Hello wednesday - button baby
23/03/2011
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 hate these back to back shows, I just have no time to do what I enjoy - playing! It is all work, work and more work.
This is not a new idea as such, I made one similar as part of our Santa Truck ideas for Christmas last year, but I thought it was a simple idea I could show you today.
The one I made for Christmas (you can see it here) has been much admired on the exhibtion stands this season, that I thought a baby one would also be fun. I had planned to do a blue one as well, but ran out of time.
They really are very easy to make......before you say anything, I know I always say that BUT they are.
1. Fold a piece of paper in half and draw half a heart shape, cut the shape out. Open it out and make sure it fits into your frame. You do not want the cut heart shape of paper but the sheet it was cut from.
2. Place the paper over your back ground paper, and secure in place with a bit of tape. Just fill the cutout shape with buttons, play around, move them around a bit until you are happy with the look they create.
3. Glue the buttons down, I use a hot glue gun, but to be honest any tacky glue would be fine.
4. Remove your paper cutout template and then decorate the rest of the frame if you wish. Baby's and gingham ribbon (here) were made for each other!
That's me done for this morning, we are leaving for the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC. We worked out this morning that we have spent 225days of our life at the NEC, so by the end of Hobbycrafts it will be 230 days - what a sad thought!!!!
Button towers
22/03/2011
We had a really lovely lady visit us at Olympia (everyone is lovely, but this lady was extra special). She wanted some of our NEW large spotty and Stripe buttons but just could not get near the button units. I asked what colours she wanted and got the reply "All of them silly!". She left the stand and promised to come back when we got a little quieter, while she was gone, I wormed (Ok more liked bullied) my way to the buttons and picked one of every colour for her. I then threaded them onto some ribbon for when she came back.
She loved my button towers and a NEW product was born. You can find them - spots HERE and stripes HERE. Wicked price of £7.50 which is 50p cheaper then if you bought them individually!
SD card was found relaxing in one of the computers in the warehouse, so panic over.
This little box sits on my demo table at the shows and has caused quite a stir.
The top is decked in gems.....
....and a surprise is hidden inside. Tina this little box is fantastic, it has given lots of crafters ideas.
What a sweet little birdie are you.
I have never tried to make one of these Tina, not sure mine would come out as straight as yours!
Look at Tina's detail.
Toni this was one of the first parcels I opened, the detail is awesome.
Love your dickie bow too.
This card is wicked and reminds me of Cath Kidson style, the floral bunny is super cool Toni.
I would like to say that these three little gold bunnies have found a cosy home in our warehouse, with their matching bag, but........ the bag is empty, filled with tissue paper and the bunnies were enjoyed by three little monsters.
Thank you Toni and Tina for your wonderful creations, sorry they have taken so long to appear, not finished with the Easter Bunny Hop Challenge I have some super goodies to share all the way from Australia.
Till then....
Rachie on a mission
21/03/2011
As soon as Tony and I arrived at the warehouse this morning we could tell that Rachie was on a mission. "Come on everyone, lets unload the van" but, but can we not have coffee first. "Nope!"
The van was swiftly unloaded, covers and ties off the ribbon cabinets. It looked like Rachie was conducting an orchestra, she was directing the girls with crates of ribbon to their own cabinets, shortfalls had to reported to her ONLY! It was too much activity for me to watch, I slid away to my office to attack my inbox. By 4pm, every ribbon peg and button tray had been restocked and was ready to be loaded back onto the van - we are ready for the NEC. Mission completed!
Olympia was a very busy show, it was amazing to see people walking around with their ribbon brooches and it was great to meet so many friendly bloggers. I was busy showing everyone how to make the brooches and necklaces, i even managed to make some new ones to match the outfits i was weraing.
This set went down a storm on Sunday.
It has been a whole week since I last saw Syd, she bounced in from school this afternoon and wiggled a tooth at me. So proud she was of her first loose tooth. Yuk!
Woobly tooth and all she picked the Friday FREEBIE winners for me.
The lucky numbers are.....
Number 8 = Bonnie
I would love a bowdabra....my bows take me so long that I could be using that precious crafting time to be making something else!!!! That is defintely on my wish list....hugs x
Number 18 = Sue
Oooh thats easy for me.......dots everytime for me please
xxxxx
Bonnie and Sue your wish list is about to come true, just email us with your addresses please. I had great trouble trying to connect to the internet this weekend, it was just taking an age so I gave up most evenings, it was a real treat to catch up on all your comments this morning. Thank you all for joining in, you do say some nice things about Crafty Ribbons.
Although Olympia is not that far for us, we seemed to take a long time to load the van last night and did not arrive home till late. So off home early.
Friday FREEBIE - 11
18/03/2011
I was really excited yesterday to see so many ribbon brooches walking around the show and in lots of different colours. Thanks everyone for making the effort, they made me smile, hopefully there will be more today.
We have added so many NEW ribbons and buttons to the website that your ribbon wish lists must either have got longer or you been having a swop about of goodies.
What's on your Crafty Ribbons wish list? Do you want a Bowdabra or maybe the NEW Wave Ric Rac or the classic Swiss Dots - tell us what is on your wish list today and your wish could come true. That's right our Friday FREEBIE this week is to fulfill TWO ribbon wish lists. Leave us a comment and you will go into our "Bingo" bag, TWO comments will be picked on Monday.
WOW get your thinking caps on girls, list your ultimate ribbon wants and Crafty Ribbons will make your wish come true!
Off to work for me, we have a stand to restock!
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.
Quick off the mark
17/03/2011
Angela has quick fingers and she was one of the first 2 emails we received for the NEW Wave Ric Rac - she sent us a photo, look what she has made.
That is just perfect Angela, thanks so much for sharing with us. You can find the NEW Wave Ric Rac Here.
Glad to hear you all like the necklaces, Charlotta I have no idea where the ideas come from - I just play!!!!!
We are ready to welcome you all today at the Stitch & Craft show Olympia London - we are here till Sunday. Please do try and come and say "Hi", we enjoy meeting the people who take time to read our blog. If you are around in the afternoon Tony maybe be under a little bit of strain - I am holding a Ribbon Embroidery Workshop every afternoon so I am off the stand for a while!!!
Have a fab day.
Hello wednesday - necklace time
16/03/2011
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 know I have previously already shown you these little beauties, but not how to make them.
So here are the simple instructions.
Gather all the bits you will need together - 1 large and 39 small buttons (spotty here, stripe here), 10mm Organza swiss dot ribbon here, normal needle, scissors, necklace findings and two pairs of small pliers.
You need about 1mtr of ribbon, cut one end to a very sharp point.
Thread the ribbon onto a normal needle.
Take the needle and ribbon DOWN through one of the holes in the first button. Take the button to about 20cms from the other end of the ribbon.
Bring the needle and ribbon back UP the other hole.
Take the needle and ribbon UP through the second button. then DOWN through the second hole, the buttons should be held close to each other by the ribbon.
Continue sewing UP and DOWN through the buttons, so that you have one row of buttons sitting on top of the other row.
If you are making a two tone necklace, add the second colour at the quarter point which is button number 10.
Button number 20 is the large one, but before you sew DOWN through the large button add the matching small button first, and then sew through both.
Repeat sewing the buttons together for the other side of the necklace.
Put the two last buttons on top of each other and cut the ribbon about 8cms away from them. If you wish to make the necklace longer, you should have enough ribbon to do so.
The next stage of the tutorial may be lacking in technical jewellery making terms - this was the first necklace I had ever made. I went to Hobbycraft and bought, 1 packet of small silver jump rings (you need 2 per necklace), cord/leather grip ends - these are to clamp around the ribbon,once again two are required and then one set of spring clasps with a tab - this allows you to clasp and unclasp the necklace. The shop assistant had no problem with my terminology and found everything I needed.
Place the ribbon into the cord/leather end clamp, so that the raw end of the ribbon covers the small little circle at the end.
Using a pair of pliers, clamp one side down, repeat with the other side. Do exactly the same on the other end of ribbon.
At this stage my battery ran out on my camera, so there is a slight change of light.
With two pliers open up the little silver jump rings, do not pull them apart but slightly twist them to open.
Pass the clasp that is attached to one end of the ribbon, through the silver jump ring.
Then pass the necklace spring clasp tab onto the jump ring as well, using both sets of pliers close the jump ring in the same way as you opened it, by twisting. Make sure the ends are touching.
Repeat on the other side, so it should look like this.
Go and play with colours.
Enjoy
Missing again
15/03/2011
I got up early this morning to share another instalment of the Easter Bunny Hop Challenge goodies, it takes a good hour so I thought it would be all ready before Tony woke up. But I have had a little problem, my blasted SD card has gone awol. I work with two and I can never find the one I want. I have quietly looked around the house, in all the SD slots, camera, camera bag, even my pockets. This is not something new for me, Rachie gets so frustrated with me that she sweetly bought me an SD card holder.....before you say anything, it has cards in it but not the one I want. These cards are so small, I use them but forget where, they need a self homing device.
I had it Friday, I know I did because I shared Marjories creations with you, so what have I done with it since Friday? Grrrrrrrrr I hate this.
I will have to wait until I go into the office, I expect it is snuggly sat in one of the computers, I do have this awful habit of using any free computer, something else that drives Rachie mad!!
Can not waste getting up earlier so I have added a NEW Range to the website.
Wave Ric Rac
Is it Ric Rac or a wave design? We are not sure hence the name - Wave Ric Rac! HERE
From wave tip to wave tip it measures 32mm, but the manufacturers have called it 23mm, which is from wave tip to wave trough. Only 8 stunning colours, but that Turquoise is awesome. Wow, talk about a powerful colour. It is also a little bit different from normal Ric Rac as it is grosgrain, so has the added texture of the ribs.
Do you like it? Would you like some? I have two free bundles of 50cms of all the colours to give away - first two emails received at craftyribbons@gmail.com will get some wave in the post. We had a few people email the office yesterday (info@craftyribbons.com) rather than the blog email - sorry you missed out. Sorry all gone.
All the top quality silk ribbon in the world is manufactured in Japan, all ribbon embroiderers can tell where silk ribbon has been made just by running it through their fingers, it is so soft, it is top notch! We would like to share some good news, we have today had contact from the silk factory in Japan - they are all OK, friends and family are safe. They have today restarted production, but because of the planned power cuts and fuel shortages it maybe a while for deliveries to return to normal. Our thoughts are with the people of Japan.
4 not 2
14/03/2011
What a wally I am.
I asked Syd and Mollie to pick this weeks Friday FREEBIE winners - remember I reminded you all that we had four winners this week, yes four....well.....spot my mistake in the photo....
....I only got the girls to pick two numbers from the "Bingo" Bag.....oooh pooos!
So I have just popped into Tony's office and asked him for two numbers, "Why?" No I do not have time for why's - 11 and 24 he grunted at me.
This weeks Friday FREEBIE winners are
Number 8 = Kara
OOOOOOOO I just adore DOTS! Love the colours too. Oh this bag is just sooooo yummy, i love it. xxx
Number 11 = Sandy
Friday Freebie Dottie, spotty heaven
Number 24 = Julie
love these ribbons so hope I'm lucky this week.
Number 35 = Charlotta
Dottie message from Sweden here - we still have snow on the ground
so we're still inside crafting in the afternoons and a few dotted
ribbons would come handy!
La Vikinga / Charlotta
Well done girls you must all be a dotty bunch!! To get your dotty ribbons please email us with your address to craftyribbons@gmail.com. You really do love your dots, glad to hear that it is not just the Crafty Team that are dotty about ribbons!!!
What a fantastic response to our two free bundles of bias binding - never thought of doing that before. These are the ribbons I use for the photo shoots, I always take two sets just in case one blows away!! Kathleen from France and Karen from Wales were the lucky two, I must say they were very very quick with the emails. Sorry to everyone that missed out, but thanks for the emails. I have two more ranges I plan to launch this week, so get your fingers in training.
Think we may have hit the spot with the new button colours, Sarah was pulling the orders in the warehouse this morning and we heard a squeal "Ooooh, ooooh we have red buttons, aaaahh and turquoise ones, cool". Sarah is rather chilled and not really into buttons or ribbons, happy to work with them but not excited by them, so this was really out of character for her. The NEW colour buttons have been added to our exhibtion stand for Olympia this week and once again it is sitting in the loading bay waiting for the van tomorrow morning - well done girls, thanks.
Bias Binding
14/03/2011
It is not normal for me to post so early on a Monday morning but I wanted to tell you of all the super things we put on the website over the weekend. I will come back later, as normal, with the Friday FREEBIE winners - four this week, so if you have not left a comment you still have time HERE.
OK - on with the goodies, the first to hit the shelves were some scrummy new coloured polka dot and stripe buttons. We have RED, yes at last!!!!!!
Red, Navy, Turquoise and Grey in both Spotty and Stripes also in both sizes. You can find them HERE
Next came Bias Binding. Yes, we know it is not a ribbon as such, but it seems to have been re-invented. Gone are the boring plains that we used at school (only a few years ago, cough!), you remember the very bold oranges and yellows that just did not go with anything you were making. Well now we have a Bias Binding for every single project - I promise. If you only want 1mtr to go around a baby bib, or 5mtrs to edge the new trendy Cath Kidson style apron you are making, or you want 20, 25 or even 50mtrs for that heirloom quilt. We can do it all for you.
This bias binding will cheer up the simplest of pieces. 25mm wide made from 100% cotton it is ideal for all jobs, big or small. 14 different floral designs - with a hint of paisley, look at them all HERE.
Next up, Polka Dots - we all love our Polka Dots.
White dots or coloured dots, we even have multi dots in brights or pastels. Your eyes are not deceiving you, that is dotty hearts in the centre! 16 different dotty, spotty bias bindings all can be found HERE.
We could not have polka dots with out stripes and gingham could we?
WOW, they match our new buttons perfectly. If you are into Gingham or Stripes than have a peek at what we have HERE.
I know at the start I said plain Bias Binding was boring and used to come in some horrid colours........well........what do think of these......
.....these new plain colours are certainly not boring. We have hand picked them to coordinate with the all patterned bias designs. There is one colour that I was just unable to put a name to, it was so yummy that I have called it yummy! What do you think of our yummy colours HERE.
I have 2 FREE sets of ALL the Bias Bindings to give away, they are only 50cms long but that should not stop you being creative. The first 2 emails I receive at craftyribbons@gmail.com will get a set each, please include your name and address.
I ONLY have TWO SETS, so get in quick! - sorry all gone.
Friday FREEBIE - 10
11/03/2011
By now you must all know how dottie we are at Crafty Ribbons - we do love our dots.
Are you seeing red.........
....yes you are! We have added red dots to our EXCLUSIVE range of organza Swiss Dot Ribbon. I can not tell you how many times we have been asked for white with red dots - so we bit the bullet and commissioned this new red dot range - HERE. We have white with red dots, black with red dots, pink with red dots and finally red with red dots, wow a lot of reds.
For this weeks Friday FREEBIE you could win a collection of these new red dots, 3 mtrs of all the new colours PLUS 3mtrs of the red with white dots and 3mtrs of the red with black dots - all the ones you see below.
18 scrummy mtrs of dots!!!!! and we have 4 sets to give away!!!!
Leave us a dottie message today for your chance of dottie heaven.
I was pleased that Marjorie had re joined our challenges, she has been away looking after her little grandson which gave her no time to craft. Really pleased to have you back Marjorie.
What a scrummy looking egg - and in keeping with my red dots. See - red dots are the "in thing"!
I like this card Marjorie - simple and clean. Dots again.
Love the colour combo here Marjorie.
What fun, gorgeous layout.
Wow you matched up our bunny ribbon Marjorie. This ribbon has been so popular, I wished I had bought more! Ho hum!
Thanks Marjorie for your wonderful collection, I hope it felt good to be crafting again.
Busy weekend lined up for me. we have had a lot of deliveries in over the last few weeks and I have a back log of photography to do - what hardship! Have a great weekend and do not forget to check back on Monday to see if you have been pulled from our "Bingo" bag.
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.
my basket