Ribbon, Ribbon, Ribbon!

Okay - so I love ribbon. It probably results from the fact that my first adventures in crafting were in the fiber arts so ribbon is a natural carry-over from that. Here are today's purchases. I love the ribbon that is out in the stores right now - there are so many varieties to choose from and the colours are vibrant. I already know that I'm in love with the new ribbon being showcased for Papertrey. Check them out at Nichole's blog.

I struggled with storing my ribbon in a way that made it easy to view and access. There are a lot of different ribbon storage solutions on the web but none of them worked for me. I love the look of same coloured ribbons stored in clear jars but I didn't like the idea of having to dig down to the bottom of a jar to find a ribbon I wanted. Many people have ribbon holders for their spooled ribbon but it doesn't work for me because I buy the majority of my ribbon by the yard and not on a spool. I also buy my ribbon in quantity (5 yards or more) so hanging them from a clothespin or binder clip was not an option either. I am very happy with my current solution. For less than 1 foot by 1/2 foot in desk space I can hold hundreds of yards of ribbon in an easy to access system. Here's how I do it...


All my ribbon is stored in these two drawers made by Cropper Hopper. I bought them at my LSS a couple of years ago but you can find them on their website. Here's a view inside the box. All the ribbon is wound around 4" x 6" ribbon cards. The beginning of each ribbon is caught between teeth on each of the cards and then the ribbon is wound around and secured with a small pin. Make sure the pin is pointing towards the bottom of the drawer or they will pull out when you pull your ribbon cards out. I store one colour family on each card and when the card is full I start a new one. Metallics, neutrals and major holiday ribbons (i.e Christmas, Valentine's Day, Halloween) each have their own cards as well. When I purchase spooled ribbon (such as SU ribbon) I always take it off the spool and put the ribbon on the card. That way all my ribbon is stored together. When I get down to less than a yard of ribbon I put the ribbon in with my embellishments, which are also stored by colour.


This system works great for me because all my ribbon is at my fingertips and I can see just by opening the two drawers exactly what I have...which is great when you're looking for that perfect ribbon to go with your current project.


I would love to hear how you store ribbon!