Old Ribbons, New Ideas

Whether they come from gift wrappings, clothes or objects that are no longer needed, ribbons seem to gather in the drawers of every home. Most people throw them away after a while, thinking that they are useless and waste space. Think again – ribbons and bows are essential elements in do-it-yourself projects, so if you like crafting, then you definitely have to hear about the ways in which you can re-use these objects. Even if you do not have full rolls to work with, you can take small pieces of various textures and colors and add them together for more impact. If you still do not have enough fabric, you can buy ribbons online and finish your project.

Add more personality to your diary

Do you have a diary, an agenda or a notebook where you write poems or stories? Then you should definitely make it more personal and replace its generic cover with something creative. For example, you can cut ribbon strips in different sizes and glue them to the cover. The more colorful they are, the better. You can place them in the shape of a bow or heart and you can insert magazine cut-outs to spice things up. The same idea also works for family or yearbook albums. In this case, you can pin the ribbon in the upper corner of a photo instead of gluing it.

Turn them into shoelaces

If your shoe collection is all black and white, you do not need to have to go on a shopping spree to bring more color into it. Those long ribbon strands you have lying around from last Christmas can be used instead of shoelaces. This is really easy to do and it only takes a couple of minutes. For extra visual impact, use different colors. However, make sure you choose durable materials such as velvet or raffia. Sheer materials might look very nice and delicate, but they will degrade with time, especially if you wash your shoes in the washing machine.

Make beanies and hair accessories

Beanies can look quite plain without they have a colorful pattern or some kind of accessory woven on it. Unfortunately, these designs are harder to find in stores (unless you're going to the kids section) and the ones that are more original cost way too much. You can use ribbon to make small bows and then you can sew them on the side of the beanie. You can also attach them to plain hair bands, bobby pins or clips and, if you want to invest a few more pounds, you can buy a simple headband and decorate it with bows, pearls, glitter and other materials that you have around the house .

Be your own jewelery designer

Creating your own jewelery is something more time consuming than the other ideas above, but if you are patient and meticulous enough, it will be worth it. The simplest thing you can do is put multi-colored beads, pearls and charms on a string and get your very own necklace or bracelet. If you're really skilled and patient, learn how to make ribbon flowers, glue them to a safety pin and there you have it – a brand new brooch!