Umbrellas, Stars and Baubles
07/01/2010
I was flicking through the new copy of Crafts Beautiful magazine which arrived this morning, as you do, while having a cup of tea. OH NO!!! I screamed! I had got to page 31 and there was our new advert staring back at me with photos of three NEW Ranges for 2010. My panic was that none of the ranges were on the website, I had completly forgotton about them.
So guess what I have been doing today - yep updating the website. We now have three NEW ranges to show you! Umbrella Fun, Stars and Baubles
Snow has finally arrived in Dorset, we have been very lucky so far. With all this bad weather do not forget to leave the house with your umbrella!!
This is a real wacky little range, only 5 colours. The umbrellas are printed on 16mm wide grosgrain ribbon. This will certainly make people smile.
We had great fun on the next photo shoot, yes, we did eat quite a few of the iced gems. They were jumbo ones, you could bite the iced bit off whole!
Little stars dancing along the satin ribbon. 24 different colours in this range, all on 9mm single face satin ribbon. We did have these ribbons at the autumn shows, so they are NEW to the website but may not be new to you!
And the last range will add class to your project - Baubles on Grosgrain Ribbon.
Two widths 9mm and 16mm, the bauble design is scattered across the ribbon and printed in two colours.
We have lots of other NEW Ranges planned for this year, we know it becomes very difficult to "keep track" of whats new - so we have set up a new section on the website. 2010 What's NEW (Simple, when you think about it!) All the new ranges we add we will put in HERE as well as in the relevant other sections.
We hope you are all warm and safe.
What do you do with.....
04/01/2010
What do you do with.... a pack of ribbons?
As you know our annual January Pack SALE is on at the moment - all packs £1.00, a massive saving on our normal price of £5.00. I know you all enjoyed the countdown to Christmas we had last month, so I thought I would give you a few ideas to use some of the packs. I will not promise a posting a day, just depends what inspiration I get!!!
The project today can be made from the Victorian Ribbon Pack. This pack has soft muted sheer ribbons, wire edge golds and a shot taffeta green which is perfect for leaves.
I decorated one of our selection boxes with ribbon flowers and leaves, but you can use the same idea for cards, summer straw hats. So here goes, lets hope you can follow my instructions -
Cut a 40mm wide ribbon to about 40cms, this is a sheer but you can use any ribbon. (If it is wire edged then remove the wire from the edge to be pinned.) Fold the ribbon in half and mark with a pin, fold in half again and mark with pins. This will give you 4 equal sections, each section is a petal. If you want a five petal flower then fold into 5 equal sections etc.
Start at the top edge of the ribbon with out the pins. Secure your thread, give it a tug to make sure it will not come undone. Sew small running stitches down the cut edge of the ribbon (not too close), along the bottom edge to the first pin, up from the pin to the top edge of the ribbon and back down the pin again. You should have created a U shape of sewing. Repeat to the end of the ribbon so you have 4 u's - uuuu
Gently pull the thread to gather the ribbon, pull it as tight as you can.
Tie a knot in a small length of ribbon, and enclose the flower around the knot.
Secure the two ends of the flower together. You only want to join two small pieces of ribbon, the piece where you secured the thread and the piece where the last stitch was sewn. This is called "kissing the ribbon" i.e a small peck!!! Secure with a few stitches, making sure you keep the gathers in tightly around the knot of ribbon. (I hope you understood all of that!) If you feel the centre knot is loose then just put a few extra stitches in to secure it.
If you did your flower will look like this. Play with it slightly to give it some shape. try different widths and lengths of ribbon and see what you come up with. I used these flowers on Mollies scrapbook Page, you can see it by CLICKING HERE
For the leaves, I used a 15mm wide ribbon 12cms long.
Fold the ribbon in half.
Fold both edges up at right angles and secure with pins. It should look like a little boat.
Sew all the way around the outside of the ribbon.
Pull the thread so the ribbon gathers, not to much. Secure with a stitch or two.
Open up the ribbon and you will find the leaf!! Magic!!
Thank you for such a postive response to our first ribbon challenge of the year, first time I have closed it the same day as launching it, although I must do something about my counting - somehow I can not seem to stop at 10, Tee Hee. It was almost a 50/50 for traditional and contemporary. I love ribbon challenges when the goodies start to arrive back. It's like Christmas again, and all the parcels are MINE!!!!
Ribbon Challenge # 11 - FULL
03/01/2010
Our Ribbon Challenge # 11 is full.
Woo Hoo!! We are full, I will send emails out tomorrow, thanks to all for applying.
Sorry if you missed out on this challenge but we have another one coming up soon, so check back regularly.
Ribbon Challenge # 11
03/01/2010
SORRY THIS RIBBON CHALLENGE IS NOW FULL
How about a Ribbon Challenge to kick start the New Year? But we need to know whether you are a "Traditional" or a "Contemporary" girl!
Do you like traditional valentine cards in shades of reds with hearts?
Or do you preferer the contemporary Valentine look, in shades of lilac, pink or lemon?
The decision to this Ribbon Challenge is down to YOU, you can decide which group of ribbons we send you.
Tradional ribbons will come from a selection from our Valentine Collection
Contempory will come from a selection of ribbon in our "Love n Hearts" range of hearts and love on grosgrain ribbon.
We have 10 free bundles of Valentine ribbons to give away. All we ask in return for these ribbons are two cards or projects that use the ribbons, they do not even have to be for Valentines!
The ribbons can be used to enhance all forms of crafts - card making, projects, ATC's. If you are up to the challenge, then send us an email to craftyribbons@gmail.com (new email address) marked RIBBON CHALLENGE # 11 and don't forget to tell us whether you are traditional or contemporary!
The first TEN to reply will be sent an email requesting address details so we can send your free ribbons! Your finished cards and projects will be posted onto the blog and taken to our first 2 shows of the year in France. Valentines day falls while we are at L'Aiguille en Fetê at Porte Villette Paris, so lots of people will see your goodies.
Enjoy your Sunday.
January Pack SALE
01/01/2010
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE
Wow doesn't time just fly by. I cannot believe that it has come round to our January Pack SALE again!
Our ribbon packs are normally £5.00 each, during the month of January they are reduced to ONLY £1.00 That is a massive saving!! We have some NEW Packs that we have been selling at the Exhibitions this Autumn.
Why not have a look and snap up a bargain, there are over 40 different packs (at the moment!) to choose from, all colour themed. We have Valentine, Autumn, Christmas Tree and Orange Crush in the photos above.
Please feel free to tell your friends, family, colleagues about our January Pack SALE. Mention it on your forums, shout it from the roof tops!!! This CRAZY RIBBON PACK SALE only happens once a year in JANUARY.
Have fun with ribbon
The Crafty Team
Back to normal
31/12/2009
It's good to be back - I would like to say everything is normal, but things have moved on, as they do.
It would appear that you have the same views as me on SPAM - what is the point of it. We have our fingers crossed that our new upgrade has worked - no spam comments last night, but I will not hold my breath!
First job of the day was to visit my little mate Sydney.
Oh she is cheeky and I have really missed that smile! The beautiful Get Well card that she is holding was made by Beryl and it is gorgeous. Sydney thinks it is Shaun, Beryl this must have taken you ages, thank you so much. Also a huge thank you to everyone for your kind wishes to Sydney. She went to hospital yesterday to have a new plaster cast put on (not sure they are plaster any more!), and she came home with a blue one. She was hoping for yellow (her favourite colour) but blue matches her school uniform , so that is ok.
We have brought a French "Pic Nic" (as Syd calls it) home with us. You know, cheese (VERY smelly), ham, French bread all the lovely extra little bits you find in France. Sydney is insisting that we all have to sit on the "Pic Nic" blanket in the living room!!
So if you are a little hungry and want to join us, please do.....
Have a FANTASTIC Evening, enjoy and be careful. Check back with us tomorrow for something special.
SPAM -what for?
30/12/2009
Phew that's Christmas over for another year, we all hope you had a great time.
I have one last gripe for the year (promise) -SPAM! What is the point of it? Why do people do it? I just have no idea what it is all about.
Sadly our blog has had a bit of a bad time over the Christmas break with SPAM. We have upgraded the software over the past day or two and are sorry if you have been unable to log on. We are hoping that the new improvements will cut down on the unwanted SPAM.
Although the warehouse has been closed, the girls have been working behind the scenes getting everything ready for the new year -we can not wait, so many new and exciting things are planned.
Christmas Eve
24/12/2009
In my eyes there is only one thing you can do with ribbon on Christmas Eve. Actually it is the ONLY day of the whole year that you can use ribbon in this way........
.....to tie Rudolph’s carrots together!!!
We all wish you a very Merry Christmas and hope you receive everything you wish for.
Individual Gifts
23/12/2009
Nearly nearly there! Are you all ready?
I cannot believe that I have made a post everyday this month, shown you a different idea or project all using ribbons, BUT I have run out of days!!! I still have lots of ideas that I could share with you. It was great to read Kim’s comment last night that she had been decorating her candles with ribbons, before reading the countdown post. It just goes to show that ribbon is just so versatile.
I have spent the day wrapping Individual Christmas Cakes, I confess I did not make the cakes, but I have decorated them. The cakes are for our French neighbour’s, they are only small but make great gifts, a little bit of England. We found out by accident a few years ago the French are rather partial to rich English fruit cake!!
Gathered up wire edge ribbon around the cake.
Add a few ribbon roses and buds on top and you have an individual gift.
Tony is heartbroken, no really. We forgot to bring his Christmas Pudding with us!!!! He reckons that it will just not be the same without pudding. And if course it was MY fault – I hate the stuff.
I gather the weather is pretty bad back home, please do all take care. I do have one last posting tomorrow, I hope you will all have time to pop by for a quick read.
Let there be light
22/12/2009
Candles seem to add a little extra magic and sparkle at Christmas time. Have you thought about decorating them with ribbon. Not so the ribbon is anywhere near the naked flame – candle safe remember.
Church style candles are perfect to decorate.
Wrap assorted ribbons around the bottom sections of the candles and secure in place with a few pins.
Why not coordinate your Christmas table this year.
Tie matching ribbon onto napkins to make them look extra special.
No Church candles, then how about tea lights. A ribbon stuck around the metal case just adds that little bit of magic.
Sydney had a padded sling fitted today, she was finding it very difficult with the weight of the plaster cast. It goes from her knuckles all the way to under her arm, and is not a light weight version. The plaster was so heavy that poor Bev was having to walk around with Syd supporting its weight!!!
The sling has brought Syd back to almost normal, Bev had to hang up quickly as Syd had pinned poor Sam in the bunny cage!!!!!
my basket