Party favours made easy by Andrea

Last Sunday was my Mam and Dad’s Ruby Wedding Anniversary. 40 years so it was always going to be special but I wanted to make it a bit more special so there was the usual stuff that daughters do for their parents – a cake, balloons, handmade card, spending the day doing the chores etc. being a taxi driver so that they could both drink at the party they hosted for their closest family and friends at their favourite Italian restaurant in the city where we live. As a last minute thing on Saturday morning I decided to make some party favours to put on the table at the restaurant, they were really quick to make and to be honest took hardly any effort but my Mam was thrilled and everyone who came to their party talked about them and generally enjoyed them. They added something a little bit personal to the restaurant meal and got everyone talking at the table which was a bonus as not everyone had met before. This is how I made the favours

Quarter of an A4 sheet of double sided paper

Tape on one short and one long side, wrap into a tube joining the short sides

Nudge the join over to one side and nip the ends together - no need for glue as you've already applied it before rolling the tube

Flip the tube over and pinch the ends together twising 90 degrees as you do

Punch a  hole in the end

Add in the treat

Tie with a ribbon

Add embellishments

So, what I really wanted to share with you is that it doesn’t take a lot of effort to Make It Special, just do something a little bit different, to the norm. I am so pleased I did this for my parents and they were thrilled – I guess what I could have done was to take a photograph of both of them but I forgot!!

Papers – Enchanted by Kristin Cronen-Barrow at sweet Shoppe Designs

Heart charm and 7mm ribbon from Ribbon Girl

Andrea x

ps don't forget that the aqua colour challenge closes on Sunday night, as does the red mini kit give away - see below!

How I Did This - and exciting news!

Hello, today I want to share our exciting news. We have a new Design Team member, Kath has agreed to join us as a Ribbon Girl. You can find Kath's blog here and we are really looking forward to seeing more of her lovely card creations using our ribbons and buttons :) Welcome Kath to the team!

Now onto my How I Did This project. This is the card that I made

Cover a square cardblank with kraft cardstock

Print a square of patterned paper and adhere to card

Stitch around the edge with your sewing machine

Print and trim a second piece of patterned paper, mat onto kraft cardstock and stitch around the edge

Glue the smaller square to the card

Stamp and colour your image. Cut with a circle die and layer onto a larger circle and a scalloped circle cut from kraft cardstock

Attach the stamped image using dimensional foam pads

Use a scalloped shaped die or scalloped scissors or a punch to cut a length of kraft scalloped cardstock and attach to the card

Using a length of brown satin add a ruffle along the length of the scalloped strip

Add a strip of Ultra Sticky red tape along the length of the scalloped strip

Start to stick the ribbon to the tape. Leave an end which will wrap around the bak of the card and meet with the other end

Stick a small piece then twist the ribbon slightly with your thumb either in an upward or downward movement to create the little ruffles.

Continue along the length of the sticky strip and then wrap the ends around the card and attach at the back

With the remainder of the length of brown satin ribbon make a bow, trim the edges and attach to the card with a small strip of Ultra Sticky red tape

As a final touch add a couple of fancy leaf pins in a coordinating colour

I used:

1 metre of mid brown satin ribbon

Leaf fancy pins

Digital papers by Crytal Wilkerson available here

Owl rubber stamp

Scalloped strip die

Nesabilities circles and scalloped circle dies

Copics and distress ink

I used the sketch here at Sweet Sunday Sketches as the base for my card

****Watch out later in the week (hopefully tomorrow or Thursday) for stocks of the Ultra Sticky red tape being added to the shop as we are going to one of our suppliers today to ransack his warehouse - did I say that? I meant of course to select a few well chosen purchases :) Anyway, we will be stocking the tape as we think it is the best sticky stuff to adhere ribbons and especially our lace****