Ribbon Organization for My Craft Room
So, as I have mentioned before, my craft room is a hot mess and I am trying to do something about it. Unfortunately, it is turning into a bit more of a marathon rather than a sprint, but at least I am slowly making some progress.
One of those organization projects that I have been working on was to figure out a way to store my ribbons. Previously I have stored them in glass Burken jars from Ikea. It looked pretty sitting on a shelf, but practically it didn't really work for me. The ribbons would get tangled and if I wanted to find a particular ribbon I would need to dump the whole jar out to find what I was looking for.
A few months ago I had pinned an idea to organize embroidery floss by wrapping it around clothespins onto my Organization Board on Pinterest. I thought that the idea would work equally well for my ribbons and decided to give it a shot. I picked up a few packs of clothespins (a set of 50 will run under $3) and I was on my way. 
Wrapping the ribbons, especially the wide ones, took a little practice to find a good way to make it work, but once I did I was on a roll and got everything wrapped in no time. I would start and the top of the clothespin and wrap the ribbon back around on itself to secure the end. I would then wrap up and down the clothespin, overlapping the ribbon a little bit for each turn around. Once it was completely wrapped I gently pressed the prongs a bit to open the clothespin and secure the tail end between the prongs.
To store the ribbons I bought some cute wire bins at Target for $2.50 each and then sorted them into warm colors, cool colors and neutral colors. Now it is super easy to find what I am looking for by rummaging through the bins. I also don't have to deal with tangles and as an added bonus it looks cute, too.
Have you been doing any organizing? Do you have any tips for keeping your craft supplies neat?
Wednesday, November 14, 2012 at 6:37AM | Posted by Lisa | 7 Comments | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article 
Reader Comments (7)
I am sure I found this idea in CK magazine or somewhere like that. I have the miniature hardware drawer sets. Each one has 5 little drawers on each side and 3 bigger ones in the middle. I took apart all of my small ABC stamp sets and put all the A's from each set in the first drawer and so on. (I have two of the drawer storage things.) I labeled each drawer by using white paper and a small alphabet punch and mounted the white letter on black to make the drawer labels easy to see. The approximate dimensions are 9" wide by about 8" high by about 5" deep.
Kathy- That is such a great idea to store each of the letters together instead of by the set. I bet that the system works really well!
What an interesting way to store ribbon. I would never have thought of that. I think keeping the ribbon pegs in a wire basket will definitely help with using what you have because you can see what you have. My scrapping supplies are always in a state of re-organization. I get such pleasure in going through all my stuff. Currently I am trying to figure out how to have all my Christmas scrapping stuff easily accessible and visible because this year I am going to do the December Daily project but my one rule is that I must not / may not purchase anything new - I have to use what I have (my rule). Darn, our Target does not open until February 2013. Ummm our local Dollar Store has plastic open weave baskets ..... you have given me an idea :)
Mary-Lou- I'm glad that you like the idea. Your challenge to use what you have in December sounds like fun. Good luck! I like having everything visible, too, otherwise I forget about it and don't use it. (Or, I accidentally buy it again!)
Lisa you are a constant source of inspiration. As someone who takes great pride in being organized and living clutter free, I am in the middle of chaos right now. Moving my craft space from one room to another is forcing me to dig deep to thin out an over abundance of supplies. Thanks for this idea, I love it!! Now at least I know what to do with my ribbon!
Liza- Thank you so much! I'm so glad to hear this is useful to you. I must admit that I am in the middle of a bunch of chaos as well with my craft room. Good luck with your organizing!
I feel like I have a pretty good handle on my scrapbook supplies--other than having way too many supplies! But they are organized and I can usually find what I need. That doesn't mean I haven't ever bought something twice; that's actually happened to me several times. Thanks for sharing a great ribbon idea. I think that I just might try that!