Beyond the page

I thought that I would try one of these corsages that I saw people wearing at the recent Stampin' Up convention, I didn't realise how easy they would be.

The centre of the corsage is a button from my craft box & I also used a glue gun and brooch back.
The ribbon on the brooch is Basic black striped Grosgrain ribbon 115615. I used 16" and turned the edges in & stitched them then stitched small running stitches along the length of the ribbon & gently gathered them up to make the rosette & stitched the middle together to secure it. The centre of the corsage is 1/4" Real red grosgrain ribbon 109034 threaded through the buttonholes from front to back & back through the front on opposite sides. I used a glue gun to glue the rosette onto the large button & then the brooch back onto the centre of the button.
I think that these are cute & would make a lovely cracker present.

Ribbon Pick 'n' Mix

I have been asked by a number of customers if I will do another ribbon share.

What I've done this time is a pick 'n' mix. 

Each share is for 1 metre of each colour within a type of ribbon.

1 Share of Taffeta ribbon
8 colours 1 metre of each £4.80











1 Share ~ 1" Double stitched Grosgrain ribbon
3 colours 1 metre of each colour £2.25










1 share ~ 1 1/4" Striped Grosgrain ribbon
4 colours 1 metre of each £4.00







1 share of 5/8" Satin ribbon
4 colours ( including the 3 colours from the mini catalogue )
1 metre of each £1.60




1 share of 3/16" Gingham ribbon 
6 colours 1 metre of each £2.40










1 Share 5/8" Grosgrain ribbon
8 colours 1 metre of each £4.00












1 share 1/" Striped Grosgrain ribbon
6 colours 1 metre of each £4.50






















1 share 1/4" Grosgrain ribbon
11 colours 1 metre of each £3.30

As the name suggests this is a pick 'n' mix so there is no minimum order and you can choose as many shares as you like.

I will post the ribbon shares out free of charge. pay pal preferred.

A few ribbons are not yet in hand so I will let you know estimated delivery dates for ribbons I have to order.

This pick 'n'  mix ribbon sampler is offered by myself as an independant Stampin' Up demonstrator.

Summer By The sea samples

These are the samples that I have made for my summer by the sea open house, which I sadly had to postpone on Friday as I have a nasty chest infection that is making me feel awful.







The summer by the sea set 104243 which is sadly retiring at the end of September is one I have only just bought as I thought I would struggle with it as it's not my usual style, but I have loved working with it & the watercolor wonder crayons another recent purchase.






If you are interested in getting this set before it goes you only have until midnight on the 30th September.

Bow maker top tip

If you dont have a bow maker you can use a crib board & matchsticks.

A.		Take a length of ribbon. Starting at the back, wrap the ribbon around both pegs,
		wrong side of the ribbon facing you, ending with both ends in front
B.		Place the left ribbon to the right of your bowmaker
C.		With the right ribbon, go around the left ribbon end, over towards the front then back under ribbon A
D.		Bring the right ribbon end over the top of the back ribbon, right side of the ribbon facing up
		You are finished with essentially the first square knot
		Next is another square knot to complete the bow
E.		Create a loop by bringing the left ribbon back towards the left side of the bowmaker
F.		Bring the right ribbon over and through the loop just made from the left ribbon, ending to the right
		Pull both ends tight.
		Remove the bow from the pegs and adjust if needed, tighten both ends carefully.

Butterflies & dragonflies tag card

It's my sister in laws birthday tomorrow and i wanted to make her a special card, she loves fairies & dragonflies so I thought that these paper from Trimcraft fantasy & In the pink really suited this project.

Front

Inside Front

Second page with Greeting
Inside second page the stamp is by Creative express first layer is stamped & embossed onto a deep pink Bazzill card and finely glittered, the second layer is stamped and embossed onto pale pink parchment, the butterfly is only fixed using dimensionals under the middle of the body so it give the illusion of floating.Third Page

Back page

The completed tag book constructed with Bind it all and finished off with ribbon bows on the spine

The pictures really dont do this justice & none of the glitter & Glitz show.

Todays top tip

Ribbons To Dye For

Keep a spool of white grosgrain ribbon on hand to make your own coordinating ribbons. Colour in the ribbon with any colour marker or rub with an ink pad and viola - you will have a custom coordinated ribbon.

Top tip of the day

My name is Lisa i'm a self confessed hoarder, so when I had finished making my batch of 30 cards last night I had 3 lengths of ribbon left that tied the cards & envelopes in bundles but it was badly creased, so I put it on one side making a mental note to iron it next time I had the iron out, too get the iron out would be fatal as guilt would take over & I would have to tackle the ironing pile.
I was sitting in my craft room waiting for my hair straighteners to heat up & it came to me, and it worked, pull the ribbon through the hair straighteners whilst they are switched on and lovely pressed ribbon. Just a shame I couldn't come up with a time saving idea for the ironing.

Ribbon Storage

Whilst searching through one of my favourite galleries I came across this brilliant idea for storing ribbons.
I cannot take credit for the idea that goes to k_benko

What a brilliant idea a length of white guttering.

Top Tips

my top tip- never take your purse into a craft shop !!!!
(Thanks crafty piglet)

Don't buy any Penny Black stamps as you'll soon be addicted and run out of money!!
Thanks Vanessa.


1) invest in a decent card folder and bone creaser and make your own card blanks-much cheaper than buying ready made ones.

2) when shopping for a particular craft item- always shop around first as very often you can it much cheaper elsewhere!

3) have a regular craft session just using up all odds and ends and left over scraps, you'll be amazed how creative you can be.

4) turn your junk mail into craft items...pretend credit cards can be heat embossed, envelope liners to use as iris folding papers, shop leaflets used as backing papers, cd/dvd freebies as embellishments!

5) don't buy rubber stamps or dies unless you can think of at least 3 different occasions on which you could use them!

6) When using ribbons, cutting the end of the ribbon at an angle will prevent the ribbon from fraying.

7)When not using your ink pads storing them upside down will retain the moisture in the ink and stop them drying out.

8) When heat embossing wipe over the card with a little baby talc to prevent static.

9) A piece of A4 paper, rubbed over with baby oil and left to dry, looks just like plain vellum!

10) Divide your papers and cards into colour's, so you can pick what you want easily.

11) when heat embossing or stamping use baby wipes to clean edge of the stamp so you don't get excess ink of paper/card.

12) If you run out of letters for scrapbook you can cut up old ceral boxes and use the letters.

13) Don't waste money buying coloured glaze pens. you will only need the clear
one. You can colour the images yourself and then glaze with clear pen.

14) Pergamano, rub over both sides of your parchment with Bounce dryer sheet, this makes it easier to emboss and prick.

15) Don't always buy the cheapest inks as the better quality ones give a better stamp impression every time.

16)Invest in a good quality paper trimmer/guillotine with a built in ruler as it saves you loads of time measuring to size.

17)Take photos of your made cards and store them on the computer or a usb flash drive to refer to at a later date if you need to make that card or similar again. Add notes about the particular technique used if it was a difficult one.

18) To keep punches sharp, punch a few times through a sheet of tinfoil (gives your bacon under the grill a certain style too! lol)

Ribbon Storage

Made from a covered twiglet tube , Then eyelets added to thread ribbon through
Thanks Yvette ( li`l red) ~ Docrafts forum for sharing this idea