Curly-Q Ribbon Tutorial

Curly-Q Ribbons for your next layout!
Hi there! Brand new Practical Scrapper Patty here with a fun way new to add ribbon to your scrapbook layouts! 

 First, I would like to say hello to all of our followers out there and tell you haw excited I am to be here!  I love to craft but scrapbooking is my passion so anytime I can combine the two it is like a match made in heaven!
That is kind of how this technique came about.  I had seen these curled ribbons in little girl's hair bows and wondered how they kept the curl. After a bit of research I found out the ribbons are actually heated to make the curl permanent.  So I decided to give it a try to include on my scrapbook layout.

You will need:

Ribbon

Dowels or bamboo skewers

Clothespins

Preheat oven to 275.

Begin by clipping the end of your ribbon to the end of a dowel with a wooden clothespin.  If you do not have any clothespins, use a straight pin.  The first time I made these I used straight pins and it was a bit trickier, but definitely possible.

     

Next you wind the ribbon tightly around the dowel from end to end.

Cut the ribbon off when you get to the end of the dowel and secure it with another clothes pin or straight pin.  

Make as many ribbons as you would like.  Place them on a baking sheet. Bake on 275 for about 30 minutes. 

 

Remove them from the oven and LET THEM COOL!  As always this is a hard step for me!  But, I learned the hard way that if you unwind them before they are cooled, the curls will loosen or come out altogether. (I do move them to a towel  to get them away from the heat of the pan so they cool faster!)

Once they have cooled completely, slide them off of their dowels.  There are times when they get caught on a sliver of wood...DO NOT PANIC, simply unwind the ribbon from that area and slide it off the opposite end as the grain of the wood sometimes catches the ribbon.

 

How cute are these?

P Now, to show you how they were incorporated into this layout. 

I began with a yellow sheet of cardstock and began playing around with the paint to create a dry brush and splatter frame for the photo.  Once I was happy with that, I placed my photo and played with the ribbons until I was happy with their placement.

I used glue dots to adhere the thicker ribbons and fiber glue to adhere the thin yellow ribbon. I place the dots and glue about every inch or so along the ribbon and was sure to place the adhesive directly onto the surface and pressed it firmly onto the layout.   

I have also used this technique to create these invitations:

I hope this idea inspires you to create some Curly-Q ribbon of your own and work it into your next layout or papercrafting project!

Come say Hi! over on my blog @ CraftPicks!  

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