Ribbon!!! Gah! Is there no fool proof way of organizing it? If we can send people to the moon, shouldn’t we be able to cure ribbon woes? I tried everything—boxes, clips, spools, hocus pocus, magic…you name it. Nothing worked for me. Then I saw some inspiration at Hobby Lobby with a little card, and I knew I was onto something. Or Cropper Hopper was onto something. 
Step 1—wait. Step 0.1: Don’t pick up anything in the background of your pictures. Ok…
Step 1: Gather the right materials. I got all my ribbon around, cut up some cardboard I had laying around (more on that later), and bought a cute basket at the dollar store.
Step 2: Sort. Once I had all my ribbon in one place, I went through and organized them as best I could by color. Step 2.5: Realize I have a bit of an issue with green ribbon.
Step 3: Wrap and tape, wrap and tape, wrap and tape until you have a pretty little basket full of pretty little ribbons.
While the other ideas were good for other people, I knew I wanted as much of my ribbon together as possible. And I wanted it condensed.
Later in the week, I’ll be able to show you where I’m storing it. Wanna see a sneak peak of where I’m storing it?
You guessed it. Right there in that flower bouquet. It’s so condensed, you can’t even see it.
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Great idea. I'm going to go get some cardboard and start cutting, taping and wrapping. Thanks for sharing.
I love what you did! I am so going to have to try that!
O- take your ribbon collection and triple it, and you have mine. NOT kidding. I'm dreaming of ribbon racks for when I do wedding flowers in my new basement craft room! 🙂 Love how you can't even see it behind the flowers – so clever. 😉
Oh I'm always struggling with where to put ribbon, this is a great solution!
I figured out a storage solution for mine and then realized I have way too much ribbon for it to work. So now I have ribbon in two places. One rainy day when I have nothing else to do, I may have to try out this idea!
I actually store my ribbon this way! My grandmother taught me… we store ric rac that way too (yes, I have THAT much ric rac!) The problem I have is putting back when I am done with a project! My girls have so many ribbons for their hair that we have a clear shoe storage door bag on the back of their bathroom door…arranged by color!!!! You have such great ideas and are so good at sharing them! Thank you!
Girl haven't you heard of the ribbonring.com? I once was like you stumbling around to find the perfect ribbon organizer. ribbonring did it for me! LOL
Are you finished with school for the summer? If so, you really should consider traveling. I would hire you in a heartbeat. . . you can come here, bag and baggage, and organize my house for me. You could blog from here–the wireless internet reception in my guest room is very good. And you could show all the dreadful "before" pictures of my house disorganized, and then the wonderful "after" pictures once you'd whipped the place into shape. What do you think??
I love this idea! I am a ribbon hoarder – I'm a sucker for polka dot ribbon. I may put this idea to use as I too have tried so many other storage ideas – and none really seem to work for me. Love the color of your basket too.
I knew we had the same tastes!!! The pic you have in the background….cherry blossoms….well I just bought that and its over my bed!! LOVE IT!!
I'm liking this idea. Thanks for sharing! I've been frustrated for my ribbon for quite some time now. 🙂
Great idea! And it looks so pretty too!
Hey Chris! What a wonderful idea!!!
I'm so glad your back to blogging. Oh how I've missed your encouraging words and ideas. I can't wait to see how you're storing them!!! I heart ribbon! Its like the icing on the cake…the finishing touch to a master piece ya know!
Super idea–I was fighting with my ribbon over the weekend.
Melinda
That looks so cute! I love the contrast of the pretty ribbon with the cardboard. Great post, as always.
You are a genius!
long-time reader, first-time commenter.
I have so much ribbon it's coming out my ears! I'll have to try this method.
Genius. I have an entire desk drawer FILLED to the gills with ribbon (I also have an affinity for green), and I am SO DOING THIS!!!!! Thanks for the hot tip.
this is genius! thanks for the great idea! sure takes up less room than all those spools!
That is a great idea. I have a bunch of ribbon I bought from ebay which didn't come with the spools. I've been trying to come up with a way to store it. Thanks!
Excellent idea!
What is it with girls and ribbon? I guess we'd still wear them in our hair if we could get away with it.
My stash is in a wrapping paper box with the rolls lined up neatly but your idea makes for a better use of space. Thank you!
what a great idea…thank you for sharing. i must do that with the random ribbon i have in a big jar!
Great idea. And a project for my girlie girls. We won't miss that tangle that seems to grow and grow….Thanks!
Gotta love ribbon! I tried the wrapping thing but STILL couldn't find what I wanted when I wanted. LOL I agree with Teri…I LOVE my Ribbon Ring! I love being able to see it and it doesn't take much room at all since it can hang right on the wall, closet, wherever! 🙂 I've also made some Ribbon Rings on my own with some rings and plastic. 🙂
Easy and inexpensive – way to go! I linked to this on my weekly roundup – I use clothespegs to store my ribbon (there's a link to my post in my roundup, too) but this is perfect if you don't happen to have the large supply on hand that I do! Thanks for sharing!
I finally tried this project (I used index cards instead). It is so awesome! Thanks for the great idea.
http://heatherjslife.blogspot.com/2010/08/use-what-you-have-organizing-ribbon.html
~Heather
I have two huge drawers full of ribbon from 2" down to 1/4" and it's totally out of control. I love your idea of the cardboard wrapped. I've been saving cardboard, but now I can buy some little baskets and break down the color, print, whatever even more. Thanks so much!!!
This is the PERFECT project for my 12 yr. old to work on! It ends up being so pretty too! I even have the same exact basket to put it in! THANK YOU SO MUCH!- jo@ottlite.com
LOVE this idea! I already have a place for my spools of ribbon, but this will work perfect for my loose pieces. TFS!
What a great idea! I had to borrow it, check out what I did.
http://thatpunkygirl.blogspot.com/2010/12/ribbon-storage.html
What an awesome idea! I have a ribbon drawer that works, but is a pain in the patoot! I might have to try this. Thanks for the inspiration!
Christina @ The Scrappy Housewife
Great idea! So simple too.
I would love for you to share this with my readers on my Organizing Mission link party!
I found you on Thrifty Decor Chick
Hope to see you.
What a practical and frugal tip. thanks for sharing, i may have to copy this idea!
what a lovely idea:) I am definitely borrowing that one..no more spools of ribbon lying around all over the house. Thanks for sharing!
This a great idea! I love this so much more than any other ribbon storage I’ve come across!! I featured this on my blog too: http://vixenmade.blogspot.com/2011/09/organizing-state-of-mind.html
Thanks so much, Victoria!
Hey..sorry if it’s weird you dont know me, i got your blog from a relative. i LOOVE what you did with the ribbon, i make hair bows for little girls, and i have a TON of ribbon..this is just a perfect idea, did you just unravle the WHOLE spool of ribbon and wrap it around the cardboard? i would love to get an e-mail back from you.
Sure did, Ashley. Just sat down and let the spool unravel while I wrapped it around the cardboard. Hope that helps! Thanks!
just found this on pinterest and I LOVE IT!
i am doing a series on my blog about unique craft spaces and would love for you to link this up!
I will be doing a ton of features!
Thanks
Taylor
http://www.itstaylormade.com/2011/11/craft-spaces.html