DIY Mousepad!

The other day I am perusing some of my favourite blogs and I came across a post by Centsational Girl about making a DIY mousepad AND I STOPPED IN MY TRACKS. It is really funny, but sometimes you deal with some temporary fix (a.k.a. a "kludge") and you don't really think about it.

Case in point: My mousepad

Yes, it is a dirty piece of paper. Basically my table is kind of shiny and therefore my cheap mouse doesn't work on it. And I hate using the trackpad, so I stuck a piece of lined paper under there and it has been sitting there for 8 months (hence the dirtiness). It is also really hard to find a mousepad anymore! I guess good mice (mouses?) don't need them? When I saw the Censational Girl post it hit me like a ton of bricks- why don't I just MAKE one?!

So I did!

I didn't follow her directions at all because I didn't have a mousepad to build from. I did, however, have some cork from the dollarstore!

I then grabbed some material from my stash of scraps and I tested out the cork/material combo to make sure the mouse would work on it (some fabrics have reflective fibers).

Once I determined that this may actually work, I cut my cork and material down the size. I don't have a lot of space to work with, so mine is about 6x6". Also, my exacto-knife is currently MIA! I wonder if it went down to the locker with the other stuff from removing my towel bar? Luckily the cork was super easy to cut with scissors.

As for attaching the material, I had three options: hemming tape, glue gun, or staples. Hemming tape seemed like the neatest way, but I wasn't sure if you could iron cork or if the tape would bind with it. Because I am lazy, I tried staples first cause that is easy peasy lemon squeezy. I am happy to note that the staples did not go through to the top of the pad! Woohoo!

I now have a beautiful, custom made mousepad for my computer!

The only problem is it does move around a big, so I might find some rubber or something to staple under it and hold it in place. I'll see what the dollar store has. haha

And yes, I am aware of the appalling state of my desktop. I honestly am one of those people that saves everything to the desktop out of laziness and then a few months down the line I clean it up. Don't judge me!