Opportunistic recycling

I was in the haberdashery department of a local shop a couple of days ago on the hunt for pretty ribbons and buttons. I found some beautiful black velvet ribbon which was just what I was looking for to finish a card I was making and a veritable rainbow of rickrack.


As I looked at the ribbons, I noticed that the shop assistant was sorting through the ribbons, replacing empty rolls etc.

By her feet she had a basket with a great pile of empty ribbon spools. I'm a regular customer as you can imagine and the lady asked me how I was. We got talking and I asked her what happened to the empty ribbon spools. She told me they were thrown in the bin but I could have them if I wanted.

I have a huge ribbon stash but they currently are stored in plastic bags defining type of ribbon, in storage boxes. What I can't see I tend not to use, so for ages I've been trying to solve this ribbon storage crisis.

(a teeny selection of my ribbon stash)

Putting the ribbon on spools will not only help me actually see what ribbons I have, but also keep them in better condition as it's very annoying to have to iron bits of crumpled ribbon for sticking on a card! I also seem to have lots of ribbon that is very similar if not identical. I seem to buy bits of ribbon as I think I don't have organza pink ribbon 6mm wide, when I do.

The shop assistant told me that every month the rep comes in and she has a good sort out of ribbon so if I want any more empty spools I just have to let her know. Now I just need to have a good sort through of my ribbons and organise. Then I need to work out a nice neat way of storing the spools and another of the all too frequent stash storage sagas may actually be solved.

So, 'right place, right time' results in free storage that should be fantastic and very professional looking too and my local landfill will be just that little bit smaller than it might have been. Perfect! (or it will be when I get round to transferring my ribbon from their current spaghetti type form to the reels...)