Frilly Flowers and Butterfly

Happy Monday all!  If blogger is being kind to me then you should be seeing this post as I am half way over the Atlantic on the way back home to England.  I will keep my fingers crossed and hopefully it will go up on the blog without a hitch!  This is one of my favourite cards from the last bunch I did.  I can't really say why but I was pleased with the way it turned out even if my photography doesn't do it much justice.  I used one of the Grand Impressibilities to emboss the black background.  I cut an aperature out using Labels 21 and then I cut a frame to mount over the opening for emphasis.  I used a little touch of striped paper to add some colour and I apologise as I cannot recall either of the paper names I have used here.  I used the coordinating pattern to cut the butterflyfrom the Fanciful Flight set and also to add some sprigs to the floral element.  I like to use papers like that as it just feels more balanced to be able to bring it in again in another place on the card.  The flowers were made by cutting the frilly edged ribbon down the centre.  I used about 24inches for the largest flower and about half that for the smallest flower.  Attach the redline tape to the cut edge so that it just covers the bottom of the ribbon by about 1/8th of an inch (just enough so it has something to tack on to).  Fold the very corner down so that if the ribbon would fray, it will not show, then roll to get the centre of your flower.  Once you have a small tube, then begin to add small gathers as you roll.  This will cause the flower to open up more and begin to take shape.  Do this to the end of your ribbon and try to keep the outside top edge of the ribbon relatively even (so the tape will be moving up the side of the flower a bit as you go).  If your tape on the bottom of the flower seems too thick when you are done, you can cut it down with a pair of sharp scissors.  I did try to do a visual tutorial for you on this and quickly realised that I cannot take photos and show what I am doing at the same time so I will need to enlist some help on this after I return.

I cut a few leafy pieces from the Fancy Foliage set and added some black vintage ribbon to complete the floral embellishment.  There is a close up below for you of it. I just love the little bit of waviness you get from the frilly edged ribbon for these flowers.   I added some black rhinestone swirls as a final embellishment for the card. 

I will post a sneak peek tomorrow for the shows that I will be doing beginning Tuesday evening so please be sure to check back tomorrow won't you?  All for now, Sue x