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!!

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

Sometimes they come thick and fast, others are a slow drawn out process - ideas that is!

This card idea came to me like a flash, while Rachie was trying to teach Sydney another version of this rhyme.  Something to do with potatoes and trousers!!

I simply typed the words and printed it out on to white card.  Sewed a few buttons (here) in place with white thread and that was it.  Simple idea, simple to make and simply says it all.

If you would like to use this idea then you can find the artwork here.  Please copy and 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!!!

We had a visit from Janet our local blog follower on Monday.  She brought us a cake decorated with dolly mixtures.  Yum yum all gone Janet, we loved it thank you.  Janet just popped round to make sure we were all ok after last weeks little drama.  While chatting she asked if I was planning on giving any Valentine ideas.  Oooooh, err, ummmm...........not really an answer.  But I got to thinking Monday night, and came up with a few card sketches (does anyone else sketch their ideas?).

This card looks nothing like any of my sketched ideas!!! But I do really like the cleanness of the design, it works for me.

The buttons came from our Hearts Hearts Hearts button box here.  I used six stranded embroidery thread to sew the buttons to the card and then simply tied a knot and fanned out the threads. I used three different sized buttons all in the same colour.  There are lots of different shaped hearts in the button box, in a selection of colours, so you can have a good old play.

The paper is from a collection I bought in France, in a wonderful scrapbooking shop. Tony hates visiting the little village as they have opted to keep the French driving law that cars entering a roundabout or joining a road at a junction have RIGHT OF WAY.

The "all my love" ribbon is a NEW Design and can be found here. I wrapped some more embroidery thread around the card, and used the ribbon to scrunch the threads together with a simple knot.  I adjusted the ribbon a few times until I managed to get the ribbon words in the right place.

The all my love ribbon comes in a small selection of colours, I do like these ones as well..................

Come and join me tomorrow to see what I made with the red ribbon.

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.

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

Todays Hello wednesday project has been made by one of our young French customers - Louise.  I think Louise will be 13 towards the end of this month, she comes to see us at every show with her mother and grandmother.  She made this card for Tony, to thank him for sending entrance tickets and it is beautifully written inside in English. The aida fabric has a slight sparkle which gives it that extra Christmas feel, and Louise's stitching is so neat. Perfect.

Louise is a great fan of our ribbons, and always finds the new designs.  She loves Hello Kitty and quickly found a few ribbons she had not seen before.

Both Louise and her mum are blog followers, so hopefully this will be a nice surprise when they come and visit.

I have no idea what it is about the French shows, the long hours, trying hard to speak French, the conversion from sterling to euros or the intensity of the customers to learn - or a little bit of everything, but they wipe us out!!  I feel somewhat better than yesterday, but definitely not back to normal.  My foot is complaining from all the walking and standing up, but I managed to get a proper pair of shoes on for Saturday so it must be getting better.

It feels good to know there are no more shows this year, our first one next year, believe it or not is back in Paris!!!  There you go Rachie, you do not have to change the signs around or re-price everything.  See I do love you.

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

As we were loading the van on Saturday for our show in Paris (starts today) I remembered that there was no point in taking one of the props.  We were sold out of most of the key elements, as I took it out of the yellow prop box Rachie came to the van with another crate of stock, and saw me removing it.  No way was she going to tell me to make another one!! She still feels bad about the cushion accident.

But I had got all the buttons ready to take home, this is what I came up with.........................

.....................you may recall I made a red and white one last December, you can see it here.  This time I went for a fresh lime and red colour way, the lime gives it a zingy look I think.  I must admit I did chicken out at using scissors to cut the backs of the buttons off.  A customer had previously told me she used nail clippers, they worked even better then scissors.

I love the way the Let it snow button finishes off the base of the heart. The little pearls are from a packet from the front of a magazine, I keep all those bits, normally for the little guys to craft with.  I have removed ALL the Christmas buttons from the website, I could not decide how much stock to take to Paris, so I took the lot!!  They will go back on early next week, but if you would like any of the buttons here, then a quick email to rachie at  rachie.craftyribbons@gmail.com and she will reserve them for you.

I do hope Bev, Rachie and the rest of the Crafty Team are looking after you all well.  I pre wrote this post on Sunday as I knew there would be no way I would have time to do it from Paris.  Not even taking a computer this time!

Tony and I will be back in the office on Tuesday, do hope you all have a fab week.

Wish us luck!

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

During our Hobbycraft de-briefing on Monday, Rachie wanted to know why we had sold so many Delphinium Crush button boxes (here) compared to all the other colours. That was easy to answer - my LOVE Cushion (here) is part of the display above the button boxes. Rachie then informed us that we did not have sufficient stock to go to Paris with, so I had better not take the cushion.   But.....but......that will leave a big hole in my display Rachie.  She had the perfect answer - Make a NEW Cushion!

I took two button boxes home with me, Autumn Leaves and Cosy Brights and all the felt colours I had, planning on making another LOVE cushion but I was tired and I laid the E and L out incorrectly.  "Bingo" light bulb moment..............change LOVE to NOEL. Perfect.

I used the same font as before called Arial Black, and the same size very large at 480.  These will fit onto a cushion 40cm square.  I just printed the letters out on plain paper and roughly cut away the excess paper.  I pinned NOEL onto some toning felt and cut them out, cutting through the paper and the felt at the same time.  All the other instructions are the same as for the LOVE cushion here.

Once  I had the NOEL idea I wanted to create a rich Jewel effect so it had to be the Cosy Bright buttons (here).  Rather then just using the small buttons as I did for the LOVE cushion, I mixed the sizes as I felt this gave the jewelled effect I was after.  I added the extra button details to the felt letters for the same reason.

I am really pleased with the effect and will take it into the warehouse to show the girls later today, and it will be on display in Paris next week.

This is the cushion I was embroidering Monday night when I had my accident, so really it is Rachie I have to blame for my injury!!!  Thank you so much for your concern, yes it was very painful and is causing me some discomfort.  I am taking care and resting it as much as anyone can.  I can cope with the pain but am having terrible flash backs when I shut my eyes, seeing the scissors in my heel. I was unable to use scissors last night when finishing the cushion, the sight of a pair makes my stomach do a somersault!!  I will have to get over this pretty soon, I can not run a ribbon company and have a phobia of scissors!!!!!

Have fun and enjoy the day.

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

As you are aware I am always on the look out for items that I can use for projects and ideas.  One of my favourite stores for this is Wilkinsons, I made a quick trip to Poole last week, so just HAD to take a look at Wilkinsons new Christmas bits.  I do not believe they had their full display out, and to be honest I was rather disappointed as there was very little I thought I could use.  But my star buy were some felt hearts, and look what I made...............

......some button love!!  Mine are very festive in red and green and the merry Christmas ribbons, but they would also be awesome for Valentines.

I simply stuck buttons on with PVA glue, I used the Christmas Button Box HERE and had a good old play.  I just added buttons one at a time until the felt heart was covered.

They were an amazing price at £1.50 for 4 hearts, they only come in red and green and they only had a few boxes........so I bought the lot!!! Well you never know.... I only wish they had felt trees or stars, maybe I will have to take another trip to Poole next week.

We are all ready to go, Rachie and her little team of helpers had the stand bursting with stock and loaded onto the van by mid afternoon yesterday.  I only heard the van back doors open on a few occasions as little "forgotten" items were popped in!! 

Where are we going?

Please come and say "hi"!