I placed the cork down and then cut the stuffing to fit in the open spot. If you are going to make this, do not stick the cork down yet!! You still need room to put the fabric and stuffing down first. Once that was done, I lay the fabric on top of the stuffing to see how much I would need. Be sure to leave yourself some extra on all sides to wrap around for a tight fit. Then I cut it. I know it's all wrinkled, but since I am lazy, hate to iron, I left it alone You can iron it if you are really anal about wrinkles, but it's going to get pulled tight, so they won't show up anyway.
Next, put a little of the fabric, so the pattern you want is upside down, on the wood and lie the stuffing on top. Then staple all around the edge of the stuffing to keep it in place. There should be some fabric that is stapled down, also.
Once that is down, wrap the fabric over the stuffing and staple it on the back of the wood to your hearts content. Or until you run out of staples, your dad takes the staple gun away from you, it's secure.
(See, no wrinkles!!)
Then take your ribbon and place it in any design you want. When you cut the ribbon, be sure to cut it a little bigger so it can wrap around the board. Staple it through the fabric and into the wood where it crosses over each other.
Then stick the cork down. I bought mine at Wal-Mart super cheap. All 4 pieces came in a pack for probably $2.50. It comes with some adhesive tape, which we used, but I also added some extra adhesive as well. Then I raided my stash of buttons and hot glued them down where all the ribbon cross each other to hide the staples!
That's all there is to it! I bought some small picture hanging hooks, nailed them to the back of the wood and hung this baby on the wall. So far, so good. She has it loaded down with postcards from her pen pal in Australia and other stuff. And best of all, Aislinn loves it!
