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To YOU - Sam

12/02/2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM

Sam is 3 today and I am missing his party - boo hoo.

When I saw this card from Tracey and Paul I thought it had been made for Sam, it is just perfect.

Have a fantastic day Sam

Love auntie ali and uncle T xxxx

Friday FREEBIE - 6

11/02/2011

Tony and I definitely woke up this morning with a few oooohs and arrrrghs - why do they make the floors of exhibtion halls so hard!!!!!

As I have been sharing all the Sweet Treat challenge goodies with you all week I thought a collection of Sweet Treat ribbons would be a perfect Friday FREEBIE prize.

So if you want to indulge in a little sweet naughtiness leave us a comment and you could be this weeks winner. So go on, please leave us a sweet comment. I will not get a chance to read them until well after 11pm, we have a late night at the show, so they will make good bed time reading! I am not back in the office until Tuesday so we will pick a winner from the "Bingo" bag then.

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 a we draw a random number 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.

What an adorable little girl Jenny, super colours.

I love little pots Jenny, and perfect to hide a few sweeties away from the children. What a clever idea.

This reminds me so much of Sam, ice cream EVERYWHERE! What a shame Julie I do not seem to have the photo of the inside of the card with me - sorry.

Pure elegance Julie. Perfect.

Once again huge thanks to everyone for such delightful Sweet Treat goodies, they are certainly being admired in Paris.

Nice and early

08/02/2011

Thought I would post nice and early today, Tony has gone to collect the van and check that everything is ok with it, we leave on the night boat for France. I have everything crossed and I do mean everything, the last ferry we took to France at Christmas we were unable to dock due to high winds. We bobbed, wobbled, rocked, pitched and dived along the Brittany coast line for hours - 19 hours on a cross channel ferry!!! Not something I can recommend, both Tony and I felt so washed out but relieved when we finally got off.

I received an email yesterday from Lucy asking me to send "A big blogging thank you" for all the wonderful comments, help and information that the Crafty Ribboners have provided over the weekend. She has been overwhelmed by the response and would like to thank everyone all at once.

We have a lot to do today - my to do list is so long I should have written it on a roll of wallpaper. Also Florence the girl that helps us in France has asked me to go to TESCO's to pick up a few "English Treats" for her, I am sure our "Sweet Treats" would be better for her.

This ice cream cone looks so real Claire, I love the way you have created the ice cream - awesome.

This wall hanger is wicked, the stamped cupcake is delightful and will take pride of place on the exhibtion stand tomorrow, hanging just above our demo table. As you all know my French is awful, but I am picking up some words and stamp (as in cupcake stamp) is one that sticks in my mind - tampon!

You set me a challenge here Claire, how to photograph ear rings. Your image is so small.

Amazing Claire, brain buzzing how can I display them on the stand without them growing legs?

You finally managed to persuade Samantha to let you send me the card then Gail - cupcakes galore. No wonder Samantha wanted to keep it. Please tell her it will be in France tomorrow being admired by stylish Parisian ladies who also love cupcakes!

Samantha made this one all by herself. Wicked Samantha, thank you. Tony has a special little French girl that always comes to visit him, without fail she brings him a little crafty creation. She was very taken by our Hello Kitty ribbon in November and came back onto the stand four times to buy different colours. We have some NEW ones Louise.

Must get on, loads of things to do and a ferry to catch!

Easter Ribbons

07/02/2011

We have had some really windy and wet weather in Dorset this weekend, not at all nice to be outside. Although Annette tells me they are having the worst summer since she has been in Australia, 28 degrees with thunderstorms - not nice. Hope you managed to sort your garage roof out Annette.

Thank you to everyone who responded to Lucy's plea for help and advice. I have been forwarding emails to her all weekend, crafters are such wonderful people. Professor Peach from The Italian Job said " Shame people are not as nice as flowers" he obviously did not know any crafters. (Tonys all time favourite film, he knows it backwards)

All our wonderful NEW Easter Ribbons are on the website - You can see them all HERE. A little warning - we are unable to get anymore of these designs, therefore stock is limited, once it's gone, it's gone. Prices start at only 35p per mtr, you do not have to buy masses and masses they all come in 1mtr lengths. We will be cutting for every order, so if you want 5mtrs it will come in one length. If you were lucky enough to get into the "Easter Bunny Hop" Ribbon Challenge then you have been playing with these ribbons for a while!

I had no battle to take the this weeks photo of picking the winning number from the "Bingo" bag. Mollie sat in the front office and picked the number, wish every week would be that easy!

The winner of this weeks Friday FREEBIE is........

Number 14 = Dorothy
Love is in the air
every where I look around.
ribbons every where
on the shelves and on the ground.
My guilty pleasure so they say
Hope a voucher is on its way.

Good selling in Paris Ali

Congratulations Dorothy you have £20 to spend on our website, what will you put into your shopping basket - oh do tell us Dorothy. All you have to do is email me at craftyribbons@gmail.com and I will email you your voucher.

Don't forget that any order over £10.00 (ex postage) placed with us before Valentines Day with receive a FREE bag of LOVE.....

Love Bags ready to be dropped into your orders

As it is still rotten outside it must be time for a little bit of sweetness to brighten our day - Sweet Treat goodies!

We could all take a stroll around Carols sweet shop, but oh no it is closed.....

...perfect timing it has just opened! What a wonderful display you have put on for us Carol - super idea.

Carol has even made us a little cupcake bag to take our goodies home and a muffin card.

Charlotta had posted back her other cards....but....just....had to have one more play with the ribbons. This card is stunning Charlotta thank you for sending it .

Thanks for joining in with the challenge Carol and Charlotta, if everything goes to plan there will be more Sweet Treats tomorrow.

We have been having a few last minute wobbles with our exhibition stand - nothing major, we have lost the French signs!!! I can reprint and laminate them again, but it's rather annoying, I bet you if I remake them tonight we will find them tomorrow.

Shall I remake or wait?

Friday FREEBIE - 5

04/02/2011

Can anyone help? Lucy, one of our regular blog readers and Challengers is still new to cardmaking and would like to know where she can learn how to make different style cards. She was very taken by the Cross Over Cards made by Charlotta and the Easel card made by Claire for the Sweet Treat Challenge. Are there templates for these cards? If you can guide her in the right direction, please email me some details craftyribbons@gmail.com and I will forward them to Lucy. I am sure someone will be able to help you Lucy.

First Friday of FEBRUARY - wow January has already gone. Did I tell you why I was late posting the Hello Wednesday this week? We were all in a meeting with a ribbon supplier, choosing ribbons for Easter, Spring, Summer nope none of those BUT CHRISTMAS. Yes we have placed our Christmas ribbon order. I just can not believe it, I am sure they are making us commit much earlier than normal. Oh well that is another line crossed of my never ending list. I cross one item off and add another two to the bottom!

Back to the Friday FREEBIE - as it is the first Friday of the month it must be Voucher Friday.

So if you fancy a little FREEBIE spending spree on our ribbon website, then just leave us a comment.

Valentines day is just round the corner, I am going to be in the capital of LOVE on Valentines day - PARIS. But I will be working. Crafty Ribbons wants to send you some LOVE, Ribbon Love that is - place an order of over £10.00 between today and Valentines Day and you will receive a bundle of romantic red ribbons FREE. No special codes, the girls were busy yesterday making up Crafty Ribbons LOVE BAGS ready to go into the orders.

Share the LOVE with others and tell them all about our FREE LOVE BAGS. Lets give some LOVE....

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 a we draw a random number 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 - Seam Binding Rose

02/02/2011

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 told you I had been playing....

I have said it before and I will say it again - this seam binding ribbon is AWESOME!

This card is made with ribbon and card, I button and a piece of twine. When I saw Dorothy's ribbon cupcake it created a "light bulb" moment. The idea popped into my head and was completed in under 15mins!!! And me the non cardmaker, but to be honest I did use a needle to make the rose and the ruffle. I walked into the warehouse yesterday holding the card and bumped into Rachie, "I like that, can I have it for Martens Valentine card?" - No make your own it is coming to Paris with me, what a cheek!!!

Dorothy will know how I created the Seam Binding Ribbon Rose - it is an embroidery stich called a Spiders Web Rose or a Cartwheel Rose, but rather than sewing on fabric I have used card. I put together a quick tutorial of how to make these roseS.

Gather the bits you need around you, scissors, large needle, tape, card and about one and half metres of seam binding ribbon.

On the card mark a five pointed star and the centre point. Thread the large needle with some thread, secure the thread on the back of the card with a piece of tape. Sew through the holes to create what will look like Spiders Web or a Cart Wheel.

Secure the thread on the back of the card with another piece of tape.

Thread the seam Binding ribbon into the big needle and sew through the centre hole leaving a small length at the back of the card that you can stick down with some tape.

This is the front view. Ribbon has come up through the centre hole, pass the needle under one of the threads.

Allow the ribbon to cover over the next thread then under the next. IMPORTANT - you continue working in a clockwise direction at ALL times.

Pull the ribbon so it is tight in the centre, but not too tight that it puts strain on the threads. Continue with the weaving technique of over one thread under the next thread. As you have an odd number of threads (5) you will go round in a circle.

Keep going round, if you can still see the holes you need to continue. Allow the ribbon to twist, this will create more interesting shape rose petals.

This rose is almost finished, it requires no more petals.

To finish, carefully take the needle back down through one of the holes. Secure the ribbon on the back with a piece of tape as before.

One finished Seam Binding Ribbon Rose - Simple.

Seam Binding Ribbon Rose Card

You can find all the colours of our Seam Binding Ribbon HERE.

You want more Sweet Treats...

01/02/2011

Everyone wants more sweet treats, you had lots of comments Dorothy about your amazing creations yesterday. That's why I think our blog is loved so much. It is not just about what Crafty Ribbons do with ribbons, but what crafters do with our ribbons as well. I hope you all agree.

I have another collection of masterpieces to show you, also sent in by our Challengers. For all the newbies - we hold ribbon Challenges (we have two running at the moment "Sweet Treat" and "Bunny Easter Hop"). We launch a Challenge with a collection of ribbons. The first 15 or so people that reply to the challenge (normally set on a Sunday) will be senT a bundle of ribbon to play with, in return we ask for 2 creations to be posted back to us so that we can showcase them, here on our blog and also display them on our exhibition stands.

This is the promised retake of Claires card, I had not realised that it was an easel card - wow looks good enough to eat! Thanks for the email Claire.

This card has come all the way from Sweden, made by Charlotta, she tells me it is called a cross over card. It looks way too technical for me to make, quite stunning Charlotta.

I love the colours on these cards Charlotta, and the taggie lollipops. You may have noticed that I am into ribbon tags at the mo, so simple to do but very effective. Perfect Charlotta they will be coming to Paris with us next week, I just hope nobody asks how to make them!!!! Your other card has arrived safe and sound and will appear later in the week.

Now this is an unsual idea, a boxed frame of ribbons - wicked. We must be on the same wave length Lucy, I have some small blank canvases tucked away to do some ribbon art on. Mmmmmmm food for thought!

Ooooh this had me intrigued. A ribbon box - what could be inside? It was from Lucy and we know she spends a lot of time in her kitchen playing with icing sugar, and she made the Gingerbread advent for us.......

A box of sweet treats, yummie. Sadly it was Bev's day off when these arrived, and we thought that they may go off......so welll......there were none left for Bev. Oooops!!!!

Everything is ticking along nicely in the warehouse, my proof arrived from the printer for our NEW leaflet - so they should be rolling off the machines today and tomorrow. The January Pack Sale is over, we all hope you are enjoying the bargains, the last order for packs was processed at 23.45 yesterday and the sale ended at midnight, talk about to the line just in time!!

Rachie and I are re-stocking the exhibition stand again today, trying to find room for all the new ribbons - not an easy job.

Busy Ribbon Bee

31/01/2011

I have been a very busy ribbon bee this weekend and have completed a lot of items on my "To Do List" - oh yes I am a list girl!

We have 5 NEW embroidery kits to take to Paris next week. I started a couple of them before Christmas, but I think I had lost my embroidering mojo, they were all wrong and nothing flowed. But this weekend everything fell into place, here is a sneak peak.

Fingers crossed everyone will like them and we will sell out in Paris. It is a year since I launched any NEW kits so maybe I will have lost my touch.

By the way I have been experimenting with our NEW Seam Binding Ribbon - WOW what fantastic ribbon. You can embroider with it - yeh! Making wonderful large full blooms, perfect for cushions, and because it dyes you will be able to match it to any colour - whooopie!

Who is going to be the lucky lady, nope nearly forgot, you all wanted to share this weeks prize. So there are 4 winners who will be playing with this awesome ribbon soon. 31 different colours to each winner, it is going to take me ages to select each of the 4 bundles making sure they all tone. I have a better idea, I will cut all 124colours then ask Sydney to count out 4 piles of 31 this evening, she will enjoy doing that, although she is almost as particular with colours as I am!!!!! How she gets on at school when her teacher tells her to use "purple" paint, I can almost hear her saying "That's not purple, it is lupin". What have I done.

So who are the winners? 4 winners requires 4 numbers pulled from our "Bingo" bag. I have been having a problem of late, getting the gang to pick the numbers each week, it has become a battle of wills. This week I had it all planned - lollipops from the sweet treat photo shoot, it worked a treat!!

The winners are.....

Number 9 = Yvonne
My vote is for sharing the fun and the seam binding goodness. They're too beautiful not to share.

Some ideas I've seen people use on their cards and other papercraft projects which I think would be fun to try are to add colour to the seam binding with Twinkling H2O's or Distress inks. If you want to spread the colour you can also spritz with water... looks amazing - perfect for vintage cards or projects with elegance.

Number 24 = Kathleen
It would be wonderful to share these new ribbons...and try them on crafty projects.

Number 26 = Louise
would LOVE some of those please. Ivory is always a good colour for me because this ribbon is made from rayon so I can dye it for the miniature dolls.

Best wishes,
Louise.

Number 39 = Anne
Happy Friday all, if the ribbons were shared you could have more winners.... Good Luck everyone x

Well done girls, all you have to do is email us your address to craftyribbons@gmail.com and we will be sending your awesome Seam Binding Ribbon bundles.

Sweet Treat time, WARNING these next photo's could damage your diets, they are full of sugary sweet treats!

Dorothy always sends in a Pandora's box of goodies, but this time her grandchildren came to visit on the day the Challenge was launched and she missed it. But as you all know I am not very good at counting, so managed to persuade Rachie to make up an extra selection of ribbons so Dorothy could join in - hugs Rachie.

A ribbon cupcake - now no calories there Dorothy.

A little bit more tempting with these favour boxes, filled with iced gems and decorated with cut outs from the cupcake ribbon.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think this is called a gate fold card - perfectly tied with cupcake ribbon.

Oooh I have seen large framed pictures of the ribbon crinoline ladies, what a clever idea Dorothy to make a miniature version.

If only it was that easy Dorothy. But at least our cupcake ribbon is ZERO calories!

This is a clever card, the centre cupcake slides up and down along the centre line. I had a sneak peak at the workings and i am sure it has something to do with two 1p coins, is that right Dorothy.

We took this muffin ribbon to Paris in November, it also comes in pink and brown - we sold out! We knew it was a winner.

Thank you Dorothy, once again your pandoras box has enchanted and pleased us all. If you want to induldge in some Sweet Treat Ribbons you can find them all HERE.

Friday FREEBIE - 4

28/01/2011

The last Friday of January, where has the time gone? This month has just flown by. I have completly lost track of the weeks and started to panic earlier in the week. I thought our first show of the year in Paris was ages away in February.....but that's next week! My new embroidery designs are not finished, our Spring leaflet had not even gone to the printers, the stand looks like it had been ransacked in the January Sales (which it has!!!), and, and....... Calm down, deep breaths... that's better.

Bev and I decided that we need to start a Crafty Ribbons night shift - the phones will not ring at night and we can get more done!!! Although we are not that keen on being in the warehouse in the dark, rather spooky around here.

We created quite a stir yesterday with the launch of the Seam Binding ribbon. It is Friday so we do need a Friday FREEBIE prize, Would you like some? Would you like of all the colours in the range? Could you find a use for 124 colours? Or if you prefer we could split the prize into 4 and do a bit of sharing, it is up to you...

To win our Friday FREEBIE prize all you have to do is leave a comment, it is that easy. Charlotta wanted to know what to do with this ribbon - from what we gather it is a huge trend in the card making world. It can be used to create different style bows, it as soft as silk (I am itching to embroider with it), it takes dyes - if anyone has any further tips for Charlotta please do share them.

Have a fantastic weekend, I will share some more challenge photos over the 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 a we draw a random number 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.

Seam Binding Ribbon

27/01/2011

You asked for it........

....we found it!.......

American Seam Binding Ribbons

Not 1 colour, not 10 colours.....

but.....

....124 awesome colours...

....see them all HERE

If you still can not find the colour you are after, then just dye your own. This ribbon is 100% Rayon and takes dyes beatuiful, not only special dyes but you can use ink pads and promarkers.

One ribbon two styles - Modern or Vintage.

To create the crisp, clean Modern look, just leave the ribbon as it is or gently iron it. As for the crinkly, aged Vintage look, just spray the ribbon with a little water and scrunch up into a little ball. Leave overnight, open up the ball in the morning, fluff up and allow to air dry if needs be - simple.

The ribbon comes in 5mtr bags for £1.00 but we have a special offer - pick any 5 colours and you can choose a 6th colour FREE. So any 6 colours for £5.00, that works out at less then 17p per mtr

This is an amazing ribbon to work with, same ribbon, same bow, two totally different finishes.