ribbon roses

My oldest daughter (by 1/2 hour of her twin sister) is getting married in 2 weeks.
We are all so excited, it's hard to contain the happy atmosphere that surrounds her right now.
You can't help but smile when you see her face.

I did a lot for her sister's wedding back in 2004 (happy anniversary Bets!, eight years, whoa!)
from bouquets to table decorations, etc., but this time I am living 4 hours away. And it's not MY show.
It's tough to let other people take over, and I feel like I'm in the "outer" circle for the first time and being the mother of the bride, I have learned to just let it go.  Hard? yes.   Impossible? no.
Danzy, this effort is for you!

I did snag the flower job: bouquets, boutonnieres & corsages. So I have to revisit my previous job of choosing flowers, buying flowers, wiring flowers, preparing flowers, making flowers, then cooling off flowers three days ahead of time so they don't wilt and all my effort is for naught! Ah, the pressure!

Well, Dana showed me a quick and easy way to make little ribbon flowers. So this week's project is:

Ribbon Flowers

You will need:
satin ribbon, 3/4" - 1" wide
needle and thread

I used a different width of ribbon for demo to make it easier to view:

take about 24" of ribbon and toward the middle make a right angle fold. You will then fold the 'bottom' ribbon over this fold. You will continue with the other side until you have folded about 10 times.

You will be folding (at right angles) over the previous fold.

When you have your ten folds, pinch the corner of the bundle and let go of the top side (right hand side)

The ribbon bundle will pop out, but just keep pinching tightly so the whole thing doesn't fall apart, and with your free (right) hand pull gently the ribbon that is hanging down.

The rose should start to bunch up and start forming a flower shape. If this doesn't work to your satisfaction, just unravel and start again.

Some ribbons work better than others, and some widths work better than others. We tried with the 2" demo ribbon in the beginning, and it was too big to form a nice rose.

Once you have a nice rose shape, take your needle and thread and sew the bottom ribbon part together so it doesn't unravel.

tip of the day:
If you want to keep your towels as dry as possible, (perhaps you live a moist climate and have trouble drying things out)  try this tip:
Use a small washcloth in the shower (or bath) after you are finished and wipe off with this small towel first. After you have blotted down you will be surpised how much water you can squeeze out of this little washcloth. So think of all this moisture going into your bath towels that have to struggle to dry out.
My hubby gave me this tip, cuz in the army they gave the guys a little washcloth and one SMALL towel.

That's all for this week!
:D

Painting the Roses Red!

My favorite animated movie is Alice in Wonderland.
My kids know this, my friends know this, my fellow crafters know this.
I have A in W ornaments,  A in W playing cards and I am quoting this movie all the time.

So when my girls had their 30th birthday, I, of course, had red roses for decorations.
These are paper roses, and easy to make. So NO need to fear the Queen of Hearts...
today's project is:

Paper Roses

You need:
~red tissue paper (or any other color you want)
~scissors
~tape (I used colored Duct Tape)
~skewers

First take your piece of tissue paper and cut it into 6 squares.

Layer 3 pieces on top of one another, and start folding these together at the same time.



You will fold these 4 times into a cone shape.

Then cut a curve in the top, through all layers.

Then do the same with the other 3 layers.

Open all and stack on top of each other.



Take a skewer and place a little piece of tape at the dull end. Stick this through the middle of all 6 layers.

Then you will gather and crimp the pieces up around the skewer and tape the bottom onto the stick. Make sure you get the tissue paper as you wind the tape around the skewer.

Then you will start separating the layers.
Do this gently starting at the bottom layer. Pull it downward.
Go to the next layer pulling it down, but not as far as the bottom layer.
Continue until you have separated all the layers.
Leave the top layer gathered around the skewer resembling a bud.

That's it! I made several of these, added them to toothpicks instead of long skewers and hung them from my dining room chandelier. I added paper sayings for my girls' birthday party. Plus I made a large flower to hang from the center of the lamp. You can make any size flower, just remember to cut the tissue paper into squares (not rectangles). For the large center flower I used 6 full sheets of tissue paper. Then I used the cut off ends to make into the smaller flowers.

I also used pink for the inside 3 layers, and red for the outside 3 layers. I added green construction paper leaves and strung them on fishing wire. A very feminine look.

You can make several and put in vases for centerpieces. Or string them together for a garland. Fast, easy and pretty.

Why not plan a Valentines Day party and make a bunch to decorate your place with. Or better yet, show your guests how to make them and send them home with a heart felt bouquet!

tip of the day:
I bought several boxes of blueberries today from the store, at a buy one, get one free sale. So I had to freeze some of them. And the lesson I learned from picking fresh blackberries and putting them in the freezer in a zip loc bag was: separate them before freezing! Otherwise you end up with a big, squashed clump of berries. So take a cookie sheet, put your berries (or banana slices) on this, making sure they are in a single layer. Put in freezer til set, and THEN take them off and put into another container (ziploc or tupperware) and store in freezer.

That's all for this week!
:D