I'm Back! And With a Tutorial!

Oh my! It's been a long time. I guess the big reason I fell off the face of the Earth was that I got a new job and then met someone knew and was spending all my time with him instead of posting on my blog. (It didn't stop me from crafting away though hahaha)

I have been doing some "Fall Cleaning" (kind of like Spring Cleaning, only in the fall) of all my craft supplies. I didn't realize how much stuff I had and how long I had had some of it for. I found my stash of ribbons and realized I didn't really have any where to store them. Then I remembered seeing ribbon storage boxes at Target during Christmas time. It's not quite Christmas time (even though so many places already have their Christmas stuff out, Hobby Lobby even had theirs for 40% off this week) so I decided to make my own out of some stuff I had around the house.

Handy Ribbon Storage Box: A Tutorial

What you'll need:
- Old shoe box (or similar box with lid)
- Paint/paintbrush (or you could Mod Podge your favorite paper on it)
- Scrapbook paper
- Dowel rods (Wal-Mart sells them cheap, that's where I got mine when I made some fairy wands for a friend)
- Box cutter
- Hot glue gun
- Pencil
- Ruler

First you will need to measure out the rectangle that will become the opening. I left about a half inch of space around each side.

Then you will cut the rectangle out with the box cutter.

 After the rectangle has been cut out, you will paint the box. I chose white just to cover up the "Sperry" logo. When I started to paint the lid I realized that this was going to be a very long process so I scrapped the idea and covered the lid in paper. I actually like it much better than if I would've left it all painted. I covered the lid just like if I was wrapping a present. I taped the edges to the inside of the box and it still fits perfectly on the box.

Next you will insert the dowel rod. The dowel rods I had were about half an inch too long so I took my box cutter and tried sawing through the rod. I realized about a millimeter into the rod that sawing through it would be way too hard with my box cutter so I scored the rod and was able to break it where I had wanted. Another way (probably safer?) would be to take some scissors to it.

After getting the right size to the dowel rod, I placed it in the box and marked where I wanted it to sit on the sides.

I then used hot glue to make a U shape on the side where I wanted the dowel rod to sit. This acts as a cradle to hold the rod in place so it stays organized. Do this on both sides of the box where the rod will sit.

Once the glue dried I was ready to put my ribbon on the rob and into the box!

I hope this tutorial helped you organize your ribbon stash like it did me! You can also use this to store your holiday ribbon or other gift wrapping ribbon!

Until next time, happy crafting!