This Distance Between Us

I made a room divider. 

The super cool amazing thing about this is that it is made with my favorite material: card board! It is 4′ tall and 1′ wide, and is layered in a cardboard core, a layer of cork on top, and burlap with a scrolling pattern in sky blue on top. The base is wood, and the whole thing is very light and portable and folds on its hinges. I`m actually pretty impressed by the whole construct, especially by how quick it was to make!

I was inspired to make this one when I looked through my inbox and found this amazing post by simplehomemade. I actually stole her idea for number one, but to give myself credit she meant walls, and I stuck it on cardboard. And I gave her credit, so it`s not plagiarizing, right? College has made me see plagiarizing around every corner, and every single word seems to be a possibility for it. I mean, who hasn`t used ‘it’ or ‘a’? Do they not count that in turnitin or those other double check sites? I feel like plagiarizing is the academic red scare, and it makes me feel really paranoid- I mean, it`s not like I`d ever knowingly steal anyone`s ideas, but I get penalized if one sentence in my paper that I made up by myself happens to be the same as someone else`s? I will never understand the system, but I guess that`s a good thing as well. Anyways, time to get to the ideas, and get off of my soapbox!

I have five amazing ideas for what to do with a big `ole stretch of flat cardboard.

Now, when I say big, I`m thinking poster board sized, but if you prefer bigger than that, I say go for it!

1. chalk board or whiteboard. They have spray paint chalkboard available all over Google, but they also have some amazing options that come in actual colors, (I don`t know if you saw it in my other post, but Rustoleum is my favorite brand!) from purple to blue to classic dark green or black. It gives me memories of running around the playground at recess and using projectors on the board, before we installed smart boards. Which, in case you were curious, often freeze and just aren`t that smart after all.

White boards are pretty cool. They have rolls of it that you can apply to your favorite solid surface, in this case cardboard, like a giant sticker. I`m not sure about the longevity of it when stuck to cardboard, though, so some really cheap wood like mdf might work best for the long term. I think particle board may be too uneven a surface for your purposes, but you are, of course, the judge of that. You can go to American Woodworker`s site to see some more information on the pros and cons of mdf vs. plywood, and the wood explorerer has an app and site to look into different types of wood for general interest`s purposes.

2. Interesting base for a piece of art, like pastels: I personally have done quite a few rather abstract pieces in oil pastels on cardboard, and found the result to be really fun! I like how the matte texture plays off the shine of the pastels, and a row of pieces staggered on a mantel or gallery ledge like this one looks really cool!

3. cork board base: You can take a hunk of cardboard, and stick a layer of thin cork roll on top. You can staple it in place along the edges, and add a cool frame to the top to cover your stapling efforts. I like this one, but I`m a bit prejudiced about my work :) You could also staple some burlap on top and stencil on a simple design (I like the idea of a little cluster of spring green leaves in the corner!) for a modern, and, dare I say it considering the base is cardboard, slightly fancy edge. AnOregonCottage put a monogram on top of hers, and TidyMom topped hers off with furniture tacks!

4. Put a layer of acid free paper on top and pin a prized collection to it- shadow box! Well, you could actually pin velvet on top too, as that is the normal topper for shadow boxes, but I think a layer of super shiny acid free paper on top would be a more modern accent. I like changing things up like that! And regardless of what little pieces you are pinning up, I think some crazy pushpins would be a cool balance to the sleek background. DesignSponge has a twig pushpin tutorial, Mysocalledcraftylife has fabric yoyo pin tutorials and I think these pushpin chairs are also worth mentioning.

5. Idea Board- pin up scraps of paper, cool looking bits and pieces or scraps of magazines, a few recipes, some photos… I imagine you have a few ideas about what to stick on an idea board, no? I love SewingMel`s idea for a comic background, and hckaizon`s is a great organizer board! HandmadeParade made a really cute version of a memory board, (though I don`t think they`ve done any recent posts to speak of!) and One of a Kind Designs has a cool digital kit for computer based memory keeping.

6. This is the bonus idea! With a layer of acid free paper on top again, you can give this to your teen, preteen, or yourself for photos of a favorite star or other idol that you follow and want a beauteous collage of. Or whatever you particularly love, for all I know there could be fifty pictures of different topiary styles you`ve tried in your garden or particularly wonderful cakes you`ve made for special occasions. Whatever you love so much you want to surround yourself with, but don`t want to drive visitors to your small apartment or wherever this will be posted insane with a whole wall covered in the stuff.

What amazing ideas do you have to utilize one sheet of cardboard? Maybe you have seperate ideas for corrugated and flat versions of the stuff? I`ll feature the top ideas in the next cardboard post!