{Ribbon Dispensers – A Fabulous Makeover}

What a fantastic weekend this has been!  (Besides getting burned to a crisp falling asleep at the pool).

Saturday I held the annual Christmas breakfast for my Stampin' Up! team – a morning of appreication and fun for "my girls".   I do value and appreciate them so much and also enjoy that they love being together as well.

And, as seems to be traditional as well, we had loads too much food and I'm sure I ended up with more in my frig than when we started!  My girls love it!!

Each year I have had a team, I've made a Christmas gift for my downline, a daunting but extremely enjoyable project.  This year I had this idea in my head for months now to make a ribbon dispenser with some biscuit tins.  After consulting with my builder friend and several hardware store staff, I struck a way to make this work.

The first step was to sand off the really ugly paint on the parts that would still be visible.  There's no paint on the market that was going to cut mustard; sanding was the only way to go.  It came up a reasonably nice silver.

Next I covered all the tins in various papers.  Needless to say, I am now quite proficient wiht the new Circle Scissors – and thank goodness we got that product in time to make this project a whole lot easier to complete!  Sofie (7) stayed up very late one night with me sticking on all the circles.  (Side note: we had one circle left over, which she immediately stuck to her leg for some reason.  You should have seen her face when she realized she was giving herself a wax!)

Next came the eyelets around the tins. Yes, did those with the crop-a-dile. Amazing it goes through tin – it's really what sold me on it in the first place.  The possbilities!  However, it did make my craft room a temporary danger zone as this project did leave a lot of tiny schrapnel on the floor.  Sofie will tell you they are quite sharp.

Then I decorated all the lids.  Kjristi (9) was the one who largely cut and threaded through all the ribbons.  She was happy to do that because that job included putting the truffles inside as well.  (YES I did let her have one!!)

The Raspberry Tart tins feature a ribbon rosette, accomplished by pulling one of the white stitched threads on one side until the ribbon gathers up.  Curl it up into a flower shape and stitch to hold together and stitch on a few whole pearls from the Pretties Kit.  Not really as difficult as it sounds – the effect is lovely. Inspired by the talented Kelly Slattery.

Next up was the Urban Garden tins, done up with the Inspired by Nature stamp set.  Don't you love the Kiwi Kiss Glitter?!  Supernova glitter is fantastic (pg 145) on these flowers.  Love this stamp set for quick and effective.  I think these ones are my personal favourites out of the lot, but hard to choose, really.  These were also Madeleine's favourite.

I haven't used the Haiku papers at all this year – opened a new pack to do these tins.  I like how it looks!  I really do.  Eastern Blooms and A Beautiful Thing stamp sets were used for this.  It did take a little time to cut out all those flowers, but not bad.  My daughter Kjristi matched them up and put the brads through and glittered them for me.  The leaves are made with the oval punch and the crimper – such a COOL way to make leaves.  I shall do a video on that one day soon.    I left these tins relatively simple as I think the Asian theme lends itself to a more clean look.  This one was Kjirsti's favourite.

The Flight of the Butterfly with the Tea Party papers were the most popular at the breakfast.  Madeleine (11) designed these and half way made them.  (The neighbours wanted to play, so that won out, but she did do the design as well as all the stamping and punching).  I just had to stick it together in the end and put on the words.  She's a big help to me.  This tin was Sofie's favourite.

I challenged myself to use the Pink Flamingo papers, and again, I quite like how fresh and FUN these look.  I've been wanting to try these flowers made with the scallop punch for over a year when my dear friend Melinda sent me a card with one on it.  The large brads from the Hodge Podge Kit (and discounted right now as well!) were the perfect thing to hold it all together.  I quite like the bright colours peeping out from the indside of the petals. 

And last up was the Pick a Petal tins made with the Sweet Always papers.  I designed up an album recently, which inspired the lid for this one.  (some of you may recognize that).  As far as versatile stamp sets go, Pick a Petal has got to be near the top of the list.  The centres of the flowers are done up with the Build a Brad and little bits of the Sweet Always paper.  They are super versatile since you can create them to suit any project.  These tins were jared's favourites.

It was a couple of very very late nights (hence me crashing at the pool and getting burned!) and early mornings to get these done in time, but I truly enjoyed every minute. It reminded me again of why I love this business, this industry, this art so much – it's the creating something beautiful and from your heart for those you care about.

These came together really easily once I got started.  And I know why.  Because Love is the best inspiration.

Merry Christmas everyone,