Crafty's advent day 13
13/12/2010
Before i tell you who has won the gift vouchers or todays advent idea, I have some really important news......
Our warehouse has been a no go area all weekend. We have had a team of workmen in doing major works......we have waited 15 years for this work.......we just can not believe it has happened......what......what have we had done....
....we have had heating fitted in the warehouse and it is HOT, HOT, HOT! It is wonderful, gone are the fagin gloves, gone are the winter coats and Bev has even taken off her thermal underwear!!!! We have asked Santa for nothing else, we are warm as toast.
We all went outside in the cold to pick our Friday FREEBIE winners, just so we could come back into the warm again! I was just about to take the photo when Mollie pulled another number from the "Bingo" bag, oh Mollie! So we have 4 winners this week, and they are......
Number 4 = Wilma
Looks like a fun weekend for everyone - love the way you have decorated the place mats - poor Santa getting his clothes wet- he really need a tumble drier in this weather but the ribbons wouldnt be quite the same LOL!! Well done Sarah on winning the bowdabra! As for winning a gift voucher and choosing for myself - yes please that would be a lovely Christmas present!
Number 25 = Jenny
Oh wow a voucher to spend on your gorgeous ribbons christmas must have come early. Thanks for the chance to win
Number 33 = Sarah
Wow thanks for choosing me to win the bowdabara, I am so excited.
You lot are far too generous, not that I am complaining
Love the idea with the placemats, you might have to run the ribbon throught the washing machine after though
And the last number mollie pulled from the bag was.....
Number 1 = Gail
...it's my week! It's got to be my week! lol
Love those mats... makes them look a lot more snazzy and Christmassy...
xxx
Wow what lucky girls you are Wilma, Jenny, Sarah and really lucky Gail! Please email me at craftyribbons@gmail.com so I can send you details of how to use your £20.00 vouchers. There will be more prizes throughout the week, so do not miss out.
Todays advent idea is a very simple one, but one we must not forget!
Tie up your mistletoe with bright red ribbon so that it can be seen by everyone.
About to go back into the warm warhouse, I would have done anything to have stayed in the front office last week.
Hope you are all as warm as we are.
Crafty's advent day 11
11/12/2010
Carrying on from my Santa theme for our family meal today, I have made each child a Santa Bag.
They are filled with allsorts of goodies, things that they can play with while at the table - stickers, pencils, coloured paper and of course a few gold coins for after pud! I had great fun making them I just used red felt oblongs and ribbon.
I used bondaweb and ironed it onto the reverse side of the black wide ribbon (here) and then ironed it across the Santa Bag to make the belt. Then just plain running stitching along the top and bottom of the ribbon belt, to give it a bit of detail. Next came the buckle, once again ribbon, this time gold metallic (here), I ironed on the bondaweb then cut a square from the ribbon, and then a smaller square from the centre. With the square bit from the centre of the buckle I cut a small oblong with rounded ends for the pokey bit (sorry can not think of it's name, it is early), and ironed the buckle and pokey bit in place.
All that was now needed was a fur top and ribbon handles, I used red 16mm grosgrain (here). I am not sure what gave me more enjoyment making the Santa Bags or putting all the goodies into them last night!!!
Lots to do today so must go.
Have a great day.
Crafty's advent day 10
10/12/2010
We have a weekend planned for the family, all of us! A pre Christmas meal with all the little ones. We all do our own thing on Christmas day, tony and i are in France, Bev and family in Birmingham and Rachie has the in laws to stay in Dorchester. So this weekend is our time.
As there are so many little ones, I like to make the table child friendly. We have all ages from 5½, 4, 2¾ and 2 years old, they all know who santa is.
I have decorated some simple silver place mats with our Santa's laundry ribbon (here) and I am going to tell them a story about Santa falling out of his sleigh and all his clothes got wet!!
I used just sellotape to hold the ribbons in place at the back of the mats, which means I can change them to another ribbon for another party.
We have been trying to think of a really good Friday FREEBIE for today, ribbons, bowmaker, kits BUT could not agree on a prize. So would you like to choose for yourself?
We have another 3 £20 vouchers for you to enjoy. For a chance to win just leave a comment and you could be picked from our festive Bingo bag on Monday.
If you are having trouble leaving a comment due to our spam filters, please email it to me at craftyribbons@gmail.com and I will add it for you.
Bowdabra winner....I had a tough time picking this one, but finally decide that we could not have "pants" bows at Christmas and that Sarah was in desparate need of one!
Oh wow please put me in the draw because I would love to win a bowdabra. I have been trying to make bows at work today without any kind of bow maker and quite frankly they are pants lol.
You will have magic bows this Christmas Sarah - email us craftyribbons@gmail.com and let us know if you would like red or silver snowflakes.
Have fun this weekend.
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
my basket