Ribbon Storage for the Space-Impaired

This inspiration for this idea comes from my sister-in-law's mother's ribbon storage. I really, really, really, wish I had the insane amount of ribbon and crafting supplies she does. Instead I saw her ribbon storage idea and tucked it away for future use. I'm also space-impaired. There's no room for shelves or walls of ribbon. However, I've finally acquired enough ribbon to justify moving from a large ziploc bag to this...

This is one of the easiest things I've ever done. You'll need a rubbermaid container (preferably clear and with a lid), a few dowels (depending on how many rows of ribbon you can get into your container - size needed will also depend on your container), a glue gun, and your ribbon. You'll also want a marker to make marks on the container. If you're using dowels that aren't precut, you'll need something to trim them also. I just used a serrated kitchen knife.

The first thing you want to do is figure out how many rows of ribbon you think you can fit in your container. This will depend on the size of spools and the size container you have. Do some playing around and make sure you can comfortably fit your ribbon spools in the way you think you can. I chose to make the bottom two dowels for wider ribbon, one of the top ones for 5/8" and 7/8" ribbon, and the other top one for anything smaller.

After you know how many dowels you want to put in and how many spools you think you can fit on each dowel, you'll need to start warming up your hot glue gun. This works best if you don't have any glue in it you just need the heat) but if there's already glue in it, you should be able to easily pull the glue stick out after it's warmed up a bit. If there is only a little bit of glue left in it, you could just squeeze all the glue out or just be sure not to push the trigger as you're doing this.

Start with the slots for the dowels. Take your hot glue gun and melt a hole through the plastic big enough to comfortably fit your dowel. You don't want it to be too snug or too loose, for obvious reasons. For my needs, pushing to entirety of the metal part of the glue gun through made the perfect size hold for the dowels.

Do the same on the other side so that your dowel has 2 holes to sit in.

Repeat the process for as many dowels as you need in your container.

With the dowels still in their holes, you want to make holes on the main sides of the container for your ribbon to be pulled through. Again, figure out how many spools of ribbon you plan to have on each dowel. You might consider separating them by size, for this purpose. That way you can have all your 3/8" ribbon on one dowel and all your 5/8" on another - so your holes are spaced evenly and so you don't ever have to struggle to make ribbon fit on the dowels. But that just might be my OCD side coming through.

Before you make your holes in the main side, you'll want to mark where you want the holes. I used a permanent marker to give myself and estimate as to where to put the holes.

Then, using the same heating technique, make holes in the sides for the ribbon to slide through.

Pull your dowels out, load them up, then put them back in. As you put the dowels in, you'll want to go through and pull the ribbons through the holes. If some of them don't want to stay, you can just use a small piece of tape to keep the ribbon on the outside of the container. This is what I did for the smaller ribbon, especially the slippery satin stuff.

Here you can kind of see how the smaller ones are taped down.

If you're worried about ribbon or the dowels sliding back and forth, then wrap some rubber bands around the ends of the dowel or next to the spools of ribbon to keep them from going anywhere. I put rubber bands on each side of each dowel (except the one that doesn't have any ribbon. I'm still growing into my container).

I also wrapped some ribbon arouund next to the ribbon on the dowels that aren't filled up. Then the ribbon isn't sliding back and forth across the dowel.

And there you have it! Easily accessible ribbon storage for the space-impaired. I can easily pull it out and put it away when necessary. All I have to do is pull the ribbon through and cut off what I need.

We're linking up with these super awesome parties:


Whatever Goes Wednesday, Idea Sharing Wednseday, What I Made Wednesday, Creative-ly U, Feature Yourself Friday, Just Something I Whipped Up, Frugal Friday, DIY Under $5, Lovely Little Linkup, Craftastic Monday, Woot Woot Wednesday, Strut Your Stuff, Our House of Joyful Noise, Get You Craft On, Wow Me Wednesday, Weekend Wander

Blog Feature: Dating Divas

Have you all heard about The Dating Divas? I discovered them almost a year ago and thought that I would share them with you.

Do you ever struggle to find some new ideas for date night? Does the same old dinner and a movie get reeeeally boring after a few months. We live in a little Northern Utah town where there are about 3 things to do - dinner (restaurant or picnic), movie, and bowling, We definitely need help with date night. That's where The Dating Divas come in!




The great thing about them is that they're not just dating ideas - they're all about strengthening marriages. Learning to serve one another, learning to love one another, and even spicing things up sometimes.

If you need some help planning creative dates or want to find some ways to strengthen your marriage, then you should definitely go check them out!!!

How To Make Tweezing Less Painful

Does just thinking of the word tweezing make you cringe? I have some helpful tips to make it less painful.




My first tip is to wait to tweeze until you're out of the shower. The steam and hot water from the shower opens up your pores and makes it easier to pull the hair out. If you don't have time for a shower use a damp warm clothe over the area to open your pores.




My second tip is to use ice to numb the area first. Hold the ice over the area you desire to tweeze for about a minute. Wipe away the water that has melted and start tweezing. Be careful with this method because if you are numb you could hurt yourself by grabbing your skin with the tweezers if you're not careful.

I hope these tips help your next tweezing experience to be less painful. Keep an eye out for more beauty tips, tricks, and tutorials by Heather! :)

This post was written by ~ Heather






We're linking up with these super awesome parties:


Whatever Goes Wednesday, Idea Sharing Wednseday, What I Made Wednesday, Creative-ly U, Feature Yourself Friday, Just Something I Whipped Up, Lovely Little Linkup, Craftastic Monday, Woot Woot Wednesday, Strut Your Stuff, Our House of Joyful Noise, Get You Craft On, Wow Me Wednesday 

FHE Idea - My Body is a Temple/Modesty

Song: The Lord Gave me a Temple (Children's Songbook #153) (Download the song here or see and hear the music here)

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Lesson Ideas:

• Review the standards outlined in the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet. If you don't have a copy available, you can purchase one at the Distribution Center or view the pamphlet online.

Throughout your lesson, be sure to discuss that our bodies are a gift from Heavenly Father - that we are to keep them safe, clean, and  dressed appropriately. Consider reading through this article and even sharing part of it throughout your lesson. (The Sanctity of the Body by Susan W. Tanner, given October 2005 General Conference)

Dress and Appearance Servants of God have always counseled his children to dress modestly to show respect for him and for themselves. Because the way you dress sends messages about yourself to others and often influences the way you and others act, you should dress in such a way as to bring out the best in yourself and those around you. However, if you wear an immodest bathing suit because it's "the style," it sends a message that you are using your body to get attention and approval, and that modesty is not important.

Immodest clothing includes short shorts, tight pants, and other revealing attire. Young women should refrain from wearing off-the-shoulder, low-cut, or revealing clothes. Young men should similarly maintain modesty in their dress. All should avoid tight fitting or revealing clothes and extremes in clothing and appearance.

As Latter-day Saint youth, you can also show respect for the Lord and yourselves by dressing appropriately for Church meetings and activities, whether on Sunday or during the week. If you are not sure what's appropriate, ask for guidelines from your parents, advisers, and bishop. (Taken from the FTSOY Pamphlet found online) 

• Discuss some ways to ensure that our clothes are modest. Some tips and tricks that I've found to help children (and adults) know what is and isn't modest.
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes (found here and here on LDS.org). Basically you use the song to help determine if there are any gaps in modesty. Put your hands on your head - if your shirt lifts up and shows your belly, it needs to be longer. Put your hands on your shoulders - your shirt needs more sleeve/neck length if you can feel bare skin. Also look at button holes for straining (it might be too tight) and at the armholes. Put your hands on your knees and toes- you shouldn't expose anything between the back of your shirt and pants or at your neckline.
• One thing that I was always taught growing up was to put your hands down at your sides. If the tips of the fingers go past the bottom of your shorts or skirt, then it is too short.
• Discuss how when buying new clothes, we should not only try them on, but see how they fit when we move around. Can you bend over without exposing your underwear/garments? Remember that often, clothing will shrink once it's washed and dried.
• Consider talking about how not only does Modesty imply that we shouldn't show too much, but that we should also take into consideration the extremeness of our appearance. That includes our hairstyles, our makeup, and even the choice of clothing. Even if it covers everything, it may still be a little too extreme.
• If your children are younger and you'd like a good object lesson, consider using these Modest Paper Dolls and discuss how the clothing is modest and covers everything it should. You could also just find pictures in magazines (especially church magazines where you know you'll find good pictures) of people who are dressed modestly. If your children are old enough to make comparisons, you might find pictures of people dressed modestly and immodestly (not too immodest, of course) and let your children see and discuss the differences.

Do you have any tips on making sure your dress and appearance is modest or how to teach your children about the importance of modesty?

Felt Playhouse

Felt playhouses were all the rage in blogland a couple of years ago. Seriously, I saw a ton of playhouse ideas floating around out there. At the time I was in school and was taking a sewing class. We had to come up with our own final project. I thought about doing a diaper bag (Andyroo was about 16 months at the time) but couldn't find a pattern I liked. I wanted the bag to actually be functional, so I didn't want to wing it. It was Christmastime and I was in the mood to really make something. So instead I came up with the crazy idea to make not one, but two felt playhouses. One for Andyroo and one for his cousin that is the same age (we had their family for Christmas). Yes, I know. I should have been put in the crazy house for that. When I told my professor, she okayed the project and then quietly added, "But if you change your mind and still want to do a diaper bag, that's still okay too."

But I did it. I completed two felt playhouses. One was before the semester ended (so that I could turn it in and get it mailed out) and the other was finished December 23rd (only because we were spending Christmas Eve at my mom's).

Yes, I fully lined and decorated the inside too. Can you see the "fish tank" through the door?

I'm almost positive that the inspiration for the side pictured below (the tree and vegetables) came from Homemade by Jill. This was in 2009 though, so I don't really remember exactly where all the inspiration and patterns came from. I don't recall using a lot of patterns, just pictures for inspiration. That's just how I roll.

I'm pretty sure I used patterns for the apples and other vegetables here. If I remember right, she painstakingly sewed on individual leaves for the trees. I love Andyroo, but I was on a deadline here folks.

There's a birdhouse complete with birds and butterflies on the side opposite of the tree and garden.

And the back is pretty plain. There's a window and a "doggy door." I wasn't really sure what else to put on there because there wasn't a lot of open space. Don't judge the PVC pipes that you can see through the window. We had the guy at Lowes cut the pipe for us into all even widths, but then when we got home some of the pipe needed to be trimmed. I was taking pictures so that I could send instructions and pictures to my sister- and brother-in-law so they knew what it was supposed to look like.

And the front of the house. The flowers are pickable and plantable. The door rolls up and is held up with a piece of felt and velcro (you can see it if you look carefully).

I didn't get pictures of the inside, but along with the fish tank, there's a cabinet for food, a table, and a clear vinyl slot for a family picture. You can't have a home without a family picture. The inside is lined with a simple buttercup color cotton. I also sewed some pieces of ribbon on the inside of the 4 corners of the house to tie around the PVC pipe just to keep it in place.

Andyroo loved playing in this thing! He loves to hide when he knows someone is coming over (Grandma, daddy coming home, friends coming over, etc) and this was his go-to hiding spot. He also liked to read stories in there. He would pull me inside and bring me arm fulls of books to read to him. Or we would just sit inside and play toys. It was well worth the time, effort, and blood required to make this thing. Yes, blood. I caught my thumb in the needle once while putting all the sides together. Ouch is right.

Luckily I got on A+ on this project.

Like I said, these were huge a couple years ago. Did you attempt your own playhouse? I'd love to hear about it!

Dupree Designs Giveaway Winner!!

Today's the day! Thanks to everyone who entered our first giveaway. We're so excited to have you all following along! And, if you didn't win, be sure to keep reading for a coupon code from Dupree Designs!

Now the moment you've all been waiting for...

Our 25th commenter is Kelly (Kellyr78)! She tweeted about the giveaway! Kelly, be sure to check your email!

Thanks again for entering our giveaway. If you're interested in purchasing your own gift set (or anything else from Dupree Designs) you can use the code "Motherhood" to get 20% off any purchase through August 20th. The coupon code is good for all custom orders, too!

We've got another great giveaway lined up for next week. This time it's a gift card, so you'll want to be sure to come back and check it out!!!

Some Fun Kids Ideas!

I've been linking up at a few blog parties and I've come across some fun kids ideas that I just had to share.

With back to school sales in full swing, I was thinking about picking up some watercolors for Andyroo. But then I came across this recipe to make Homemade Watercolors on I Can Teach My Child. Using some simple and common ingredients, you can make this...

Sweet Little Smoothie introduced me to using Mason Jars in place of your usual blender jar. Brilliant idea!!!! Andyroo loves to share my smoothies and this will be so easy to make a smaller amount!!

Polish the Stars has a tutorial/recipe for DIY Moon Sand. I think Andyroo would LOVE this stuff!!!

Preschool Alphabet (which is one of my favorite sites, btw) shows us how to make your own musical instruments!!!! Andyroo will love these too!

I see lots of fun in the near summer future (what few weeks we have left, anyway).