Summer Camp Crafts with our Friends: Rustic Burlap Beer Trekking Memory Boards

We've been busy having fun with some summer camp-inspired crafts at The Bruery, but we want to see what you've been creating, too. Contribute your craft to The Bruery Blog by entering our Summer Camp Crafting Blog Off. Our fourth contributor, Kay Dutz, found a way to display travel memorabilia on a memo board, complete with beer bottle caps and all.

My friends and family send me postcards from across the country and around the world. I wanted to display them on something more exciting-looking than a bulletin board. In addition, I wanted to have a place to keep my bottle caps as a reminder of all the tasty microbrews I've been drinking.


1) Buy a bulletin board (I got mine from Target). It is easiest if the backing of the board is also bulletin board (as opposed to wood or other material).

2) Buy burlap fabric, making sure you have enough to cover the entire bulletin board with at least 3 inches to fold over on each edge. For example, if your board is 10"x10", you'd want a piece of burlap that measure 16"x16". I bought printed burlap fabric from JoAnn Fabrics. I also bought some knitted lace for the border on the front (optional). You'll need enough border to match the dimensions of the frame.

3) Place the burlap over the front of the bulletin board. Use a stapler to staple the fabric around the edges of the inside border of the frame. I placed staples approximately every 5 inches or so and two in the corners. Staple directly into the bulletin board itself.

4) One at a time, fold two of the parallel sides of the fabric back behind the board (around the frame), then staple into the back of the board as you did on the front. Put the staples as close the edge as possible and make sure the fabric is pulled to desired tightness.

5) For the remaining two sides, fold behind the board as before, but fold the corners in just as you would when wrapping a present. Staple to the back of the board to secure in place as before.

6) (Optional) If placing boarder trim, lay it out along the inside border of the frame to cover the staple border. Attach using staples. If you prefer to not see staples, you can use hot glue (more time consuming). You only need staples/glue approximately every 5 inches or so.

7) Start attaching your memorabilia to your new and beautiful pin board! I stapled on postcards and then attached my beer cap push pins.*

*Making beer bottle push pins: I simply used hot glue to attach push pins to my favorite beer caps.

The end!

While I worked on this I enjoyed Great Divide Brewing Company's Claymore Scotch Ale from Denver, CO.

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Post written by Kay Dutz, a local community college chemistry professor. When she's not busy stressing out her students or causing explosions in the lab, she can be found hiking all the mountains, drinking all the beers, and watching all the Star Trek.