Pom Pom Friday
11/12/2009
So much is happening today that I thought I would get in early with todays post. As it's Friday, I have been wrapping up this weeks Friday FREEBIE into great Christmas prezzies to go under the tree, we hope Dorothy's Friday FREEBIE parcel didn't get too squashed last week.
You all seemed to like the idea of a ribbon book so we have included another one this week, as well as a value bag in Pink and Blue ribbons, a 20mtr roll of gold edge shot taffeta, a 5mtr bag of magic cord and one of the NEW kits I designed for the Paris show. Phew that's a lot.... The best bit there are TWO Friday FREEBIES to be won this week. You can see one is already wrapped with a big "Pom Pom Bow", (I promise I will wrap the other one once I have finished this post!)
So how do you get a chance to win - easy, leave a comment. Honest it is that easy. We will pick the two winners from our "Bingo" Bag on Monday afternoon. I say this every week, BUT we really do love reading your comments. So go on make us smile with a comment.
Cor, we only have 14 days to go! I adore wrapping prezzies, I know some people hate it, but I think it is one of the best bits of Christmas. It shows that you have really thought about the prezzie and taken time to make it look really special.
I promised I would show you all how to make these "Pom Pom Bows", this one is on this weeks Friday FREEBIE and could be under your Christmas Tree!
Get all your bits you need around you - Ribbon (lots), scissors, pencil, clear nail varnish, magic cord. Now, I do not use a bow maker but Tony made me this yonks and yonks ago.
It's a ribbon holder. A piece of wood with two dowels placed very close together. All it does is keep my ribbons nice and tight in the centre of the bow. You can make these "Pom Pom Bows" without it, but this makes them so easy to handle.
Place the magic cord between the two poles.
Thread your ribbon between the poles, on top of the magic cord.
Scrunch the ribbons down, so they sit on the wood. If you are using single face ribbon then you have to twist the ribbon over. You can see in the picture, the right side has the shiny bauble design on it, and the left is dull.
Fold the left ribbon over, so that it forms a loop, (twist again in the centre). Your loops should be about 10cm if using wide ribbon, you do not want them too large otherwise they flop!
Keep folding the loops over from side to side, so that you have 4 loops on each side. Here I have 2 loops on the left and 1 loop on the right.
Four loops on both side.
Bring the Magic Cord over the top of the bow and pull very tightly and tie a knot. You need the centre part of the bow to be trapped by the Magic Cord it must not come undone.
Remove from the ribbon holder. Pull on the ribbon loops and fan them out. If the magic cord is holding the ribbons together tighly, then you can pull quite hard on the loops to get them to sit evenly. Place your fingers into each loop to make them open up. use your fingers to shape the bow. You can be quite firm with it.
To make the twiddles, place a pencil in the centre of bow and wrap the Magic Cord around it. Because of the wire running through the centre of the Magic Cord it will keep it's shape when the pencil is removed. Repeat for the other twiddle. the Magic Cord frays when cut, so seal the edges with clear nail varnish or PVA glue.
One finished bow, all it is waiting for is me to wrap the second Friday FREEBIE parcel!
If you want any Christmas ribbons, don't forget your 20% discount off the next 24 hours, all you have to do is enter countdown into the voucher section on the website.
Happy bow making!!!
Anyone for cake?
10/12/2009
I have just had one of those days today - you know the ones. I have worked all day and feel as if I have achieved nothing, I kept getting called to the phone, then the girls would want me to sort something out. I would go back to office, sit down start working again to be called away almost straight away - it has driven me mad. My day has not been my own and I certainly do not feel creative. So todays project is a little bit of a cop out - sorry.
You may think that I think of nothing but food, this being the third project in a row for tummies!!! But Christmas is all about food, eating and treats.
How many times in a year do you have a Christmas Cake? You want it to be extra special and look good enough to eat!
There is only one very important tip when choosing ribbons to go around your cake - Make sure the ribbon design is running along the length of ribbon, otherwise you will have snowmen on their sides!! If you choose a ribbon that has a wire edge, it's not a problem, just gently pull the wire out of the ribbon. It comes out very easily. On my Christmas cake I used "Santa's Laundry" ribbon which can be found HERE. I stuck a length of ribbon onto some card with double sided tape and cut around a set of Santa's clothes. Using some black thread and two trees from the Snowman ribbon HERE, I made a washing line to hang the clothes from.
The ribbon roses I showed you the other day, would also look stunning.
Did any of you watch Kirstie Allsopp on Channel 4 last night? Well if you did, you may have spotted some of our ribbon! The Merry Christmas ribbon on the advent quilt was ours, a lady came on our stand, very late on the saturday at Hobbycrafts NEC, saying she needed ribbon urgently. We had lots of ribbon for her to choose from but she wanted a Merry Christmas one that we had sold out off earlier in the day, "BUT it's for Kirstie Allsopp" (Who? I don't get out very much!) She was so insistant that she needed it, that I opened up one of our selection boxes and took a metre out for her. I think it made the quilt!!! Tee Hee!!
We have received emails and telephone calls and of course comments, telling us how much you are enjoying our Christmas Ribbon Countdown. The Crafty Team would like to thank you for following us.
For 24 hours only we are giving you 20% discount off our website www.craftyribbons.com The 20% discount will start at 9am tomorrow Friday 11th December until 9am Saturday 12th December. During the checkout process you have an option to enter a voucher code, type in countdown and the website will do the rest! If you know the answer to the FREE postage question, then click in the box again and type in the answer.
This discount is for YOU, the readers and followers of our blog. We are NOT emailing our customers, we are NOT advertising it on our website, we have NOT sent out any promotional leaflets - it is just for YOU.
Over the last few days, you may have seen a project that has taken your fancy and want to give it a whirl, well now is your chance to get those extra ribbons. We will start to despatch orders on Monday.
Order before or on the 18th December and we will despatch by First Class Post, so you will have your ribbons before Christmas!
Line dancing
09/12/2009
These little guys are a "MUST HAVE" at Christmas. Don't they look good all lined up with their little dickie bows dancing in the breeze!
Ooooh - gingerbread and red gingham ribbon were made for each other!
I confess I did not make these, but I had great fun dressing them up with the ribbon and the icing. The little ribbon dickie bows only take a few minutes to make and make the men look sooooo good..
You need scissors, 25mm and 5mm red ribbon which can be found HERE, thread and a needle. Cut the 25mm gingham into lengths of 9cms.
Fold the ribbon ends towards the centre so they overlap slightly. With needle and thread, (I used green thread so you can see my stitches) sew small running stitches across the overlap.
Just a few stitches are required.
Gather the stitches up as tightly as they will go and secure with a few extra stitches.
Wrap 5mm gingham under the dickie bow and tie the first stage of a knot.
Pull the ribbon so that it fits securely around the bow and finish tying the knot. Tug the ribbon ends so they sit behind the back of the bow and cut the ribbon ends with scissors.
Because I cheated, and got the famous bakers of Mr Marks and Mr Spencer to bake my gingerbread men, they had no hanging hole to thread the ribbon loop through, boo hoo. But that was easliy sorted with a wet cocktail stick! Just dip the cockatil stick in some water and place on the gingerbread man where you want the hole to be. Gently press down, slightly twisting it, re damp the stick if needs be. Don't push down too hard, gently does it and a hole will appear.
Thread 5mm gingham through the hole and tie a knot at the end of the loop. I jazzed mine up a little bit more by adding white icing for their eyes and buttons.
So whether you bake your own gingerbread men or cheat like me, make them extra special by adding Red and White gingham dickie bows and hanging loops.
I promise you, no one will be able to resist these little guys!!!
Sweeties!
08/12/2009
Wow, I had a bit of a shock when I looked at our blog stats this morning (I have not looked at them for weeks). We had a record day yesterday, well actually our best ever!! It's got me a little bit nervous now though, hundreds and hundreds of you are reading my blurb - scary!!
I used to demostrate todays project at the exhibitions, but somehow the contents used to disappear, so by Sunday they were empty!
Once again these Ribbon Sweetie Bags are really easy to make. The children love them filled with a few chocolate coins, but you can make them more "grown up" by using sugared almonds or large chocolate covered brazil nuts.
You need 30cm of wide sheer ribbon, I used our Holly design which can be found HERE. Remove the wire from both edges of the ribbon. Fold the ribbon in half so the design is on the outside, and sew up the edges with small running stitches. If you dislike sewing, then I am sure a line of glue would work the same. Fill with sweeties, allowing enough room at the top so that you can scrunch up and finish with a bow or knot of ribbon. Match the bow ribbons with the main ribbon to create a better look, I used the classic Merry Christmas in Green and Gold found HERE.
This one would be perfect for children filled with coins. I used bright red thread and blanket stitch to sew the sides up, I wanted it to stand out. I carried the Santa theme through to the bow by using the Skinny Christmas santa hat ribbon. Santa hat wide sheer ribbon is HERE and Skinny Christmas hats are HERE.
Not just for Christmas, these sweetie bags could be made for wedding favour bags. Silver Swirl ribbon HERE and tied up with 3 shades of 3mm satin ribbon HERE that match the colours of the sugared almonds. We have 196 different colours of 3mm satin so I am sure you will find a colour suitable!!
These sweetie bags have been sat on my work desk in the warehouse for the last few days. Sarah has taken rather a shine to them! It is her little boys first Christmas and she wants to make it special for her family. I will give these to her tomorrow with a few extra ones.
FREEBIE Winner is...
07/12/2009
Sydney has this weeks Friday FREEBIE winners parcel all wrapped and ready to be posted - but to who????? It has been raining all day here, so no photo's outside, so Sydney decided to have her photo taken while sitting ontop of one of the work tables in the warehouse! She wouldn't get down.
The lucky winner of this weeks Friday FREEBIE parcel picked from our "Bingo" bag, which is all wrapped up to go under the Christmas Tree is....
10 - Dorothy
Well done Dorothy, you have a great ribbon book and two bags of value ribbon. Please email us your address using our NEW email craftyribbons@gmail.com and we will get the parcel in the post to you, we do know your address BUT you may want us to send your prezzie to someone else!
Thank you to each and every one of you who left a message, we really do enjoy reading them.
I saw Bev's Christmas Tree over the weekend - Oh its beautiful, tall and elegant in red and green. She tried to tell me it was from a kit, but I didn't believe her. The only thing missing was ribbon, she said she had been working so hard at some local warehouse, that she had no time to make bows!!! Cheeky!
So I have made her a box of Tree Bows, all in colours to match her tree - hope she likes them. Do you want to know how to make them? It's another tutorial so lots of pic's, hope that is ok.
Get all the bits you need - ribbon, wire edge is best, scissors, pencil, clear nail varnish and our magic cord which can be found HERE.
Cut your ribbon into 50cm lengths and fold in half to mark the centre point.
Fold one end of the ribbon so that it overlaps the centre mark.
Repeat with the other side, it should start to look like a bow!
Thread the magic cord under the bow and tie the first stage of a knot.
Pull the magic cord tightly so that it scrunches the ribbon up in the centre and tie a knot.
Now the "magic" bit - wrap the magic cord around a pencil. Because there is a wire running through the centre of the magic cord, when you remove the pencil the magic cord with remain in the swirls - MAGIC!! Trim the magic cord with a pair of scissors, it will fray so seal the ends with clear nail varnish or PVA glue.
Fold the ends of ribbons together and cut at an angle to create "dove tails". Repeat for the other ribbon end.
Play with the bow slightly to give it some shape.
They are called Tree Bows but they do look really good on parcels! I am building up to the really big pom pom bows later in the week Wilma - you will have to wait a little bit longer!!!
Hope you are enjoying our Christmas Countdown, we still have lots to show you.
New Email
07/12/2009
We have a NEW email specailly for you, yes for you our blog followers. Over the last few weeks several of you have been trying to get in contact with us but your emails have been swallowed up with all the others. We receive several hundred emails a day, as you can imagaine this is a job in itself!!
So this morning I set up a google mail account just for our blog. craftyribbons@gmail.com The best bit about this new account is we can access it from everywhere, as our normal email goes through our website secure server so we can only access it from the office.
If you want to ask a question or are chasing us or just want to say hi, please email us on craftyribbons@gmail.com
A cheery welcome
06/12/2009
We are all making our way back to the little village where we grew up in Oxfordshire today, famous for the Maharajahs Well. It will be the first of a series of Christmas family meals! Sydney proudly told me yesterday evening she and Sam were going to wear Santa’s helpers outfits for Grandma Edney, I gather it was meant to be a secret.
Hang a beautiful Christmas Wreath.
I am not a florist and so will certainly not tell you how to make your own wreath, but I do like Christmas wreaths that are full of fresh fragrances of pine and rosemary with the deep glossy green of holly and shiny red berries. Add a twist of ribbon and a bright red bow and you have a gorgeous festive welcoming wreath to hang on your door.
I spent a morning hunting around my garden and the hedgerows looking for seasonal ingredients – pine, holly, rosemary, ivy and the white fluffy things! Mum always called them “old mans beards” so I have no idea what they are called.
Think where the wreath is going to be placed, (what coloured door) and choose ribbons to match. Whether you make your own, there are a plethora of free goodies out there that can be used, or if you buy one, a ribbon bow will make it extra special.
Use a light weight ribbon, this is a wire edge sheer and can be found HERE. As this will be outside and may get wet, keep the ribbon loops small so they do not become too heavy when soaked.
I made two of these, one each for our parents, I hope they would have liked them. Mum used to make her own, so I am sure she would have been rather critical of mine!!!
Have a restful Sunday.
Make a Rose
05/12/2009
I went Christmas shopping for the first time this morning - it wasn't that bad. So the prezzies I have just wrapped are real ones - strange thing to say you may be thinking, but I am so used to wrapping empty boxes for our exhibtion stands, do you know they get stolen. I would love to see their faces when they open up the parcels to find empty Daz boxes!!!
Ribbon Roses are not just for Christmas, but they do looking stunning in this sheer gold ribbon. I hope my step Mum likes them, they are for her!
If I told you how easy they are to make I am sure you would not believe me, so I will show you. All you need is about 1mtr of wire edge ribbon per rose.
Tie a knot in one end of the ribbon about 5cm from the end, pull the knot tight.
Go to the other end of the ribbon (the one without the knot), ease back the ribbon on one side to find the little wire that runs through the ribbon edge.
Gather the ribbon, all the way along the wire - like a net curtain! You want as many gathers as you can, the more gathers you have the fuller the rose will be.
Place your fingers just below the knot.
Gently roll the knot along the gathers. You want the gathers to sit ontop of the knot.
Keep rolling it along the gathers.
When you run out of gathers and you are at the end of the ribbon, place it ontop of the knot and tail of ribbon you have been holding onto, see photo below.
With the spare wire, twist it around the ribbon to secure.
Trim the stem of the ribbon rose.
Play with the rose a little, put your fingers in the centre and give it a little twist to create the bud.
One Ribbon Rose - was that easy or what?! I use a hot glue to stick it to my parcels. You can use any ribbon as long as it is wired edged, the ribbon I used can be found HERE.
I am off to Syd and Sam's to deliver their advent calenders - I know I am a bit late but I only finished them this afternoon, what a bad Auntie I am.
Happy rose making.
Friday FREEBIE
04/12/2009
It's not often I look forward to Fridays, but I am this week - it has been one of those weeks. So Friday is here so it must be Friday FREEBIE time. We have a prize that is a little bit different today, yes there is ribbon but also a book written by Christine Kingdom, it is packed full of ideas and inspirational projects using ribbon.
One lucky winner will receive the book plus a value bag of ribbon in red and green. Each bag of ribbon contains 13 or 14 different ribbons totalling 18mtrs - hence why they are called value bags! You can find them HERE.
For a chance to win this weeks Friday FREEBIE, all you have to do is leave a comment. We love reading your comments, we have all been very ill this week with an awful bug virus thingie and really need some cheering up. We will pick the winner from our "Bingo" bag on Monday.
We have received one more parcel of cards from Chrissy, this was her first challenge with us - the cards are wonderful, we hope you enjoyed the ribbons.
I love the colour here - gorgeous and is perfect with the simple white snowflake ribbon.
Chrissy said she would not normally work with ribbons this wide, so it was a true challenge for her. Just what we like to hear! It would appear that one of our ribbon challenge parcels went astray enroute to Jan, we sent a new batch to her yesterday, so hopefully that will cheer her up.
Another daily project for using ribbon this Christmas, and my first tutorial. I have never done one of these before, so I hope I have done it correctly! We all have a lot to think about this time of year, so here is a very quick project that will make your Christmas table look a treat.
Gather all the bits you need - tea candle, a glass or container for the candle, elastic band, rosemary, scissors, glue or pins and ribbon.
Place the elastic band around the glass, and thread the rosemary sprigs underneath it.
Continue feeding sprigs of rosemary around the glass, cutting the bottom of the sprigs to fit the glass.
Try and keep the elastic band in the centre of the glass.
Once the glass is covered, check to make sure that the rosemary is not sitting too high at the top of the glass (you do not want the rosemary to catch on fire).
Now its ribbon time! Choose ribbons to match in with your table colour theme, play with mixing a few widths and colours. I wanted to create a earthie (is there such a word) country feel so used 2 ribbons the Country Check in 25mm and the Merry Christmas Twill ribbon.
Wrap the ribbon around the glass so that it covers the elastic band, either glue in place or pop a pin in the back to secure it. Repeat with the second ribbon.
Before I end this posting I must express my thanks to our team of girls. Without their dedication and determination to struggle through this week, feeling as ill as they have, we would not have been able to bring our order backlog under control. Thank you girls, you are are a dream team.
Christmas countdown
03/12/2009
I am sure like me you have tree decorations that go back yonks! They all have speciall meanings - first christmas together, the year we had no oven (that's another tale). While at the Paris exhibtion last week I picked up these 3 metal decorations, but they came with only plastic hangers, can't have that can we.....
......a few new hanging loops of 7mm Christmas Check ribbon and a nifty little bow, and they have been transformed and are fit for any tree.
Why not give your decorations a little make over, add a few bits of ribbon, a bow or two and see what a difference it makes.
Just a very quick post today, we have all been affected by a tummy bug and everyone has left early. Tony is on his last legs and I need to get him back home!!!!
my basket