flowers on the couch...a tutorial from Petrina

Anyone who did my class at the Papercraft Convention in Brisbane last year, would know that I love to make flowers and other embellishments while sitting on the couch. Unlike crochet, knitting and many other crafts, scrapbooking isn't all that portable, so it is great to be able to do some of your scrapbooking away from your desk.

The first flower I will show you is based on a similar idea to the wreath shown in my tutorial from earlier in the week. Similar flowers can also be seen in the gallery from a ribbon club I worked with last year - images are here. 
I've used a wide organza ribbon and my trusty pipe cleaners again. Start by taping the pipe cleaner in place and folding the ribbon around to cover the end. Then you simply wind it around diagonally, making sure you overlap the ribbon so that it is secure. I probably used about 30cm of ribbon on my 15cm pipe cleaner. Curl the covered pipe cleaner into a circle and trim the end and hand stitch it all together.

On my layout I have further embellished this with a crochet mirror circle, a tiny punched butterfly,  and a scrunched bow made from some wide lace.

Similarly, a flower centre can also be made using paper ribbon. This is what it looks like on my layout, embellishing an organza flower that I will show you next. You can see in my picture that I've been lazy with this one and held it all in place with a staple.

To make the organza flower I took two 10cm strips of ribbon and folded each in half, securing with a staple. These were laid on top of eachother and held in place with a single stitch. Next I took my thread around each of the corners until it formed an "x" and pulled tight to gather the whole thing into the middle. This was then stitched again to hold it securely in place. It is probably easier to follow the photos rather than my written directions - you can click on any of the photos in this tutorial to make them larger.

Finally I arranged everything on my layout and added my handmade embellishments - hey presto!

Other materials used on this layout:
Paper from Collections 8" paper - The artists Collection range and  Prima 8.5x11in paper pad - Melody.
Collections chipboard - Fleur de Lis
Butterfly button
Sassafras Lass alphabet stickers - red script