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Today I am going to explain how to make a Spooktacular, Bootiful, Hall-o-wonderful garland.

Materials:

• Grosgrain Stripe - BK39, Sheer/Velvet dots - QD

• Cardstock

• Patterned paper

• Black ink

• Black paint

• Sewing machine

• Hot glue gun

• Hole punch

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1. Cut out cardstock into a pennant shape.  Cover with Halloween patterned paper of your choice.  Ink edges.
2. Paint one letter per pennant to spell out EEK (or boo, or HALLOWEEN or anything!) Let paint dry.
3. Take Velvet dot ribbon and create pleats by sewing on top of pennants. (see how to video for instructions.)
4. Punch holes on sides and tie knots to hold the pennants together with another color of VELVET DOT ribbon.
5. Hot glue pennants onto center of Grosgrain Stripe ribbon and hang on mantle!

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knots, bows and cards!  A simple knot or bow will make a big impact on a card…here are some Halloween samples!

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Blog Posted By: Leah Farrar-White

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Don't Forget This Week's Contest!

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Ribbons Featured in the video:

BX28 - Sheer / Spider Web Ribbon  

/store/halloween/product/bx-2x30y-sheerspider-web/

QD10, 16, 46, 47 - Sheer / Velvet Dots

/store/polka-dots-center-dots/product/qd-15x50y-sheervelvet-dots/

YD28 - Grosgrain / Center Polka Dot Band

/store/grosgrain/product/yd-15x25y-solidcenter-polka-dot-band/

BK39 - Grosgrain / Stripe

/store/halloween/product/bk-15x25y-grosgrainstripe/

 
Next Monday we will showcase--Creepy, Creative, Halloween Crafts!

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Blog Posted by: Leah Farrar-White

This week's contest:  Customer Showcase Inspirations!

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We are proud to introduce our brand new “Customer Showcase” this week on our website.  This is a section in which our customers get the opportunity to show their work with May Arts Ribbon.  There are pictures with a variety of uses, all of them inspiring.   We want to know your favorites! 

For this week’s contest, please post your comments here.  Which photos inspire you to create something new?  Do you have a favorite?  Maybe you have photos of your own designs using May Arts Ribbon?  Send them in to us at sales@mayarts.com.  We will happily post your work too! 

Here are the details:

• To enter: Post a comment.

• Start date: Monday August 24^th, 2009.

• Deadline: Monday September 7^th, 2009. 

• The prize:  6 - three yard spools of May Arts Ribbon.  Your choice!

• We will select one entry.  The winner’s name will be posted on Tuesday September 8^th.

• The winner will have 2 weeks to contact us & claim their prize.

• Domestic & International entries are all welcome.

• Photos are not necessary to enter the contest!  But we always welcome them!  Just forward them to sales@mayarts.com.

Check out this week's video 'How-To’: Halloween

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There were so many wonderful entries this week!  It is so interesting to hear what all of you are using ribbon for.  Thank you all for your comments.  Each & every one was enjoyed greatly!

• This week’s winner is Carol:

"May Arts silk ribbon is an integral part of many of my one-of-a-kind cReaTioNs. I often paint or tea stain it to coordinate with colors in my Nit neCK designs, SWEATer cARTigans, sPeCiaL T's, TreaSure BoXes & for tHe BRide cReaTioNs.
I create flowers, ruffles & fabric coLLage patches to embellish my cReaTioNs. You will often find pieces knit into my hand knit cReaTioNs."

Carol, your photos were just beautiful!  Everyone here at May Arts were in awe of that wedding cake.  Congratulations! 

We were so inspired by all your ideas this week; we are adding one extra ‘bonus’ winner!  The prize will consist of 4 – 3 yard spools of your choice! 

• Our ‘bonus’ prize goes out to Kathy:

"For custom napkin 'rings', I take whatever width wired ribbon I like, and cut a piece about 5-6" long. I cut the ends at an angle, (or you can leave it straight across) and fold over just the very edge. Using fabric tac glue, put a teeny amount on the end, and fold over. You can decorate the ends using the fabric glue, adding beaded fringe, tiny silk flowers, buttons, etc, whatever you want to match your table setting. Roll or fold a napkin into a tube shape, and wrap or tie the ribbon onto it.
I love having different easy to make 'rings' for every holiday."

Kathy, what a lovely finishing step to decorate the ends of your ribbon!  Congratulations!

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Ladies, congratulations to you all!  We always love to see pictures, so please feel free to send us some photos at sales@mayarts.com!  We will gladly post them for everyone to see!  Please forward your shipping information & your ribbon selections to the email address above!

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For those of you who didn’t win, click on the link below for this week’s contest.  There’s always a contest running on the May Arts Blog, so be sure to keep coming back for more!

This week's contest:  Customer Showcase Inspirations!

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It’s a busy time for teachers, parents, and students, but I don’t need to tell you that.  I say, this is the time to keep things simple, yet thoughtful.  My daughter is about to begin first grade. This is a copy of her school supply list:

Wait.  Did that say 18 glue sticks???  Yes.  It did.  It was a bit difficult to turn the 18 glue sticks into a bouquet…so instead, I went with the pencils!  Why not?  What a happy little surprise to see the bunch of pencils all grouped together and tied with an easy, yet beautiful bow.

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An apple for the teacher is still a great symbol for any Educator.  However, here’s a tip from my years as a teacher.  Most teachers have enough apple décor to last a lifetime.  Why not give an edible gift – a real apple, just dressed up a bit.  A shiny red delicious with a bow is the perfect first day of school gift!

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Students, teachers, ANYONE can use a new notebook.  For this project, I used a little May Arts ribbon on the edge, and outlined a label with the word “notes.”  One back to school inspired composition book ready to go!

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I LOVE the lime green sticky post-its.  They are the size of 3 x 5 note cards.  They make appreciated little gifts to teacher friends or for your child’s teacher.  Add a special “thanks” and a knotted ribbon and you have a thoughtful, usable “note of thanks!”

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It is a crazy busy time for soooo many people, probably for you, too.  But the little extra effort to add a little ribbon will help your start of year gift stand out from the crowd and may give a shot of brightness and joy to someone’s day.

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EASY.

YOU CAN DO IT!!!

YES, YOU really CAN!!!

These look difficult, but with a little practice anyone can make a flower loop bow!

Materials:

• Needle and thread

• Ruler

• Scissors

• Ribbon

• Embellishment

Directions:

• make layers

• stack and adhere layers with hot glue (or sew them together)

• put on an embellishment

The base ribbon layer will have the longest ribbon strips--with each layer you will decrease the length of your ribbon by about an inch. 

Feel free to mix up your types of ribbons.  Make as many or few layers as you like!

HAVE FUN and create something!!!

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Blog Posted by: Leah Farrar-White

This Week's Contest: The Many Ways To Use Ribbon!

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Scrapbooking, gift wrapping, card making, decorating… these are a few of our favorite things!  There are so many different ways to use ribbon.   With a little imagination, ribbon can go a long way.  It can add an elegant, yet affordable, touch to almost any project you are working on!  For this week’s contest, we want to know your thoughts!

Ribbon can be useful in a variety of ways.  We have named just a few of them above.  How do you like to use your ribbon?  What are your ribbon ideas & techniques? 

Be sure to post your comment, we just might add some surprise winners again!!!

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 Details are listed below:

• To enter: Post a comment.

• Start date: Monday August 10^th, 2009.

• Deadline: Sunday August 23 ^rd, 2009. 

• The prize:  6 - three yard spools of May Arts Ribbon.  Your choice!

• We will select one entry.  The winner’s name will be posted on Monday August 24^th.

• The winner will have 2 weeks to contact us & claim their prize.

• Domestic & International entries are all welcome.

• Photos are not necessary to enter the contest!  But we always welcome them!  Just forward them to sales@mayarts.com.

Check out this week's 'How-To' Video!

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The following pictures were sent in by Carol.   Thank you for sending these in for us to post!

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The picture below was sent in by Tanya B.  Thank you for sharing your work with all of us!

"I love all of mayarts ribbon but I specifically love the Chenille for creating unique bows!"

-Tanya B.

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We were absolutely delighted this week with the record number of comments.   Everyone’s ideas were wonderfully inspirational & fun to read!   As a thank you, we are going to do something a little new!  We have added 2 ‘bonus’ prizes of 4 – 3 yards spools of your choice!  Without further delay, here are our winners this week:

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• First prize goes out to Rebecca Ednie:

"I like to make card sets with matching boxes. I love adding ribbon belly bands but I hate the idea that my carefully tied bow would get undone and the receiver couldn't retie it! So I came up with a way to make the belly band stretchy making it easy to replace! You can see my tutorial here. http://eclecticendeavours.blogspot.com/2008/12/stretchy-ribbon-belly-band-tutorial.html  
Hope you enjoy it!!"

Congratulations, Rebecca!  We loved the belly band idea!  What a fantastic way to reuse something beautiful.

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• Our first bonus prize is awarded to Misty:

"I’m a fan of simple bows and try to make gift wrapping kits to have available on short notice! I also love to use my scrapbooking paper to wrap small gifts because they are so unique used that way, and the tons of ribbon that can be found to match makes my heart sing =D"

What a creative idea, Misty!  Congratulations to you too! Using what you have on hand in new ways is always inspiring to us.

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• Last, but certainly not least, our final bonus prize goes out to Lesley Mark:

"I love to buy a plain gift bag, and then decorate it with the same papers I used for the card. I also replace the ribbon handles (which are usually cheap cord) with the same ribbon I used on the card."

Lesley, we thought sprucing up a gift bag was a great technique!  A lovely way to take something store bought & personalize it!  Congratulations!

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Ladies, congratulations to you all!  We always love to see pictures, so please feel free to send us some photos at sales@mayarts.com!  We will gladly post them for everyone to see!  Please forward your shipping information & your ribbon selections to the email address above!

Thank you to everyone for making this our most successful contest yet!  For those of you who didn’t win, click on the link below for this week’s contest.  There’s always a contest running on the May Arts Blog, so be sure to keep coming back for more!

Who knows how much we will really give away…

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This Week's Contest: The Many Ways To Use Ribbon!

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Although the (now-vintage) headbands of my youth served to control and enhance stubborn mousy-brown locks through high school and college, they don’t compare with today’s versions, ones anyone can make with these great ribbons.  The lowly hair accessory has become a statement of color, whimsy, fashion and self-expression. 

Here are some BASIC WAYS TO COVER HEADBANDS WITH RIBBON:

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SPIRAL WRAPPING

• Cut ribbon about twice as long as the band

• Coat both sides of band with permanent glue stick

• Begin wrapping on the inside at one end

• Continue tightly wrapping on angle to other end, pressing into the glue coating

• Fold under raw end of ribbon

• Use a few stitches to secure ribbons that cover the ends of the band

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ENVELOPING

• Use this method for ribbons at least twice as wide as the band

• Cut ribbon 2” longer than the band

• Fold 1” under on both ends of the ribbon

• Fold ribbon in half lengthwise

• Coat both sides of band with permanent glue stick

• Slip band into folded ribbon & secure with a few pins

• Stitch ribbon edges and ends together

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FOLDING

• Use when ribbon is at least 2½ times the width of band

• Cut ribbon 2” longer than band

• Coat inside of band with permanent glue stick

• Position one long edge of ribbon onto glue, 1” extending from each end of band

• Apply permanent glue stick to outside of band

• Fold the1” extensions over ends of band

• Wrap ribbon around edge onto sticky outside of band

• Apply permanent glue stick to exposed underside of remaining ribbon

• Wrap tightly over the edge & press onto inside of band

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ENCASING

• Use when ribbon and band are the same width

• Cut 1 piece of ribbon the same length as the band, and 1 piece 2” longer

• Apply permanent glue stick to inside of band & adhere shorter ribbon

• Apply permanent glue stick to outside and adhere ribbon, allowing 1” extensions on each end

• Turn under raw ends of ribbon and wrap extensions over both ends and stitch

• Stitch both ends together

• If band narrows at the ends, fold extra ribbon to the inside evenly on both sides and stitch

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Love Those Flowers?  Here's how it's done:

Materials:

• Ribbon (MR 28, 1½” wide)…36”     

• Wire:  (KS 18) …8”

• Bead or button for center of flower

• 2 leaves from ribbon (XL16), optional

• Gathered green ribbon (BA08, 3/8” wide)…4”

• Thread to match plaid and green

• Permanent glue stick.

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Flower:

• Center a bead or button on the wire, then tightly twist the wire into a stem

• Cut ribbon into two 18” pieces, prepare both per ILLUSTRATION #1 below      

• Hold the end folds in place with a dab of glue

• Expose the ribbon’s wire at point B

• Holding wire in place at point A, carefully pull exposed wire from B to create gathers.

• Place the stem on the gathered ribbon at point A, as in ILLUSTRATION #2

• Roll ribbon once or twice around the stem, keeping gathers fairly even

• Tack ribbon in place through several rolled layers, keeping gathers balanced and the roll secure as you go.

• Repeat for the second ribbon and finish by checking the rolled ribbon and making any necessary adjustments.

• Carefully tack one end of the narrow gathered green ribbon to the flower’s base

• Wrap it around the wire stem 2 – 3 times, not pulling out the gathers.

• Use a few stitches to secure the gathered band at the base of the flower.

• Pull the remainder of this ribbon flat and wrap it tightly around the wire stem.

• Secure the end with a few stitches and a dab of glue if needed.

• Stitch the 2 faux suede leaves (ribbon XL16) to the stem

• Sew the bloom onto the band where it suites you best.

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**For detailed instructions on any of the above headbands, email us @ sales@mayarts.com.  We will gladly forward them to you.**

Blog Posted By: Ellen Highsmith Silver

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When you have some time, and the materials are handy, it can be so frustrating when inspiration is nowhere to be found.  The other day I found myself in that place…that place where my creativity was not flowing.  It was not even dripping.  It was FROZEN. 

 
Time to call in the experts.  I know some pros whose creativity is limitless.  My panel consisted of Dow(4), Rowan(5) and Sophie(6).

I put the kids in front of canisters of ribbons and asked, “Do you have any ribbon ideas?”  I had chosen the right panel for this brainstorming session because ideas flooded the room.  The kids immediately started explaining everything that could be done with May Arts Ribbons!  Here is a list that I complied from these crafty kids!!

1. Gift wrap
2. Headband

3. Hang it up for decoration

4. Wrap around a banister
5. Tie it to something and climb it
6. Wear it in your hair
7. Tie it to a kite
8. Belt it!
9. Cut it up and make a collage
10. Wrap it around a tree
11. Make a leash

12. Sew it on to a shirt
13. Decorate jeans
14. Make a man’s tie

15. Tie it into shapes
16. Create a parachute

After our discussion I knew that jeans with a belt was the way to go!  So with time, materials and now the idea I went to work and altered up my daughter’s blue jeans!

Here is the final product!

By the way, I hope checking into this blog from time to time helps keep your creative juices flowing.  What else do you do to get past a creative block?

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(Headband: WH Grosgrain/Reversible, Trim on fold of jeans and on loops: BD22 Grosgrain/Center dot, Belt: EM22 net, Trim on pockets: BA17 Satin/Center ruffle, Stitching on cuffs and flower: TS 22 and 47)

Blog Posted By: Leah Farrar-White

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