VINTAGE PRINTED RIBBON TUTORIAL AND A GIVEAWAY!

Here's a fun little tutorial for personalizing your own ribbons.  These would be pretty tied around a bouquet of flowers or a gift for a special friend.  The first time, we made our own ribbons out of torn strips of white linen.  Just tear strips about 1" wide (or whatever size you need to fit the stamp you're using), pull off the loose threads, and start stamping.  I used permanent black ink for mine but this ink comes in lots of colors. These linen ribbons were wrapped around the tags (shown below) we put at each place, the night of our craft get-together in McKinney.  We wrapped a fabric rose out of the same linen to decorate the tags.

Then we moved on to printing on some vintage ribbons.  These came from a bundle Jan found at an estate sale recently.  She got the whole bag for only $1!!!  What a great find! 

    

 There were tons of colors and the brand, "HugSnug", is still around today. 

 

We printed on some pale blue . . .

red . . .

and cream.

So, once you have the materials, there's nothing to it.  You need:
*ribbon (I think vintage is the best), or torn linen strips
*a permanent ink stamp pad

and
*a stamp with a phrase that will fit on standard 5/8" seam binding ribbon or your ribbon of choice

Just roll out the ribbon and start stamping.  You'll want to line up the stamp to the center of the ribbon, of course.  Don't press too hard or the edges of the stamp will come off on the ribbon too.  It's good to practice a bit on scraps first.  Give it a try!  There are so many great stamps out there - you can make ribbons for every occasion.

You can give the ribbons as a gift - just wrap your stamped ribbons around a vintage postcard from Karen, at The Graphics Fairy and your friends can use them for their own projects.  Or wrap it around a bouquet of flowers.

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY!
Expired!!!  Come back for the next one soon!
(International friends - this is for you too!  This will be a very 
light package to ship, so please "follow" and enter!)
These ribbons are so pretty I wanted to share them with a couple followers.  On February 14th, using random.org, I'll choose 2 winners.  Each winner will receive approximately 3 yards of stamped ribbon (either seam binding "ribbon" or fabric "ribbon") wrapped around a bundle of 5 Valentine "Hare" gift tags . . .

This tag is on brown craft paper card stock and printed with the "HARE Dictionary Page" from the Graphics Fairy.
Here are the tags without the ribbon.  They're large (about 3 x 6 inches) and the back is blank, so it's ready for your written sentiments.

The winners will also receive this paper heart swag made with antique book pages,
and . . .

a little something extra!  

Just a little something, but it will remain a secret until the winners open their packages!  Here are the rules to enter:

Just leave a comment on this blog post letting me know you are a follower of You Could Make That.

OPTIONAL extra entries - do any or all!
1.  Mention my giveaway on one of your blog posts
2.  Do a whole post about my giveaway on your blog.
(The button on the top sidebar is there for you to use.)
3.  Mention the giveaway on your Facebook page with a link back to this post.

Just leave me separate comments for each extra entry.  That's 2 winners and 4 different ways to win.

REMEMBER!  If you are an anonymous user or have a private profile, please include your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win!  Or you could email your email address to me if you'd rather stay private.

That's it!  So easy!

Just a little way to say thank you for all of your kind comments and encouragement along the way.   From California to South Africa . . . it's been fun to get to know you through your emails and your comments over my first year of blogging!  I hope to see some familiar "faces" in the entries!







Sharing on:
Transformation Thursday
Strut Your Stuff
Time Travel Thursday
Show and Tell Friday
Creative Bloggers Party
Craft-O-Maniac
Wow Us Wednesday
Flaunt It Friday
Sister Sunday
Metamorphosis Monday

A sign for the garden, and a new toy!

It all started with this really beautiful "Rose Hair Oil" label from the Graphics Fairy . . .  The label itself is such a pretty shape, and I love the two-tone coloring.  Her great dictionary page showing the "Hare" would have to be included too.

So the idea for a garden sign was born!  

 

From this . . .                                            to this! 

Here's the process -

First of all - here she is!  

One of my latest acquisitions!  As classrooms move to Promethean and Smart Boards, old faithful (the overhead projector) is getting its pink slip.  Well, this one was gathering dust in the boiler room and it came home with me on my last day in the classroom!   It's still very useful in my world.  Yes, there are things that an overhead projector can do, that a Promethean Board could not begin to accomplish!

 Then a trip to Habitat for Humanity's Re-Store!  These cupboard doors came to a grand total of $4!  For this sign I used the white door, second from the right.

Proof!

So I grabbed a bunch of label graphics from the Graphics Fairy and printed them out on an overhead transparency.  The transparencies aren't cheap, so I wanted to cram as many graphics on there as possible.

Then I roughly traced on the Rose Oil label, omitting the original words and replacing it with the dictionary page "Hare", and the french words "le Jardin" (the garden). 

I needed to paint over the lines and cover my work with a durable, weather-worthy protective coating.  I painted it in blues instead of the pinks on the original label.  Pinks are easy colors to grow, but blue is harder to come by, and it's my favorite in the garden.

There are some things I'd do differently next time, like have a little less going on.  It's pretty busy, the scrollwork, the rabbit, bouquet, and words - but it's not bad for a buck!!!!

Sharing this on Miss Mustard Seed's
Furniture Feature Friday
and
Transformation Thursday
at the Shabby Chic Cottage
and
Funky Junk's
Saturday Night Special
and
Frugalicious Friday

The Graphics Fairy - DIY Projects Feature and plans for a new GIVEAWAY!

Thank you to Karen, at her Graphics Fairy DIY blog, for featuring my table transfer!   What a fun surprise!  I used one of her great french graphics for this one.  Here is her post . . .

Prettiest Table Ever!

Swoon!!! I'm so in love with this gorgeous table painted by Nan at You Could Make That!



Nan transferred the French Wreath image onto the table, after enlarging it, and then hand painted over the all the lines. Stunning!!! Swing by her site to find out what paint colors she used, and which wax. You'll definitely want to have a look around while you're there, she's truly amazing!
Thank you, Karen!

I cruise through Karen's site daily, and I recently saw a graphic I have to use! I think I could do nothing but wander through the Graphics Fairy and just plan things to do with all those beautiful graphics!  Right now, I'm planning a garden sign using this one from her site:

                     

Of course, the words "Rose Hair Oil" wouldn't work for a garden sign, so I'm going to substitute Le Jardin de Fleurs (the flower garden), below the bouquet, and use the "hare" picture below for above the bouquet.  Can't wait to get started!  I think the "tombstone" shape of the graphic will look nice leaning against the picket fence in my garden!

Also, my followers are fast approaching 200!!!!  So I'm starting to think about a good GIVEAWAY!   I'll need one when I hit that milestone.  I think a garden sign would be appropriate!  Any other suggestions???