Paper-clip Holder with Ribbon Spool

BENGALURU: The holiday season usually brings with it the extensive use of ribbons – for gift wrapping, home decorations and crafts. What do you do with leftover spools from the tons of satin ribbons? Trash them in the recycle bin? I decided to use mine to stash away paper clips on my desktop.

Materials Used

• A crafting or pen knife
• Tacky glue
• Some decorative ribbon
• Sand paper
• A pair of scissors
• Some metallic acrylic paint
• Paint brush
• Washi tape to keep handy
•  Burlap paper which is really jute cloth stuck hard on a paper (you can use some fine quality jute fabric instead)
• Fabric flowers to embellish
• 3-D outliner in gold colour to keep handy
•  A ball-pen, to mark out the circle on burlap card stock sheet (use an empty refill or pencil otherwise)
• Most importantly, you need the used ribbon spool which is essentially made from cardboard

Method

Start with using the pen knife to cut open one base of the spool. This will leave rough edges which you may smooth out. You can choose to sand these edges or leave them rugged for that earthy look. After this, pick up a sheet of burlap or jute from the cardstock bundle. Alternatively, use either thick jute fabric or some patterned paper.

Use the base of the ribbon spool to mark out a circle on this, with a pen or pencil. Cut the circle out. Keep this aside. Now use sandpaper to make the surface of the spool’s base a little rough. Stick the burlap circle on to this surface. Let this dry.

Now decorate or embellish the container. I used gold metallic acrylic paint to paint the protruding base and the rough edge of the cut out part of the container.

The outer surface I used another piece of decorative ribbon to cover, and let some of the cardboard show to keep it looking real. I inserted a fabric flower into the center to cover the hole. This covering is not necessary, but I wanted the effect.

Once this was done, I used the same decorative ribbon to embellish the spools inner surface too. The stash holder is ready for use. You may use this to decorate a note-board, the altar at home. As for me, my stash of large sized paper clips fit in perfectly.

 (www.imprintshandmade.com)