Paws for thought
16/02/2012
It is my turn to host todays NEW Challenge over on our Challenge blog here. I am pretty excited I have never hosted a challenge before, what I am really looking forward to..........is.............picking the top three winners! No bingo bag, I can actually pick the ones I like - awesome! Well what is my theme I hear you ask - "Paws for thought". Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, now this can include paws, animals or just plain and simple thought, thinking of you, especially for you, get the idea?
This is my little creation for "Paws for thought".
My normal style just ribbons and buttons and a few bits of card! The paw print ribbon is not new, we have had Muddy Paws here for a while, BUT we re-designed it over Christmas so that the paws are in the centre of the ribbon!! The paws and bones are both buttons, sorry they are not on the site, neither is the little doggy ribbon, but the girls will be very happy to help you if you call in. I hear you tut tutting me, but to be honest it is just not possible to have all our stock on the website, we do have to keep different items for the shows!! If you are able to come and visit us we are in Glasgow 8 -11 March Hobbycrafts - SECC and 15 - 18 March Stitch & Craft 2011 - Olympia, London.
Back to the Challenge, there is a prize - a collection of our Muddy paws ribbons.
So come on and join in with our NEW Challenge and have some fun with those paws of yours! For some super inspiration have a look at what the design team have created here. Wow those girls just ooooze inspiration.
Have a great day, Tony and I have the warehouse to ourselves today. It is half term and everyone is having a playday - swimming. I did get asked but I am not in the mood to get wet!!!
Hello wednesday - Bring some spring
15/02/2012
Don't you just LOVE wednesday's? Say hello to wednesday "hello wednesday" It's all downhill from now on to the weekend - yippee!!!
Think Spring.................think warmth..................think bright fresh colours..........................
Just a fun idea to bring a little bit of extra colour into the kitchen.
These flower cans made a pleasant change from making cards. I had three of these flower cans lined up on my kitchen window, they made me smile everytime I went into the kitchen.
Warm as toast....NOW
14/02/2012
We are so delighted to be back in England. It was almost tropical when we arrived in Portsmouth last night, a nice balmy evening after the frozen week in France. The jouney on Sunday night leaving Paris was somewhat interesting, we hit a snow storm. How amazing it is that snow comes at you horizontally, not actually hitting the windscreen just showing up in the headlights. It would have been quite magical if we had not been so tired and hungry, just wanting to get to the hotel. Thankfully we found a snow plough and just stayed behind him until the weather improved.
Paris was so, so cold - a very long time since I have experienced temperatures that low. For those of you that do not follow us on Facebook (you can like us here), I posted this picture of the canal around the Porte Villette Exhibition Centre on thursday morning on our walk to the show.
We were staying in the hotel behind the trees in the picture, known as the Venice of Paris. We had watched an icebreaker boat going up and down the canals the day before. Sadly the extreme weather did effect the show, the number of visitors were down on previous years, and to be honest who could blame them for not coming. The Grand Hall at Porte Villette is a wonderful old metal structure with a glass roof, very Parisian!! But it's antiquated heating could just not keep the cold out. The poor exhibitors at either end of the hall never took their coats off. We were in our normal position in the centre of the hall, so we did not suffer too much.
Our NEW Macaron ribbons sold like "hot cakes", the first sell of the show was both widths of the Macarons plus ALL the Joyeux Anniversaire ribbon - we could not have hoped for more!! They proved to be the total success of the show.
I have just finished catching up on all your wonderful comments, thank you for taking the time to join in with our Friday FREEBIE this week. Mollie and Sydney picked the two winners this week. I forgot my camera this morning, so I had to rely on my phone to take this photo!
The lucky winners of the Macaron ribbons and the French Joyeux Anniversaire ribbon are......
Number 7 = Kathleen
Ooh là, là ...I shall be hearing Joyeux Anniversaire from my husband and my family on Monday! I'd just love to win these ribbons. They'd be ideal for all the cards I send in France.
Pity I'm so far from Paris!
Amusez-vous bien, Ali et Tony!
Number 29 = Ardilla
Oo-la-la!!! Those ribbons are superyummy!
Thanks for the chance, or should I say "merci"?
Anyways, please, pick me 
Well done Kathleen and Ardilla, all we need are addresses please to craftyribbons@gmail.com and we will send you a delightful packet of Macaron and Joyeux Anniversaire ribbons. Mega thanks to everyone that took part and left a comment.
I had a very squeeky and excited phone call on Friday while in Paris. The girls had received a consignment of NEW Ribbons, and they were very excited to see them before me!! (If you have seen our NEW spring leaflet you will know which ribbons I am talking about.) I promise to get them on the website as soon as I can. Not very with it today so just about to make my way home.
Bye for today.
Friday FREEBIE - Oo la la ribbon
10/02/2012
As Tony and Ali are in France this weekend attending the Paris sewing show, Rachie and I thought our Friday FREEBIE prize should be a little bit French. Well why not!
So who would like to sink their teeth into some of Ali's delish looking French macarons....................
Ali had this photograph turned into a big canvas for the exhibition stand, it looked totally wicked. Sydney has already bagged it for her room once Ali retires it from the shows. It is about 50cm square and the colours are so rich, you almost want to pop your hand in and a grap a macaron!!!
Lets combine the macaron ribbons with some of the NEW Joyeux Anniversaire (Rachie and I can not pronouce this ribbon!) - French for Happy Birthday.
We had a quick chat with Ali this morning and these two ribbon ranges have created quite a storm at the show. With customers bringing friends back to the stand to snap them up. I do hope we made enough stock for them!! I am sure Rachie and I would be only to happy to deliver more by Euro Star tomorrow. Oh a weekend in Paris without the children. Sell more Ali, sell more!!
So if you would like a batch of Macarons and some French Happy Birthday ribbon then just leave us a comment. We will pick the 2 winners on Tuesday when Ali is back in the warehouse. If you have a problem with Henry our spam filter then email your comment to RACHIE on rachie.craftyribbons@gmail.com and she will add it for you.
Good luck Ali and T have an awesome show and come back with an empty van on Tuesday, that way you will be able to bring us a gigantic French pic nic with you for lunch!!!
Bev and Rachie x x x
If you are unable to leave a comment due to our spam filters (comment disappears when screen is refreshed), please email it to rachie.craftyribbons@gmail.com
and we will add it for you. All the comments go into our "Bingo" bag and we draw a random number(s) on Tuesday.
Please check back to see if you have won, it is up to you to claim your prize - we do not contact you.
Hello wednesday - Glittered heart
08/02/2012
Don't you just LOVE wednesday's? Say hello to wednesday "hello wednesday" It's all downhill from now on to the weekend - yippee!!!
Ooooh this is very unlike me, but another card for you today. For someone that claims she can not make cards for toffee I have made quiet a few lately.
To be honest it is about the only thing my thumb will allow me to do! Hence why they are all so very simple. This card is really, really, really simple.
Did you know we sold glittered heart buttons? Any colour you like? No, not really but I can tell you how easy they are to glitter.
I used one of the large pink buttons from our Hearth, Hearts, Hearts button boxes here
As I wanted to use red glitter for my heart I simply coloured the button using a red permanent marker pen (Sssssshh it was the one Rachie hides for writing the City Link bags!). To save my fingers from getting covered in red ink, I popped it onto a wooden kebab stick, I just poked it through one of the button holes. This held it really firmly.
Once the ink was dry I sprayed it with adhesive and covered it with red glitter, shook off the excess glitter and voila one glitter button. Perfect for my "says it all card". If anyone would like to use my idea you can find the artwork here.
If everything has gone to plan then Tony and I should be in France and heading to Paris. Wish us luck.
Packing our van and off we go....
07/02/2012
Hello all, how are you coping with the cold weather? We have been lucky here in Dorset only a little bit of snow, it has all gone. But boy is it cold!! I hope the girls have remembered to wear extra clothing today to work. We are loading the van with the exhibition stand for Paris, which means our big roller door will be open for some considerable time................and it will be freezing!!!
The girls have been busy for weeks getting the stand ready for us, thousands of metres of ribbon have been cut and packaged. They have had a total re-think on our "cut your own" ribbon unit - it looks amazing - photo below. The display on the front of the stand has also been completely relaid and is somewhat breathtaking with all the NEW Ribbons. Bev has put a lot more time into the stand then normal, she is the Gok wan of the ribbon display. New ribbon canvasses arrived last week as well as our new leaflet.
"A little story about our new leaflets. I showed them to Sydney on Friday and she was intrigued about the little square twiddly pictures on them. Oh they are magic I told Syd, look at this. I got my phone out and scanned the square and up popped our website on my phone. Mummy look what Ali can do. I gather from Bev that Syd has been zapping our leaflet hundreds of times over the weekend, she is transfixed with it!!! You are not alone Syd I was too when I first saw them."
So a fresh new stand for a very fresh new year. We hope some of you will be able to visit us this season. This week 9 - 12 Aiguille en Fete - Paris, March 8 -11 Hobbycrafts - Glasgow, SECC and 15 - 18 Stitch & Craft 2011 - Olympia, London. Lots and lots of new ribbons that are not on the website yet, so be the first to see them.
Well I have stayed warm for too long I think it must be time to help load the van.
I hope you all have a fantastic week and I will be back in the warehouse on Valentines day.
Should have closed for the day.....
06/02/2012
.......we have been trying to work around a group of electricians and it has been a nightmare. Either we have been in their way or they were where we wanted to be!! In hindsight it would have been best if we had closed for the day, but as we are leaving for Paris tomorrow, it was all hands to the pumps.
The electricians have been installing banks of electric plugs, I have lost count of the number of boxes they have opened. As part of our near fire a few weks ago we had a visit from our local fire officer. Very nice man BUT he made some suggestions to Tony and myself about our warehouse unit and how to reduce the risk of fire. We we were happy to comply, hence the team of electricians. All our computers printers, kettles....well everything electric now has it's own dedicated plug socket. Not one extension lead left in the building. Tony reckons he will be attending the next car boot sale in Blandford selling off all the redundant extension leads!
I only saw Mollie today so she picked our Friday FREEBIE winner for me.
Number 45 is the winner of our £20 voucher and is........
LyndA
Do you have snow now? I bet Mollie is having a whale of a time if you have!!
Just been having a look on the challenge blog. Some awesome creations on there.
Love these new wordy ribbons. Can't wait to see what you have planned for Easter.
LyndA x
Congratulations, all you have to do to claim the voucher is to email us at craftyribbons@gmail.com and we will send you the details.
Many thanks to everyone that left super comments, we had a little snow on Saturday but we woke up on Sunday morning to nothing - all gone!
Friday FREEBIE * 5
03/02/2012
I had not forgotten it was Friday but have only just come into the office. Rachie is moving today and I have been looking after Mollie, I had to do my first ever school run this morning!!!! Normally I would spend a while on the computer at home in the mornings, but Mollie had other plans.
Tony and I got her to school on time, Bev and Sam were waiting for us in the car park. Bev laughed when she saw Mollie, "Auntie Ali did not want you to get cold then Mollie?" Sounds like I had wrapped her up too much, I had even put a pair of my gloves on her as I could not find any of hers. She loved them.
First Friday of the month so it must be voucher Friday.
So if you would like to win a £20 voucher to spend on our website then just leave us a comment and we will pick a winner on Monday. Please do not forget that if you are unable to leave a comment due to our spam filter (refresh your screen after leaving a comment, if it has disappeared then Henry has eaten it) then email it to us at craftyribbons@gmail.com and we will add it for you.
The NEW Joyeux Anniversaire ribbon is almost on the site and can be seen here
Have a great weekend every one.
One for the boys
02/02/2012
Wow you have all been creative with your black and red creations. A super selection for our last challenge, do pop over to the challenge blog here to see if you have won. Many thanks for everyone for joining in.
Our NEW Challenge starts today and is being hosted by Trish, she has picked a very difficult theme for me One for the men or boys in our lives. Ooo er missus. I will give it a try.
I have not had a chance to create with our NEW French Macaron ribbon, so thought.............well the man in my live likes his tummy.................he also likes macarons (either that or I have a mouse in my studio, my supply of macarons used to produce these ribbons have dwindled!!)
So this is what I came up with...............
Is it male enough?! What can you create for the men in your lives? Go on and give it a try and join in with our new challenge here
Did you spot the Joyeux Anniversaire ribbon - no we have not spelt it wrong (well I hope not) it is Happy Birthday in French. Well we could not produce all those wonderful French Macarons with out adding a little bit of French wording.
This ribbon is not only for our French customers, add a little bit of "je ne sais quoi" to your crafting. It will be going onto the site later today, I have a meeting first thing and will add them after.
Nearly forgot this new challenge is being sponsored by Mulberry Crafts. Bev has given a super selection of flowers and do I spot some ribbon!
Have a super day and I will be back later with the Joyeux anniversaire ribbon details.
Hello wednesday - Saddle Stitch
01/02/2012
Don't you just LOVE wednesday's? Say hello to wednesday "hello wednesday" It's all downhill from now on to the weekend - yippee!!!
Do you remember our EXCLUSIVE New England Happy Christmas Saddle Stich ribbon with the little heart? It is here to jog your memory.
It was so popular that we sold out and had to do a re-print in October, and then it sold out again by the end of November!! Well it got us thinking................ maybe you would like it to say Happy Birthday, maybe you would like it printed on some zesty colours...................
...........................what do you think?
9mm grosgrain ribbon, five different colours all printed with the saddle stitch edging and the little stitched heart, and the best bit - they are EXCLUSIVE to us! Yeah!!!
I am not very good at using patterned paper, but these ribbons seem to go with everything.
You can find the new ribbon HERE. Hope you like it.
Wish me luck, just about to leave for another session of treatment on my thumb, I wonder which bit of my they are going to hurt today!!
my basket