'NJ's Crafty Tips'

Hello everyone. Hope you are having a good week-end so far! I have added my crafty tips early this week, as tomorrow I am really busy so won't have much time to upload everthing. So, for this week's Crafty Tips I have chosen to show you some ideas using:

Ribbons

Materials needed: Ribbons/hair straighteners/ metallic leafing pens in gold and silver/flower gems/Diamond stickles/Glossy accents/a brad/background stamp/decorative stamp/ink pad/double sided tape/scissors/pokey tool/masking tape/nail polish.

Tip 1

A very simple step, but a must! I have loads of ribbons in bags and boxes. When I take them out they are creased and crinkled.

This is where my mini hair straighteners come in. Heat them up and then just straighten your ribbons as needed. Don't forget to turn them off!LOL

Tip 2

Take a length of ribbon and poke the brad through at the middle length.

Start to loop the length through the brad. Rotating as you go.

Continue this until all the length is looped on the brad and the ends tucked at the back.

Then split the back of the brad to hold the ribbon together and arrange the loops to look like a flower.

Tip 3

This next tip is an easy way to make a neat bow. Now this tip is from my crafty friend Phill Martin. Phill runs Honeypot Crafts http://honeypotcrafts.netdirector.co.uk/ and his blog link is http://www.honeypot-crafts.blogspot.com/

It's such a simple idea and makes your bows look professional. Thank you Phill for sharing XX

So, take your ribbon length

Tie a bow, don't try to do it neatly.

Put the bow loops over your little finger. Pull the ends to tighten the loops round your fingers.

Slip the loops off your finger.

Pull the loops apart to make a neat bow, trim the ends with scissors to finish.

Tip 4

This is an idea that I've taken from my job as a hairstylist. A french plait. We are going to make a french plait using ribbons. Take 3 lengths of ribbon.

Put the 3 ends together and loop them to make a knot at the end to secure them.

Use a piece of masking tape and secure the ribbons to your craft mat.

Separate the lengths.

Take the left outer ribbon over the centre. Right outer ribbon over that. What was originally the centre ribbon is now the left outer ribbon.

Take this left ribbon over the centre, and the right outer ribbon over that one.

Continue this pattern until all the length is plaited. Knot the end to secure. This can now be used on one of your projects.

Tip 5

Another idea from work is to take a mini pair of hair straighteners and a length of ribbon. Put the end of the ribbon into the straighteners.

Wrap the length around them and hold the straighteners closed for a few minutes. Careful not to burn your fingers.

Release the ribbon gently. If you want to give your ribbon some firmness you can spray it with hairspray.

Tip 6

Attach a length of ribbon to card using masking tape.

Using the silver metallic leafing pen draw swirls onto the ribbon.

Do the same steps using another length of ribbon and the gold metallic leafing pen. I did dots on this one.

Tip 7

Take a length of organza ribbon and tape to card as before.

Using pinflair glue attach flower gems to centre in a row.

Tip 8

To stop ribbon ends fraying you can use stickles glitter glue or glossy accents.

Coat the edge of ribbon lightly and leave to dry.

Tip 9

Attach a length of ribbon to craft mat using masking tape to secure. Use nail polish to add dots of colour to the ribbon. Set aside to dry.

Tip 10

Attach length of ribbon to card using masking tape. Ink up the background stamp and stamp over the ribbon.

Tip 11

Attach length of ribbon to card as before. Ink up a decorative stamp and stamp down the length of ribbon.

Tip 12

Take a piece of card and run a strip of double sided tape across it. Take a length of ribbon and starting at the left hand side pleat until you get all the way across. I would use this technique straight onto my card base.

So here we have

ribbons

Thank you for reading 'NJ's Crafty Tips' this week. I hope you enjoy using these ideas. See you next week-end for another installment of crafty tips.

Happy Crafting

lots of love

NJ XXX