Random Romance flower tutorial..

I've been going crazy making my own flowers! This is one of my favorites, and they are SO easy. I've called them Random Romance...

You will need:

* Cardboard or chipboard pieces.
* 16-18" lengths of ribbon or fabric. Half inch width is best.
* Fabri Tac
* Buttons, brads, beads etc.






1.) Begin by making a circle of Fabri Tac on your cardboard piece..



2.) Take your ribbon/fabric strip and place one end in the center of the adhesive circle..



3.) Now fold your ribbon over and hold it down for a few seconds. Pull your ribbon over to an opposite side, and hold again. Continue doing this until you have folded the ribbon over and onto all the exposed glue. It will look messy, and totally random. No two of these flowers will ever look alike...






4.) When you have covered all the exposed glue, trim your ribbon/fabric down to a 1.5-2" strip. Apply glue to the center of your flower and pull the final strip on top of it. Hold down for several seconds.






5.) Apply your flower center, use whatever you like! Hold it down for twenty seconds or so, and then set it aside. Continue making more flowers while the glue sets up..




6.) When you have finished making a batch of these, you need to trim off the excess cardboard/chipboard. Cut right against the ribbon/fabric. You might need to slighty lift up on the material to get to the cardboard underneath. The result is amazingly cool, unique flowers for your crafting needs!




As I said before, these are amazingly quick flowers to make. I timed myself, and it takes less than a minute to make one flower once you have all the cardboard and fabric/ribbon cut! I do have a few bits of advice to offer. I have done burlap versions of these and they do take a bit longer to make. You need to hold them down longer in order for the Fabri Tac to take hold. Once you have these down and can make them quickly it is really best to get supplies ready for 12-15 flowers at a time. I promise you it will take less than thirty minutes!

Here is a page I made with some of my flowers....



I think they bring so much to the layout. These really are the perfect shabby-chic flower. They are at home on a frilly girly page, and also on a rough and tough guy page. Do you think you might like making these? If you do, I would love to see!