Tutorial for gift bows

Have you ever been in a situation where you all of a sudden realize you need to wrap a gift and you have either wrapping papers or ribbon? It seems to happen to me quite often...but NO MORE.

Here's a easy tutorial to make one of those gift bows that you pay dollars for. And when that's done you just use matching patterned paper to wrap your gift. And if you wanna be extra fancy and creative, why don't make a greeting card while you're at it.

As always the measurement's here are very flexible. Both the length and the width of the strips can be changed.Even the amount of strips. Here I used
4 paper strips X 3.

Cut from DOUBLE sided paper:

4 5/8" x 6"
4 5/8" x 5"
4 5/8" x 4"


Glue the two ends together like shown, so that you will get a loop.

Repeat with all the other strips.

Glue them together by 4's.

Then glue them on top of each other.

Super easy!!

Attach whatever in the middle. The ones that you buy in the store have another small loop in the center.

When you make these you can use glue, tape, staplers or even brads. I have only used a tape runner so far, but if I had a glue gun I think I would have tried that.

Try to make the strips thinner and wider, though I think 1" wide is about the limit. Also try 5 or 6 loops per layer.

I of course had to try to make them with ribbons. There will be no tutorial for that. I don't think I will ever try again. It's hard to find something that makes the ribbons stick together. Again...a glue gun might have worked.

Here's my attempt with Martha Stewart ribbon and patterned paper;

I have actually no idea what next tutorial will be...can I possibly be running out of flower creations?? Not to worry, I have a note book filled with other ideas.

And believe it or not..our shipment has arrived to the island and will be delivered to our house on Saturday...oh joyous day!!

PS. Thankyou all you sweet people for the nice things you say about my blog. It truly brightens my day!

Celebration giveaway

I'm so happy that I started my blog three months ago, because it has been really good for my creative mojo. I'm constantly thinking of new stuff that I can make tutorials for.
So why not celebrate with a giveaway. This time it's some goodies from Martha Stewart Crafts:

8 patterned papers
4 border transfers
6 border stickers
4 yards of ribbon
1 jar of white gold glitter

All you have to do, to be in the random drawing, is to leave a comment to this post and let me know what scrapbook supply you would love to have. It can be a tool, a paper pack or whatever.

This is what I would love to have next:

I'm working on a tutorial for these easy and cheap ( my two favorite words) gift bows. Come back soon to check it out.

Some cards

Remember my 702 lbs of scrap stuff? Well, I DO and it's not here yet! The only supply I have to work with is my 56 lbs rolling tote filled with papers that I sent in the express shipment.

In there I had plenty of UNOPENED Bo Bunny paper kits. You know how it is sometimes...you just have to have certain papers and when you get it, you're afraid to use it, because you like it so much. That was the case with my Bo Bunny papers, but now I had no choice but using them.

I made two cards with their line called "Alissa". It's sooooo pretty and I just love the splashes of black in it.





I got to use the ribbon bows that I made last week. Click here to see how to make them.

Click here to see how I made this ribbon flower.

If you look to the left you will see a slide show of all the entries to my summer challenge. I will draw a random winner Aug. 2 and the ones that mentioned my blog will get their names two times in the hat;)

On Sunday, 26th, I will celebrate that I've had my blog for 3 months, so be sure to come back then for a nice giveaway!:)

Dahlia flower tutorial

Sorry...but I just can't help it...I guess I'm just drawn to flowers. I had something totally different in mind for this blog post, but then I came across these adorable Dahlia flowers and I just had to try to make them and then of course show you guys how to.

I found them on YouTube and the demonstrator is a Stampin' Up gal named Dawn. Click here to see the video I watched.

I've been thinking about if I should make videos instead of posting a bunch of photos. But personally I prefer pictures. When I watch a video tutorial I have to watch it over and over again until I get it. If I have a photo in front of me I can just STARE at it until I understand. Know what I mean?

Please let me know what you think. Videos or photos?



Anyways, back to the flowers...

you'll need:

• double sided patterned paper
• circle punch
• adhesive
• flower center (button,rhinestone,brad)

optional:

• ink
• bone folder

Punch out 8 circles. I used 1" here, but I think 1 1/4" is better. My fingers started to cramp after a while.



Fold them in half and then half again, so that the circles are divided in four quarters.


Fold two edges in so that you will get a point.

Do the same with all 8 circles.

Turn the circle over and fold again so that the two edges meet in the middle. I did a sloppy job here as you can see. I was so eager to get done;)

Repeat with the other circles.

Cut out another circle. This is to glue all the pedals to, so it doesn't matter what color it is.

Cover it with double sided tape.

Start with attaching the pedals to the circle.

This can be a bit frustrating..at least it has been for me; I either have too much space or too little. This one turned out OK.

Finally, add something pretty to the center!

Now I have yet another paper flower to add to my box;)

Tutorial for ribbon roses

Here is finally the promised tutorial for these cute ribbon roses. All you need is ribbon,craft glue and some scissors.





I never measure anything, but take two pieces of ribbon about 4" long. They can be the same or different colors. I chose two different here so that it would be easier to see.


Add some glue in one end and put the ribbons on top of each other.
Fold the edges over like shown;

Then starts the tricky part. You really need both hands to do this, but since I had to take a picture too, I'm just using one.

Roll up from the folded side about three times.

Then twist the ribbons as you continue to roll it up. The twisting is what gives the rose the volume. If you use two colors, make sure that you alternate between the colors facing up.

Every time I do these they turn out a little bit different.

Experiment with the twisting. Twist more and less and inward and outward. The most important thing is that you always have a so called folded side facing up. Not the actual edge of the ribbon.

I'm really not good with words and explaining, but I hope you can tell from the photos what I mean.

Add glue at the end of the ribbons and tuck them underneath the rose. Then trim the ribbons sticking out.

Hopefully you will have something looking like this now.

( These are NOT my favorite colors at all, but since I don't have my stuff yet, I was limited with what they sold on the Base here )

So now when you know how to make those roses you can continue to make this bow/flower thingy;

You'll need

3 ribbons about 2 1/2"

and 4 ribbons about 4".

Add glue to the ends and fold towards the center.

Just glue them on top of each other.

and you will have this;

then add your rose to the middle.

I like them a lot actually and I came up with them aaaaall by myself ;), so please if you use them on a layout, card or whatever I would really appreciate if you gave me credit and linked to my blog.

I have some more ribbon flowers in storage, so be on the lookout.

And next week I will celebrate that I've had my blog for three months so I thought it would be perfect with another giveaway then. So see ya soon!

How-to's for simple ribbon bow

To make this simple bow, you'll need;

• ribbon
• scissors
• craft glue

Start with cutting three pieces of ribbon 2 1/2" - 4 1/2"

Add a dot of glue in each end and bend to the center of the ribbon.

Glue them on top of each other.

Attach a small piece of ribbon around the middle of the bow.

You can also tie a ribbon around the middle.

Super easy huh! They would look so cute on a card or a layout or why not attach to a hair clip.

Next time I will show you how to make this bow/flower;

I wanna remind you all of my challenge that's going on right now. Click here to see it. I have only gotten a few submissions and I KNOW that many of you have in fact made at least one of the flowers that I have given tutorials for. So show the rest of us what you came up with. We wanna see!!!

Leave a comment here with a link to your layout.

You have until August 1 and the day after I will draw a random winner who will receive this prize:

12 double sided papers

22 pop-up stickers

from K and Co's line called Happy Trails. Perfect for that road trip, camping trip or beach day.

That's it for this time! Hope you all are enjoying your summer!:)

Giveaway winner and tutorial sneak peek

Wow! Last week went by so fast! It's Monday here already.

We moved into a house on Wednesday and I basically started to paint right away. I don't like white walls. I have lot's of painting left but I thought I would take a break and blog as I promised.



I asked John to pick a number between 1-70 and he picked 58 which means the winner for the giveaway is Krumel from Germany. BIG CONGRATS to her!!!


I have started to work on another tutorial and if you think it will be flowers of some kind you guessed right;) This time they will not be made of paper, but of ribbons. Here's a sneak peek:

I also came up with some other cool looking ribbon creations. I should have them up in a few days.

We are expecting our first shipment this week. Finally I'll get my own pots and pans and I will also get some of my scrapbooking stuff.YAY! It will be a great week!!