Up, Up & Away

Today's card uses a lovely colour combination of coffees, mauves and creams.

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Balloon (unkown make), Globe by Do-Crafts
Colouring Mediums: Memento Ink Pad Rich Cocoa, Promarker Pens
Paper & Card: Stardream, K & Company, Kanban Lavender Rose Collection
Tools: Spellbinders, Grand Calibur, Embossalicious Regency Damask Folder, Martha Stewart Border Punch
Embellishments: Double Satin Ribbon, Lace, Bakers Twine, Hand-made Pearl & Crystal Hat Pins, metal charm, mulberry flowers

My Hot Air Balloon stamp was an Ebay find and I stamped it onto an offcut of Kanban script cardstock.  Then to get the embossed cushion effect that you find on a hot air balloon, I first debossed the outline of each section on the right side of the image with a fine ball tool.  Then I turned the image over, and went back over those lines with the ball tool to push the fibres back out again, then I used a larger ball tool to create the cushioned effect.  I was very pleased with the result.
The card blank was cut from a cappuccino stardream cardstock and I embossed the whole card with my new Regency Damask Embossalicious 8" embossing folder.  These folders are my new toys and I love them.

I created the ruffle ribbon trim by sticking a line of 6mm Super Sticky tape down the edge of my mat. I then stuck down a layer of 10mm double satin ribbon, taking care to create a ruffle effect.  This was finished with some tiny rose mulberry flowers.

The Globe Stamp is from their Chronology Range and is one of the best magazine freebies that I've ever had as it came with my copy of Do-Crafts Creativity magazine.

You can see a couple of my own hand made pearl and crystal decorative hat pins peeking out from behind the tags. 
Other finishing touches include using a Martha Stewart punch on the edge of the main tag, lace, ribbon, bakers twine and a sweet little brass clock face charm (another Ebay find).

This card was shortlisted in the following challenges:
Crafty Catz - Swirls & Pearls
Die Cutting Divas - Embossing with Ribbon

I love to read your comments, they are a highlight of my day, so do let me know what you think of this or if you have any questions. Thank You!

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Ruffle Ribbon Trim Tutorial





Hand-stitched Ruffle Ribbon Trim

  

This Ruffle Ribbon Trim has been hand-stitched from satin ribbon (great for sewing machine phobics like myself).  I came up with the idea for this trim whilst soaking in the bath, having spotted something similar in a pre-made ribbon trim on the web.  It’s not quite as “perfect” as the pre-made trim, but I think that adds to the charm – I hope you agree?  I’ve used double-faced satin ribbon (15mm) but it would work equally well with contrast satin, grosgrain, twill or seam binding.  The ribbon needs to be robust enough to be ironed, and as there is stitch “workings” to the back, it may not work so well with a sheer or organza ribbon.

So you will need:

• A generous length of ribbon

• Needle and thread
• An iron

NB: I've used black thread to contrast with my red ribbon so that it would show better in the photographs, normally I would use either an invisible thread or a thread to match my ribbon.



First measure a 6cm length, then pinch a loop from approx 2cm to 6cm. 

Working from inside the loop (to hide the knot), stitch the loop together with a small stitch. 

Next, by eye, make another loop.  Pass the thread along the back and up through the middle (so all the thread is kept to the back of the trim). Be careful not to stitch the second loop to the first loop. 

   

Repeat for as many loops as needed to reach your desired length.  Tie off the thread to the back. 

Your loops of ribbon should now look like this.

Next warm up an iron and have a pressing cloth to hand.  Starting with the first loop, carefully push down the loop to form a box pleat.  Holding the loop in place with your fingers, very carefully start to press the loop into a box pleat. 

Repeat along the length, pressing each loop.  You may need to go over the pressed pleats several times with the iron, but be careful to place the iron over the loop, don’t run it up and down the ribbon as you would if iron clothes, you are just pressing each pleat into place.

When you’ve finished, your trim will look like this.  Attach extra strong sticky tape to the back of the trim to stick to your project, such as my Valentine Ribbon Ruffle Card.

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Valentine Card with Ribbon Ruffle Trim

Who’s going to be my Secret Valentine?  If I told, it wouldn’t be a secret!  However, if you would like to share the secret of how to make the ruffle ribbon trim, then do look at my Ruffle Ribbon Trim Tutorial.  Don’t worry if, like me, you’re sewing machine challenged, the trim is hand stitched, not a sewing machine in sight!

The three hearts have been cut using my original Silhouette cutting machine (a well-loved piece of crafty kit but being upgraded to the Silhouette Cameo currently on order), and the mats have been cut using the outline tool in the Silhouette Design Studio.

The Ruffle Ribbon trim has been hand-stitched from 15mm Berisfords double faced satin ribbon. I’m a bit of a ribbon junkie and I hope you like the trim I’ve created for this card. I saw something similar in a pre-made ribbon trim, which was jaw-droppingly expensive – so I lay in a nice hot bath and thought about it, and worked out a way to do it. It’s not quite as “perfect” as the pre-made trim, but I think that adds to the charm – I hope you agree?

Do let me know what you think and thank you for stopping by.

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