Ribbon Hearts

I bought this pack of white wooden hearts from a charity shop for 50p a while back, and they've since been waiting in a drawer for inspiration. The inspiration came during the summer when I was in a seaside shop that had a Christmas section (I totally don't mind looking at Christmas decorations in August). There was a stripey patterned heart decoration that caught my eye and gave me an idea. The pattern on the heart in the shop was printed on but I thought I could achieve a similar look with ribbons.

I picked out all the Christmas ribbon I have in my stash and any other colours that would match. I coated the wooden hearts in PVA glue and laid the ribbons across it.

Once the glue was dry I trimmed the ribbon. I sealed the edges with some more glue to stop the ribbon from fraying.

 Then I made a hole in the top and put some shiny red thread through. 

These were really simple to make and a great way to use some of my ribbon stash.

Cards Using Paintings

I've had my paintings printing on greetings cards by photo websites before but you have to buy in bulk and have at least 10 printed of each design. When the only person buying your cards in your Grandad this can be a problem. So I've come up with a way of creating cards using my paintings that are one offs. And they start to use my ribbon stash and my blank cards.

I printed some of my paintings, like this one and this one, onto paper them stuck the picture onto white card and trimmed it so it left a small border. 

The part that took the longest was deciding which ribbons to use and how to place them. I put a few small bits of double sided sticky tape on the ribbon to stick it on the front, then a used selotape to stick them to the inside. I think I will cover the end with a sticker to neaten it up.

I used glue dots to stick the card to the front.

I think the ribbon adds to the image as it picks out the colours.

I can see myself making lots of these using all my different paintings.

Ribbon and Gold Ball Bracelet

Coral and Gold Ball Bracelet Stack from New Look 

When I was shopping with my friends the other day I noticed these bracelets in New Look, the bottom one in particular.

One of my friends asked me if I look around at this stuff and think, 'I could make that'.

Well yes, I do.

I remembered these gold balls on wire that I've kept for ages.

They came off some Christmas crackers and I've held on to them thinking they might be useful.

The gold balls on the original bracelet are beads but since these gold balls are already attached to wire I used that to wrap them around a plastic hoop.

Then I wrapped ribbon around the hoop in between the balls.

I also tried using thinner ribbon around a thin bangle

They sort of look like they should be little bells that jingle, but I'm sure that would get annoying.

The best thing about this quick project is that it allowed me to use some of the things I've had for ages but never done anything with.

Ribbon wrap bracelet

You can make this bracelet using just a plastic bangle and ribbon, and then add more to embellish it.

I started with this plastic ring that I found in my house, but you could of course use an actual bangle

Wrap a piece of ribbon around the ring. Wide ribbon is best to initially cover the plastic. You can stick the start of the ribbon to the plastic with glue or tape, or just hold it in place until the ribbon comes around again to secure it. 

You can sew the end of the ribbon in place with thread, or use glue or double sided tape. The stitching can be covered with more ribbon and embellishments so it doesn't have to be neat.

I then wrapped a thinner piece of white ribbon around the bracelet...

...and some silver ric-rac for decoration.

I then made a matching yo-yo (learn how here) using white fabric, the silver ric-rac and a pink button.

I then attached the yo-yo to the bracelet. You can do this by sewing it or maybe with hot glue.

And here's an alternative design using thick shiny ribbon where the ends were tied in a bow with a crotcheted butterfly that my mum made attached.