Thursday, March 31, 2011

Satin Ribbon Flower Tutorial

We just got this great ribbon in at the store - PERFECT for making flowers!  Here's how:

1.) Start with a piece of felt, scissors, fabric glue such as Fabri-Tac, and a half yard or so of double faced satin ribbon 1.5" (I used May Arts ribbon).  You want double faced so that one side doesn't have a dull color when you start twisting.   The felt can be any size as long as it is big enough to get about a 1 1/2 inch circle. 


2)  Cut a circle from the felt using your scissors.  The circle does not have to be perfect and it should be about 1 1/2 inches, but again does not have to be perfect or exact.


3)  Tie a knot at the end of the ribbon and pull it tight.  Don't mind my Fabri-Tac covered fingers :)




4)  Add the fabric adhesive to the center of the circle (or as close to the center as you can get)



5)  Press the knot of your ribbon onto the adhesive dot in the circle.  Hold down for a minute to be sure there is a hold before you start twisting the ribbon.



6)  Pressing the knot still, start rotating the circle to the left as you twist the ribbon to the right with the other hand.  You'll be twisting the ribbon to the right but laying it down to the left around the circle.



7)  Rather than adding all the adhesive at once on the circle, you'll want to add little amounts of adhesive infront of the ribbon that you'll be putting down.  If you have adhesive all over it, your ribbon will fall into it as you twist and you don't want adhesive all over your flower! Here I used my thumb to hold the knot and my pointer to hold down the last part that was twisted and glued.  I held that for about 30 seconds before moving on. 




8)  When you get to the end, cut off the extra ribbon, leaving about a 1/4 - 1/2 inch that will be folded behind.  If you end up with not enough ribbon, no worries, just cut off the extra felt around it, being careful not to cut into your ribbon.


9)  While still holding the flower in place, turn it over and put a drop of fabric glue on the back near the remainder of the ribbon.


10)  Fold over the ribbon and hold in place for about 30 seconds.  It will take longer than this to fully dry, but that should hold it in place.


11) Tada!  Mine is a little off center, but I think it still looks fine.  I'm going to let myself be a little forgiving :)



12)  Adding embellishments:  We all love embellishments, don't we??  You could use your flower just like this, but who doesn't want to add buttons, pearl, or whatever else you have lying around!


I had these Tim Holtz buttons

Add some fabric glue to the back of the button or any other embellishments you'll be using


Finished!

You can see the difference - You can twist your ribbon loosely or tightly for different looks.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

The Collins Group Trade Show, Framingham MA

My husband and I just returned from The Collins Group Trade Show.  It isn't like CHA - there are no fancy booths and it is really small, but a lot of fun.  Great things sometimes come in small packages :)  I got lots of ideas for classes and also lots of ideas for birthday parties.  I hope to finish all my collecting and putting together of birthday parties by May.  I also saw lots of merchandise.  Most of it you have probably already seen as these are products that were showcased at CHA, but it was nice to see things in person.  Sometimes you look at them in a catalog and just can't picture what you can do with it until you touch it and then all of these ideas pop into your head!  One of my favorite companies was Canvas Corp - They are now coming out with paper lines and I got to see the Halloween line they will be offering - ADORABLE!  They don't  have all the fancy embellishments but they offer burlap and canvas that is super fun to work with! Also loving Luminart watercolors.  Can't wait to play with that!  Looking forward to sharing it all with you!

Hope everyone had a great Sunday afternoon 

Friday, March 25, 2011

Etsy Shop

Hello Everyone!

I just put three framed owl paper pieced images on Etsy.  They are too cute!  Check it out:  LittleShopofPaper

Hope you like them - If anyone is interested in them that is local and can pick them up at the shop, we can do that without shipping :)  They are $20.00 each.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Don't have a whole room to dedicate to crafting?

Organize a scrapping closet!  This is a great idea from Scrapbook Etc. for those with limited space.  The peg board on the closet door is great for holding lots of different items.  You could add hooks and hang buckets from them with lots of goodies.  Happy organizing and crafting!




Thursday, March 17, 2011

Wedding Card

My sister-in-law's wedding is in June and so a card is a must!  I used Jolee's wedding cake along with some For The Record cardstock, ribbon I had lying around, and Kaisercraft Pearls - one to be exact :)

Pinks Greys and Blacks - Wonderful Combos

I keep going back to this Be Mine Line - I must walk away :)  It just works for so many things! 

I really enjoyed making this card - weaving the papers and stamping the heart and adding some STICKLES :)

This was another page I did for a layout challenge

Thursday, March 10, 2011

More For The Record

I love this line so much - It is one of my favorites to date.  All the papers are wonderful and the element stickers and alphas are awesome!  Here is another layout I made using it....

This was a banner challenge for a scrapbook group - I love doing challenges - It makes me think outside the box :)