Crafty's advent day 9
09/12/2010
Bev came into work with this the other day and said "Can you do something to jazz this up for me please Aliiiiiiiii"(why does my name get longer when my sisters want me to do something!)
All it need was a a little ribbon magic - a simple pom pom bow.
I used my new Bowdabra (here) for the first time in proper work mode, it's brill but my poor bowmaker that Tony made me is starting to gether dust!
I thought the red snowflake ribbon worked really well with the garlands berries it comes in red (here) or silver (here). If you need a reminder on how to make pom pom bows just click here and you can make them with the bowdabra bow maker. Don't forget the magic cord (here) it makes the twiddles in the centre of the bows.
Anybody want to make these pom pom bows? If you do, just leave a comment today and you could win a Bowdabra, magic cord and snowflake ribbon in red or silver. We will announce the winner in tomorrows post.
More gingerbread delights to tantalise your tastebuds!
Karen your gingerbread man is gorgeous, I will give him a very Merry Christmas.
Debbie has a wicked surprise hiding in the wallet.
Somebody put the kettle on.
A couple of thes biscuits from Margarets card would go down a treat as well.
With so many different gingerbreads on display could I really eat one! Ruby's one is far to good to eat.
That's better lets move away from food, feeling a bit peckish and it is still too early. Fairy Crafts made these two adorable cards, I love the heart, is it fimo? Something else I have never played with.
It's all hands to the pumps again today despatching orders. We are being held up by some of our supplers, it is amazing how the snow is causing a problem EVEN in areas where it did not snow!! We are waiting for a new PDQ (visa machine) it left London on a overnight delivery to Dorset on Monday but it has been held up in the snow. Maybe they watch a different weather channel to me!!!!
Crafty's advent day 8
08/12/2010
Tony has decided that he would like to be a piece of ribbon! Every evening I go home and play with ribbon and he is feeling a little bit left out.....but Tony this is ribbon season.....everyone plays with ribbon this time of year.
While at Ally Pally in October a really nice lady tried to impress on me the fun and joy of knitting....I would rather crochet then knit. Knitting takes so looooooong and I can not do it while watching telly!!! Anyway I listened and I tried (I really did try, I promise), all the way up the motorway on our way to Dublin I knitted my heart out.
I thought it looked a little bit "plain" for the little girl I was making it for, so last night I added the ribbon detail.
Do you think Sydney will like it?
Thanks for such kind comments about my christmas cards, I am not a card maker and would much rather have a needle and thread in my hand then a punch or sticky pads! There was one comment that I think really needs our bag of snowflake ribbons and that was Yvonne. Does it snow in Austrialia? Please email us your address Yvonne, not sure we can promise the snowflakes to arrive for Christmas, but I promise they will not melt!!!
You are all enjoying the Gingerbread makes, they are all fantastic.
Carol these two guys are great fun, I love the detail.
Oooh I like this idea from Fairy Crafts, a 3d card very clever.
I have always wanted to have a play with these beads Karen, but thought I would have to wait until Syd was a little older. Maybe I could buy her some for Christmas and we could play together, great card.
This caused a bit of a stir (sorry!) in Paris Karen, we had to cable tie it to the stand so many people were picking it up!
Look at Karen's detail, isn't it wicked.
A joy of tags from Linda, very elegant.
Another smashing display of goodies, thank you all. Please do not worry if we have not shown yours yet I still have loads to share.
Keep warm.
Crafty's advent day 7
07/12/2010
I have started making my Christmas cards. I know most of you finished them ages ago, some of you even started in January. Me, I am a last minute girl, the ideas do not seem to flow until I am under pressure.
As you know I am loving the new fresh colours we have this year in our Christmas ribbons - the pink and limes are just wicked!
Simple and very quick! I could not find the shade of pink card I wanted anywhere, but I did find a roll of pink kraft paper, so I simply covered blank white card with the paper. An old fashioned parcel tag, punched a snowflake at the bottom and a couple of bits of ribbon and that's it - simple.
I used 3mm plain white satin (here) and my favorite christmas ribbon this year, Go Grosgrain pink snowflakes (here).
I know most of the country is still covered in snow, but if you would like some of our snowflake ribbon then leave a comment today and we will put a collection of flakes together for you. We will pick and announce the winner in tomorrows posting.
More challenge goodies to inspire you.
I really like the way you have threaded the ribbon through the card Wilma, I did have a try but my lines were not straight!
Tracey and Paul another fab collection of treats, these ribboned clothes pags are extra special, they have little magnetic tabs on the back. Perfect for on the fridge reminders. What a great idea.
A perfect little gingerbread house Ruby, it is adorable. Clever to put it onto acetate and then decorate the back, adds that extra dimension.
These tags from Natalie are really special, I would love to receive them on my prezzies.
Margaret this little creation of yours caused me so much stress in Paris - everyone wanted the calendar tab. I could have sold boxes of them, we finally found out that they had never seen this type of thing in France - surely not, as children this was the staple parents present made at Sunday School. All I can say is it went down a storm Margaret. I am sorry to say we are sold out of the little red gingerbread ribbon, but we still have the white colourway in stock.
We did not quite make Amazons level of orders yesterday but it was still a record day!
Thanks everyone.
Craft's advent day 6 & winners
06/12/2010
All our snow has gone, every little bit! Everything is just frozen solid, have you heard that all the brussels spouts have frozen in the fields and there will be none for Christmas.....YIPPEE!!!
We have a little gift idea today, something you can make from something else!
I have been keeping my eye out for white frames for ages, and I finally found this one in Wilkinsons for only £5.00, it had a print inside that I didn't need, it was just the frame I was after.
The back came off with ease, I kept the print it may come in handy one day. The backing board was a bit flimsy so I cut a new piece from some card and covered this with some wadding, every notice board needs a little padding. Believe it or not but the gingham fabric was a tea towel, just the colour I was after. That was layed over my padded board and stuck in place, trying to make sure it remained straight.
I ooohed and aaahed a bit as where to put the ribbon, but decided that a straightforward cross from corner to corner looked best, then added the other ribbons to dissect it.
As I was only using a card board backing it was easy to "sew" the buttons on, pulling the thread slightly, just so it would indent the fabric a little. I wanted a country look so I knotted the thread on top of the buttons.
Finished but lacking something......
.......so I made a few hearts to hang from the side.
I used grosgrain 10mm for the board (here) and 6mm for the hearts (here), most of the buttons came from my secret stash but we do have the red tags ones (here).
We thought our "Bingo" bag needed a bit of festive fun so we gave it a quick make over today - just ribbon tinsel and a few bells. Three lucky numbers had to be picked today - was it you?
Number 8 = Trish Lucey
Whoo Hoo Tony thanx for getting in the christmas spirit 3 advent vouchers plus the Friday freebie how fab is that, i,m keeping my fingers crossed.I hope molly enjoyed her crafting yesterday.
(hugs)
Trish (-:
Number 13 = Leslie
brought some pine cones home from my Father-In-Laws house a few weeks ago and have been wondering what to do with them - now I know, thanks for the great idea. Now all I need is to win one of your fab vouchers so I can buy the gorgeous Velvet ribbon. The velvet ribbon was on my wish list too so even better.
Enjoy the snow!
Leslie x
Number 39 = Carol from Cyprus
A voucher would be great to win! I would have to give some thought as to what to spend it on, but that's not hard to do while I am sitting in the sunshine in Cyprus feeling very pleased that I am not in the UK!
Well done girls you all have £20 festive smackers to spend on our website, please email me at craftyribbons@gmail.com so i can send you all the details. Sorry to everyone who left wonderful comments, there will be mini FREEBIES throughout our ribbon advent, so stay tuned!!!
Gingerbread men are so popular this time of year, and you did so like the little gingerbread girl yesterday, here is another joyful selection from our gingerbread ribbon challenge.
Carol has been doing a bit of cooking with our dancing Gingerbread men, fantastic. Hope it has calmed down a bit at work for you, fancy work getting in the way of crafting!!!
We have a very festive Gingerbread Teddy from Claire, he even has the mistletoe ready! We love him. It doesn't seem like it in the photo but this is a huge card, I have no idea what card sizes are but I would call this A4 square!
Fairy Crafts your card is a dream, good enough to eat. We will have to keep it away from Tony, he has a passion for Christmas puddings!!
Karen the receipt sounds wonderful - Apple Gingerbread, but I couldn't find any in your parcel, it says it makes 12 bars!!!! Just perfect, great doily.
Margaret has made a book with the gingerbread story, oooh it is so sweet......
.....it is a long time since I have read the story. Sydney is desperate to have a sleep over in our new house and I promised she could before Christmas, thinking she would forget - not our Syd, she reminded me over the weekend. This will be perfect to read to her, I do not have many childrens things here - well none.
You may have noticed that I am showing your goodies a little different to normal, remember they have been on our exhibtion stands so have got separated - more goodies tomorrow.
Crafty's advent day 5
05/12/2010
Wow the days are slipping by, we are already on day 5. I managed to remove the gremlins from yesterdays post, so you can find the project HERE .
You have seen todays idea before, but I have received so many emails, asking for the details, that I thought I would include it in our advent truck.
A pefect gift jar for teachers, neighbours, family and friends. It is really easy to put together - all the ribbons come from our Gingerbread Collection HERE. I have written the Instructions with a list of ingredients along with a printable copy of the tag with the cooking instructions all HERE.
I hope you have fun making them up, I gave mine to a friend who kindly waters my plants while we are away at exhbitions. Sadly I did not get to eat any of the made biscuits but she said they were wonderful and did not last long!
Todays project over, but what you really want to know is who has won the two little Gingerbread men, it was a tough decision, you all left super comments. I am so pleased that you all thought Sydneys crafting was great, I think she is a star and I love crafting with her. She is only 5½ and her little face lights up when I suggest we do something, although she is not so keen when it is "Tidy up time"!!!
Anyway I digress, so who is going to be giving my Gingerbread men a home this Christmas........
Jan Marshall
Syd your makes are fantastic, how clever you are
Love the gingerbread men they are great, I cannot sew for toffee's, they would sure be made comfortable here
xx
Hi Jan please email us your address to craftyribbons@gmail.com so your two new friends can come and join you for christmas!
They are HERE yes they are, the first batch of photos from our gingerbread challenge. Some have been on display at the Hobbycrafts show and most of them came to Paris with us. Oooh I did have some trouble in Paris, the ladies wanted - the stamps, the kits, Margaret kindly made a calendar, they wanted the little calendar tab.......no, no they are all ideas to use our gingerbread ribbon!!! It was fun.
The little gingerbread girl is so sweet Beryl, I never think of making little girls.
Gemma this is so simple, but caused quite a stir in Paris, i had to show the ladies how to tie bows - it was basically watch my hands, I have no idea how to say it in French!!!
Leslie you only sent me two receipt cards, didn't you? This was sooooo liked I had to move it to the back of the stand out of reach!
Paola this card is adorable, the little tags were greatly admired, we sold out of all the Alpha Tag Gingerbread Men in the first day! But you can still get them HERE
Wilma is that ribbon embroidery I see at the side of your card. Fantastic card and the little key charm is so cute.
This is only the first 5 cards from the challenge, I have loads more to share all next week.
Sweet delights everyday.
Crafty's advent day 4
04/12/2010
Fingers crossed we have no gremlins today.
What can you make with white ric rac, a few buttons, a length of grosgrain ribbon and some felt?
ooh I forgot to mention you need a handful of toy stuffing as well. That's all the ingredients to make these charming gingerbreadmen, they are just perfect. I have only shown a handful of people and they all want one!!
Why not have a go at making a few yourself, you can print off a copy of the template HERE with simple instructions. The white ric rac is HERE, Go Grosgrain Christmas ribbon HERE, I used the forest with white snowflakes, but there are so many different colours you could pick. The felt I found in John Lewis, I thought it was a perfect colour for gingerbreads. The buttons came from my button box, of which I have very few left since Syd found it on Wednesday!
Don't like sewing? Not enough time? Then why not leave a comment because these two gingerbreadmen are homeless, they have nowhere to go for Christmas! We will pick a winner in Sundays posting.
Syd has been enjoying her time off school, two days of crafting. She has all the ribbons and buttons she wants, a huge (5ltr) bucket of PVA glue and a mountain of coloured paper. I promised she could make a gingerbreadman yesterday, what do you think?
OK I know I may be slightly bias, she is my niece but I think it is fantastic. We increased up the size of our gingerbread template a little and marked out the felt. Syd had trouble cutting the felt, it kept getting "stuck" in the scissors, so Rachie did it for her. The rest was all down to her. she likes my buttons!!!! Some jumbo ric rac, red country check and a christmas bell and a bag of gold snowflake.
This was the tree Syd made on Thursday, the glue had been put away, so it was down to good old sellotape to stick ALL those buttons on!!
I have a day planned in my studio taking photos of the gingerbread challenge goodies, I have been itching to show you them all. The roads are too icy to go anywhere, we have lots of food in the cupboards, no ringing telephones so I am looking forward to a perfect day!
Crafty's advent day 3 & Friday FREEBIE
03/12/2010
I am all of dither what should I do first - advent ribbon idea, Friday FREEBIE or the winner of yesterdays comment. The first thing I used to do on December mornings as a child, would be to rush down and open my advent calender, little paper windows with advent scenes hiding behind. Not like the chocolate ones you get today. Mum, allowing us chocolate before breakfast, I think not!
This little idea I had lined up for later in the month, but the snow was just perfect for the photo yesterday.
Red Velvet ribbon is so lush and just shouts "CHRISTMAS TIME". The pine cone pom pom started life as a polystyrene ball which I covered with cinammon sticks (smells nice too), nuts and pine cones. I used my trusted hot glue gun to get everything stuck in place and finished off with a classic red velvet bow.
I read in the Sew magazine's December issue 18 that they believe that Crafty Ribbons have the largest colour range of velvet ribbons on the internet - WOW thanks Sew. We have stocks of sumptuous red velvet in all the widths from 9mm to 50mm all waiting to be used on your Christmas projects. Find them all HERE.
Also throughout our Crafty's advent we will be running "mini" FREEBIES, yesterday was for a 20mtr roll of personalised mulled wine ribbon. All you had to do to enter was to leave a comment. We have picked Craftygranny, we think it might cheer her up and she will have a nice surprise when the snow goes away and the postie arrives!
We have far too much snow here too. You can have the lot i hate the stuff.
Craftygranny
Send us an email Craftygranny to craftyribbons@gmail.com with the Christmas wishes you would like us to print on your ribbon, and bye the way you can keep your snow craftygranny we also have enough!!
Friday FREEBIE time, well it is the 1st Friday of december so it must be voucher Friday! Who would like to win a £20 voucher to spend on our website?
As it is also the third day of our advent how about 3 vouchers to give away. Lets get into the Christmas spirit (Tony) and spread some Christmas cheer. For a chance to win one of these vouchers all you have to do is leave a comment and we will pick 3 winners from our "Bingo" bag on Monday.
If you are having problems leaving a message due to our spam filters, just email it to me craftyribbons@gmail.com and I will add it for you.
Thanks to our brave soliders who made it into work yesterday....
Sydneys school was closed so she came into work with mummy, she wanted to do some crafting as she has been banned from doing it at home (she redecorated the sitting room wall!). She made a wonderful snowman picture, that had the largest amount of buttons on him you ever saw! Then she moved onto a christmas tree, with tinsel hanging from the branches. She sadly took them home before i had a chance to photograph them. If school is closed today i promised she could make a gingerbread man.
I seem to have snow gremlins in todays posting, I can not seem to get the text to be the same!!
Have fun
Crafty's Advent day 2
02/12/2010
What has Crafty's ideas truck got hiding behind door number 2?
We all like to make our prezzies stand out from others under the tree, absorbing the "Oooohs and aaahs" over our well wrapped prezzies.
Have you thought about personalising your Christmas ribbon? No need for gift tags!
A simple way to make Christmas extra special this year, show how much thought you have put into wrapping your Christmas presents with this personalised ribbon idea.
Classic Mulled Wine coloured ribbon with stunning shiny gold text will make your parcels stand out, they will be the classiest prezzies under the tree! Set the ribbon off with just plain gold wrapping paper for full effect.
We have put together an amazing offer to allow you to customize your prezzies, 20mtrs of 15mm Mulled Wine ribbon with your Christmas wishes printed in shiny gold foil for only £18.50. Which is a saving of £12.50 off our normal personalised ribbon price.
Like the idea then just click (sorry this has been removed) or leave a comment before tomorrows posting and you could win a roll FREE. We will announce the winner in day 3 posting. What are your Christmas wishes? Tony's would be "Baah humbug love T x x"
Snow has finally arrived in Dorset overnight.
Only 50% of our small team were able to make it into work today! Rachie, Sarah and Rachel all had problems with uncleared roads - yeh pull the other one girls, you wanted to play in the snow!!!!!!!!
Crafty's Advent
01/12/2010
No Hello wednesday today as we have fired up our NEW Crafty's Advent truck - Fresh NEW delivery of ribbon ideas everyday!!! and no getting stuck in the snow.
We had such a wonderful response to our countdown to Christmas last year that we thought we would do it again with more new ribbon ideas. Everyday, yes everyday we will come up with a new project or idea to use ribbon this Christmas. We are kicking off with this...
....mini Christmas bunting, oh it is sweet! Bev has already twisted my arm to make her some for Syd and Sam.
As with all our projects - it is EASY - I promise.
Gather your bits around you, needle and thread, pinking scissors, ruler and pencil, as for the ribbon I used our wide Christmas ribbon in Red and White (HERE) and 15mm red gingham (HERE).
The ribbons I used were both wired edge so I simply removed the wire by pulling it out of the edges. Mark the reverse of your ribbons, I allowed a 6cm gap for each triangle. Join the marks together to make triangles.
Using pinking scissors cut on the lines.
Fold the gingham ribbon in half and secure with a few stitches, insert the first triangle into the fold and pin in place. With small running stitches sew the ribbons together.
Repeat with the next triangle. Continue until you have the length you need.
I sat in front of the tv the other evening and I made several metres! You could speed up the process by using a sewing machine.
We still have no snow here, although we have been told it will hit us tomorrow. Do hope you are all safe and warm - our warehouse is FREEZING!
Thank you all for such delightful comments and emails about Crafty Ribbons service - much appreciated.
Wishlist winners
29/11/2010
We loved reading your wishlist comments, you say such nice things about our ribbons. This is the first time we have chosen our winners, it is normally left to numbers being pulled from our famous "Bingo" bag.
But Bev and Rachie have been reading and re-reading all your comments, trying to pick just 2 wishlist winners. Talk about all the ooohing and ahhing that went on in the warehouse today, they wanted to fulfill EVERYONES wishlist!
Bev was the first to reach her decision which was......
Julie Shaw
-Anything magical for the time of year...fairies, princesses...plenty to choose from at Crafty Ribbons, it would be like my own personalised magical 'Bev's Bag!'.
Bev said she would have great fun putting a magical Bevs Bag together for Julie. I have an idea of what Bev is planning for you Julie, I saw a little collection of ribbons at the end of Bev's desk this evening.
Rachie took rather longer, you see it is Mollie's 2nd Birthday today and she was all of a dither. In the end Rachie decided to pick .....
Fi
my wish list would consist of my top 3 so i don't be too greedy as hard as that is to choose only 3! At the top belive it or not would be the animal ribbons with the pigs! Pigs have been my favourite for years and years and i do not have any pig ribbon! next would be butterfly ribbons my wee girl would love these in her hair! and lastly the bow maker as i need all the help i can get with making bows! I wonder what would be on your wish list especially as you work with them everyday? Thanks again for letting us win a prize especially one that is so personal. have fun!
We would also like to send Wilma a Birthday Bundle as she shares her Birthday with our very own Mollie, although we think Wilma is a little older then Mollie!
Wilma
Never mind the last Friday in November - Monday is the last Monday in November and its my **th birthday - ok so i was born in 19oatcake but its how you feel inside that counts + an ability not to look in mirrors too often. So win or not, and to be fair i have been very lucky so far, i will be celebrating on the 29th!??? 
Wilma we hope you are celebrating away the night and you have had a fab birthday. Happy Birthday from all at Crafty Ribbons
Julie and Fi - please email us your addresses so that we can send you your goodies and congratulations.
I have told you over the past few weeks how busy we have been what with the shows and the internet, to be honest, although fantastic, it has put a tremendous strain on us all. We have been receiving more orders in a day then we have been able to despatch, hence the back log that built up, we try to keep everyone informed on the site with our next despatch date box, but sadly not everyone reads it.
We all decided that one extra push was required and we all worked Saturday (I think we would have worked Sunday if it was not Mollies birthday party) and we have almost caught up. We are not perfect and we have made a few mistakes, Bev was in tears on Friday when a "customer" had a go about a late order. So when we received these two wonderful emails today - it put smiles on our faces and made us feel as it has all been worthwhile - Thank You.
"Hello Everyone at Crafty Ribbons
As promised here are a selection of the hand made gifts i have been preparing courtesy of Ali's amazing tutorials and all your wonderful ribbons.
Thanks Guys
Lyndsay"
(Sorry - before you all go looking, this little labybird ribbon is NOT on the website - yet!)
Fantastic makes Lyndsay and thank you so much for sharing them with us.
We also had this email from Michelle Aylott
I am so glad I found your website! I recently placed an order and the ribbons were delivered exceptionally quickly which meant my project wasn't held up. The quality of the ribbon is fantastic and your service is second to none. I can't wait to place another order and can't believe how many great and inspirational ideas you have! I couldn't find anywhere on the site for testamonials but wanted to let you know how delighted I am to find a new 'friend'. Thank you!
We are back in control, the blog has suffered somewhat, I have not shared all your amazing Gingerbread items, but I will. I also have plans for December so please stay with us as we return to normal Crafty Ribbons service!!
my basket