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Friday FREEBIE 38

17/09/2010

Woo Hooo do we have a Friday Freebie for you this week.

OK it is not on the same scale as last week, well you can only have 1 birthday a year, unless you are a Queen - ummm Queen of ribbons maybe!

We have been having "Top Secret" meetings with ribbon companies and today we would like to launch our NEW Magical World

Ooooh we are so excited, we have shown this ribbon to only a handful of people and the reaction has been fantastic, it was featured in the "Sew" magazine yesterday and we had a red hot telephone all day!

This range is limited, we only have a certain amount of stock - we will be telling the "World" about it later today. If you would like to see the whole collection then just click HERE. On some of the ribbons you will find extra images - "Top Secret" ribbon agents have been hard at work and coded parcels are still coming in! We hope you will be amazed and enjoy this ribbon as much as we do.

Back to the Friday FREEBIE - If you want to win a selection of our New Magical World then you have to leave a comment - No COMMENT - No ticket into our "Bingo" Bag. We will pick the winner on Monday.

Normal blurb - Please, please if you are having a problem leaving a comment or it has not been saved when you go back to have a read, YOU ARE BEING BLOCKED BY OUR SPAM FILTERS - all you have to do to stop this, is to email me at craftyribbons@gmail.com with your comment and I will add it for you. Once your email address has been added to the system you will be able to leave comments without any further hassle. Our spam filters are automatic, we do not know who is being BLOCKED, you have to tell us if you are experiencing a problem. All comments posted should appear straight away and stay there. Please leave a comment they are very important to us.

We still have two unclaimed prizes from last week and one from the week before - please remember it is up to you to claim your prize!

Have a fantastic weekend, I am about to go and enjoy my ribbons.

Hello Wednesday - Hair spikes

15/09/2010

Don't you just LOVE wednesday's? Say hello to wednesday "hello wednesday" It's all down hill from now on to the weekend - yippee!!!

I have been meaning to do this project fro weeks, it was going to be a back to school idea! With Amanda and Anji both giving you hair grip designs, it was a push to get mine finished - sadly I had no little girl to model them for me!! My two little nieces would have been tucked up in bed by the time I finished these last night, so my garden came to the rescue this morning.

What are they I hear you ask. Elasticated hair bows or ribbon spikes. Mums of little girls will know all about the hair wars that go on at school. I just can not believe how quick these are to make - do you want me to show you? I have not done a tutorial for a while so here goes.

Get together the bits you will need for the bows - scissors, lighter, needle and thread, elasticated hair band, lump of blue tac and 6 pieces of ribbon about 15cm long. I used 25mm grosgrain Pandas which came from HERE, Dots from HERE and Plains from HERE.

Fold the ribbon in half so the two raw edges meet.

Fold the ribbon in half half widthwise this time.

With a sharp pair of scissors (you are cutting through 4 layers of ribbon) cut the ribbon at an angle as shown.

To stop the ribbon from fraying you ned to seal the edges. Just run a flame along the cut edge of the ribbon, just very quickly. repeat on all the ribbon spikes.

Lay out your design.

Thread the needle and put a knot at the bottom of the thread. Insert the needle into a lump of blue tac or something similar. You just want the needle to stand up.

Fold the ribbon spikes in half widthwise in the centre and insert onto the needle. Repeat with all the ribbon spikes following the design you laid out.

Pull the needle through the ribbon spikes and out of the blue tac, making sure you keep the ribbon squashed together.

Wrap the thread around the ribbon a couple of times and secure with a stitch. Use thread that will match the ribbons, I used green so you could see it!

I could only get beige elasticed hair bands, but try if possible to get bands to match your ribbon bows.

Wrap the elasticed hair band around the centre of the bow, to cover the thread, mine were rather large so I was able to knot the elastic - see below pic.

This then allows you to secure onto a pigtail!

One finished ribbon spike hair bow.

I found a willing model at the office.....

Ooooh I enjoyed making those and they are so simple. You can match them up with school uniforms, or outfits for weddings. i have a feeling when I show them to Sydney this afternoon I may even have to make smaller ones for winnie!

Have fun.

Last of the dotty challengers

14/09/2010

I have only two more makes from our Swiss Dot organza challenge left to share. We have had some wonderful goodies sent in over the past few weeks, they have provided inspiration for many.

The first are from Margaret, I had an Ooops moment here, I thought I had already blogged these - sorry Margaret (goes to show that we do read your blog comments!)

How could I have overlooked such beautiful cards, the soft mint ribbon with the black spots is perfect to add an extra dimension to Margarets card.

A very soft focus elegant card Margaret, I love the way you have draped the bow along the image.

I have not captured the beauty of this card very well, the fairy is a fine decoupage with lots of very thin layers, looks stunning Margaret.

I am proud to say this is getting great use, on my desk, oooh I have a thing about stationery!

This ribbon is so fine. Thanks for your makes Margaret Just re-reading this and I realised I had not told you what was in the box - silly me! A post it pad, to match the colour of the ribbon - perfect.

This next collection of goodies have all come from Amanda. This keyring is gorgeous, we are putting our Autumn exhibtion stand together this week and I am trying to work out how I can display this keyring next to the ribbons without "losing" it - you know what I mean.

This delightful creation has come from Lily, Amanda's 6 year old. Wicked Lily.

A fresh clean card, shame the sun went in for the shot! The pram is great love the design.

Ooooh I have said it before and I will say it again - we love this turquoise ribbon with brown spots, great tag Amanda.

These hair bands and grips are awesome Amanda.

A close up of the little grips - these are perfect for back to school. Thanks Amanda and Lily great fun makes.

Anji had also been thinking about back to school ribbons. She recently placed an order with us for nothing but green ribbon. We are a terribly nosey bunch at Crafty Ribbons and we love to know what everyone does with our ribbon. Anji has shared her green ribbon projects with us, you can have a look too by clicking HERE. Anji made a different green experience for her little girl for the first week at school.

See you all tomorrow with Hello Wednesday.

94 comments and 5 winners

13/09/2010

94 staggering comments WOW!

Thank you all for taking part in our Birthday Bonus Friday FREEBIE, we had such a wonderful time reading every single one, you say such nice things.

Who is going to have the £50 voucher to spend on ribbon, have you got your wish list ready?

We had so many comments that we were unable to fit them all in our "Bingo" bag, so we had to use a shopping basket. The pleasure of picking the first number went to Mollie, who grabbed the number and ran off - poor Rachie was chasing her around the car park!! So the first number out of the basket was........

.....Number 56 - Dorothy

happy Bithday to you
sqashed tomatoes and stew
You look like an onion and
you smell like one too(ha ha}
Not really,more like a beautiful ROSE.
What a wonderful prize for a wonderful year.
the verse is one my grand children sing to me
with love

That's not all - we also have an extra four prizes of £20.00 vouchers this week.

The 4 numbers picked out of the basket by Rachie and Bev were.....

......number 6 - Pam
Wow! Now that is a birthday gift I would love to receive.
Many many happy returns of the day Friday Freebie.
Have a great weekend

......number 36 - Angela
Happy Birthday! WhaT a great institution the Friday Freebie is!
Thanks for your continuing generosity!

....number 59 - Sue Henshaw
Wow, one year old already, happy birthday everyone at Crafty Ribbons!!
What amazing ribbons you've produced over the year - a ribbon for every occasion.
Let's all look forward to all the beautiful ribbons you'll produce over the next year as well.
What a fab prize too, I thought last week's was so generous, many thanks for a chance to win.

xxxsue

....number 75 - Sherry
Oh, it's my birthday today too!!!! Happy birthday to both of us!

Thanks for the chance of another freebie. The examples are lovely too.

Woo Hoo well done girls. To claim your vouchers please email craftyribbons@gmail.com and you can start to get your shopping lists ready. The girls were in fits of laughter, Mollie would not turn her number round, she keep looking at it and saying WOW!!

We can not tell you how pleased we were that so many of you joined in with our Bonus Birthday Friday FREEBIE - some of you for the first time, we hope you will join us again this week - we have a fab Friday FREEBIE every Friday!

Friday FREEBIE Birthday

10/09/2010

It's Friday FREEBIE'S First Birthday. WOOOOOH 1 today!

A year ago today we launched our first Friday FREEBIE and since then we have sent out free ribbons, goodies and vouchers for a whole year to lucky bloggers that left us a comment - yes that's right you only have to leave a comment for a chance to win.

Today is a Bonus Birthday Friday FREEBIE, the more comments we receive this week the more prizes we will give.....

A £50 voucher to spend on our website for the first number pulled from our "Bingo" bag and....

.....a further £20 voucher for every 10 additional comments we receive over 50. If we receive more than 70 comments there will be the top prize of £50, then we will pick another 2 numbers - 3 prizes in total. More than 80 comments 4 prizes and so on.

We want you to tell your friends, tell the family, tell the world about out Friday FREEBIE 1st Birthday prizes. We want to give away vouchers, the more comments the more vouchers, if you mention our Friday FREEBIE on your blog and add the button in the side bar, you can leave a second comment. Dont't forget more comments - more prizes!!

Good luck everyone. please remmber to check back on Monday afternoon to see the winners - we DO NOT contact you, you have to claim the prize.

I had planned for these delights to be shared with you yesterday, but I got delayed with my buttons - a new delivery turned up for the start of our exhibition season - ooooh they are wonderful.

This card has come all the way from Italy - we are international you know!!! Paola we love your daisy, very fresh and fun.

The photo does not show that the butterfly is 3D - this is awesome Paola, the simplicity of the ribbon with the detail of the butterfly - perfect.

Welcome back Tina, we have missed you. Look at this card - WOW!

I think we are all dotty about this ribbon Tina, dots on dots.

What a great idea - sending a hug. Is it a cd that you have covered Tina? It is gorgeous, I know a little girl that would love to get her hands on this!

Oh how this would make any gift look extra special and the sheerness of the ribbon seems to blend with any colour. Wonderful Tina, hope you enjoyed the challenge.

Amanda I have not forgotten your treasures, I will share them next week, I am hoping I will be able to incorporate them with an idea I have - say no more!! Tammy your goodies still have not arrived - boo hoo!

Have a great weekend everyone, I have a trip planned to Devon to watch the boats!

Don't forget to leave a comment, your number could be picked from the "Bingo" bag on Monday.

Hello Wednesday - up, up and away

08/09/2010

Don't you just LOVE wednesday's? Say hello to wednesday "hello wednesday" It's all down hill from now on to the weekend - yippee!!!

The moment I saw this balloon ribbon I fell in love - up, up and away!

This is ribbon perfect for cards, snip, snip, a bit of coloured card and a touch of glue and you are done!!

Wow that was quick. Honest it is very easy. I cut some white card the same size as the ribbon 40mm and stuck it onto the back of the ribbon with double side tape, just to give it a little extra strength. I then put foam pads onto the trio of balloons and fixed each to a different coloured card. With my craft knife I cut away the card to leave a border around each balloon set.

I fixed a piece of the matching check towards the bottom edge of the card, once again with double sided tape, tuck the raw ends inside the card. I positioned the balloon sets on to the card allowing room for my bow at the end. I stuck everything in place with glue and that was it!!

if you love this ribbon as much as me you can find the balloon one HERE and the check ribbon HERE. They come from our "Fun in the Sun" Collection, not sure about you but we could do with some sun in Dorset today.

Have a good Wednesday everyone.

Nearly there

07/09/2010

We have nearly finished sharing the challenge goodies with you, with a smattering today and the balance on Thursday, Challenge 17 Swiss Dots will then be over - boo hoo. But don't panic, I am pleased to say that all the Christmas Ribbons Challenge # 18 parcels were sent out today. Keep an eye out for your postie tomorrow!!! BUT please be gentle with him.

Todays challenge treats have come all the way from America, Misti always plays along with our Friday FREEBIE -(by the way if you are Number 15 Angela we have not had an email to claim your prize!).

Oooh this is a very elegant card Misti - simple but perfect.

We really like this one too, have you used a punch to make the slits for the ribbon? Looks pretty cool Misti.

Beryl these are such cuties, we love, we want. The cluster of roses and ribbons is awesome.

Hippo twins, so adorable. Although I thought Beryl had used faulty ribbon, it looks as if it has been over printed in the photo, shock horror. Calm down Ali, Beryl had used two different ribbon colours tied together - phew!

This is my favourite, what a duo. Beryl before I get blasted with emails, please can you tell everyone where you have got your trio of twins - please, pretty please.

Great makes girls, both Misti and Beryl are in the new challenge, what will they create with the new christmas ribbons? We will just have to wait and see.

Very late - sorry

06/09/2010

Hi everyone I am very sorry this Firday FREEBIE winner posting is later then normal. I took the photograph of Sydney just before I rushed out for a meeting, and I have only just got back home.

This weeks Friday FREEBIE winner of the £20 voucher to be used on our website is.......

Number 15 Angela

yes please would love to win -there's just so much choice!

You have 20 smackers to spend Angela - congratulations. All you have to do is email us at craftyribbons@gmail.com so we can send you details on how to use the voucher.

Many thanks to everyone who left a wonderful comment, it's really great catching up with everyone. I hope someones bottom is less painful today!

Must go - I am starving!!

Ribbon Challenge # 18 - FULL

05/09/2010

Sorry - Ribbon Challenge 18 is FULL

Ribbon Challenge # 18

05/09/2010

THIS CHALLENGE IS NOW FULL - SORRY

Where has today gone?

I know we have not finished the Swiss Dot Challenge, I will share the balance of creates with you next week.....BUT......I was wondering if there was anyone out there that would like to join us for a NEW Challenge?

Could you make two creations from some of our......

.....have ideas maybe?

Well if you would like to join in with our NEW Challenge then please send us an email to craftyribbons@gmail.com because I have 10 bundles of our NEW Christmas ribbons. Each bundle will be slightly different so we have a wonderful selection of crafting goodies to display on our exhibition stand throughout the Autumn season. All we ask in return for these scrummy festive ribbons is for you to send us two goodies using the ribbon - cards, projects, ATC's, it's up to you.

The first ten to reply will be sent an email requesting address details so we can send your free ribbons!

If you are in the festive mood then please join in and be one of the first crafters to play with these ribbons.