Ribbon organization

I have an embarrassing amount of ribbon, both on spools and by the yard, so storage is always a challenge. I have some of it stored in one of my Alex drawers (from Ikea) in the Spool & Store containers from Inky Antics, some ribbon still on spools in boxes in my craft closet, a couple on the rack on the front of the closet door (mostly PTI and SU ribbon) and the rest I now have organized like this:

I used to hang the rings on two over-the-door racks and it was a jumbled mess. I was browsing Pinterest (don’t you love that place??) and found this idea there – ribbon organization. Since my ribbon was already on the binder rings, I decided to leave it that way and use S hooks to hang the rings from the hanger, separating them with the little binder clips to keep them from sliding all over the hanger. I tried using those plastic ribbon loop thingies like you see on the green ribbon ring, but it was way too much trouble to add a new piece of ribbon or even get a piece cut off, so I went to the binder ring method.

I think I am really going to like this idea better than the way I stored it before. I can grab the binder ring with the appropriate color on it, take it to my craft table and get what I need without having to fight my way through a big ribbon-y mess. This hangs on the back of the door to my craft room, so it’s out of sight of any small kittehs that might think the ribbons are there for their amusement.

Do you have any organizational ideas you’d like to share? Not just for ribbon, but for anything crafty. I’d love to hear/see them.

Leslie, this one’s for you!

A few weeks ago my friend Leslie, of The Crooked Stamper blog, sent me some pieces of a parent sheet that she used on these cards and told me that I was not allowed to hoard them. I haven’t been hoarding, I promise, just waiting for inspiration. My mojo has been on an extended leave and although I think it has sent a younger, and less inspiring, sibling to take its place, I did manage a couple of cards.

My Silhouette has been sadly neglected lately so I decided to knock the dust off of it and show it some love.

The weather has turned a bit Fall-ish here lately, and I love it. Cool, crisp air, the scent of fireplaces burning, the leaving turning shades of gold and crimson…what’s not to love? I’ve had this tree file for a while and that paper looked perfect for Autumn leaves, so that is exactly what I used it for.

A close-up of the sparkliness – I do love shiny/sparkly things.

For this one I used the Memory Box Piestra Tile die and a Just Rite stamp along with that gorgeous paper and I love the way it turned out.

Thank you for this paper, Leslie! I have one piece and some scraps left and I can’t promise I won’t hoard them – it’s just too pretty!

I have another couple of cards in the works and also a ribbon organizing idea I came across the other day, so check back soon.

Another Tonic Studios punch and a little bit o’ glitter

I haven’t made a glittery card in a while, and the other day I decided it was time to get out the stickers, Scor Tape, Copic markers, and the glitter, and get busy.

The wonky cake is an Elizabeth Craft Designs Peel Off which I glittered up with some Cool Highlight Glitter Ritz, colored with Copic markers and trimmed out. The border punch is from Tonic Studios, the Simplicity Pattern Daisy Border Punch. These punches are such a pleasure to use. I used a heavier paper for the border because it was the blackest black that I had, and I had no trouble at all with the punch.

I added some pink and yellow polka dotted patterned papers, and the Happy Birthday is an old, old Hero Arts stamp, backed with a scalloped circle punch. Easy as pie. Wait, who came up with that expression? Pie may be easy for some, but it’s always been a challenge for me. Especially the crust, you don’t want to eat a pie crust I have made from scratch. There’s a talent to that, and I don’t have it, I’m afraid. Anyway, never mind about all that. This card was pretty easy to do, not like pie at all.

This one goes into my stash of birthday cards. I like to keep several on hand so I don’t have to get in a mad stamping frenzy at the last minute. My mind usually turns to mush on those occasions and all I end up making is a huge mess. And the birthday card ends up being late. Not good, not good at all. This way is much better.

A rainbow after the storm?

These were made a while back and I totally forgot to post them. I had a week or so of being a little obsessed with a rainbow theme, and these cards are the product of that temporary obsession. I think it all started when I was doing a project for the Tonic Studios blog post and I just didn’t know when to quit!

The first card is very similar to the card I made for that post, but I used a different punch (Martha Stewart) and put ribbon across the center instead of gems.

The strips on this one are punched using an EK Success border punch. I think I made another one just like it but lined up the punches so that they were all going in the same direction, but I must have sent that one off to someone because I can’t find it.

I tried putting the sentiment straight across, layering it on to one of the colors, using some ribbon, etc. and none of it really worked for me, so I went with a diagonal.

These two cards were made using my Silhouette machine for the zig zags/chevrons. I saw one like it online somewhere and decided to give it a try. I cut the zig zags out of white cardstock on the Silhouette and just layered some strips of color behind it. The colored dots are Hero Arts Dots, attached with mini glue dots. Fairly clean and simple, yet colorful. Now I wish I had cut more of the top layers. Since it’s almost September, I could use Autumn colors for the strips, add some die cut leaves or coordinating Hero Arts Dots, maybe cut the zig zags out of a cream colored cardstock instead of white. Hmmmm…..

That’s all I have for today. Please do leave a comment and let me know you were here