DIY Spider Web Bulletin Board

The other day I was looking for a fun way to dress up my little cork board for displaying pictures and important notes. I have been seeing all sorts of Halloween decorations all over, and when I saw some spider webs on bushes, it hit me–I should make a Spider Web Bulletin Board!

I wanted to make spiders that could hang out on the cobweb board and I wanted them to double as tacks. I also wanted the spiders to be cutesy rather than scary so it is a neat and clean decoration (that I may or may not take down after Halloween passes because it is so much fun!) 

The cork board that I used was very small and has a wooden frame, but you can use any cork board you have available.

What You Need

• Large, black buttons with 4 holes
• Black pipe cleaners
• Scissors (that will be able to cut the metal of the pipe cleaners)
• Glue (recommended: hot glue or craft glue–something that will harden fairly quickly and stay firm)
• Small googly eyes
• Thumb tacks (flat, round tops)
• Cork Board
• Tape or staples (depending on how your board is set up)
• White Yarn
• White thread (optional)

Directions

1. Let’s start by making the spider thumb tacks. Grab one of the black buttons and insert two of the pipe cleaners together into one hole from the top. Pull it through a little further than you will want for the length of the legs.

2. Bend that short end up into one of the other holes that is kitty-corner from it and pull it through. Trim the long side to match the length of the small.

3. Repeat step 2 in the other two holes on the same button.

4. Spread out each of the legs and curl them just a little to give it a spider-legs look.

5. Glue two eyeballs onto the head of the spider.

6. Carefully flip the spider over and cut the pipe cleaners flat on the bottom so they will stick better to the thumb tack.

7. Glue the tack on (again, you will want to use a strong glue that will stay so that these do not fall apart.)

8. While the glue on the spiders is drying, start the web. I used packaging tape to stick the yarn onto the back frame of my cork board. Mine had a wooden frame, but if yours is all cork you can staple the yarn on.

9. First, cross two pieces of yarn to make a “t.” I placed mine a little off-center for a more dramatic look. Pull them fairly taught and tape them down.

10. Start placing more strings of yarn diagonally around to form sort of an asterisk. Again, pull them fairly taught and tape them down.

11. Near the center where each strand meets, tie a long piece of yarn to begin the spiral. Trim off the excess.

12. Weave the yarn in and out of the set strands to make a spiral. I tied a knot every few places to keep it where I wanted it. You can tie a knot on each if you would like and skip step 14 below, but I chose to do it the way I did so you could not see all the knots.

13. Continue to spiral around, weaving in and out and making each spiral wider and wider to create a web look. Once you get to the end, trim off the excess and tape the piece to the back as you did all the others.

14. If you did not knot each piece as you went around the spiral, go back and use the white thread to double-knot each strand where it connects. While you do not have to do this, the strands will not stay where you need them or work to hold your pictures if they are too loose.

15. Trim all of the threads so the web isn’t messy.

16. Now you can hang the bulletin board and stick on the spider thumb tacks! Hang memos, calendars, pictures, and more! You can use a combination of holding papers behind the web and pinning them on with the tacks!

-Where will you hang your custom bulletin board? What will you hang on it?