ribbon revelation

 ribbon
the last thing jo said to me before settin' out on her long road trip was that she'd wring my neck if she returned to find my ribbon collection in the same big tangled mess it took her almost two weeks straight to get organized. since i take all jo's threats seriously, i truly tried to keep all the ribbons in order by color and coiled perfectly just as they were when she pulled the silver bullet outta the driveway. i'm not sure how it happened but in no time they were once again just a big ol shiny pile o' tangled trimmins' - as you can see in the before pictures.

i have a hard time believin' it was me who is responsible. maybe it was tink. i do, afterall, have this picture i could hurl toward jo if i wanted to place all the blame on the fluffy lil creature. but jo would just say tink was tryin' to get them all straightened up again.

however it was that they got all tangled again, i had to act quickly to fix 'em back up.it was finally time for me to figure out some solution that would actually work for me. i've tried just about everything...jo's coils, racks in all shapes and sizes, my dear mason jars, big bins...i could go on and on....if you've seen or heard of it i've tried it. each one of 'em worked...if i wanted to just ADMIRE my colorful collection. but none of 'em worked after one search for whatever it was i needed. the end result was always the same big tangled mess.

it was time for one o my three hour tours of the hardware store with the mission o findin' the perfect ribbon rack for a piggly person who can't keep things neat but hates anything outta place.

i took tink and coco along for moral support and we traveled up and down every aisle - all thirty-two of 'em. of course along the way i found many items i couldn't live without - so many in fact that at one point i was afraid i'd have to take the girls outta the basket to keep 'em from gettin' squashed. when we hit aisle number thirty-two outta thirty-two without findin' a solution to my dilemma i started tryin' to figure out how i could get all the coilin' done in such a short period o time. but at the very end o that very last aisle, my perfect ribbon rack was waitin' for me. it was diquised as a hook of some kind to hang a bicycle on but i wasn't fooled for a minute. it was just the thing i'd been needin' all my ribbon rackin' life!

as you can see in the 'after' shot, this set-up might not work for everyone but it is more than perfect for me! it took me no time to pitch the ribbons all on and now when i need one of 'em i can easily poke through the whole shabang to find what i want....and the best thing is - i actually put everything back when i'm done! i'm tryin' to get the rest o the doo dad den organized but when that's done i'll make my new ribbon setup a bit neater but for now i am more than pleased with it!

i'd love to be one o those less-piggly artists capable of inspirin' you with lots o pretty supply set-ups...i must accept that i will never be in that group. i'm hopin' a coupla you visitors are more on the piggly side too and can also solve your trimmin' troubles with a ribbon rack disguised as a bike hook!