new look on ribbon...

Welcome to another installment of Saturday Inspiration! I'm so glad you stopped by!

Today I have a simple altering project to share.

A little background before we start... I love ribbon. Most of you probably know that by now... Anyway... I quickly learned that I could not afford, nor did I have the space to store all the hundreds of colors and styles of fabulously fun ribbons. My solution? I buy white ribbon. Yup, plain cheap white ribbon... the kind that is .50 a spool. I then alter it using anything from markers to powders, inks to stamps, and of course.... Paint!

So, today I thought I would share a fun way to alter plain ribbon to jazz it up a little.

You will need:

Ribbon to alter

Creative Inspirations Paint

Stamp (background, borders, letters, and images all work well)

makeup sponge

*when choosing your stamps remember the width of your ribbon. Large designs on small ribbon can get lost.*

Step 1: place your acrylic or rubber stamp on a flat surface. You want the stamp facing up.

Step 2: Using a makeup sponge, dab a thin layer of paint on the stamp.

Step 3: lightly lay your ribbon on the painted stamp

Step 4: Gently press the ribbon into the stamp with your fingers. *optional* Place an acrylic block over the ribbon and press firmly. This helps apply even pressure without allowing the ribbon to shift.

Step 5: Gently remove your stamped ribbon and allow to dry. (it doesn't take long to dry)

this is Fuchsia on a cream satin ribbon

Step 6: repeat as necessary to cover length of ribbon

*quick tip... a soft bristled toothbrush with a little water and dish soap is a great way to clean the paint off your stamps. The bristles get down in those little crevices that often get missed*

Always try this on a small piece of ribbon before attempting on your project so you know how the paint will react with your particular ribbon.

it works on textured ribbon...

this is Royal Purple on a white grosgrain

It even works on dark ribbon. (this is a much subtler effect, but the shimmer catches the light)

Silver Frost on black satin ribbon

It even works on colors =)

(Aqua Marine on yellow grosgrain)

Ok, so I really had to dig in my library of stamps to find words small enough for this. However, I found an old set of phrases by Stampendous that fits on a 1/4 inch ribbon. And I did this just to show all of you that you can stamp words on ribbon, and you can stamp on small ribbon. WHEW!

So make your ribbons your own!

Have a great weekend!

~Kassi