It's good to be back - I would like to say everything is normal, but things have moved on, as they do.

It would appear that you have the same views as me on SPAM - what is the point of it.  We have our fingers crossed that our new upgrade has worked - no spam comments last night, but I will not hold my breath!

First job of the day was to visit my little mate Sydney.

Oh she is cheeky and I have really missed that smile!  The beautiful Get Well card that she is holding was made by Beryl and it is gorgeous.  Sydney thinks it is Shaun, Beryl this must have taken you ages, thank you so much.  Also a huge thank you to everyone for your kind wishes to Sydney.  She went to hospital yesterday to have a new plaster cast put on (not sure they are plaster any more!), and she came home with a blue one. She was hoping for yellow (her favourite colour)  but blue matches her school uniform , so that is ok.

We have brought a French "Pic Nic" (as Syd calls it) home with us.  You know, cheese (VERY smelly), ham, French bread all the lovely extra little bits you find in France.  Sydney is insisting that we all have to sit on the "Pic Nic" blanket in the living room!! 

So if you are a little hungry and want to join us, please do.....

Have a FANTASTIC Evening, enjoy and be careful.  Check back with us tomorrow for something special.

Phew that's Christmas over for another year, we all hope you had a great time.

I have one last gripe for the year (promise) -SPAM!  What is the point of it?  Why do people do it? I just have no idea what it is all about. 

Sadly our blog has had a bit of a bad time over the Christmas break with SPAM. We have upgraded the software over the past day or two and are sorry if you have been unable to log on. We are hoping that the new improvements will cut down on the unwanted SPAM.

Although the warehouse has been closed, the girls have been working behind the scenes getting everything ready for the new year -we can not wait, so many new and exciting things are planned.

In my eyes there is only one thing you can do with ribbon on Christmas Eve.  Actually it is the ONLY day of the whole year that you can use ribbon in this way........

.....to tie Rudolph’s carrots together!!!

We all wish you a very Merry Christmas and hope you receive everything you wish for.

Nearly nearly there!  Are you all ready?

I cannot believe that I have made a post everyday this month, shown you a different idea or project all using ribbons, BUT I have run out of days!!! I still have lots of ideas that I could share with you.  It was great to read Kim’s comment last night that she had been decorating her candles with ribbons, before reading the countdown post. It just goes to show that ribbon is just so versatile.

I have spent the day wrapping Individual Christmas Cakes, I confess I did not make the cakes, but I have decorated them. The cakes are for our French neighbour’s, they are only small but make great gifts, a little bit of England.  We found out by accident a few years ago the French are rather partial to rich English fruit cake!!

Gathered up wire edge ribbon around the cake.

Add a few ribbon roses and buds on top and you have an individual gift.

Tony is heartbroken, no really.  We forgot to bring his Christmas Pudding with us!!!! He reckons that it will just not be the same without pudding. And if course it was MY fault – I hate the stuff.

I gather the weather is pretty bad back home, please do all take care.  I do have one last posting tomorrow, I hope you will all have time to pop by for a quick read.

Candles seem to add a little extra magic and sparkle at Christmas time. Have you thought about decorating them with ribbon. Not so the ribbon is anywhere near the naked flame – candle safe remember.

Church style candles are perfect to decorate.

Wrap assorted ribbons around the bottom sections of the candles and secure in place with a few pins.

Why not coordinate your Christmas table this year.

Tie matching ribbon onto napkins to make them look extra special.

No Church candles, then how about tea lights. A ribbon stuck around the metal case just adds that little bit of magic.

Sydney had a padded sling fitted today, she was finding it very difficult with the weight of the plaster cast. It goes from her knuckles all the way to under her arm, and is not a light weight version. The plaster was so heavy that poor Bev was having to walk around with Syd supporting its weight!!!

The sling has brought Syd back to almost normal, Bev had to hang up quickly as Syd had pinned poor Sam in the bunny cage!!!!!

Sorry got side lined – Crackers.

You can have so much fun decorating crackers with ribbon. Wrap it, Knot it or Stick it, ribbon can be used on every section of a cracker. Skinny ribbons, Wide ribbons and even Wire Edge ribbons can be used.

Just play with a pile of ribbons and see what you come up with.

It’s much warmer here in Brittany then back home, Rachie said the warehouse was freezing this morning.  Thanks to the winners of the Friday FREEBIES, emailing us your address details. I confirm your parcels were sent out by First Class post, so should reach you time to go under the Christmas Tree.

Not sure whether to bake some mince pies for Tony or curl up and watch a movie........ummmm!

Yesterday was a very stressful day.  I saw Syd twice, the first time she was very poorly and rather lost in the big hospital bed.  The second was a little while later, and she was feeling much better. She was smiling and even allowed me to take some wonderful photos of her pulling horrid faces at Sam!

It was with very heavy hearts that Tony and I made our way to the ferry port, we were booked on the night crossing to spend Christmas in Brittany.  It was on the journey that I read your kind get well messages, they made me cry!!  Thank you all so much for caring.  I have spoken to Syd today, she is at home, and as you all predicted has everyone wrapped around her little fingers!!!!!

We have no Syd to pull this weeks Friday FREEBIE from our (now, continental travelling) “Bingo” bag, so we thought Snowy could do it for us. 

The lucky winners are of our Friday FREEBIE Christmas Parcels are......

4 – Lisa Hemmings9 – Kim Thompson

Well done girls, thank you for your comments.  Please email craftyribbons@gmail.com so the girls can send your parcels out tomorrow, in time for Christmas. They will only be in the office till about lunch time, so please send details early.

Thank you to everyone who left us some wonderful comments, we do enjoy reading them.

No project as such today, only to say don’t forget to use your ribbons on everything this Christmas, Snowy has a ribbon scarf and a ribbon snowflake on his hat!!  I know I am a little crazy!

Today has not turned out as planned.  Little Sydney had an accident yesterday afternoon and was taken to hospital with a damaged elbow.  She has had a operation this morning and is recovering.  The poor little thing has had to have 3 pins put into her elbow to rejoin it all together.  No further news at mo, I am going to the hospital later.  It is all rather distressing. 

We have cancelled our Christmas party which was today, and will have it in the new year. Everyone has promised they will still get dressed up and we can have crackers and christmas fun!

These are the prezzies I have been making for the girls. 

Talk about a tight wad Boss, giving them recycled cans!!! Ahh but you do not know what is inside!

During the week I offered to make lunch for everyone - they just managed to stop themselves from falling over! 

What I really wanted were the cans, making lunch was the only way I could think of, of getting the cans opened without using the ring pull - clever.

I then washed them out and dried them well.  I covered the inside with some matching paper, filled the can with goodies (can't tell as the girls have not seen these.)  I had planned on putting them on the table instead of name cards at the party.  I then stuck the bottom of the can back on with hot glue.

The fun part was decorating them with ribbons!!!  Trees and Santa are all ribbon, stuck onto card and cut out.

Dilemma - Do I leave these on their desks for Monday morning or keep them for the new party.  Hoo! Hum!

Last Friday FREEBIE.... of this year!

Something to read, something to make, something to play with - all that is missing is something to eat!  These goodies could all be yours in this weeks Friday FREEBIE all you have to do is leave a comment.  We have two parcels to win again this week, well it is Christmas!  Let us know if you have tried any of the countdown projects.

We will pick this weeks winner on SUNDAY afternoon, so that you can email us your addresses before we close on Monday.  We still have not heard from Sue D, last weeks winner, please email us so we can post the goodies to you in time for Christmas.  We are closing the warehouse from Monday 21st December and will reopen on Monday 4th Jan, but the posts will continue.

We only have a few days to go and I have been trying to finish several projects.  Only small jobs but they all use ribbon!

It's our Christmas party tomorrow and Winnie had nothing to wear, this is his NEW Christmas outfit.

I asked Syd what colours would Winnie like this time and she went straight for where we keep the "Bling".  Kiwi and Pink - not normally a colour for little boy bears! It took me an evening to make this little outfit, all from ribbon.  I am sure Syd will love it!

Second job was to finish the stockings, Bev brought these into the office. "Please can you put names on them Ali, so they do not fight over them". Yes the names are from ribbon, a wide metallic gold, all I have done is to iron bondaweb onto one side, printed off the names (in reverse) and cut the letters out.  Iron onto the stocking and it becomes unique!

Ribbon can make some really simple little gifts, look at this that was sent in by Tracey and Paul for our Ribbon Challenge # 10.

Isn't it fantastic, a simple idea but it is amazing.

I am doing a bit of skiving later, I am going to the hair dressers to be pampered!! Well with all this sewing and glueing I have done every evening, I need a little me time!!!!!!

Ooooh! It's getting closer!  Sydney came round after school yesterday to help me hang our Christmas cards in the warehouse, we have had quite a few - thank you all for sending them, they are great.  And lots of them have ribbon on! Yeah!

Sydney and I wandered around the warehouse, trying to decide where to put the cards so everyone could see them.  Not sure she understood what we were doing but she played along with me quite happily. Ahh! We had found the just the right place for them.

This is a big white wall at the side of the stairs leading up to my "Play room".  We are open plan, so it can been seen from all around the warehouse.  There is a huge hand painted mural above the cards that we commissioned for an exhibtion stand yonks ago, it catches everyones attention so the cards will not be missed.

I held the ribbon while syd cut it into lengths, she can be quite bossy and likes to pick the best jobs!  We pinned the ribbons onto the wall, Syd holding the bottom edge while I did the top - remember we are working on the stairs.  I then tied the bows while Syd munched her way through some Chocolate coins she had found in my room.  We attached the bows to the lengths of ribbons with a few pins and started to hang the cards onto the ribbon with small gold pegs.

They go from the top to the bottom and we think they look amazing.

Thought I would get todays ribbon posting in early, I have the day to myself and I have lots of jobs that need to be finished.  The main one being the prezzies I am making for the girls, the only thing I have made so far are the tags!!

Have a good day.