GLOBE GAZETTE THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2014 • D3 SPRING HOME & GARDEN “My new ZERO ENERGY HOME is costing me zero $$$ to heat, cool and operate.” Visit our model home on the Builders Tour at 801 9th St. Charles City Solar Powered Enjoy comfortable living at ZERO ENERGY COSTS! 18 North 3 Street • Clear Lake, IA RD EquinoxEnergyHomes.com How to make a pocketed ribbon message board Providing the Science and Technology for Energy Free Homes. 855•357•1084 T H E P O W E R O F Y E L L O W. SM Sal e En d s S oon ! SHARI HILLER AND MATT FOX mattandshari.com (MCT) — Message boards are all the rage with the busy lives we lead, so make yours pretty with ribbons that accent your decor and colors that make you happy. I think we can all agree that for something to function properly, it has to be organized. I know I have to clean up my office between projects or I just can’t find anything and can’t get anything done. Well, to stay organized, I have a variety of different methods I employ and one of them is using message boards at my house. You know those French message boards that you can slide business cards and notes into or even tack messages or important papers? There’s one by my family desk for the kids’ schedules and papers that have to go back to school, one in my daughter’s room for her notes and reminders and of course a few in my office. Well, today we are going to make another type of tack board called a ribbon board. And here are the materials you will need to gather. Windows and Doors Fewer hassles, more quality time. Pella representatives are some of the most highly trained and knowledgeable in the industry. You can depend on your Pella rep for valuable expertise every step of your project. Learn more about other ways SM The Power Of Yellow can make your job a day at the beach. PHOTO COURTESY MATTANDSHARI.COM, MCT Message boards are all the rage with the busy lives we lead, so make yours pretty with ribbons that accent your decor and colors that make you happy. with ribbons. The side lines are far enough out to go around the front, sides and some of the back of the board. This is your guide for the ribbons. There aren’t too many huge ribbons out there that don’t cost an arm and a leg, so I decided to purchase regular 1½-inch and 2-inch ribbons and sew them together to make deep enough pockets to slide a card, note or photo in. 3. Take some time now to arrange your ribbons into a design and then stitch two or three ribMATERIALS LIST: Homosote board (avail- bons together to make deeper pockets. able at lumber yards) Notice at the top I Lining fabric Variety of wide ribbons have attached a single strip of a larger yellow Measuring tape ribbon that overlaps my Scissors pencil markings by 1½ Pins inches. I did this because Sewing machine I didn’t think there Dual Duty XP General should be a pocket at the Purpose thread top, so this wider ribbon folds all the way over TIP: You can find homosote the top of the homosote board and down the back at lumber yards more frequently than at a home a bit. Attach one just the same way at the bottom center store these days. of your fabric so your It comes like a sheet of drywall, at 4 feet by 8 feet, last ribbon can end right at the bottom of your or you can have the lumboard without having to ber yard cut it down for wrap around. you. It’s a pressed paper 4. Next, bring in your board and it works great for tacking. It will hold up other ribbons, overlapping slightly to create well for years and not fall apart as you staple or tack your design. End with into it. You also can screw the last ribbon touching the bottom pencil line into it to add hanging devices. If you need to cut indicating it will rest at the board yourself, just use the bottom edge of the a straight edge and a util- homosote board. Once your design is ity knife. complete, determine which ribbons you are INSTRUCTIONS: sewing together to make 1. With the board cut, your pockets. I suppose we can get started. First it depends what type of cut a piece of batting notes you will be sticking just a few inches larger into them! than your board. Wrap it 5. Then, remove those around the homosote and two or three ribbons staple it to the back. from the design and 2. Then, grab a scrap stitch them together on piece of fabric, I used the sewing machine. I some lining fabric I had used such a small overleft over and cut it 2 to lap, I wasn’t able to pin 3 inches larger than the the ribbons together. I homosote. I then marked on the fabric the top, sides had to hold them in the overlapped position and and bottom edge of my feed them into the sewhomosote so I would be ing machine. Continue sure to cover that area in this fashion until you have all the ribbon strips sewn together. Once the ribbons were sewn together, I noticed that they were puckering a bit and needed to be ironed so I ironed all the strips first before attaching them to the lining fabric. 6. Lay the ribbons back in their positions on the board and pin them to the fabric along the ends and stitch in place. Make any adjustments needed so the last ribbon lines up at the bottom edge before sewing. 7. Once the ribbons are all sewn onto the fabric, pin them along both sides and stitch the ends in place. 8. Last, set the ribbon cloth face down on the table, add the batting covered piece of homosote, lining the last ribbon up with the bottom edge, and begin stapling the ribbon fabric to the back of the homosote. You may want to do the middle staple on each side to make sure everything is straight and then slowly fill in, checking the front of the board for level and nice taught ribbons. Then of course you will want to hang your brand new organization system somewhere and it’s easy to add a couple of toothed hangers at the top of the board. Make sure to space them equidistant apart from center and an equal distance from the top edge. Place them about a { inch down from the top. These work well to keep the board hanging level. Much better than a wire and single picture hook. Now I can’t promise anything, but I’ll bet you stay just a little bit more organized than before ... mainly because you want to use the gorgeous new ribbon board you’ve created. Shari Hiller and Matt Fox are bestknown for HGTV’s “Room by Room.” They now host the PBS television series “Around the House with Matt and Shari.” Visit them on their website www.mattandshari.com. Pella Window & Door Showroom • 1511 S. Monroe Mason City 641-424-6451 • 1-866-593-1560 • www.pella.com Pella Window Door Showroom 4116•University Ave. Cedar • 319-277-0145 • www.pella.com/pro Pella Windows && Doors Any Town • •XXX-XXX-XXXX Any••Town •Falls XXX-XXX-XXXX © 2006 Pella Corporation INVESTED IN AMERICA Stop in and check out our working kitchens! YOUR LOCAL JENN AIR, KITCHENAID, WHIRLPOOL & AMANA DEALER PLUS MAYTAG AT OUR GARNER LOCATION FREE DELIVERY 1647 N. Federal Fe Mason City 641-423-7969 360 State St. Garner 641-923-4748 www.mccloskeyappliance.com • Toll free 800-435-1916 Open Mon.-Fri. 9-5 Sat. 9-3