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

Do you remember our EXCLUSIVE New England Happy Christmas Saddle Stich ribbon with the little heart?  It is here to jog your memory.

It was so popular that we sold out and had to do a re-print in October,  and then it sold out again by the end of November!! Well it got us thinking................ maybe you would like it to say Happy Birthday, maybe you would like it printed on some zesty colours...................

...........................what do you think?

9mm grosgrain ribbon, five different colours all printed with the saddle stitch edging and the little stitched heart, and the best bit - they are EXCLUSIVE to us! Yeah!!!

I am not very good at using patterned paper, but these ribbons seem to go with everything.

You can find the new ribbon HERE. Hope you like it.

Wish me luck, just about to leave for another session of treatment on my thumb, I wonder which bit of my they are going to hurt today!!

Well did you enjoy the blog hop?  I think several of us including me were blog hop newbies, yes I did follow the hop myself.  And for once I did not get lost! Thank you to everyone that took part, you will find the winner of the £20.00  voucher and all the candy winners on the challenge blog here.

The winner of our blog hop candy was Victoria - if you can email me at craftyribbons@gmail.com you will have some wonderful ribbons to play with Victoria.

Carol is hosting this new Challenge and the title to her theme is..........Love is Black and Red.  Oooooh Carol Black and Red, not colours I believe I have worked with before, so another new challenge for me.  Well that is what it is all about. 

Black and red, red and black I wandered the ribbon aisle. Ummm velvet for a bit of luxury, grosgrain for added texture and all my love ribbon - perfect.  So I rushed back upstairs with my little hoard and started to play. I like playing!

Well I do not think you can get more black and red then that.  Velvet ribbon can be found here, some 60 colours! The grosgrain is 16mm and you will find lots here, the all my love ribbons we launched yeaterday and are here.  So that is my entry for this new challenge, but you can find the rest of the DT creations by visiting the challenge blog here.

As always there is a prize..............and what a surprise...................Bev's bag is all Black and Red!

Enjoy.

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

Hello wednesday"s are back - well only just.  I am a day out, thought today was Tuesday!

No I have not lost the plot and this is not a leftover from our countdown to Christmas ideas - I made this for my birds.

It has turned pretty nippy here in Dorset, so I thought it was time to start looking after the birds in the garden.  I made a bag of popcorn then threaded it onto 3mm sheer ribbons, I tried 3mm satin but the ribbon kept breaking the popcorn.  The sheer ribbon here, is so fine that it just slipped through the popcorn.  I made several of these garlands and have hung them on my trellis.  I waited awhile to see if I could get a photo with a bird feeding on them........but.................it was too cold, for me not the birds!

So a nice easy ribbon idea to get you started for the new year.

Who would like some FREE ribbons on Facebook?

All you have to do is like our Facebook page here for a chance to win these three packs of ribbons We will announce the winner tomorrow on Facebook.

Hope you are all warm and well.

I only have one little job today - ribbon wise that is!

To hang my little Ribbon Fairy on my tree.

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas.

I am excitedly waiting for the over night ferry to arrive with Rachie, Mollie and Marten.  They are spending Christmas with us here in France.  Mollie's bedroom is all ready, she has a glowing Snowman as her night light.  It will be only the second Christmas morning I have woken up with a little one in the house.  I am not sure who is more excited Mollie or Ali..............I think it is me!!!

I have always wanted to see Santa's snowy footprints in my house........................do you think he will come...................will he find us here in France?  Oh I do hope so.

Have a magicial time, little kiddies and big kiddies alike!

If you need a last minute idea for a little prezzie for a crafting friend - then this could be for you.

Glass jars filled with buttons and ribbons! I would be delighted to receive these, just up my street!

The jars I found in Dorchester, the local Woolworths was taken over by it's store manager and renamed it Wellchester.  It is a super store and you can always find a treasure or two in there.  These two jars were £1.50 which i thought was magic.  I did very little work on them apart from making a picushion for the top of the ribbon jar and I stuck 3 buttons on the other jar lid. simple and quick.

Todays challenge delights are from Laura.

A little box covered in the Gingerbread tag ribbon.  Laura designed the size of the box around the tags, making a template and then cutting it from double sided colour card. But that is not all........

..it explodes when opened. WOW Laura totally fab idea - love it.

We must not forget the tree this time of year, Laura has come up with another super idea to hold those Christmas chocs.  That is just wicked Laura, will choc make it to Christmas day?

Thanks Laura for your super creations, they certainly hit the spot with me.

I can not believe it is time for another challenge over on our Ribbon Challenge Blog - but it is. Thank you to everyone that took part in the last challenge, such wonderful creations.

Our new Challenge has been choosen by Pinky and her theme is Traditional Colours for Christmas.

Ooooh......ooh........here am I jumping up and down, I can do this challenge, just up my street as they say.

Not just any odd Christmas Tree...............oh no...................this tree is special.................It is a Christmas Door Stop Tree. 

I made a sheet of fabric by ironing lengths of the New England ribbons here onto iron-on vilene then simply ironed them in place.  Next I drew a tree shape onto some paper, making the branches fit the widths of ribbon.  I cut it out and refined the shape slightly, it had rather a big bottom.  I placed cream felt, then the ribbon fabric and finally the template on top, pinned it all together and machined around the paper shape.  Removing all the pins and the paper shape, I cut around the tree, snipped and clipped the corners and then turned it through to the right side.

Using a knitting needle I poked out all the tree shape, to give it the rustic feel I embroidered some straight stiches to look as if it was holding the ribbon together.

I wanted to make the stitches uneven.  I had to keep unpicking it as I realised they were all neatly lined up - no Ali, messy and rustic! I part filled the tree with toy stuffing and the balance with rice so it would be weighted down. Not sure it would hold a door from slamming in gale force winds, but it does look sweet sat on the floor.

We hope you can join in with our New Challenge, if you have a spare moment pop on over here and have a look at what the talented DT girls have come up with.  There are some super ideas.  Must not forget the prize for the lucky winner. Mulberry Crafts are our sponsor this week and Bev has given a delightful selection of flowers.

Bev writes - MulberryCraftsUK online shop is a Home-Based business run by Bev .At the moment we are focusing on providing miniature flowers made from genuine mulberry paper for crafts use - although we have a small selection of non -paper crafts too. Why mulberry papers? Because they are robust, look realistic and last longer than ordinary paper and provide a sustainable income for people in the cottage industry. In due course we will be introducing more of  other craft materials not related to mulberry paper.  Website - mulberrycraftsuk.co.uk

Did you see our ribbons on telly last night?  Channel 4 - Kirstie's homemade Christmas. The parcels underneath Kirstie's tree were wrapped in our ribbons.  Crafty Ribbons on telly!

That's me for today, see you all tomorrow.

Christmas would not be complete without at least one gingerbread man or biccy man as Mollie calls them!

I wanted to create a parcel that was a little bit different and full of fun for the children.  What a parcel looks like is not that important to children, they are only after what is inside.  But this one did make Mollie stop in her tracks yesterday.  So much so she had to come and help me photograph it.  She then asked if she could open it, not yet Mollie!

I crushed some red tissue paper into a ball, to create the crinkle effect and used our gingerbread ribbon to make the bow here and also a touch of gingham ribbon here.

For the gingerbread tag I used the same template I used last year for the felt gingerbread men I made.  You can find it here, I just reduced it in size slightly.

I stuck the brown felt to some thin card and cut out the gingerbread man shape.  With a normal needle and thread I sewed around the edge with normal running stitches.  A few red buttons from our Christmas Berry Button Box here and a Bow Tie style bow finished it off.  Just one thing left, to hole punch him and thread the 5mm red gingham ribbon through.  Ummm I had a little problem, I could not bear to put a hole in his head.............it was bad enough punching his hand!!!

As there is card on the reverse of the felt, I will have no problem writing my Christmas wishes.

Look someone has followed my tutorial of the Love Cushion here

Catie is 11 and made this totally on her own.  Catie it is fab, did you make it for yourself or as a present?  I love my LOVE cushion so much that I was reluctant to display it on the exhibition stand this season. After a bit of ooohing and aahing I decided to pin it to the top of the back wall of the stand..............that way no one would be able to touch it. Naughty I know, but it normally sits in my spare bedroom.

Well done Catie and I hope this Christmas Advent has given you a few more ideas.

Do you have rain like us in Dorset or snow today?

As a child I remember making paper chains with my mum and sisters, I used to hate the job of licking the sticky ends of the paper.  But being big sis I used to find ways of making Rachie do the licking.  It is amazing what you can achieve with an offer of a few chocolate coins!!  What is amazing is that it is still working to this day with Sam and Mollie - brilliant.

No bribery needed with these ribbon chains - as licking is not required!

Perfect chains every time.  Not much fun making chains on your own so I press ganged Sydney and Sam into helping me.

We had perfect team work going - I cut the ribbons into lengths............

..........................Sam threaded the ribbon through each other to make the chains.....................

................and Sydney did the stapling.  We stapled ours, we borrowed uncle T's special style stapler, but you could use sticky dots or double sided tape.  These are very quick to make and we had great fun, which is what Christmas is all about!   Ooooh and no mess. I think the three of us could have gone on for ever, but we ran out of staples, and uncle T said he had no more...........bar humbug uncle T.

We used the cheap ribbon from our Bargain rolls here, but any ribbon can be used, even scraps to make a truly jumbled effect.

Claire has gone for a classic look with her cards for the challenge goodies.

Oooh I do think this is super Claire, so simple and elegant.  I got excited yesterday - I received my first Christmas card...........hand made of course.  Thank you Debbie.

Divine Claire, the little green button in the snowflakes sets it off beautifully.

Oooh what a little sweetie, he is adorable Claire. My angel hair has hidden the ribbon, which is just as well because we are sold out of this design!

Thank you Claire for your wonderful creations.  We hope Claire's designs or our ribbon chains have inspired you to get crafting this Christmas.

Yesterdays upgrade seems to have all gone to plan, apart for the notification emails, they were a bit strange yesterday - sorry.  The formatting had changed and we had not realised, I am hoping todays will look like it used to. I love the new changes that happen with upgrades, but I could do without the headache of the learning curve!

Have a great day, I have to be a grown up today off to see the accountant!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree................ this one is tiny!

Do you remember my ribbon carnation video I made back in the summer, you can find the link in the side bar - I can not believe it, I have had over 107000 hits! wooopeee! 

Sorry I will get back on track, the reason for the carnation mention is that the tree is made the same way, just gathering the ribbon using the wire.  But instead of making it form a circle and sewing in place, I have wrapped it around a cone and used small pins to hold it.

WARNING - it does use a lot of ribbon, this tree stands about 18cm high and took 15mtrs of 15mm ribbon - but I think it is super.  I had it sat by the telly last night and decided it needed some decorations.  I used a single gold star here, gold seed beads here and a few red buttons from our Christmas Berry Button Box here all simply held in place with pins.  The first one I made I left the cone white, but found I did not like the look, so used a gold promarker to colour the cone for this tree - much better.

Still need a little bit more inspiration then have a look at our Challenge goodies.

Twinkle has made this truly rustic effect card. In all the years (I missed our 3rd bloganniversary on 1st november) of running the blog I have never created something with ribbon weaving, it is so easy and looks wicked. I love the use of the garden twine, super idea.

A Snow Wand - I think this has been used further up the country last night, but no Snow here in Dorset.  Twinkle this is a really fun idea, I can just picture the children running around waving their snow wands.  Just imagine if it snowed that night - awesome.

You certainly left us comments this week, 82 I believe - thank you, thank you. Your comments are truly special to us and we have all enjoyed reading them.  Great to hear from those that we thought no longer visited, and even more pleased to know that you have been popping on for a quick read.

We have three Special Christmas Advent vouchers to be won.  Our "Bingo" bag is a bursting this week, and I have double checked that all 82 numbers are there.  Mollie gave the bag a mega shake up for me.  Mollie needed help so asked her friend George and the numbers they pulled out were.........................

Number 24 = Karen Jones
These are lovely, Well done Ali you're a star!......and chance to win a voucher that's just brilliant, Thank You.xx
Happy Weekend Everyone.

Number 31 = Karen vdP
These flower lights really are a fantastic idea - so pretty and original. I loved the advent calendar also, but too late for me to try. I am using silk ribbon from you at the moment to embroider white ponsettia on a jumper (actually, they look quite like snow flakes)! - I am excited about the results. Just hope original is not verging on weird!

Thanks for the generous voucher freebies this Christmas.
Karen vdP

Number 52 = Ali Sherman
Your poinsettia lights are beautiful. Your Christmas table is going to look amazing.
I'm so glad you've found the time and energy to keep the blog going. There are so many wonderful blogs but I have to admit this is the only one that I always visit, and read every single post. I'm not always able to comment though.
For anyone who keeps trying to comment but find it vanishes please email Ali, the same thing happened to me.  I thought it was a problem my end and left it for ages before emailing Ali, and she didn't bite!! Now my comments never disappear.
Have a good weekend all
Ali xx 

Woooohooo girls you each have £20 to spend in our store.  All we need are emails to craftyribbons@gmail.com and we will tell you how to spend your vouchers.  Please do keep following us this week, we have super projects and ideas to share, more challenge goodies as well as the Friday FREEBIE.

Just a little bit of info, we have today upgraded the software we use for the blog, you may have noticed it was off line for about an hour.  We hope the update might help with the little problem we have with our spam filters - so fingers crossed.  Any problems just email me and I will try and help.

Hope you are well and warm, has snow reached you yet?

I just adore the aromas of Christmas, cinnamon, apple, spices and have been trying to think of a way I could do this with ribbon. A "Bingo" moment hit me while doing the food shopping yesterday. We were having lunch in the supermarket cafe and they had decorated their Christmas trees with bundles of cinnamon sticks  - oooh I can do that and more......

I filled our trolley with apples and oranges, a tub of bay leaves and some cinamon sticks.  Sadly Tony has got to the stage where he no longer asks what I am up to, and just joins in searching for the new items on our list!

How many doors do you have in your house? Why?  Because you can make these....................

Oooooh they smell divine and just like Christmas.

I have never dried apples and oranges before, but a quick visit to you tube and I had the gist of it.  Slice the fruit and bake in a low oven for a long time. 

I started to make my door hangers this morning, using a big needle and some red and white gingham here, (gingham just shouts christmas) I simply threaded everything onto the ribbon.  The bay leaves can tear very easily so be careful with those.  I love the way the apples have curled.  Thinking about it I could have dried a few limes, next time.

I added a bell at the bottom here, just to get thet sort of jingle bell Christmas is coming sound when the doors are opened effect! I knotted both ends to secure all the goodies in place, then added a few gingham bows to the top and a hanging loop to go over the door handles. The red sugared ball things you can see came from my stash, I got them from Hobbycraft in the sale.  I thought they went perfectly with the red gingham ribbon.

That's it, I am off to make a few more.

Have a fab Sunday.