DIY: Linen Memo Board & Neon Push Pins

Hi Made By Girl readers!! It's Jenny Bevlin on this Monday morning with a great DIY for your home. I'm in the middle of redoing my home office/craft room. One of the things that I really wanted for my space is a really great memo board. I don't know about you, but I love pinning items to memo boards to have around always to keep me inspired. 

I love Pinterest, but there is just something about having images (that I LOVE) around me to keep me inspired! As far as memo boards go, I knew I wanted something that was neutral in color to make the images I put on it to really pop! 
 

I did some searching on the internet & found this linen memo board. However, I feel like $149 is too much to spend on a memo board and I knew I could easily DIY it. For the push pins, I knew I wanted something fun. I love the neon and neutral trend, so I decided to make some neon push pins. These push pins are a great compliment to the neutral linen fabric. Don't you think??

   

Here's what you need to make this memo board:

• Cork Board
• Linen Fabric
• Staple Gun
• Staples (Make sure your staples are the appropriate length. Staples that are too long may poke through the other side of the board.)

 
Steps:
 

Lay the fabric out and place the cork board on top of it face down. Cut the fabric around the board leaving about 3 inches or so all the way around the board.

 

Before you staple the fabric to the board, make sure you iron the fabric so that it is crease free. Next, staple the fabric to the back of the board all the way around. Make sure that you are pulling the fabric tight around so that the fabric will be nice and tight on the front of the board.  

Leave the corners for last. For the corners, you will just fold them down and over as shown in the picture and then staple down. 

 

Here's what you need to make these neon push pins:

• Flat Head Push Pins
• Acrylic Paint
• Clear Nail Polish
• Foam Board (I used this to put the push pins in to dry)

Steps:
 

Dip the head of the push pin in the paint. I then poked my push pins into a piece of foam board so that they could stand upright while they dried. 

 

Once dry, paint the push pins with clear nail polish. 

 

The best thing about this whole project is that everything cost a total of $25! Now, what should I buy for my office with the $125 I saved?

- images and post by Jenny Bevlin

INK: Innovation at the Workplace

INK, one of Southern California's top advertising agencies, recently expanded their offices & created a work environment suitable for creative people! As I've said before, working in an office that is NEAT & well put together, inspires CREATIVITY! 
 

In my opinion offices should invest their BIG $ money into the items they use daily.....& leave the smaller budget for everything else. IKEA is a great place to shop for this type of project. They have a ton of desks in several different finishes as well as counter stools for office kitchen areas! 

From the looks of it it seems INK got some of their items from IKEA, which is fantastic! 

The conference chairs however are probably not from IKEA....however similar style chairs can be found on sites like ZGallerie for under $300 each! Not bad? 

Investing in good conference room chairs should be a must for any company.....especially to impress (& make comfortable) out of town guests coming in to visit the company! 

Employee rec rooms are a big part of the MODERN office these days, at INK you'll notice they have a PING PONG  - perfect to get rid of any workday STRESS right?!? 
 

In my opinion, in order to really create INNOVATION in a workspace - you have to go against the grain!
 

Basically, think out of the box when designing your new offices. Do what MOST people are NOT doing. Get the picture?!? 

For example if you notice the INK office has a BAR in the conference room, more than likely for parties & so on...but STILL, different! Also, the SHAG RUG in the office- that isn't something you see ALL the time right?!? But in this case, it works.

And seriously...an office without cool ARTWORK would be VERY BORING to me! INK has simple pieces - probably from local designers or even employees themselves. Great idea! This company is a perfect example of what the MODERN office (away from home) will look like! Enjoy!

 -images via INK

I Love Lonny...

I've been occupied with soooo many other things that I neglected to take a look at the latest issue of Lonny Magazine! I FINALLY got around to it yesterday &  was pretty impressed!  I was particularly blown away by Michelle Adam's office in NYC - the before & after pictures are a must-see! I love everything about this office space! It exudes CREATIVITY & STYLE....don't you think??  

This would be an ideal place to come to work to everyday -assuming the staff was just as nice right?? Can't have nice place & CRAPPY boss....that doesn't fly well with me. 

Either way, regardless of any opinions circulating the internet about Lonny Mag & what was said in the NY Times - blah blah blah, I find Lonny Magazine to be a BIG hit.

Some bloggers think they have it ALL figured out about what people should say or NOT say in the media, but who are WE to judge?!?!?!?

At the end of the day, Michelle is super cool.....she's been a sweetheart to me for as long as I can remember & never once was arrogant. 

I'm just glad we have all this accessible EYE CANDY to be inspired by! Michelle has brilliantly delivered it to us & for that I thank her.

So what did you think of Lonny's new office space? It it a hit with you? Are you still enjoying the content in the mag???

-photos by patrick cline