I have had this old ribbon board for years and years. It has been in the garage (another re-discovery like the document frame I made into the menu board), and before that it was in the basement of our old house.

The ribbons have been chewed on by the cats (I’m sure it was cats and not mice since I saw the cats doing it). It has also collected a bit of dust and cat hair.

So for a start I cut off the ribbons, pulled off the buttons and wiped it with a damp and soapy paper towel.

My plan is for this to be above the new little desk in the dining room against the future green wall. Luckily, I had just enough of the green and white paisley fabric left from the flag banner project (still not quite complete…) and was able to iron and stretch it and get it to just fit. I left the original fabric on there since my new fabric is fairly light and see through and could use a backing.

 This is where I got to use one of my favorite tools:  my staple gun. I think it is my favorite because it requires so little skill.

I stapled the fabric to the back and then began stapling on new ribbon (while closely reviewing my before picture to remember how they went) and then I stapled where the ribbons crossed each other.

This is where the only two mishaps of the project happened. First, I actually hit my finger with the hammer as I pounded the staples down more securely around the outer frame. Secondly, I made the mistake of stapling through the board and into the dining table when I was stapling the first ribbon juncture. I quickly learned to put a scrap board under it. Apparently the staple gun requires a little more skill than I thought.

To finish off of the board, I glued back on the original buttons (once I could pry them away from Elizabeth).

Isn’t that a pretty new ribbon board? I think it is just the needed boost of paisley print I was missing. Perfect.

-Krista