DIY can get in your head. When you like to make and fix your own things, you can end up with the idea that you really should just DIY everything. With limited time, that leads to stuff not getting done, and small problems just sitting around and festering.

Like my mouse pad:

Yes, that is the mouse pad that I have been using. I got it for free (from the Massachusetts Dairy Farmers, if you can believe it) like seven years ago as a temporary measure, figuring I’d either make myself a nicer one or buy something special. Obviously that never happened, and it just got more decrepit.

Its so awful that I find myself apologizing and making excuses whenever I bring my computer out, at a Fantasy Football draft or wherever. Don’t judge me by my mouse pad! I’m totally chic and put together!

Finally, enough was enough. But how to build a better mouse trap mouse pad?

There are a TON of great DIYs out there already and I spent say too much time on Pinterest. These were my favorites:

I seriously considered just adding some pretty fabric to a basic mouse pad and calling it a day, but decided to try something a little different: embroidering a mouse pad. Could it work?!

I picked up a basic gray mouse pad from Staples for $5. I ordered a gray mouse pad off of Amazon for about $3, waited like 5 days for it to arrive, saw it had minor damage in shipping, threw a major pity party because I didn’t think I had time to go get a new mouse pad, fought with Brad when he tried to provide a little healthy perspective on the situation, sulked and glowered at the damaged mouse pad for a week, and then picked up a basic gray mouse pad from Staples for $5 which was totally not a big deal and fit in well with some other errands I was running that day.

I also bought some red and yellow embroidery thread from amazon (affiliate link – read our policies) and embroidery needles.

In all, the supplies cost about $10, but I bet others would have some of this stuff on hand.

I started with an outline of yellow thread, stitching in a basic straight line.

Working with the material wasn’t the easiest. The rubber was a little tough to stitch through, and I had to really tug and push on the needle for each stitch. Also, the material would tear a bit with every stitch, so once the needle poked through there was not a chance to take it out and re-do if the placement was a little off.

However, neither of these issues were a big deal, and just meant that I worked slowly and went carefully to be sure that I didn’t make some horrible mistake I couldn’t take back.

With the yellow in place, I added some triangles with the red thread. I started with four close-together parallel stitches that got smaller as they went.

And then finished the triangle with a long stitch along each side.

I think you can tell that I am not trained in embroidery. But this worked OK for my purpose!

These took a while to do, but was a pretty fun activity while watching TV or listening to an audio-book.  (By the way, I’m giving audio-books a serious try because I don’t get enough actual reading time in my day-to-day life.  Have you tried it?  What do you recommend?  Right now I’m listening to Gone Girl.)

I finished by connecting the corners of all the triangles, to form them together into an inner border. I’m so happy with it!

It has a handmade look, with some variation in the stitches. I think that adds to the charm – but I’m obviously going to say that given that I am not skilled enough to NOT have variation in my stitches. But I do also like the graphic look it has from the high contrast design.

I purposefully left the inside clear of stitching so there is enough room to work with the mouse. It doesn’t really work over the part that I embroidered.

I might try more of these. I can already think of a few other designs I want to make. This might make a good gift! But I think I’ll give my fingers a rest, first.

(Sharing at Tip Me Tuesday and Two Uses Tuesday.)