Friday FREEBIE - 28
22/07/2011
With the amount of emails I received for my ribbons I used for photography the other day, there really could only be one ribbon for todays Friday FREEBIE.
That's right the NEW Velvet Saddle Stitch - it's lush, it's strokeable.....oooh it's so tempting........and we have two WANT IT ALL Collections as prizes.
We have had great feedback for this ribbon and we only launched it on Tuesday! If you missed the posting then you can find all the colours in the range here. For a chance to win then just leave a comment or send me an email to craftyribbons@gmail.com and I will add it for you. I have no idea how our spam filters are feeling this morning, whether they have eaten enough comments this week to fill their tums or not!!
Rather quiet in the office, Bev and the children went on holiday yesterday, the first time Sam has been on a boat - thay have gone to France. Sam was so excited, he thought they had arrived on holiday when they got off the boat, and had no idea they still had a day of driving to go - poor bunny. Syd encountered her first French motorway lay-by toilet....................she was not at all impressed...............there was no toilet - only a hole!!!!
Mollie's Sports Day today, so I am having (yes another one) morning off to go and watch. Have a fantastic weekend.
If you are unable to leave a comment due to our spam filters, please email it to 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 Monday.
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 - Raffia
20/07/2011
Don't you just LOVE wednesday's? Say hello to wednesday "hello wednesday" It's all downhill from now on to the weekend - yippee!!!
A friend asked me to make a few things for her charity stall - so I made these.
She thought they were great and hoped to raise a pound or two.
I picked up the little frames at the Paris show back in November, but I am sure we must have something over here that is similar. With our NEW Raffia Ribbon (here) I just wound it around the frame and secured with a tight knot. Next I took three lengths of raffia and threaded them under the bundle of raffia on the front of the frames and tied a bow. Making sure the centre of the bow was tight, I then fanned out the raffia to make the bow look bigger.
Being surrounded by so many different beautiful ribbons, it makes a change to work with something different. This raffia ribbon is so soft and is a dream to handle, it is made in Japan so is of very high quality. With the natural wood of the frames, I just thought the raffia was perfect for the job. As I was playing with the raffia my mind slipped into Christmas mode and I started thinking of cinamon sticks wrapped in raffia and little red gingham hearts in the centre of large raffia bows - STOP IT ALI, STOP IT!!
I am taking the morning off - shame the weather is not brill. Have a great day.
Slinky lush velvets...........
19/07/2011
...... these NEW Velvet Saddle Stitch Ribbons are just so lush!!
The velvet is so seductive and flirtatious with the stitching!
10mm single face velvet with a saddle stitch detail on both edges.
I am sorry but you just want to touch them, they feel super soft.
24 awe-inspiring colours with stitching in
red - white - black - orange
You can find them all HERE
Be the first to email me at craftyribbons@gmail.com and you could win all the ribbons I used for photogrphy!
Only 1 set, so be quick!
Sorry these have been won by Claire.
Colour Create first day & wish winner
18/07/2011
I have been doing a bit of a dither over the Colour Create Challenge goodies. It may sound a bit strange but what with the re-organising and the launch of our summer SALE (here) I could not get into the mood of taking photos. I couldn't decide what back drop to use, so I gave up for a few days. Well this afternoon I decided on something simple, a white canvas base scattered with shade cards and a purple back drop. The light was perfect so i started ripping open the parcels, the first item unwarapped was this..........
......it was meant to be! More colour create after the Birthday wish winner.
Sydney had a wonderful birthday and got THREE, yes three birthday cakes. She did share. She had a disco at our local Crazy Monsters - a wonderful adventure playground for children and those adults (me) who dare to twist and turn all the way to the top. Once there you descend on a massive slide. Awesome, but of course I only went up to help Mollie and Sam!! Thank you for all your wonderful birthday wishes, we had great fun reading them to Sydney.
After a bit of crafting, we had been making masks, Sydney picked the lucky winner of her Friday FREEBIE Birthday Ribbon Wish. Remember we could make a ribbon wish come true!
So who is number 22? Whose wish is about to come true...............
Number 22 is Marilyn McLaughlin
Many Happy Returns on your B I G 6TH birthday Sydney....hope your day is filled with all good things!!
As for blowing the candles and making a wish....I would wish for......but -then it wouldn't come true if I say it!!!! Let's just say that I am seeing spots just now(hint hint)
Well Marilyn your wish has just come true - what sort of dots would you like, swiss dots, puff dots, marshmallow dots or even polka dots. You will be seeing dots before your eyes for ever! All you have to do is send me an email with your details to craftyribbons@gmail.com and we will do the rest.
Tony was just reading through my post checking for spellings, when I hear "Ali where is the second Birthday wish winner?" Oh poos, Sydney had only picked one number fom the "Bingo" bag.
So, Tony's magic hands picked....
Number 7 = teresa birchall
OOOhhh i love the jam pot ribbons . Happy 6th birthday sydney . Hope you have a fantastic one.
Cor you were very very lucky this week Teresa, I nearly overlooked your wish - jam pots you say. Please email us with your details to craftyribbons@gmail.com and we will send you some Super yummy jammy ribbons!!
Sorry we could only make two wishes come true, but thank you to everyone that played along. We are also sorry if you experienced problems leaving a comment this week. Our server decided that it wanted a few hours off (thankfully during the night!), we had to reboot it in the morning and everything was fine again. Although I noticed that our facebook likes on our webpage has returned to a big fat ZERO It also seems that the spam filter was also at it meanest and rejecting comments - fooling you into thinking it had accepted it by letting you see it for a while then well.....just......eating it!! We are very sorry if your comment was eaten.
Back to our latest ribbon Challenge # 24 - Colour Create. We had lots of entries to this challenge, I orginally restricted it to 15, but....well...it...sort of went over 20! My desk is piled high with envelopes and boxes, every morning I an convinced I can hear "Open me, Ali open me". Well i opened 2 envelopes today, the first was from Claire.
These colours are drop dead gorgeous Claire, I love them. What a beautiful card, the glitter acetate butterflies are very clever.
What an elegant shoe and just my size, not sure I will wear it today with all this rain!
What perfect detail, and not only on the front....
...the heel has also had some Claire magic.
My next parcel was from Jan, and wow to the change of colour. Each Challenger was sent a Jam Pot Collection of ribbons (here) and a handful of matching buttons from our Button Boxes here. Jan was sent the tawny orange colours, this Jan tells me was WAY OUT of her colour comfort zone. So this turned out to be a HUGE challenge for her. You certainly pulled it off Jan, your two creations are out of this world.
Wicked, super cool Jan and so much detail.....
.....sewn button and the ballerina is just awesome. (If you had your eye on this netting in our Summer Sale, sorry but it is sold out.)
I wish I could create this faded washed out look, think I am too heavy handed! Crazy idea for the hanging loop, and adding those buttons what a clever bit of crafting.
Next out of Jans envelope was this charming card.
This is a wire edge ribbon that Jan has used, but Jan removed the wire by just pulling it out.
Look at all the different levels of this card - a work of art.
Thank you Claire and Jan for your wonderful creations and I look forward to more parcel opening tomorrow.
I had thought of making a card this week for the Hello wednesday.......but no...think I will leave it to the expert card makers.
Friday FREEBIE - 27
15/07/2011
Sydney is 6 today - wow how time flys.
Two birthday ribbon wishes for this weeks Friday FREEBIE prize.
Sorry, but it has to be a ribbon wish, our magic wand does not work on other types of wishes.
So what would your ribbon wish be............
Jam pots.........swiss dots..........stripes...buttons?
Leave a comment and we will try and fullfill your ribbon wish
and pick your number from our "Bingo" bag on Monday.
We are all hard at work in the ribbon warehouse, down Tin Pot Lane - our Summer SALE starts today.............
......but will still have many items to add to the bargains.
Click on the picture to take you through to the Summer SALE
Most items reduced by 50% others by more.
All our star ribbons are now 50p for 3mtrs, Ribbon sentiments were £3.00 now £1.50
We will be adding to the SALE all day, but thought we would tell our followers first so you could keep an eye on the bargains.
The rest of our customers will be told once we have finished adding all the Bargains!!
Remember, when they are gone, they are gone for EVER!
Hello wednesday - Castle flags
13/07/2011
Don't you just LOVE wednesday's? Say hello to wednesday "hello wednesday" It's all downhill from now on to the weekend - yippee!!!
As you know I like to come up with different ideas to use ribbon, something to please everyone - this project may not be for you. BUT it really really pleased the person I made them for.............
Tony and I were invited to join Rachie and Mollie on holiday in Looe Cornwall over the weekend. I racked my brain trying to think of a suitable "thank you" pressie - a bottle of wine, a box of chocolates, but nothing was right.
The reason for us joining them was so I could build sandcastles with Mollie.........................that was it..........eureka moment................
........sandcastle flags.
A lolly stick a length of ribbon and a pot of PVA glue and my flags were ready to please.
While the PVA was drying I put some "wind kinks" into the ribbon, so they looked like they were blowing in the wind. During our reorganising of the warehouse I have found lots (and I really mean tons) of ribbons that I had forgotten about. This ribbon for the flag was one of the "not seen for a while" ribbons, you can find it here. It also comes in a peach here and a purple here.
I simply cut a length of ribbon, folded it in half, spread PVA glue all over the inside of one half and slightly beyond. Inserted the lolly stick, folded over the ribbon, matching up the edges. I flatterened the ribbon to ensure that the glue was totally in contact with both sides of the ribbon, and then gently molded the ribbon with my fingers to create the "wind kinks". I then left them to dry over night - simples.
Mollie absolutely loved them, she got really upset when a little boy tried to take one! A simple project that took just minutes to create, made one little girl so happy for hours!!!
Bunch of ribbon flowers to...
11/07/2011
So who wins our Friday FREEBIE bunch of ribbons...........
......there was only one winner this week................
......our very own cheeky monkey wanted to pick from the Bingo bag..
......he picked number.........
number 15 = Rachel
Hi everyone!
Another Friday's here at last - end of the working week,
So what has Ali got for us? let's have a sneaky peak....
A wonderful collection of new ribbons to delight,
To have a chance to win them all a comment we must write.
So to all at Crafty Ribbons, I leave you with this plea....
On Monday from your bingo bag - pick me, pick me, pick me!!! (please)
Good luck everyone!
Big Hugs
Rachel x
I love your ditty Rachel (this is not our Rachael!), and you were pulled from the "Bingo" bag by Sam. All you have to do is send us an email with your address to claim your Flower ribbons to craftyribbons@gmail.com
Thank you to everyone that left such wonderful comments, glad to hear you like the NEW Collection of flowers.
We have had several deliveries in the last week or so, I have spent today re-activating all the out of stock items. Amongst many others they include -
ALL Seam Binding colours are now back in stock - here
ALL Swiss Dot Grosgrains ribbons have been re-stocked - here
I will let you into a little secret - we have had some NEW Colours printed. I hope to get these on the site, later this week.
So if you have been looking for a ribbon recently but could not find it, if you have a look again you may find it is back in stock.
We are still in the midst of re-organising our warehouse, I have set a target to be finished by FRIDAY.
A girl is allowed to dream!!
Friday FREEBIE - 26
08/07/2011
Another week gone
Another Friday FREEBIE is here!
Another NEW Collections of Ribbons for FREE!!
Summer Flowers
A NEW Collection of Flower Ribbons hit our NEW shelves yesterday
What do you think of our Summer Flowers?
You can find them all HERE
25 different flowers on grosgrain and sheer ribbon
Who would like a big bunch of Summer Flowers?
Leave us a comment and you will go into our Monday "Bingo" bag.
Have a flowery weekend
If you are unable to leave a comment due to our spam filters, please email it to 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 Monday.
Please check back to see if you have won, it is up to you to claim your prize - we do not contact you.
Lin's makes
07/07/2011
As I said last Thursday I love it when I receive emails full of customers, blog followers ribbon and button makes. maybe this could be a regular Thursday posting - Customer Gallery. All I would need are photos sent in by YOU.
Lin had a wedding recently - her daughter Danielle's. And from what I can gather Lin has been busy crafting for weeks, she used our ribbons and buttons on some of her makes.
Lin ordered some personalised ribbon from us to decorate the Bride and Grooms car, sadly her photos did not show the ribbon, so she is going to send me one of the officical photos when they arrive. But Lin did use the same ribbon on this card.
From memory it was a white satin ribbon and we printed in matt silver foil - how special is that.
Lin also made a ring cushion with ribbons from one of Bev's bags. (Change of subject slightly but I noticed Bev is putting together a NEW collection for the summer - my lips are sealed!) The flower ribbon you used Lin was so popular, but it is all gone, boo hoo. I love the way you have embroidered the initials in seed beads, very clever.
O.K. not a whiff of ribbon or buttons here...............but..................look at the work. Hours and hours. Cross stitch always looks so amazing when it is finished. My problem is finishing them!!! Your daughter must have been so pleased with this Lin, I know I would have been.
Not only has Lin had to get ready for a wedding, but she has had a big anniversary of her own. 25 years - congratulations Lin and your husband.
Lin has also had time for more crafting.
It is amazing what a little bit of ribbon or a few buttons can do.
I like Lin - simple and effective.
What a wonderful collection of treasures, thank you for sharing them with us Lin, they really are very special.
If you have photos of goodies that you have made using our ribbons or buttons then please do send them to me at craftyribbons@gmail.com we would love to have a NEW Thursday Post - You Create....or something like that.
Thanks for all your thoughts yesterday on our warehouse antics - it will, it will, it WILL be ALL worth it! I moved the Swiss Dots Stocks onto the new shelves last night, normally all the spare stock is in boxes hidden away. They are now all lined up like soldiers, the colours are amazing - only one tiny weeny little problem. Tony can now see what I have bought!!!! Argh!
Maybe I could still hide a few boxes.......what do you think?
P.S. Don't worry Ali (Sherman) about Tony's motorbike getting oil on the ribbons. Bikey as he is known to all that used to walk round him, is the cleanest motorbike on the planet - Although its 25 years old you could eat your dinner off the engine. Tony uses so much Solvol Autosol to keep Bikey clean, that I suggested we bought shares in the company!
Hello wednesday - Cupcake Swim Bag
06/07/2011
Don't you just LOVE wednesday's? Say hello to wednesday "hello wednesday" It's all downhill from now on to the weekend - yippee!!!
I made a little bag.
A draw string or should that be a draw ribbon bag!
I made it for Sydney, it has a water proof lining. Sydney started swimming lessons on Tuesdays, she has a wonderful pink swimsuit, with little frills around the legs. Bev tells us she is doing really well.
This little bag is for her wet frilly swimsuit. I hope she likes it.
You may have guessed that the bag is made from a tea towel, I think it was a set of two from Primark. This pink towel was just perfect for the swimming bag I had in mind. Just one embroidered motif so I could use one of our cupcake ribbons to create the ties.
I had a shower curtain that I planned to cut up to make the waterproof lining, I remmber buying it in a SALE for £1, thinking that will come in useful one day!
I did no more than fold the tea towel in half, and cut it into two. I cut two pieces of the shower curtain the same size as the two towel pieces. and simply sewed them all together. I machined around the top edge of the bag to create two "tram lines" for the ribbon to pass through. and that was really that - 15 mins max!!
~*~
Nobody loves me in the warehouse 
they don't honest. They all wish I would go away to some meeting or an exhibition or something. That's not nice - is it?
What have I done..........nothing................well..................I am only trying to help them..............in the long run.
As you know we (me) are trying to build new shelving and to re-organise our warehouse. We had grown out of the space that we use to store the ribbons, we (me) have been buying so much stock that there was just no room on the exsisting shelves and many ranges are just piled up in boxes - shame.
The new shelves were built on Monday, so we (me) started to plan the ribbon aisles - Christmas in this one, swiss dots there, cupcakes can ALL go there. Nothing wrong with that, is there? It's like working with a blank canvas, every ribbon roll and collection can have a shelf - a home to call it's own.
Well that's what I thought.................until I hear "What have you done with....?" "Wheres the polka dots gone?" "Ali! You have moved the sheers". Ummmm yes, we are re-organising. It appears that I am driving the girls mad, they can not find anything, and pulling the orders is taking them for ever, they said last night it is like playing hide and seek. Just like when you go to Tesco's and they have moved everything - drives you mad looking for the baked beans!
Last night I stayed late, really late to try and get things sorted for them. Still loads to do, but the main working area is now free from clutter, boxes and stock - it should help. I have even taken away Tonys area for his precious motorbike and mountain of bike bits. He has had to take it all home and put it in a garage, much to his disgust as its already full of car bits! So thats one unhappy bunny.
But.............will the girls like it?
my basket