which you can use.

Now all that's left to do is fill your new cork boards with all of your papers that need organizing! Enjoy!