Dance Bag

WOW!! I actually managed to fit in a project in our busy Fall Break week!!! :) - - Not saying it was a super elaborate one, but a project is a project!! ;)

Madelyn performed at the State Fair, so she wanted a cute dance bag. She had a pink bag that I had made a while back, but was starting to look a little blah! (Not to mention had a lovely blue ink stain!!) So, I got out my supplies & jazzed it up a bit!! Perfect for carrying her dance shoes!! :)

The before:

The after:


Simply pulled off the old ribbon & flower (not pictured), cut strips of fabric & hot glued them on:

Then, hot glued silver wired tinsel/ribbon along edges to cover up fabric edges:

Cut squares of fabric, (I believe I used 4?? Maybe 3 in.- sorry, didn't measure!) :( , then frayed the edges a bit, pinched the center together, making a "bow", then fold that in half:

Simply glue the folded "bow" down & repeat with the other squares until you make a circle!! (Sorry - once again, no picture!!) :(

Next, I took a small chipboard circle & covered it with ribbon - didn't have one (or a button) in the color & size I needed, so made my own embelishment:

Then, added a little white button & a diamond accent on top of the pink ribbon & tied a few strips of ribbon & tinsel to the handles!! Ta-da!! A new (or updated) dance bag!! Madelyn loved it, so I guess that's all that matters, right!!?? :)

Use What You've Got!!

Scary, isn't it!!?? Sadly, this is my ribbon! I've been wanting to organize it for some time, and finally attempted to do so the other day & this is what I came up with: using paper towel rolls & a scrapbook organizer!!! Sounds crazy, I know, but it worked for me!! I just love my sparkly pink organizer, but it just wasn't working for me, as a paper holder! :(

I knew that ribbon does best on something round (so you don't get bumpy ribbon), so the paper towel roll came to mind!! Coincidentally, I had just bought a 6-pack of paper towels, so I kinda sneakily removed all the rolls from inside the paper towels!! (Super easy - just grab on to the roll of towels with one hand & pull (& twist) the roll out!!) .... and yes, you can still stick the roll on your towel holder - if you have the kind that stands on the counter! :)

After my P.T. rolls (no, didn't use T.P. - only P.T!! :) were all ready, I separated my ribbon by color. Then I got to work wrapping it around the rolls & taping/pinning it in place! It was quite time consuming, but a little therapeutic!! I was able to fit 7 rolls in the organizer, but I may end up squishing in another one, being that I have soooo much ribbon!! (For pieces smaller than a foot, I'm just going to keep them in in a baggie.) This was clearly a no-brainer, but just wanted to share my "Use What You've Got" idea!!

Isn't it so neat & organized???!! Just loving it!! :)

** Just sitting in my closet, with my little helper at my side & my other helper wanting to take a picture of me while I wrapped my ribbon!! :)

Spool Bracelets

While looking through my ribbon today, (planning to make a hair bow), I found some empty spools & started to clean them out. Well, to carry them easier, I put them on my wrist - - then the my creative juices started flowing!! ;) Why not turn them into bracelets??!! I grabbed all my materials & went to work! My daughter wanted a pink & black one, so we used some sheer black ribbon, a silk flower & a cool button accent for the top!

First, I took the spool of ribbon apart. (Sorry for all the different colors of ribbon shown - I hope you can get the idea!!) ;)

Then, I put a dab of hot glue on the spool & tacked down one end of the ribbon - at an angle.

After that, I just wrapped the ribbon around, (putting little dabs of glue under the ribbon, on the inside of the bracelet, as I wrapped it), until I came back to the starting place! Then I added one last bit of glue to finish it off. Well, my daughter tried it on & it was WAY too big! So, I just cut it open & over-lapped it a bit, glued it together & made it work! :)

I added a small circle of light cardboard (cut from the pieces I removed from the spool) to the back of the flower, just to make it sturdier.

I attached the final piece, tied some extra ribbon on the sides, (put a small line of Fray Check along the edges of the tied ribbon), & ta-da . . . . one cute bracelet!!! :)

I'll post the other bracelets as soon as I give them away as gifts!! Stay tuned!! :)