Fantastic Washi! - Monday 1st July

Good Morning Friends,

I hope you all had a fab weekend and the sun shone wherever you are! Thanks to those of you who commented on my post yesterday; it is a such a shame that so many have become almost afraid to 'love' our Country and more to the point show it! I thought we had turned a corner last year when we were all celebrating the Jubilee and the Olympics, I will never forget the images on TV of the sea of flags in the Mall. As for our armed service personnel, none of us like the idea of war and fighting, but without those prepared to fight for us we would have no defence. I felt very humbled listening to Jake on Saturday. Just as a quick side to this...he explained that having lived with three other soldiers in nothing more than a hill fort for 6 months, firing at Taliban, he was sent home on 2 weeks leave..can you imagine the transition and how you couldn't possibly adjust? After his first term there, he came home and went back to his banking job in London(he was a Reservist), with no real adjustment time and obviously couldn't settle..it's frightening isn't it?

Yesterday, Hazel mentioned in her comment about sending cards to Forces overseas, I don't know of any collections to do this, but one of my crafty twitter and facebook pals, Cazz Wright, has been collecting cards to send to an RAF Squadron for them to post back to loved ones at home for some years now and they are always so grateful. For details of this please check out http://obws.webs.com - I do send some when I can, but lately have had a hard time keeping up with my own makes I'm afraid.

Fantastic Ribbons Design Team project...

                                                         Wonderful Washi!

This month our Design Team project at Fantastic Ribbons is to alter household items. Washi Tape is a must for your craft stash, as you can do some much with it and my immediate thoughts went of course to my craft room (afterall most of my spare time is spent here!).

I decided to alter a few of my desk top items: a little plain wooden desk top tray, some flash drives, pencils and notebooks.

For the pencils I simply wound the washi around the barrel and hey presto you have a brand new, colourful pencil! I also found an old cardboard tube at the bottom of my box of card I've saved for projects and wound some washi around it to create a small pencil pot and washi tape stand.

The wooden tray has been on a shelf waiting to be 'loved'; I think it was originally part of a gift pack, but I can't remember what was in it! This was the time to give it a new look, so I gave it a coat of salty ocean distress paint and lined the base with some pretty scrap paper; then I covered the rest with some blue polka dot tape - now it sits proudly on my desk.

Washi tape is great for labelling - electric cables have never looked so attractive and neither have flash drives! I stuck this pretty floral washi to some card, cut it to size, punched a hole in one end and cut the other end into a banner shape. As you can easily write on washi, I just used a pen to write on each one,what the drive contains and then I tied them on with narrow ribbons (all available from Fantastic Ribbons).

These two books started out as  plain notebooks and with the addition of some washi they could be given as gifts. I haven't included a tutorial because if you look at the Fantastic Ribbons website, Kirsty Wiseman has already added a brilliant video tutorial.

I decided to use two different tapes on each book, to co-ordinate with the pencils. On the shopping list I also made a ribbon banner from washi and on the note book I stuck some washi to card and then die-cut the butterflies. To finish off both books, I added some cover titles using Spellbinders die-cuts.

If you haven't tried washi tape I hope this has inspired you to try some, it really is a simple way to give something a new look. I used rolls of washi tape that had already been used on cards and other items previously and after completing all these projects, I still have lots left - a little roll goes a long way!

Why not pop over to Fantastic Ribbons, they have lots to choose from

Love,

Carole X

Fantastic Ribbons DT Washi Tape Boxes - Monday 17th September

Washi Tape Month at Fantastic Ribbons!

I was thrilled when I was recently asked to become one of the new members of Fantastic Ribbons Design Team and as someone who loves ribbon, how excited am I to be bringing you a monthly project using this crafting 'must have'!

This month we are looking at ways with washi tape, something which I have to admit to never having used before, but now that I have, I am quite addicted and can't stop thinking up ideas.

 I decided to make a box for my first project: in fact, I made one box and gift wrapped another  - and wow! This is my gift wrapping sorted from now on!

 I cut out my first box using  a simple exploding box template and chose to work with two different designs of washi tape from Art Deco and Cranberry and Gold collections, alternating them around the sides of the box.

I decided to  cover the inside of the box as well, but covered opposite sides with stripes and script and used a square of black card on the base to strengthen it.

The  lid is covered in the same way as the base, but I laid the tape in the opposite direction to give contrast. 

To finish off I made a bow for the top simply by cutting several  lengths of tape about 10cms and folding them in half to make them double-sided. For the little rose on top I took a length of tape (about 25cms) and folded it in half length ways. It's easier if you start off by wrapping it around tweezers or a pokey tool. Once you've got it started, ease it off and then just keep folding  to form your rose. You don't have to be accurate, if you leave some 'sticky' it will help it keep together. You may need a little glue to hold it, but all I did to finish was add a little glitter.

 The second box is a gift box, wrapped in brown parcel paper; I used  washi tape from Candy Floss for the wrap, finishing off with a flower made in the same way as the bow, but with more layers and I snipped the ends with deckle edge scissors and scrunched it up a little. I topped this with a sentiment and button threaded with a washi tape bow.

Stamp: Lily of the Valley

Box Template: Billie's Craft Room


That's all from my first project, hope you like it!

Carole Z X