Using Envelope Distort for Ribbon Effect

I've created an outline ribbon. I'd like to place another image inside the ribbon and give it the warping blend tool.

I was using envelope distort to try to produce the effect. However, it gives me an error:
The operation cannot be complete because of an unknown error. [3]

I had 8 images that I unlinked and embedded in illustrator so that I could create a symbol with it.
Then I took that symbol and created it into a swatch.
Then I put an envelope distort on my outlined ribbon and I clicked this image with the star on it (my tooltip won't show on hover)

Here is a pic of the symbol I am trying to put into the ribbon outline:

Here is the finished result I am trying to achieve:


thanks!