May Arts - Round 2!

Our round 2 submissions are due Friday for May Arts.. Yay for getting it done before the last second :)

For my submission I've chosen to do a wedding ensemble. I gathered supplies to make a ring barer's pillow, a cuff (either as a gift for the bridesmaids or for the Bride) and a hair piece.

First off we need a gorgeous center piece for our ring barer pillow.. And May Arts Ribbon certainly fills that slot! Prima had a flower called the Gatsby Collection in which they used ribbons folded over and tied in the middle to create a flower, but they were sort of flimsy and didn't have much body. Using May Arts Ribbon gives us an endless supply of possibilities in texture, color, material and width making our flowers absolutely customizable to whatever we're working on. For this particular flower I chose three substantial sturdy ribbons eliminating the need for tulle or other "fillers".

The three used for this portion of the project are:

350 5/8"x50y SHEER/RUFFLE EDGE (350-58-94)

384 3/4"x20y LACE/PEARL CENTER

and the
SD 3/8"x50y - SOLID/CENTER DOT

The ribbons are wrapped around a center spot and tied together. They're fluffed and spread apart to mimic petals on a flower and are finished off with a pretty center. You could use stamen, vintage jewelry, beads, and anything else. I chose to use two pearls and a bicone bead. Here's a video with the details:

And here is the whole ensemble:

I also utilized two other ribbons by May Arts:

.398 2.5"x10y Burlap/Wired
and the
392 58"x10y SHEER / BOX PLEAT (392-58-09)

as well as pearls, a bicone bead, burlap thread, muslin, glue, a needle, thread and a sewing machine, pillow fluff, vintage buttons, cardstock, cheese cloth and vintage photo distress stain.

If you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them :)
-DeeDee

May Arts DT Call Round 1

Here I am, throwing my name into the hat for the May Arts DT call. I've been lucky enough to be chosen for quite a few of the May Arts monthly challenges and love working with such beautiful high quality ribbons.

Here is my tutorial format project (in written format): 

Gather supplies: a gorgeous super wide dark brown burlap ribbon by May Arts, Basically Bare canvas fleur de lis, Distress Stain in Pumice Stone, a medium color burlap, muslin, dark brown quilting thread (it’s thicker than normal every day thread), vintage buttons and pillow fluff! (don't forget the sewing machine!)

I splattered some distress stain on my teflon mat, gave it a bit of a spritz with water and dipped my fleur de lis in it. I then set it out in the sun to dry… I did try heating it with a heat gun and for whatever reason it kept getting a purple tint. Mr. Natural Heat to the rescue 

After he was dry I sewed a piece of burlap to a piece of muslin.. I knew I wanted the burlap to be the main texture of the pillow.. but didn’t want the fluff to poke through the open texture, so I created the base of the pillow from a nice tightly woven muslin. After the burlap was sewn to the muslin and my fleur de lis was dry I placed the Basically Bare canvas piece on top of the muslin and stitched a couple of times with the dark brown quilting thread.. not only to hold it in place but to pull together some of the darker browns I wanted to introduce into the pillow.

Then I sewed my May Arts ribbon on at the top and bottom.. Keep in mind there’s no back on my pillow yet.. At this point in time I’m basically building what I want the front to look like! After the ribbon is in place I pulled a couple of burlap strings from a scrap of the ribbon and sewed my vintage buttons into place.

Then I sewed my two sides of the pillow (my front piece and the back piece) together WRONG SIDES touching.. but I left a small section unsewn so I could pull my pillow right side out! This makes a very crisp clean sew line all the way around. Stuff pillow.. sew shut the tiny spot.. and DONE!

Here is a video I did on making Washi tape (not ribbon based, but a video none the less!)


 
 

And here are some general projects that utilize ribbon:

A mini album made of journaling cards. Ribbon is wound through the binding as well as used for tabs to open the book.

A Christmas tag using gorgeous May Arts ribbon to hold together all the beautiful layers.

A Mother's day card using white seam binding hand dyed and burlap string.

A wall hanging using four different May Arts ribbons, three to make a Prima inspired flower and one as stitching on the stocking. 

  

An altered tray using tinsel/ribbon and a sheer ribbon as a layer in the title banner. 

A Christmas tag/card using four different May Arts ribbons to really make it a "keeper"

A Basically Bare Pillow

I love burlap. and muslin. and canvas.

I also love distressing and old vintage buttons... 

this pillow has all :)

Basically bare fleur de lis in canvas, may arts ribbon, vintage buttons, burlap, muslin, dark brown quilting thread, pillow fluff. 

Photos from the Winter Western

My last craft show was a half success -- not a complete failure but I think online is where I'll keep my stuff..

it did however give me the opportunity to branch out and create LOTS of fun new stuff for the shop.. while I'm photographing all my goodies to put up.. take a look at the pictures of the booth :D

Keep in mind that I shared half the booth with a good friend -- so not everything you see is mine!

The banners, garlands, white frames with chicken wire, tags, vintage pillows and wreaths are mine :) 

there are also a couple of bracelets floating around.. some keychains.. a few hair barrettes thought not many!

Everything on this shelf is mine, pillows, blocks, wreaths, garland, chicken wire frame.. all stuff that will be coming to the shop soon!