written by marieann

Caro found this tutorial for making a covered measuring tape. I thought it was really cool but I don’t have the retractable tape holder like this. But it did remind me that I hate that the measuring tape is connected with the one inch at the end of the roll to cardboard. (If yours is like this, it will make sense to you). The result is that I always have to uravel the whole thing even if I just need to measure something six inches long. So I whipped up this alternative. It’s pretty functionless but it is cute and recycled.

Materials:
Empty ribbon reel (slightly wider than your measuring tape)
Scrapbook paper scraps
Cardstock scraps

Tools:
Glue stick
Piece of scotch tape
Measuring tape
Circle cutter (or a compass and scissors)

Directions:

1. Cut four circles the same size as your ribbon reel — two out of scrapbook paper and two out of cardstock. Mine was 3.5 inches.

2. Glue the scrapbook paper circles to the cardstock circles.

3. Glue these circles to the empty ribbon reel.

4. Tape the long end (the 60″ end) of the measuring tape to the reel.

5. Wrap up the measuring tape.