Ravishing Ribbon - May Arts DT Call Submission

Today I have an extra special (and extra long) post for you.  I'm submitting to a design team call for the May Arts Ribbon Blog, so I have three fabulous projects and a tutorial today!  I absolutely love ribbon, and the variety of things it can be used for, so it was rather hard to narrow it down to three fabulous uses for this post (but I finally managed).

First up, I have a gorgeous garden party hat.  I started with a "plain Jane" $7 floppy hat from the farm store - you can find a similar one in nearly any discount store I'm sure.  I made magic with a few types of ribbon and a couple of feathers, and this is what I ended up with:

I started by making a hatband from a 3" wide green mesh ribbon, and tied it in an oversize bow.  My big beautiful flower was made in three layers.  First, I made a rolled layer using a 5/8" dark turquoise ribbon and a small Gluber.  For the second layer, I gathered one edge of a 1 1/2" light turquoise ribbon using the longest stitch on my sewing machine and some upholstery thread.  (Upholstery thread is much heavier than sewing thread, and won't break when gathering long lengths of ribbon.)  For the final layer, I pulled out a bit of sheer glittery wire-edged ribbon.  I removed the wire from one side, and gathered the wire on the other side for the center.  I layered everything up, using an additional Gluber, and used a couple of Glue Dots to secure the large beaded button to the center.  I stuck in a couple of feathers (one colored with my Copic Markers) for fun, and I was done.

My hat had its grand debut at my local Woman's Club annual reciprocity meeting.  We met in a lovely mansion, and my hat fit right in!

Next in line is a scrapbook layout, declaring our favorite place for July 4th fun:

I love to use ribbon & fiber on layouts, and layer them up or use them in unexpected ways.

For this layout I chose to use ribbons that coordinate well with the slightly distressed feel of the papers.   I used a 3/8" natural twill, and layered on a 3/16" string/loop trim.  For a little extra pizazz, I added small silver star brads every 2 1/2" - and it has the added benefit of helping the string/loop lay flat!

I added some corrugated stars, which i swiped with white pigment ink, and used more of the string/loop to make them look like shooting stars.  The little snips were easy to cut with my i-magicut ribbon cutter from Imaginisce, and they are easy to adhere to paper using Liquid Glass from Close To My Heart (or Glossy Accents from Ranger).

Products used for this layout:

•  Superhero paper pack, Close To My Heart
•  3/8" natural twill ribbon, May Arts
• 3/16" string/loop trim in red, May Arts
• i-magicut ribbon cutter, Imaginisce
• Milepost Shapes corrugated stars, Close To My Heart
• White Daisy pigment ink pad, Close To My Heart
• Liquid Glass adhesive, Close To My Heart
• ATG Adhesive, 3M Scotch
• Cricut Expression with Country Life and Calligraphy Collection cartridges, Provo Craft
• silver star brads, from my stash
• red metal fasteners (on ends of ribbon), from my stash

My final project is some seasonal home decor.  My regular readers may remember that I have a pretty grapevine tree in my kitchen, and I've been trying to spread out my costs for seasonal decorations by doing it a bit at a time.  With my latest creations, I am now set for Memorial Day through July.

I had purchased the tin star ornaments and Uncle Sam last year, so I recently made two additions.  First, a patriotic banner garland:

I stamped "U", "S", & "A" on 7 sets of three mini pennants ans added some additional stamped designs as well.  Then I made 8 star epoxy shapes using the Epiphany Crafts star Shape Studio tool, and adhered them to 8 of the mini pennants (see below).  I strung the pennants on 15 yards of skinny striped ribbon, starting with a star pennant, then a group of USA pennants, then a star pennant, and so on.   I left several inches between each USA group and the star pennants on either side.

NOTE: If you have only a small area to decorate, this would look really cute in a smaller form!  Just buy one pack of mini pennants, make a single USA group and 2 stars, string them up and hang them just about anywhere.  You'll still have 5 pennants left for another project - Halloween "BOO", anyone?

Products used for the banner garland:

• 15 yards skinny patriotic striped ribbon, from the sewing store
• 3 packs Mini Pennant Banner Canvas Pieces, Maya Road
• Star 25 Shape Studio Tool & matching bubble Caps, Epiphany Crafts
• Super Hero paper pack, Close To My Heart
• 3-in-1 Advance Craft Glue, Beacon Adhesives
• Old World alphabet and American Celebration stamp sets, Close To My Heart
• Cranberry and Moonstruck stamp pads, Close To My Heart

To complete my decorations, I made some patriotic rosettes:

These are really easy to make, and take very few supplies.  All you need is ribbon, needle and upholstery thread or twine, paper punched or cut for the center, and adhesive (I used Beacon 3-in-1, but Glue Dots would also work).  You can experiment using longer lengths of ribbon for fuller rosettes, ribbon instead of twine for hangers, etc.  Different colors make great decorations for Halloween or Christmas, or exchange the hanger for a stem & leaves and you have a flower. Check out my short video below to see how easy they are!

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope to see you again soon!