Saturday, August 22, 2009

Making a simple ribbon board



Vivianna suggested I post the directions for making a simple ribbon board. This is directly quoted from my Christmas blog, but as you will see, ribbon boards can be simply made for any season you like -- or for all seasons!

A simple ribbon board to display Christmas cards and other paper treasures

As I've mentioned, I have a nice collection of vintage and antique Christmas cards, all given to me over the years -- oddly enough, by people who knew I used old Christmas cards in art projects with children in school and Sunday School. Many of these cards probably have no real value -- some of them have the backs removed, and many have had the signatures cut out. But they are valuable to me because they are so beautiful. For years I wanted to display them, but couldn't think how -- I didn't want to damage them further with tape or tacks or staples. I inherited a nice glass-topped desk, and displayed some of the cards under the glass. But I still wished I could display more of them -- to me, no matter how lovely a collection may be, if its beauty can't be shared with others, it's really not worth having. I know people who have treasures like this squirreled away in shoeboxes, and it's absolutely ridiculous because no one -- including the owner of the collection -- can enjoy them there.

So I came up with the idea of using a large ribbon board to display my vintage card collection. I made a very, very simple one, and it has worked well for quite a few holiday seasons now. I took a full sheet of foam core board and covered it with fabric. (You could use a holiday fabric, but I felt that a solid color would be the best background for the colorful variety of my cards, so I chose a plain dark green fabric.) Very simply, I cut the fabric a couple of inches larger than the board all around, placed the board face down on the fabric, neatly wrapped the excess fabric to the back of the board, and hot-glued it in place. To hang the board, I made a loop of festive red/green holiday cord, and hot-glued that to the back as well.

Next, I took lengths of red satin ribbon and tacked them diagonally across the board one way and then the other, gluing the ends of the ribbon to the back of the board. At the places on the front where the ribbons intersected, I used shiny brass tacks to hold the ribbons in place. All those ribbons made nice secure spaces in which to tuck my cards. I hung the board in my front entryway and it holds a great many of the cards in my collection -- the vintage cards are much smaller than the cards we send today. This card-filled ribbon board makes me happy every time I walk by it!


In fact, the idea worked so well for me that I made a second ribbon board in neutral colors -- using unbleached muslin for the fabric and ivory ribbon -- to hold the paper treasures I've collected for other seasons as well.

Here is my board decorated for St. Patrick's Day:
And here it is decorated for Easter:


Here is my summer ribbon board:
Ribbon board decorated for fall:
A better view of the fall ribbon board:

I know that ribbon boards are not a new idea, but I haven't seen any just like mine. I hope someone else will try this idea for a special collection of treasured paper items!

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for commenting on my blog! I like your ribbon boards! Great way to seasonally display treasures pertaining to that season and enjoy them!

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  2. What a lovely idea. Perhaps you could have a recipe ribbon board too, for those recipes you'd like to try out (they get forgotten in the drawer).

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  3. Thanks so much, ladies, for the nice comments and for stopping by to visit. Jennie, what a super idea for a recipe ribbon board! That would be so much fun to make one with a kitcheny type theme. Thanks for sharing that idea!

    Stop in and visit again soon!

    God bless!
    Mrs.T

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  4. Thank you for sharing these...they are so lovely ;)

    lady m

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  5. That is perfect for cards Mrs T!! I just got a sweet one this week from my good friend, Deborah. It had purses all over it...she knows I love purses. Thanks for visiting my blog and commenting...it makes my day.

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  6. Hi lady m and Arlene! So nice to see you both here! Thanks for your nice comments on my ribbon board.

    Arlene, you are welcome. I love visiting your blog and those of others when I can find a few free moments. Those moments are few and far between, unfortunately.

    Stop in anytime and visit!

    God bless,
    Mrs.T

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  7. Well I had never thought of using a ribbon board as a seasonal decorating spot!! Wonderful!

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  8. Carla, I'm glad you like the idea. I am so pleased to have a way to display these seasonal paper treasures, plus it makes an interesting focal point in our rather uninteresting front hallway.

    Thanks for stopping by to visit at my kitchen table! Stop in anytime!

    God bless,
    Mrs.T

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Thanks so much for stopping by to visit my kitchen table! I love company here in my kitchen, so be sure to leave a comment so I'll know you've visited! I'll answer your questions and comments here on the blog unless you request otherwise.