Love is in the air....

Hi everyone, it's Teresa here today getting started on my Valentine's projects so that I will be ready for one of my favorite holidays of the year.  Really Reasonable Ribbon has lots of beautiful ribbons for you this month and I am sharing two quick and easy cards that you can do.

My first card is using one of my favorite ribbons called Chevron Striped Twill in black.  It comes in lots of other gorgeous colors and looks great tied at the bottom of a quick stamped card that you do.  I used Doodlebug paper and a stamp set from Avery Elle and layered the rectangles with the Spellbinders Matting basics die set.  It only took about 10 mins and I love that... quick and easy :)

My second card was done using another of my favorite ribbons.  This one is called metallic edged satin and you can see all the colors that it comes in here.  I really love this because the satin is really soft and makes the prettiest bows, don't you think?  To create the top of the card, I layered a few Spellbinders dies and embossed them into the paper and then cut a few for the center to layer it up just a little more.  The rhinestone heart is from Want2Scrap and it goes perfect with the silver edging on the ribbon.

Thanks for stopping over and be sure and check back for lots of lovable ideas all this month from the rest of our team... Have a really great day!!

Valentine Banner Tutorial with Really Reasonable Ribbon

How to Make a Valentine Banner

Hello, Friends! I hope that 2015 is off to a good start for each one of you! I have to confess, I'm sort of relieved to be "back to normal" after all the holiday hubbub. I had loads of fun with family, ate (too much!) good food and made lots wonderful memories...but I kinda love my every day life, and I'm glad to be back to it! So many of you contacted me right before the holidays asking me to do a tutorial for the Christmas and winter banners I shared with you, and today, I'm making good on that promise. This is "How to Make a Valentine Banner Day." I have a step by step tutorial and loads of photos to share with you. So go grab a snack and your favorite cuppa and we'll get down to business.

Here's a look at the finished product. You will need the following material to make this banner:

• Really Reasonable Ribbon: 1.5" Antique Gold Gingham
• RRR Pink Center Stitch Burlap Ribbon
• RRR Light Pink Dots Organza Ribbon
• RRR Natural Burlap String
• 2 sheets of 8 1/2" x 11" kraft cardstock
• Vintage Photo Distress Ink
• White burlap
• Cosmos Daisies/Pink and White
• Graphic 45 Sweet Sentiments paper and tags
• Webster's Pages Let's Celebrate (Sweets and Treats Cupcake paper)
• Martha Steward Pink Lotus blooms
• K & Company Valentine embellies
• Pearl Nestabling
• Rhinestone hearts
• "o" binding rings
• sewing machine

Preparing the Valentine Banner Pieces

Stitching the Valentine Banner Pieces Together

If you wish to add a layer of patterned paper to your banner, the dimensions will be 3.75" wide by 5" tall. Layer all your pennants together as you see here, and trim if necessary to make all the borders even. You want to make sure that the "V" portion of your banner lines up on all three layers. Once I was happy with this, I just used a paper clip to hold all those layers in place.

Now it's time to stitch the layers together. I stitched around the inside layer using a straight stitch, and then the outer layer with a zig zag stitch.

Lay all your pennant pieces out on your work surface, and determine how much space you want between each piece. I have about 2.5" between each pennant. Lay your ribbon down on the work surface and then clip your sewn pennants onto the ribbon as pictured above. Leave a 6" overhang of ribbon on both the left and right hand sides. Then trim the right hand edge of the ribbon so you can sew the pennants to the ribbon.

I started sewing on the left hand side of my pennant at the spot where the left hand edge of the pennant met the ribbon. I sewed a zig zag stitch along the top edge of the ribbon, all the way down the length of the ribbon until I had sewed the top of all the pennants to the top of the ribbon. Then I went back to the left hand side of my banner and sewed a second straight line about 1" below the top line. Now you are ready to decorate your Valentine Banner.

Decorating Your Valentine Banner

This really is the fun part! I dug into the Closet of Shame and pulled out all my Valentine goodies. I knew I wanted to add some burlap panels and some natural burlap string to add texture. I inked the edges of my images with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and matted the main images with the second sheet of kraft cardstock. I find this unifies a composition and helps to define the layers.

There's not an exact science to this...I usually start by placing my main image on each pennant and then I just layer on the bits and pieces, moving them around until I 'm happy with the result. Then, and only then, do I start to glue things down. If you use foam spacers between your layers, it adds a lot of depth and dimension. I used my hot glue gun to attach the flowers and the little rosettes.

Now that you have everything glued down, cut three 6-8" sections of the light pink dots organza and tie them onto the antique gold gingham ribbon in between each pennant. Cut two 12" pieces of the Light Pink stitched burlap ribbon and tie into a bow on each end of the pennant, as you see in the photos. Slip your "o" binding rings onto the back side of these bows, between the burlap ribbon and the gingham ribbon. Let the tails hang down as I did, or trim them if you prefer. Now your banner is ready to hang.

I've added some detail photos here for you so you can sort of study the composition of each pennant in the banner. There's no right or wrong way to do this....just arrange everything the way you like. You can create a really clean and simple banner using this technique or dress it up even more than I did. It's all according to your taste!

Well, if you've hung with me this long, you deserve a round of applause! I hope I was able to answer your questions about making these banners, and I hope you'll have loads of fun making these to decorate your own homes. Banners add so much cheer and warmth..especially in the dead of winter!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Cheerio,

kathy

Retro Valentines

Happy 2015!  I like the ring of that....it is going to be a great year!  It is my day over at RRR.   I created a couple of Valentine ornaments.  Retro ...which is no surprise.  I think these would be sooo sweet on a mini vintage valentine tree.  Using blues, reds, pinks, and lots of seam binding.  I also used light pink organza dots, cherry twine, natural burlap string,buttons, and flowers.   Hope you enjoy!   Thanks, cherry

Valentine's Day Block Decor

Hi there crafty peeps!  I am back today to share a quick but cute decor piece for Valentine's Day.  I have a set of wood blocks in my craft room that I change for each season/holiday.  I had a Christmas banner set hanging from the blocks, but since Christmas is officially over *sad face*, I decided to created a new banner set to hang from them.

I used patterned paper from the BoBunny Head Over Heals collection matted with red cardstock.  I cut out the letters from red glitter cardstock and my Silhouette Cameo.  The last block has a stamped and die-cut image from the My Favorite Things Distressed Hearts set.  I added black adhesive gems and black heart enamel shapes to four of the blocks as accents.  The middle block has a die-cut heart and a white button tied with pink/black bakers twine.

I created bows for each banner with my Bow-It-All tool.  I used hot pink delicate stitched satin ribbon from this month's Ribbon Club Kit "Love is in the Air".  I also used black diamond satin ribbon.  All of this can be found at the Really Reasonable Ribbon Store.

The finished dimensions for each banner are small length banners- 2.5 x 3.25; medium length banners- 2.5 x 3.75; large length banners- 2.5 x 4.25.  I hope you enjoy this project and it inspires you to start some Valentine's Day projects of your own.  Have a wonderful day!

Warm Up With Some Pretty Ribbon

Hey hey hey everyone.  It's Dana here.  Happy New Year to all of you.  I'm so happy that the new year is in full swing!  It's going to be an exciting year here at Really Reasonable Ribbon.  I can just feel it!

I'm keeping nice and toasty by the fireplace for the next couple of days.  And in the spirit of keeping warm, I think I'll have myself a cup of eggnog.  The spiked kind. ;-)  My card is representing the mood I'm in.  I am such a HUGE fan of the Snowflake on Hot Red Grosgrain ribbon and the Black Hemp String.  It's doing a pretty good job of  holding my adorable mug.

Don't you just love those little snowflakes on that gorgeous red ribbon? Such a sweet accent to any card or craft project.  Oh for the love of ribbon people! :-)  Okay, time for me to fill my mug back up.  Yup, I'm a little low on egg nog.  Have a fantastic day everyone!

Dana

RRR Challenge #109 - Looky What I Got with Ribbon or Trim Theme

Hello everyone! It's time for a new challenge here at Really Reasonable Ribbon. 

The theme for Challenge #109 is Looky What I Got with Ribbon or Trim.  Show us any new crafty item you got in the last month or so - stamp, dies, tool, embellishments, ribbon......

Create a card, layout, multi media piece, tag, ATC, hair bow, you name it. Just be sure to follow the theme above and use ribbon/lace or trim somewhere on your project.

  

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Here is a little inspiration from our design team for challenge #109 to get you started.  All of the sample projects feature ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon.

Kathy

Karen

Ginny

Heather

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Now, let's see your Looky What I Got creations! 

We will be selecting our top three favorite projects to feature, so stop back on January 16th to see our picks along with our next challenge theme. 

Here's what you need to do:

* Create a new project using the posted theme. A layout, card, ATC, home decor item, hair bow, or anything you can think of.

* You may enter up to 6 projects, but you're asked to provide newly designed projects. No back-linking please.

* All projects must also include some sort of ribbon, lace or trim.
* A maximum of 6 entries per person per challenge please.

* Post your project on your blog or an online gallery (using code RRR109) and link it here with the Inlinkz tool below. Please provide a direct link to your post, not an entire blog.

* You have until Wednesday, 1/14 at 11:59 PM Eastern time to enter your projects. Thanks so much for playing and good luck.

 

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Very Vintage Valentine

Well Paper Peeps, we made it through the holiday season and I'm raring to start making pretty Valentine projects!  Switched out snowflakes for hearts and red and green for pinks and whites.

I'm using the really fabulous Love is in the Air Ribbon Club Assortment. This selection is so totally me!!!! Pinks and polka dots and hearts..I am swooning!!!

I created some extra poofy bows for this Valentiny Card and added lace to the top.

I'm so looking forward to creating lots of holiday projects with Really Reasonable Ribbon trims! Wishing you all a happy and productive day with lots of time to be creative :  ) G