Ribbon notice boards

Esther and Ellamay share a small bedroom. I am currently 'trying' to get some changes made in there to improve storage and make it pretty for two almost 6 year olds (where has the time gone?). One of the things that has been changed is the wardrobe door has been cut down the middle to make two narrow doors so that the door doesn't take up so much room when it is open. This will allow room for a dresser or something. I am so glad I am married to someone who can do these things! Thank you, Tim.

On the new wardrobe doors I decided to put some notice boards. I didn't want the girls to have regular pin boards because the drawing pins are not a good idea with small children. I have seen the ribbon board idea around but the ones I saw were all the wrong size or they were padded fabric things. I decided to make my own. Here is what I did.

I used:
~35cm x 70cm stretched canvas (this size because it fits on the wardrobe doors)
~acrylic paints
~ribbon (Celebration brand from Big W)
~hot glue gun and glue sticks

First, I painted the canvas. I was just using the paints I had in the house so I had to mix my colours.

After it was dry, I measured and marked evenly around the canvas. My canvas was 35cm x 70cm so my spaces are 7cm apart. I cut the ribbon long enough to wrap around the edge. I didn't measure - just eye ball it.


I used the hot glue gun to glue the ribbon down on the back of the canvas, making sure that the ribbon was centred on the mark as much as possible. It would be a good idea to start on the corner of the canvas. I didn't and it took me a while to figure out why things were looking so twisted. :-)

Next, I did the ribbon in the other direction, weaving it through as I went.

The weaving really made so much difference. I was a little worried it wouldn't hold things the way I wanted but it has turned out great. I also made some ribbon covered pegs to help hold things on if needed.

The girls love them so I am now the world's greatest mum again (until the next time I don't let them do what they want!). Another idea they had was to use it to hold some of their hair clips too. Good idea! I just need to go and measure up the doors and work out where to hang them. I will have to make one for Amelia too.

I will be back soon with another canvas project.