Ribbon Towers

Today, I am enlisting the help of my children to help me tackle this ribbon storage problem that is bugging me. They are so excited they can hardly wait. Just kidding.



I came up with a fantastic idea...I think. But first we need to gather a few things before we get started. I have a massive collection of empty tin cans for the luminaries that the kids love to make, so I borrowed a few. I also took a few ribbon spools to Lowe's and found the biggest dowels that would still fit into the spool centers. I also have my daughter's beach bucket, a wooden paint stick which I can now tell you is not strong enough, water, a bag of quick setting cement, and painters tape. I love painters take for everything except painting. :-) I also covered the floor with newspaper.




Close up of one of my new favorite things.




Step one. Do this outside. Step two. Wear a mask. Step three. Pour the 'Quikrete' into the bucket. Do you see all that dust?




Don't fill your bucket up all the way. You will need plenty of room for water and stirring. Also, I would probably recommend using something a little wider and more shallow for the mixing. Our deep and narrow bucket was not ideal.




Now, add water. Not too much. The wetter it is, the longer it takes to dry.




Now, mix. I would recommend a heavy plastic or metal trowel. Or maybe even a sturdier stick. Mixing this stuff took a bit of muscle. His muscle...not mine. I had to save my finger for taking pictures. You understand.




When the stuff is all mixed up and your son is happy with it, it can be poured into a can.




When the can was full I put on a pair of latex gloves and patted the top so it looked a little nicer and less lumpy. You don't really have to do that. Ribbon spools will cover it up later.




Now, in goes the dowel. Push it in all the way to the bottom of the can.



When all the cans were filled with cement and the dowels had been placed in the can, we started cleaning up. I pushed the bench up against the wall and then started taping the dowels to the side of the bench so they would all dry straight up and down. But then I started thinking about four kids, a hubby and a dog that bump into things so I taped the cans into place as well.



Like this. I am sure that the standard threatening to stay away while the cement dried would have been useless. So I used tape. :-)



I would say that we gathered supplies, did the project, cleaned up and taped everything down in less than an hour and a half. Quick project if you do not count the drying time. By the way, quick drying might take longer than you think. We left ours over night before I took the tape off.

The next day I went through my ribbon and organized it into six categories...because we made six towers. We just slid the ribbon spools on and we were good to go.

And the finished product....


I have them displayed on a board on a bench so they are straight and easily visible, but I plan to store them in a closet. I am so happy with them. If I could do it over, I might paint the cans before I willed them with cement, but for now, I am VERY happy!!! They are portable too. When I was making a little package up for a neighbor, I grabbed the whole thing and took it to my work area. How cool is that?

I also used more blue painters tape to tape the loose ends of the ribbon down. I love blue tape. :-)





My six ribbon categories are from left to right:

• Plastic Curling Ribbon
  
• Non-Wired Craft ribbon
• Wired Project Ribbon
• Scrapbook Ribbon
• Thin Single Color Ribbon
• Wide Wired Decorating Ribbon
  

Note* Please read your cement package to find out how much water and drying time your project will actually need.

Note* To be honest, I was going to do the work and have the kids take pictures of the process, but they said I was too slow and too worried about making a mess so they revolted and made me get out of the way. That is the truth.

2011 Goals

Look at what I did. I took a huge mess of papers, computer discs, CD's, DVD's, receipts, catalogs, office supplies and turned the chaos into this beautiful display of order and organization. I am so proud of myself. I wish I had taken a before picture so you could see what an awesome job I did.



Okay, I might be more impressed with my project than I should be, but I have been inspired. It also made me think about a few other things...

Fact: I am a busy Mom of four kids, homeschooling one of them, keeping house, cooking for three teenage boys and a hubby as well as blogging and a few other things. :-)

Fact: Some things slide.

Fact: I have a few messes that I need to clean up.

Fact: I want them cleaned up, I just don't want to be the cleaner upper.

Fact: No one is going to do it for me. :-(

Now that we have established a few things, let me show you what I am talking about. Behind door number one...



We have a terrible waste of space here. Yoga mats and three of hubby's coats do not need their own closet. I would like to store extra dishes, napkins, serving dishes, and glasses. I need some storage for things that I use, but not on a daily basis.



I think that his coats can get relocated to his clothing closet. The extra drapes can find a new home too.




Behind door is two is...okay we can't even get to door two. We have a few totes of bed linens that do not have a home. There is also a big box of clothing waiting to be sorted and sent off to a donation center.



Behind the door is actually another waste of space. The clothes on the floor are too big for my daughter yet. The assorted odds and ends do not need a closet of their own. What a mess.




And this is my beloved ribbon. I love ribbon. I have a passion for ribbon. Ribbon makes everything better. The problem is right now it is such a mess that I just don't use it. I either go buy a new spool every time I need ribbon or I do without. I need to organize this. I would like to be able to:

• see the ribbon
• get to it
  
• add more ribbon spools as needed
• store the ribbon in a condensed manner that is user friendly.
  
  

While I am very fortunate to have lots of closet space, I do not have lots of wall space. So anything that I come up with cannot be wall mounted. I think I have established that totes are not working out too well. Any ideas?

Stay tuned for the solutions.

The Center of Attention

Fact: The holidays are a busy time of the year. It is one of my favorite times of the year and I want to squeeze every bit of festive fun out of the season that I possible can. So I really try to come up with quick, cheap short cuts that make a big impact. I get lots of compliments on this centerpiece whenever I put it out and very few people even believe the fruit is real. But the best part of all, is that the next day when you are finished with your centerpiece you can wash off the fruit and eat it. All you have wasted is an egg white and some sugar. I love that. :-)

To start, I gather up my supplies. You will need a variety of fruit colors. I am using a Red Delicious apple, lemons, Granny Smith apple, navel orange, and limes. You also need an egg, a few bowls, sugar, a spoon, a fork, a brush of some sort and wax paper.



Separate the egg. We only need the egg white.



Use a fork to whip up the egg white a bit. You want to break down the membrane in the egg white and make the white a bit frothy.



Put a piece of fruit in the bowl and use the brush to make sure the fruit is coated with the egg white. If you miss a spot, the sugar will not stick, so this is an important step. Pick up the fruit and let the extra egg white drip off.



Put the fruit into the bowl of sugar. Use the spoon to coat the fruit with sugar.



Then put the fruit on the wax paper to dry. I usually give my fruit about fifteen minutes to dry.



When all your fruit is sugar coated and dry, you can begin to put your centerpiece together. I am using my favorite cake pedestal, ribbon, cedar branches, and a few colored balls for a little extra sparkle on the table.



Start with a layer of cedar leaves or any evergreen you have in your yard to give it a bit of festive color.



Add your fruit to the plate. I was super impatient to put this together so I was using the fruit before it was completely dry. That is why this shot looks so blotchy. After the fruit dries, it will look evenly frosted.



Then make a pretty bow for your arrangement.



I am attaching the bow with my favorite glue dots.



Voila! In the top picture I sprinkled pomegranate seeds around the edges to give it a pop of red color. A pretty ribbon winding through the fruit would be a nice touch as well as candle light. You can get as creative as you want with this idea. The fruit will last for about one week. After a week, the sugar coating begins to crack and fall off the fruit. Enjoy!