Mother's Day Cards

Interesting time of year in the U.S. for this post. That's what happens when you look through last year's photos! You suddenly find a project you forgot to post.

Nothing special, just some stamped cards. But since I'm never very creative about making original cards, I was pleased with the final product. One for my mom and one for my mother-in-law.

This was done with a Stampin' Up! set. I stamped the letters, trimmed them close, stuck them to the turquoise paper, trimmed that close, and stuck them to the card which I had already stamped to create a colorful background. Fun geometric look!

This one was also done with Stampin' Up! stamps. It is just a stamped image and ribbon with layers of purple, red, and silver paper. It's hard to see in the photo, but the silver has a nice matte shine to it.

Do you ever hand-make cards? Do you have an intense amount of guilt buying any when you know you could just make them if you'd planned ahead or had enough time? Some people are so talented at it that I'm often afraid mine won't measure up, but that's what keeps us trying, right?

Two Bookmarks

On Tuesday, I needed to make a quick birthday gift to go with another birthday gift (huh?) to go with the birthday card that was going in the mail on Wednesday.

The tried and true bookmark pattern went very well with the Amazon Gift Card that was much more mature than the juvenile-humor card that I loved so very much.

Moving on... Once I finished the gift, I wanted to try the other bookmark pattern I had. I really like the way it turned out with the deep purple organza ribbon.

Hmmm...that pale wood sure makes it look maroon. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Thread and Ribbon Bookmark

Saturday afternoon, I made another bookmark. I have just enough ribbon left to make one more!

Only one last project to post from the weekend away! Wow, being away from the computer sure gave me more time to work on my own projects rather than drool over everyone else's projects. ;-) So next week will be dedicated to everything I did this past week, and the following week will be what I work on next week... and... and... and...

Bookmark Christmas Gift

This is another of the projects that I had to wait to post. It's a thread and ribbon crocheted bookmark.

I found the pattern here. I really liked making this one! I might have to make one for myself sometime since I'm forever looking for a receipt or postcard or slip of paper to use... ;-)

Hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas and is ready to gear up for the New Year! We're still celebrating with lots of extended family, so I'll have to catch up with all of your projects soon.

Ribbon Wreath Craft

A while back, I found a tutorial for a Ribbon Wreath. I thought it was a neat idea, and it didn’t seem too difficult or expensive, so I wanted to try it. The first thing I did was look up the prices for the grosgrain ribbon I would need. Ummm….wow! That stuff was CRAZY expensive! Are you kidding? Wow, backburner that craft for a while! I was looking for cute and CHEAP!! It was looking like this thing could cost upwards of $40-$50 or more!

Fastforward a few months.

My new favorite area at Hobby Lobby is their fabric clearance shelf. Lo and behold, I found some pretty turquoise stripe grosgrain ribbon on clearance $2.10 for 10 yds. I was pretty excited by that price! With my 40% off coupon, I got the Styrofoam wreath form for less than $3. So, pretty Ribbon Wreath, less than $7! Yeah! Now to put it together… It took a little help from dear Kati, but I was finally brave enough to try this one.

Here’s what I used:
10″ wreath form
20 yds. grosgrain ribbon, 1.5″ wide (mine had 2 major flaws on one roll, and I still had plenty) Mine happened to have wire-edge. This is not necessary, but, hey! it was on clearance–I’m not picky. If you get wire-edged ribbon, don’t use your nice sewing shears to cut them!
Scissors (see above note)
Tape measure

To make:
Cut your ribbon into 14″ lengths. Leave one extra long length for hanging it.
Tie the ribbon in a square knot (or any type of not, just keep consistent with the whole wreath).
Keep going until the wreath is full or you run out of ribbon.
Tie on the hanging ribbon…hang it up!
I did not use fray check on the ends or burn them. You could do that if you wanted to, I just found it unnecessary and time-consuming.

What I would do differently next time: I *might* spray paint the wreath form first. On the off chance that any shows through, it could be disguised. Honestly, even with my perfectionism, I just don’t think I’d waste the time. The color/design of ribbon would probably be my deciding factor.

Here’s how it turned out:

A more detail shot:

You can see that it had an interesting double-sided design. There was the stripe on one side and a blue-to-white fade on the other. Odd, but I think it worked!

Did I miss any instructions? Let me know if you try one!