Cute Altered Ribbon Reel

November's challenge is now under way over at Rhedds Creative Spirit  and for my design team project I altered a fab wooden Ribbon Reel.
Unfortunately I don't come across these very often as it seems most suppliers take the ribbon or fabric off the reels...the one I have used for this project had printed fabric with christmas greetings on and was a lucky find,especially locally to me.

Initially I was going to paint the ribbon reel and then after getting all the elements together realised it would look far better in it's original state.

Starting with the spool, I covered that with some vintage backing paper and secured it with strong glue..then added some hessian and lace, securing again with strong glue..I didn't want it pinging out and then having to redo it again.
I then tied some string around the centre of the spool before adding the flowers and the leaves...the leaves were old buttons I found in a charity shop a few years ago..I knew at some stage they would come in useful....

Now to decorated the top...I was at one point unsure how I was going to decorate it as I had several ideas going through my mind..eventually I went for the bird in a nest, as the bird ( 2 in a pack ) I had just recently purchased and the colour of it was gorgeous.

I cut a circle from some hessian and then pulled a bit round the edges, glued that to the wooden top section..on top of the hessian I then layered up some lace, a greeny coloured cotton doilie and another scrap of hessian.

To create a loose nest I wound some string type cord around my fingers,secured the ends and then glued that to the layered pieces.

I found a little scrap of vintage lace that I tucked into the nest,then added the bird, which I glued in place.
I embellished the nest with some flowers and another leaf...

                 You can find November's challenge over at
                           Rhedds Creative Spirit