It’s back to school time, and today, we’re going back to college. I’m going to show you how to make a cute cork board and jewelry holder to decorate a dorm room. It’s both functional and fun!

Supplies Needed:

Step One: Open Silhouette Studio®

I chose this awesome Buffalo Skull (Design ID #118055) by Amy Robinson. I stretched the design out as far as I could to fit the 12 in. x 12 in. Silhouette Chipboard. Then I added the Moon Phase design (Design ID #142682) by Katie Jarman.

First, cut out the buffalo skull on a chipboard. In SilhouetteStudio®, make sure to change the material you are cutting to chipboard. Then cut the moons out separately using vinyl.

(Note: You can cut the the moons out on the same chipboard as the skull, but I personally like stenciling with vinyl.)

Step Two: Trace Wood

Trace the buffalo skull onto a piece of plywood with a pencil.

Step Three: Cut Wood

Make sure you have your safety glasses on, take your wood to your scroll saw, and cut along the shape you traced.

Step Four: Trace Cork Board

Take your freshly cut wooden skull and trace it onto a sheet of cork board. Then use your scissors to cut along the trace.

Step Five: Attach Cork Board

Take your spray adhesive and spray the top of the plywood wooden skull. Then take the piece of cork board and place it on top of the plywood. Press firmly down onto the skull so that the cork board adheres completely.

Step Six: Attach Wood Backing

Because you are also going to make this messaging board function as a jewelry holder, you’ll want to create a spacer between the wall. To do that, I just took a leftover wood scrap, cut it with the scroll saw, and nailed it onto the back of the skull. If you don’t have a nail gun, you can use wood glue instead.

Step Seven: Paint Buffalo Skull

Paint the entire cork board skull with pink acrylic paint. Also make sure to paint the sides because those will be exposed. But you really don’t have to paint the back of it because it will be covered.

Once the pink paint is dry, use the moon phase stencil and to paint onto the cork board. As you can see, the horns are painted as well, but I just did a freestyle design.

Step Eight: Hang

Once the paint on the skull has dried, take industrial-grade, double-sided adhesive tape and place it on the scrap wood piece on the back of the skull. Then attach the skull to the wall.

Now you have a functional messaging board and a cute jewelry holder. You might even make your dorm roomie a little jelly.