Cupcake Crazy

Everyone seems to be going cupcake crazy these days and not just for eating either. We have had a delivery of fabulous cupcake ribbon and I couldn't wait to get it on the web site for all to see. i thought that I'd give everyone on the blog a quick peek at the fabulous, and oh so hot ribbon.

 The first one is a 9mm grosgrain cupcake ribbon with really cute tickled pink cupcakes that seem to just dance across the ribbon.

 The second is every little girl's dream ribbon. Pink and cakes, what more could you ask for. Yumm!

For the last one, we couldn't leave the chocolate aside and so here it is in the fantastic 16mm chocolate brown grosgrain ribbon. Even more yumm!

Christmas Ribbon Rosette

Have you noticed how rosettes of all shapes and sizes are becoming high fashion itmas and are being worn by so many people, crafty and otherwise? This is why I've chosen to do my latest project of a ribbon rosette and I've made it in Christmas colours so that it is in time for the coming holidays.

What's even better, is that I've put together an offer for you over on the mothership ( AKA http://www.craftfairy.co.uk/ ) so that you don't have to search around for each product and you will also get a discount by buying the lot! Even better. Click here for the offer.

So let's get on with it. You will need:

16mm red with green dots grosgrain ribbon. This should be cut into 4 x 15cm lengths.

16mm willow green grosgrain ribbon cut into 6 x 10cm lengths

1 piece of satin edged chiffon in a 30 cm length. No need to cut this in to short pieces.

1 red button

1 length of strong green thread.

1 strong needle. I know that I've said this before, but when you have to sew through several layers of grosgrain you will not be able to manage with a thin needle. A thimble is also a good extra to have.

Thread your needle and lay out the cut lengths of willow grosgrain as shown.

Secure the legths of ribbon in the centre with a couple of stitches to stop them moving when you sew the next layers. Your needle should now be on the right side of the work.

 

 Take one of the 15cm strips, form a loop and center the bottom of the loop on the underneath as shown in the image. The edges should overlap about 1cm. Push the needle up through the bottom of the loop, trying to get as closely centered both lengthwise and width wise as you can.

Pull first loop down the thread to sit on top of the bottom ribbons, then repeat process for remaining 3 loops. When all are threaded, arrange  them so they are evenly spaced in a nice circular arrangement. As you will see below.

Nearly there.

Now concertina fold the satin edged chiffon so that the folds are slightly narrower than the ones below and thread the needle up through the centre. Fan the folds out and stitch into place. It is at this point that you will be glad that you have a strong needle. Sew the button into the centre of the rosette.

Last of all you will need to trim the bottom layer of ribbon

on a slant. Then seal the edges with the flame of a tea light, This is by far the safest way to do it. The open flame of the gas hob is a bit too erractic. Finished.

Poinsettia Wreath for Christmas

Some of you may remember the poinsettia flower that I did as a tutorial a few weeks ago. I pondered and pondered about what I could do with it and finally this wreath is what I came up with.

If you want to make one then you will need some red felt to make the wreath and some kapok to stuff it. I cut out a circle of felt. I used a large ribbon reel but feel free to improvise and use whatever you have in the house. The centre was marked with a reel of beading wire that I happened to have handy.

The wreath is sewn together using good old blanket stitch and stuffed with kapok just before it is completely sewn together. Sew the poinsettias to the wreath.

I uesd a 38mm satin ribbon in teal to make the bow and the hanging ribbon. You can buy it from Craft Fairy here.

Vintage twisted ribbon roses

I've noticed that these twisted roses are appearing on many cards and sewing projects lately so I thought that I would bring you all a project and a video on how to do them. I've used fairly bright, well, very bright ribbon to make them as they can be shabby chic, but they can also be vivid and fashionable.

What You’ll Need:

Ribbon – at least 16mm wide

The one that I used here is the 23mm wide swiss dot grosgrain.

16mm satin ribbon in willow

a needle and thread
Cut a length of ribbon, about 30 to 45cm long. The longer (and wider) your ribbon, the larger your rose will be.
Tie a knot at one end of the ribbon, this will be the center of the rose.

Knot the end of the thread and secure it to the base of the knot.

Start twisting your ribbon and stitch it into place around the knot.

Carry on twisting the ribbon and sew it onto the rose that is developing.
Below is what it should look like from the front at this stage.
Keep on twisting and sewing until you have the size of rose that you want.

Once all the ribbon is wound up and secured, tuck the ends underneath and sew them into place with a few small stitchesKnot your thread, trim it, and you’re done
Now for the leaves. They are really simple too.

Take a length of the green satin ribbon and sew along one edge as shown. The longer the length the bigger the leaf. As a rule of thumb, your ribbon should be about two and a half times the width of the finished rose.
Pull the thread gently until you have gathered the ribbon as shown below.Stitch the ribbon together along the middle and then stitch it to the back of your rose and there you have it. Now you can make a card or far better brighten up a jumper or a hat.

Folded ribbon rose tutorial

A couple of weeks ago I asked if your 'could guess what it is yet?' I thought that I could get on and make a tutorial straight away but I have been so busy that it has taken me until now to do a very straight forward tutorial. So I've decided that I will put you out of your misery straight away, by showing you that the tutorial will be for a folded ribbon rose. The title of the post rather gave it away though. As I told you before you will need the shocking pink 23mm wide grosgrain for this and I used the swiss dot one as I wanted to have the contrast between the plain side and the dotty side. You can make a plain one if you want to but this looks kind of cute.

You will need to start by rolling a short section of the ribbon and securing it with a couple of stitches. Stitching is better than gluing as it will held in place and then, if you want to put it on a garment you can wash it without being afraid that it will fall apart. This roll will be your bud.

Next fold the ribbon at a 90 degree angle to the roll as shown below.Roll the ribbon around the central bud until you get to the end of the folded part. It will be obvious when you do it. Secure the bottom with a couple of stitches. ,Fold and roll again and again. See below. Make sure to put in a couple of stitches as you go.Below is what your rose should look like after you have folded a few times.Now look at the back and you will see how this is coming along, and where to put the stitching. Basically you keep on going until you have as many petals as you want. The cut you r ribbon and tuck the raw wdge under and tack into place. Turn over and your ribbon is done.

Pincushion for a competition

Today, I'm posting a set of instructions to make a pincushion. I am making this as I am going to enter it for a WI competition in the summer. So. as I was going to do it for this, I thought that I might as well do the instructions and blog it as well. Being in posession of a huge choice of ribbons I really had no choice but to use them. All the ribbons that you see here are available from craftfairy.co.uk

Here is the finished cushion. I know that it is really girly and over the top kitch but who cares. I thought that if I was going to go for a domestic goddess kind of thing I might as well go over the top. 1950's at least. I even feel a frilly apron coming on. Perhaps not today though.

So. if you want to make something like this you will need to do some ribbon weaving first. This really is a good way to use up your scraps too as it only requires short lengths. the sort that are usually too short to be used for anything else.

Cut yourself a piece of fuisable interfacing about 2cm larger than the finished size of the pinchshion. E.g. if your pinchshion is to be 50cm x 50cm then cut your square 51cm x 51cm. I used a lightweight interfacing as I wanted the finished cushion to be soft not stiff.

Put the interfacing on the ironing board, fuisable side up. If your don't do it this way your will fuse it to the board. Lay your ribbons out in a pattern and pin to the ironing board over the interfacing.

Cut your lengths of ribbon so that they extend beyond the size of the backing fabric. You will trim them later so don't worry about being too precise. I used a mixture of widths and patterns but to keep the design looking good I used only three harmonizing colours. Pink, blue and a touch of white in the pattern. Lay them vertically over the interfacing.

Now weave the same pattern of ribbon in the horizontal direction as shown.

You should end up with what you see below. Push the ribbons together so that there are no gaps showing and pin in place. You will need to do this or the ribbon will move when you iron it.

Cover the ribbon weaving with a cloth and press with the iron. Do not use steam. This will create enough adhesion to allow you to flip the ribbon weave over and then press again to cause a better adhesion and create your fabric. See below. Now, flip the fabric over, and iron from the back. This will ensure that the ribbons stick to the interfacing really well.

Now, take a length of sewing thread with a knot in one side and sew a running stitch along one edge of the ribbon very close to the edge. When you have reached the end pull the thread to gather it to approximately the length of your 4 sides combined. 40 cm in my case. Secure the end of the thread.

Pin to the right side of the edge of the ribbon fabric. Tack the ribbon in place very near the edge. You will not reallt have a seam allowance on the ribbon. No need to have one really as the ribbon has a sewn edge should not frey. There will be a seam allowance on the ribbon fabric though.

Cut a piece of backing fabric that is the same size as the interfacing. I used a little broiderie anglais that I had in my scraps basket. With right sides together and the ribbon in the middle like a sandwich sew around three sided of the pincushion. I did this by hand as it really is too fiddly to even contemplate sewing on the machine.

When you have done this turn the pincushion around to the right side and fill with kapok or any other stuffing that you have. I had some left over from goodness knows when. Sew the last side into place from the back of the cushion and you have done.

Valentine will be with us so soon

Here's a little something to get you going for the Valentine season. Fill it with choccies for an irrisistable pressie.You will need

1 A4 sheet of heavy paper

1 piece of white card to stamp the Babe with a Heart

Art and Graphic pens

Stix2 3d foam pads

Double sided sticky tape

Paper raffia

Message stamp of your choice, we have lots at reduced prices but their going fast.

Tag

Glue

Stazon inkpad in Stone Grey

1. Ink up the stamp with the Stazon and stamp it on to a piece of card. Colour the edges with the colour of your choice pen as seen above. Stick to the bag with Stix 2 foam pads.

2. Ink the message stamp and stamp on to a piece of white card.

3. Cut out and stick to the base bag with 3d foam pads as seen.

4. Cut a length of raffia ribbon and stick to the bag with double sided sticky tape. Tie a bow and stick to the ribbon.

5. Now make the matching card. No need to change the layout.

This is entered in the Shabby tea rooms challenge - White plus bright

Fashion Ladies Rock

Just look at this image on the card below. I bet that she was the 30's version of some of those women in Sex in the City. She jus looks demure. She is lovely though and she will make a fab birthday card for both young and old alike.


I used warm colours this time as I have been making a concerted move away from pink. I know, I know ... not too successful, but this time I've succeeded.
If you love this image and want to get her than you can find her here.

I have entered this card in the Sketch Saturday Week 137 Challenge
Fab n' Funky challenge 55 Let's get warm and toasty
Cute Card Thursday Monochrome

Trying out a new technique

I'm in the middle of making cards from the Flower Power stamps from I Brake for Stamps which is a super versatile set of images. I've made quite a few lately and this one is the latest.

The new technique is to use just a part of the stamp for a different effect. I also rotated the stamp so that it faced in different directions to make the tulips look as if they were growing in differing ways. The stamps were coloured with Art and Graphic pens from Kuretake which are available here.
The sheet of stamps is available here.
The ribbon here.
Happy crafting,
Yvonne

I must be getting better at this lark

I must be getting better at this challeges lark as I have managed to make two cards today. This one is with another glamor girl stamp and she is a fabulous vintage beauty.

I've also manages to combine her with my other love, flowers to create a lovely old fashioned feel card that is bang up to date.
If you want to make this card then the image is available here.
the flowers here
the ribbon here
The card is entered in the Everybody Art Challenge , Sketch 124

Fab and Funky challenge - Anything goes

Tiny Weenie Cupcake Stand

Have you noticed how some of the most expensive cards in shops carry the highest prices? I always think that it's the design that you pay for rather than the quantity of paper and embellishments that are put on the card. So, to help you make an expensive looking card with a teenie weenie price tag I've made this cupcake stand card.

The image is from the Party Fairy set of rubber stamps which can be bought here.
The fabulous ribbon is from our new bubble dot range which is only £1.20 for 3 meteres and can be bought here.
The image is mounted on a ready cut frame which can be bought here.

Daisies always bring a little sunshine

Many of you that heve visited my blog of late have probably noticed a flurry of creative activity. You all, no doubt, know that I'm off to Westpoint in Exeter in a couple of weeks and that I've been making as many samples as possible with stamps and lots and lots of flowers. Today. I've made a card with flowers, but I've stamped them rather than using the mulberry paper ones. I'm using the daisy stamps from the I Brake for Stamps Flower Power sheet today. I felt the need to move on from the Glamour Girls for a little while just in case you thought that I was becoming obsessed. One of the wonderful things about this card is that it's made with very little stash: 2 small stamps available here 1 small saying a scrap of ribbon available here some punched circles The leaves are the holly leaves cut down so if you have any left over fron Christmas then get snipping to make them into something else. Just hope that your friends are not botanically minded. As the ribbon is tied on, I'm entering this card in the Craft Your Passion challenge for something tied on. Tip Top Tuesday Anything Goes

Glamour Girl 4?

At least I think that it's 4 in the series that I'm doing at the moment. Luckily a challenge has been thrown down at Phindy's Place for distressing so I've decided to go with that as it stops me from using pink.
I've also entered it in the Create for Fun challenge week 02.
Do You Stack Up? Cute as a button.

Delightful Challenge Buttons


I've used distressed papers and a pointillism image which gives a really good vintage/faded image. The browns and greys add to the distressed feel too.

The stamp is from the Glamour Girls sheet from Time to Stamp and can be bought here.
The ribbon here.

The flowers here.