(Almost) free DIY bulletin board

We recently purchased a new bookcase for our dining room. Here she is all styled up with our cookbooks, wine rack, and more:

And along with the bookcase, I gained two other things--a large piece of styrofoam and some cardboard.

Okay, I know that sounds like trash to most people, but the gears in my mind started turning, and I decided I could make a bulletin board out of those goodies!

The styrofoam itself wasn't thick enough--the pushpins would stick out the back otherwise--so I traced the styrofoam onto the cardboard, cut it out, and hot glued the styrofoam to the cardboard.

Next it was time to cover the board with fabric. I got three options from JoAnn's and decided on the red one. (This is where the "almost" free part comes in). Belle decided to help out, too.

To cover the board, I just laid out the fabric face-down, put the board on top, stretched the fabric tight, and used thumb tacks to secure the fabric on the back. I folded the corners as if I were wrapping a present.

Then she was ready!

I put her up on the door of my office so that I could tack up pieces of stray bits of paper--things to be mailed, grocery lists, reminders, etc.

I tacked a few binder clips to the board so that I could clip on documents without leaving holes in them, too.

Pretty cute for a practically free project! :) What do you think?