all tied up

Happy Monday everyone!!!! (is there such a thing?)

I hope everyone had a very scrappy weekend and did something fun for National Scrapbook Day... I went shopping. *funny story: A while back, I preordered the 12 new distress ink pads and reinkers. When I opened them up, my bottle labeled Bundled Sage was blue, not green. I tried to contact the company, but heard nothing back. Fast Forward a month or two... Now I am thinking that I just got a fluky one, and by now it should be safe to buy a replacement Sage. So I go to my LSS and pick one up. I tell my mom, that if this one is blue I will totally laugh... You guessed it, it was BLUE!!! So this time, I e-mailed Tim Holtz, and seriously, with in 20 min. he had responded! Can I say he is AMAZING! He said that Ranger knew about the problem and is going to send me 2 replacement Sages. YAY!*

Now, on to business. How about a Back2Basics on RIBBON!

I have been working on this one for a while. Alika (my sis) asked me some questions about ribbon, and I, being the fabulous big sis I am *wink wink*, wanted to help her out! She and I both love ribbon. However, in this economy, and with both of us on tight budgets, getting every cute ribbon, and every color to match every project, just isn't realistic. So, I like to buy the 50 cent spools of plain ribbon at WalMart, and alter them to match my project.

Please note: Try each technique on a small scrap of the ribbon you plan to use. Not all ribbons react the same to things!!!

The first way to alter a ribbon is by stamping on it. I like to use StazOn, but you can try whatever ink you have. I usually tape the ends of my ribbon down.. *after all, I only have 2 hands...*

Ink up your stamp and stamp like you would on paper. Easy Peasy... (sorry, this pict. isn't real good. I was doing this at night, and the flash was hating my shiny ribbon...)

Want to take it up a notch? How about embossing? Instead of black ink, I used VersaMark, then covered it with white embossing powder. The powder does tend to cling to the ribbon, so I just used a small paint brush to brush away any strays.

Now you heat. (again, test this! not all ribbons like heat!)

Instead of being raised like on paper, the embossing tends to soak into the ribbon, making it look like it was printed on the ribbon. Cool!

What about colors? Well, there are lots of ways to alter your color. I buy lots of plain white ribbon just for this reason. I can use the same colors I used on my project, and I have instant matching ribbon!

Want color and sparkle? Try Creative Inspiration Paint.

I like to spray my ribbon with a little water to begin with. Because these paints are water based, this just keeps the ribbon from absorbing as much paint. It won't affect the paint at all. You can skip this step if you want to.

Then, just paint it on and let dry. Simple.

Ok, so you can't see as much of the sparkle in the picture as you see in real life, but isn't it pretty? And, if you used this paint on any other part of your project, you know you will have a perfect match!

Got reinkers? *note that I am using Tim Holtz Distress reinkers. His inks work wonderfully with water. I haven't tried other types of ink...but you can experiment and let me know :)*

Put a drop of reinker on a craft sheet (a piece of glass works well too. You can go get a cheap picture frame and use the glass from that. That being said, I love my craft sheets!!!) Sprits on some water.

Drag your ribbon through your colored puddle. *your fingers will get stained. If you don't want to go to work the next day with orange fingers, use gloves or tweezers!*

Again, let dry, and you have a fabulous colored ribbon.

You can also sprits with Glimmer Mist. It works just as well!

I hope that gave you some ideas about how to spruce up your ribbon.

*I never really realize just how difficult is is to photograph yourself doing something.... I have a new found respect for those who can do it well!*

Alika also wanted to know how to use ribbon... well, here are a few ideas to get you started..

use it in place of a paper strip

Tie it around an embellishment or the whole card

tie a knot

tie a bow

use it in place of stem and leaves

ribbon roses

strings on balloons

leashes on animals

lace it up like a corset or shoelace

a scarf on a snowman

use it to hang an embellishment

How do you use ribbon in your cards and LOs?