David Condon Finds

Teachers seem to have an endless number of little occasions to mark during the school year. There are end-of-year gifts, Christmas treats, class prizes, reading achievements, good behaviour awards, sports days, competitions, birthdays, graduation and all sorts of smaller accomplishments in between. None of these necessarily calls for an expensive present. Quite often, it is simply the fact that a teacher has noticed an achievement and made a little effort to mark it that matters. Over the years I have had quite a few teachers and schools buy organza bags, ribbon and bows from me, often in combinations I would never have thought of myself. That got me thinking about some of the simple ways these supplies can be used for school gifts and prizes throughout the year. Image assisted by AI. End-of-Year Gifts for Pupils End-of-year gifts are probably the most obvious example. Teachers may be buying for twenty, twenty-five or thirty pupils, so even a small difference in cost quickly adds up. T...

Flowers do most of the work themselves. A good bouquet, arrangement or floral display does not need to be buried under decorations. In many cases, a small amount of ribbon or a simple finishing touch is enough to make the whole thing look much more complete. That applies whether you are a professional florist preparing arrangements every day or somebody arranging flowers yourself for a wedding, party, family occasion or simply because you enjoy doing it. Over the years, I have supplied ribbon and other craft materials to a number of florists around Ireland, and one thing I have noticed is just how differently the same basic supplies can be used. A roll of satin ribbon might finish a bridal bouquet one day, decorate a flower box the next and be used for a completely different project after that. So rather than looking at ribbon purely as something for tying a bow, here are some of the ways it can be useful around flowers and floral arrangements. Image assisted by AI. Why Is a Woodturner...

Choosing satin ribbon for a wedding sounds simple until you actually have to do it. Then suddenly you are looking at different widths, different colours, different uses and wondering whether the ribbon that looks neat on a roll will actually work in real life. I had a customer ask me recently about cream satin ribbon for a wedding. They wanted something “not too wide”, possibly 3mm, to cordon off an area. It was a perfectly fair question, especially if you have never had to decorate a wedding car, venue space, invitation bundle or gift table before. But 3mm ribbon is much narrower than many people realise. It is the kind of ribbon I would use for hanging ornaments, tying small tags or adding a fine detail to a craft project. It is not the width I would choose for anything that needs to be seen properly at a wedding. So this post is a practical guide to choosing satin ribbon width for weddings, based on what you are actually using it for. I stock a range of satin ribbon in different wid...

Craft supplies can be one of those things you do not think about until you suddenly need them. A bit of ribbon for a gift. A ready-made bow for a hamper. Wedding ribbon for invitations or favours. Stickers for Christmas crafts. Something small to finish a package properly without having to order from three different places or wait weeks for delivery. That is one of the reasons I started writing more about craft supplies on David Condon Finds. Image created for this post to represent the kind of ribbon, bows, stickers and craft supplies I write about. The actual products I sell are carefully selected, good-quality supplies that I would be happy to use myself. Why I Now Supply Craft Products I'm a woodturner by trade, which might seem like an odd starting point for posts about ribbon, bows and craft supplies. But through my main business, David Condon Woodcraft, I also stock a growing range of practical craft items. Over time, I found myself answering the same kinds of questions agai...

Most people think bows are just the final little decoration on a gift. In reality, they can change the whole look of the finished item. A plain box with a neat bow can suddenly look thoughtful, polished, and properly presented. A lovely handmade gift with a messy bow can look rushed, even if the gift itself is beautiful. That is the awkward truth of gift presentation. The small finishing touches often carry more weight than we realise. If you are wrapping one gift at home, tying your own bow might be perfectly fine. But if you are preparing several gifts, hampers, party favours, teacher presents, wedding favours, or handmade products for sale, ready-made bows start to make a lot more sense. So which is better? As usual, the answer depends on what you are doing. Who Am I to Talk About Bows and Gift Presentation? I’m not coming at this as someone who just looked up a few gift wrapping tips online. I’m a crafter, I run my own small craft business, and I started selling craft suppl...