Love 2 DIY on the Weekend: Upcycled Ribbon Spool

So my daughter and I are officially hooked on finding cute, fun, easy projects to share with you guys. When I first made this commitment to guest post on Love2Upcycle I honestly didn't imagine it would become a mother daughter adventure. Luckily it has - and she found this cute upcycle project in a magazine so we had to do it. I decided we would each do our own to show two alternate styles, and to hopefully show you how it easy it is to make one of my tutorials into your own personal project.

First we separated the top and bottom from the spool. We tried to cut it, use a knife - nothing was working. Then Vanessa just said, "why don't we just pull it?" and ta-da, it worked!

This ribbon was 1.5" but any size will work!

Next we measured and cut our coverings. Vanessa chose lightweight fabric scraps and I cut a few black and white pictures from an old art book I've been using for projects just like this. We actually used fabric glue which didn't work so well on the paper and it bled through a little bit on the fabric. I would recommend a heavier fabric so you don't have that problem.

These are pretty cute as they are, I think!

This is the part we go crazy. I bought some jewelry making pieces (clasps, etc) at a local antique mall and they threw in these crazy rhinestones. I didn't have the slightest clue as to why I would ever use them. Vanessa found a way.

Easy enough for an 8 year old but fun enough for grown-ups!

I am a little less into the bling and more into understated elegance. Okay, well that's a lie. I'm more into cheap and cute with muted colors. But my spool turned out very nice. Simple, understated, elegant.

I'm in love with this! 

Just imagine 3 or 5 or 7 of these on your craft room shelf. Everyone will ask where you got them! You don't even have to tell them an 8 year old could do it!

Perfect for buttons! 

Sammi