Spring is in the Air!

I love the advancing of SPRING! It is a whirlwind of changing weather, hopeful anticipation of warm sunny days and promises to allow us the utter joy of stomping in puddles.... well maybe... or at least our daring kids and grandkiddies!

Thinking of the delights of spring I enjoyed the words of this quote that aptly describe its joys...

"Can words describe the fragrance of the very breath of spring? " - Neltje Blanchan

 I've been down in my craftroom several times this week and all those floral designs beg to be played with. I've been going to town using my floral cricut die cuts, flower punches, floral embellies. I've also finallyused some of my bought flowers and combined them with rhinestones, border punched designs and all those wonderful stamps I've collected throughout my stamping career...yippee!

After playing awhile I realized I will need some verse for the interior of my cards so here are some ideas I came up with.

1. Spring has sprung!
2. It's Spring - Do you know where your bloomers are?
3. "Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!"
4. "All the flowers of tomorrow are in the seeds of yesterday."

Then a poem....

It's almost here - It's safe to say,

I saw a Crocus yesterday

Its' colors bright - A lovely thing

My heart Rejoiced! 'Twil soon be Spring!

 


 

Some of my favorite creative expressions have come from using up scraps. Here is a really wonderful idea for using scrap ribbon and then an idea for how to incorporate them into a finished project. Enjoy!

Ribbon Flowers for Scrapbooking - How To Make Ribbon FlowersRibbon Flower Layout

Dig into the your ribbon stash and make these beautiful flowers for your next scrapbook page. Simple, quick stitches and a few supplies are all you need to turn any piece of ribbon into a fabulous flower that you can use to embellish a scrapbook page layout. The ribbon flower shown here has been layered on top of a patterned cardstock flower that was created using one of the cute sketches available on About.com Scrapbooking under Flower-Patterns.

Supplies Needed

To begin, you will want to gather the following simple supplies: 6 or more inches of ribbon, thread, sewing needle, scissors, buttons, and adhesive (double-sided foam adhesive tape, fabric glue, or tacky tape).









Slip Stitch the Ribbon

To get started, thread your needle and fold over the thread so that you have double strength; knot the end a few times to give you a nice big knot on the end. Stitch a running stitch (just in and out) along one edge of the ribbon.








Gather the Ribbon

Once you have stitched a few inches of the ribbon, gently pull the thread as you slide the ribbon down the thread to gather the ribbon. As it gathers it will naturally form a circle. Continue stitching and gathering until you have enough ribbon gathered to complete a circle.







Stitch the Ends of the Ribbon

Once you have a gathered ribbon circle that you like, fold the end of the ribbon back to meet the other end of the ribbon. Pinch these together as you add a few stitches to hold the circle in place and tie off the thread. Use scissors to trim the ribbon right below your stitches to complete the ribbon flower.





Completed Ribbon Flower

When the flower has been stitched, gathered, stitched closed, and trimmed, it will look like this on the front.










Add A Button to the Ribbon Flower

Finish off your flower by adding a button to the center. The button shown here is from EK Success and comes with foam adhesive on the back so that you can just stick it on. Foam adhesive squares, tacky tape, or liquid fabric glue would all work well for attaching the button to the ribbon flower.