Saturday, November 14, 2009

Make Your Own {Custom} Colored Ribbon


So, how many times do you go riffling through your ribbon drawers, shelves, containers, baskets, and more looking, searching for the perfect color ribbon?! Well, if you are like me, then the answer would be oh too often!!!

I have oodles of ribbon, always want more, and get incredibly frustrated when I don't have just the right color. Even though I want more, I'm running out of room to store it and wouldn't it just be nice to actually use what I have in a better way??

Last night, as I was creating a card, I was looking for a particular blue in a narrow width and after doing one of Tim's digs, I couldn't come up with any! Not even a scrap.

Suddenly, I glanced at the bag of Sharpies! I remembered some cream satin ribbon in the width I was looking for and started grabbing the ribbon, the bag of Sharpies, case of Bic Mark Its, and my random small collection of Prismacolor Markers.

Trying several of my blues out, I found the correct one (which happened to be a Bic Mark It). The ribbon was 100% polyester and took the ink from all three kinds of markers brilliantly! I just ran the markers along the length of the ribbon. It dried instantly and did not come off on anything. It did make the ribbon a bit stiffer, but that worked in my favor as the ribbon held the bow's shape when I tied it. There are other options, including reinkers and ink pads, but this is so fast and not messy at all!

I must admit, I am rather excited to know that I can make just about any color of ribbon that I need, which can come in really handy when you are crafting at night and the option to run out and get the right color is not available! And it was uber cheap as well! That 50 cent roll, was on clearance for 10 cents when I bought it some time back. So, my length of custom colored ribbon that I used cost me all of a fraction of one penny!!

Oh yes, and just in case you are worried, I am still creating and crafting! I started a new painting last week, have been making some cards (which I'll get up here soon), and tweaking some other creative projects. Hubby has been building some models with our kidlets. My son painted a ceramic kitty that he has been dying to put a brush to for awhile now. And I just bought my daughter her own set of paint brushes as she wants to paint too! So, there has been lots of the creative and crafty going on here and I'll definitely get some of it up soon. :>

Hubby just called..........the chicken, rice, and veggie soup that he and our Princess have been making all day is ready! What's for dinner at your house tonight?

13 comments:

  1. Oh fun fun fun!!! I love your link about Tim's Digs.. I had to click it, I thought I was missing out on some new challenge sponsored by Mr. Tim! Tee Hee!!! I loved his post about the stash of goodies and can truly appreciate your post:)

    xo!
    Dinner was Spaghetti... Yummy yummy yummy! Got my pasta fix!

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  2. This great to know Karen... thanks for sharing! I am sure that info will come in handy!

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  3. arent you a clever girl!
    to answer your question on my blog. we will not know about the
    house for at least 2-3 months.
    because it is on a "short sale"
    the agony of waiting that long
    just to hear if we were the winning bid or not is almost unbearable! oh well, if it was meant to be it will happen. have a great night. oh, we had chinese!

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  4. Now that is brillant! I will have to remember that tip...thanks a million and happy creating.

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  5. Hello Sweet Friend!

    Well, aren't you just so clever! What a fabulous idea! You know they say that necessity is the mother of all invention (or something like that)!

    Anyhoo, thank you for your lovely comment and I'm not a fan of wallpaper either and less so after hearing of your ordeal. We have been slowly redoing each room in our house and I have had several items that the former owner did that have left me scratching my head in wonderment! The one that has totally miffed me is the master bedroom where there are three wall to wall closets and the forth wall has a sliding glass door smack in the middle of the wall which leaves not one single solid wall for a bed?????

    Now I’m just babbling, have a wonderful week Karen!

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  6. what a great idea!!! Who knew!? thanks for visiting my blog!

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  7. What a wonderful idea! Of course I have a ribbon stash to rival anyone's but it seems I never have just the right one. Why is that? Now I have the answer! BTW, the soup sounds YUMMY!!! Catch ya soon! xoxo L

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  8. Hi Karen, thanks for stopping by my blog. Sometimes I forget to look at earlier posts to see if there have been any additional comments. Glad I did today, or I would never have found yours.

    Great idea to color the ribbon, will have to remember that.

    How's the painting coming along, did which direction did you go in??

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  9. Oh you clever girl! I will file that tip away and buy loads of white ribbon the next time it is on sale;)

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  10. Hi, Karen! What a terrific, creative idea! Thanks for sharing the tip! :-)

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  11. This is a FAB-uous tip.. I just love my sharpies and get so excited to see other ideas to use them with! Clever girl you! TFS!!

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  12. That is an excellent idea...making your own custom colored ribbon! All this ribbon I own and all those neat colored sharpies , just staring a me and I never thought of doing that!It's a match made in heaven! haha.... I'm so glad to have found you , following your blog now too!:)

    Laura

    PS:
    Thanks for leaving the comment for me! I LOVE getting them! It's like a little surprise everyday!

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