Crafty Secrets and Really Reasonable Ribbon: A Perfect Match!

NOTE:  If you are looking for my April Blog Candy Event, please scroll down!  Thanks!

Welcome to the Crafty Secrets April 2015 Linky Party! We are excited to be partnering with Really Reasonable Ribbon  in this fun cross-promotional event that we are calling “Anything Goes with Ribbon.”

Really Reasonable Ribbon sponsored the Crafty Secrets Design team this month, giving us the beautiful April Ribbon Club Collection of Ribbons to add to our projects.

I chose to alter a little shadowbox tray for my project, and I have a tutorial showing you how to make the little banner, too.

I worked with one of the darling Solo Trays from Canvas Corp Brands.  These measure about 6″ square.  I printed the Happy Thoughts paper from the Vintage Typography CD to 8″ square and trimmed the top portion with the sentiment to fit inside the largest box of the tray. That’s one of the big benefits of working with digital…being able to print out a paper that fits the size of your project!  I fussy cut the bird from the paper, inked the edges with Vintage photo and layered him on top of the background with a double row of foam dots.

Inside the top portion, I cut squares from the Birds and Blossoms Creative Scraps to fit, and then layered some little stickers on top of them.  This is easy, right? Next, I ran 1/4″ Scor-Tape all around the top edge of my tray.  Then I added the gorgeous Roses with Scalloped Edge Aqua Ribbon on top of that layer.  It was the exact shade of aqua to work with all my papers, now isn’t that nice?

Next, Spanish Moss was glued in place, then a whole host of pretty Prima and Petaloo flowers followed.  I added in a pretty little Prima bird nest that I found in my stash, and a piece of star anise, too.  I love the shape and texture that added to the mix.  A couple of stamps from Birds and Blossoms, and a tiny little pocket watch were added to the mix.  I topped it all off with a gorgeous bow tied with Light Coral Satin Ribbon.   I just love these spring colors…they make me think of sherbet…and that is a good thing!

I was pretty happy with this creation, but I felt it needed just a little finishing touch.  So I decided to make a banner.  I printed off an 8″ square piece of the beautiful Rose Diamonds Paper and in no time flat, I had a banner for my altered tray.  Here’s how I made it!

Print off the paper sized at 8″ square.

Cut out the individual diamond shapes and ink the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

Fold each diamond shape in half to form a triangle. Twist two strands of Natural Jute String together.  Fold in half and tie a knot on each end.  You want it to match the width of your tray when you are finished.

Lay the triangles over the prepared twine so that you can glue the triangle tips shut.  Then hot glue onto the sides of your tray, or card or layout…whatever you are making!  Easy, Right?

Crafty Secrets shared some awesome goodies with the design team at RRR, and they will be featuring those projects on the Really Reasonable Ribbon BLOG from April 3rd through April 11th, so you will want to pop over for even more inspiration from the RRR Design team.

To play along, simply create any project that features Crafty Secrets products and add ribbon or trim to your project. You do not have to use Really Reasonable Ribbon to play along, any ribbon or trim will do.

To thank you for playing along, we have selected a pretty digital paper and a fun seasonal image that you can download.. You may use this on your project if you wish, or save it for another day. You may link any project you like, however if you wish to be eligible for this month’s prize package, you must feature Crafty Secrets products in your project.

This month’s lucky winner will receive a $25 gift certificate for any DIGITAL products in our online store! You can choose from our Digital Art Stamps, digital paper packs, digital printable sheets or digital Creative Scraps and fill your shopping cart to the brim with wonderful digital vintage goodies from Crafty Secrets!
Link your “Anything Goes with Ribbon” project to the Crafty Secrets BLOG no later than midnight PT on Sunday, April 19th. I’ll be hopping by to take a peek at your beautiful creations and leave a nice comment on your blog. On Wednesday, April 22nd, the winner of this month’s prize package will be announced on the Crafty Secrets Blog.

Now, go visit the rest of the amazing Crafty Secrets Design team, and prepare to be inspired!

Kathy Clement, DT Leader  ( You are here)
Darlene Pavlick: Dar’s Crafty Creations
Diane Hover: Nellie’s Nest
Elizabeth Lincoln:  Paper Passtimes
Ginny Nemchak: Polly’s Paper
Gloria Stengel: Scraps of Life
Melody Clement: Paper Melody’s
Michele Kovack: Thoughts of a Cardmaking Scrapbooker
Shantaie Fowler:  Inking Pink
Sheila Rumney: Sheila Rumney Design and Photography

Don’t forget to visit the Really Reasonable Ribbon Blog for more inspiration!  They also have a great challenge going on right now, so you might as well  play there, too!  I can’t wait to see what you make!

Cheerio,

kathy