I have been following the Vendee Globe, which is a Round the World Singlehanded Yacht Race.  It has been very gripping, with several competitors having to drop out, due to damaged boats or sails.  When the winner Michel Desjoyeaux sailed across the finish line, he came on the radio and said "It was his ray of sunshine".

This got me thinking - Ray of Sunshine.  My Ray of Sunshine...... SYDNEY.  This scrap page was born!!!

This is my favourite scrap page, I smiled all the way through making it!  The ribbon"scrap" detail on the side was inspired by Syd.  She was crafting one day last week, putting glitter glue on to a rubber stamp, then sticking scrap ribbons to it!!!!

Yellow is her favourite colour.  We are told this hundreds of times in a day!

I wanted the word "MY" to really stand out, as she is "My ray of sunshine". I then added a few ribbons to the tag.

Syd will not see this till later, she will say "Sydney on telly".

My Nan taught me how to sew, and it is still a passion of mine today.  We used to make dolls clothes and little blankets together.  Blanket stitch is the first stitch I remember learning, and it appears to be back "in fashion" again.  This is Rachie's favorite picture of Mollie.  Her dress has a form of blanket stitch on the sleeves, and the little house embroidery is finished in blanket stitch.

I had the layout all planned, but all the pink paper I had was too PINK, and all the white was too WHITE.  I am miles away from any craft store, so I had to do a bit of combining!  I used a pink pearl card for the base then overlayed it with a white hand made paper.  I think this has made it rather delicate, suitable for "Miss Mollie".   The border and the photo have both been hand stitched.

I do love the flowers and they are sooooo easy to make!  There is a lot of sewing on this layout (which I enjoyed - all down to you Nan!). The flowers are made from 15mm sheer with a knot of ribbon to form the centre, 6mm grosgrain for the stalks and the leaves.

You can not see the little house embroidery in the main photo, but it was just too cute not to include!

In France you can have photographs turned into stamps. Rachie brought this one to show me this morning - so thought I would include it in the layout, that's what scrapbooking is all about!!!!

Have a fantastic weekend, don't forget the change in the clocks...... I lose an hour of scrapping!!!!!

It's amazing where inspiration comes from.  Did you know that the inspiration for the modern security scanning machines at airports, came from a saw mill!!!

The inspiration for this new scrap page came from a Christmas card, three Christmas baubles hung on ribbon.  It is a very simple layout.

I am not allowed to tell you who is in the pictures, but I am sure you can guess!!

Button and ribbon detail, I used feather edge ribbon, as I felt it gave a antique image and the buttons were a perfect match. 

This velvet ribbon is a gorgeous colour and is called "Beauty".

No more scapbooking for today, I am looking after Sam and he is more into destruction than scrapbooking!!!

We are off to Paris next week to attend "Version Scrap".  A small show that is dedicated to scrapbooking.  We were invited to attend last year for the first time, but I had no idea what scrapbooking was all about.  So I spent my Easter weekend making scrapbook pages using only ribbons and buttons - well that's what we sell!!!!!

Well....... our tiny stand was swamped, my pages were so different from the "normal" French style, they were photographed all day long.  We gave up explaining they could be viewed on the website.  (Not seen them? Click HERE). 

There were two that stood out from the others and were much admired.

Alfie was our doggie, this picture was from our last holiday with him.

My two boys, Tony and his son Rob.

I have been working on some new layouts for next week - big challenge living up to last years!!!  This is the first one finished, several are part complete, waiting for a little EXTRA inspiration!

As you know this is Sam - our cookie monster!

Spring Time ribbons arrives on door steps today! 

If you were one of the lucky 16 (yes I know we only said 10!!!) and you made it into our Ribbon Challenge # 4, then your ribbons should arrive today.

Wilma has received hers.

"omg omg omg just got my ribbons - they are out of this world, fantastic, fabulous, gorgeous amd every other adjective that i just cant think of right now!! I know what i will be doing this afternoon and i will be putting your logo on my blog immediately - ty!!"

Don't forget, if you have taken part in one of our Ribbon Challenges you can put one of our NEW buttons on your site.

We now have these new buttons for everyone to use to link to our blog or website. You can download the images from the links below each of the buttons.

"Morning, peeps!

Just wanted to share info on a new crafty supplier I've just had the pleasure of using: Crafty Ribbons. Being stuck in a city that just doesn't cater for the 'serious' crafter, I buy most of my stash from various online shops, but I hadn't been able to find somewhere that stocked a massive range of ribbon by the metre.... until now!!

Crafty Ribbons are based in Dorset and stock a huge range of...ribbons!!! I placed an order late last Friday (6th March) and it arrived this morning! I ordered a whole array of different 6mm Grosgrain ribbons (excellent colour range), a 3mm satin pack for a fiver (which has 30 mtrs of 30 different colours), but best of all was the Ribbon Box. The Ribbon Box is exclusive to Crafty Ribbons and is a steal at £4.00. Click here to read all about it (there's too much info to tell you!), but basically you get 22 mtrs of ribbon plus a ribbon box, and you can choose from 10 different colourways. You can buy 3 of these ribbon boxes for a tenner, and as they arrive flat-packed, I think they are a fab idea for crafty presents! Here's a photo of my new ribbon stash (my ribbon box is the 'strawberry cream' one):


I am now the proud owner of 84 mtrs of new ribbon! LOL!

Will be back with a card later today.

Hugs, Sem"

Sem as a wonderful blog visit it HERE and enjoy.

SORRY THIS CHALLANGE IS NOW FULL 

Is spring here!?  Well, we have decided it is, at Crafty Ribbons.  So here is our new challenge - Spring Time

Would you like to take part in our Ribbon Challenge # 4? 

Be the first to see our NEW range of spring ribbons.  We have 10 free bundles of ribbons to give away, each bundle will contain lengths of all the new ribbons (NOT on the website - yet!).  All we ask in return for these ribbons are two cards made from these fresh spring ribbons! The ribbons can be used to enhance all forms of card making, rubber stamping to decoupage as long as it is around the "Spring Time" theme!!!!  You can even throw in a little bit of Easter if you wish. 

This daisy has been cut out of one of the ribbons in the Spring Time Collection.

If you are up to the challenge, then send us an email to info@craftyribbons.com marked RIBBON CHALLENGE #4! The first 10 to reply will be sent an email requesting address details so we can send your free ribbons!!   Your cards will be posted onto our website and will also be on display at the exhibitions we attend in the UK and France 2009    

Wow what a great day at the Olympia show.  My workshop was again sold out with a group of ladies hoping to be able to get in as "extras', how could I say no to them!  But, by the time I got back to the stand, poor Tony had a queue that stretched the length of the stand.  I think he was really, really pleased to see me!!!

On my tour of the show I came across a quilt by the "Springfield Quilters" that rather took my fancy, so decided to share it with you.

Springfield Quilters were given the challenge (talking about challenges, keep your eye on the blog tomorrow!) "Dark to Light" one of the members said "Winter to Spring!" - the name of the group being called Springfield they seemed to think this a very apt theme to employ.

Appliqued by hand and machine embroidered, embelisher utilised, patchworked and painted, with input by all members it was difficult to know when to stop!

The duck pond looks amazing, closer detail below.

The violets look as if they have been made with sheer ribbon.

These daffodils reminded me that you can make some wonderful daffodils with ribbon.  Maybe Sydney and I will make some for Easter.

The star of the quilt for me, are the lambs. They are so cute.

I hope you have enjoyed this quilt as much as I did.  It has made me feel as if spring is on it's way.

I wish everyone a Happy Mothers Day for tomorrow, have a great day.