Week 1: Ribbon

Ribbon...Beautiful Ribbon.

I have stored ribbon in ziplocks, wrapped it on embroidery floss cards, wrapped it on clothes pins, tossed it in drawers, and stacked it on dowels but this has been the BEST for ME. 

Of all the ways that we can store ribbon, like Miss Tracy at the Little Blue House, I store it wrapped and filed in Photo Boxes.  (I'm pretty sure she was the person to show me this years ago.)

I invested in the Cropper Hopper Ribbon Cards because they have a split down the middle of the card to grab one end of the ribbon while you wrap, but soon I was back at the store for more packages of cards. I don't mind buying the cards but having to leave again for more...ugh!
So now I raid the recycle bin of the card board boxes and cut them into the 4x7 size cards. And boy that works out perfectly. There is always a cereal box or something there.  And it's right here when needed.  I think I saved money on that deal too. (Now I can go buy buttons....ahhh, buttons.)

Now, I am a traveling scrapper.  My girlfriends and I get together at each others homes at least once a month, I scrap or work on projects at the LBH, and go on a retreat with my girls once a year. Taking the boxes with me on retreat isn't so tough but to all of the other "away from home" crops, the boxes get cumbersome and so they end up staying at home. So, to keep a little ribbon on hand I use the embroidery floss cards. Its usually the end of a ribbon with pieces that are smaller then 2 ft. It's just enough for a layout or card and allows me to have a variety with me when I'm elsewhere. I keep them in my embellishment boxes with the embellishments, by color.

(That we will touch on at a later date. Remember we are only working on ribbon right now.)

I also like to use raffia on my projects.  I love the natural fiber look. But it doesn't wrap well.  For that I have taken a tall snack container and decorated it and STUFFED!!! it with the raffia.  It opens easily and closes tight and looks cute on my tabletop.

The last jar is full of smaller pieces of ribbon that I just could not toss.  They are usually to small to wrap around the embroidery cards.  I take those, tie a knot in it and toss it into this jar. So when I have a LO or card or something that needs just a hint of ribbon I go to my jar and pour it our to see what I have.

It works for me.

For other ideas check out the Little Blue House blog and the blogs of the Blue House Gals. Everyone at the LBH is getting on the organization band wagon. I hope one of these ideas will help you out.

Merry organizing everyone!

Rhonda