the glittered nest

Ribbon Rose Tutorial

Stop and Smell the Roses

or

Make some of your own!

 

If you love ribbon like I do, then you will love this easy tutorial on how to make ribbon roses!

I don't know about you but I could wander through a craft store looking at the spools of satin ribbon and dream of ways to use them.  I would love to go to Tinsel Trading in New York one day and just look at all the beautiful antique ribbons they sell.

I looked for ribbon tutorials on the internet and found so many of them to be too difficult or time consuming.  I finally found this easy and quick way to make a rose and use it as a pin to go in the hair, on a package or on a shirt. The ribbon I am using is a 3 1/2 inch wide French Taffeta.  I love it so much I used it on a pillow in my bedroom and added a little hair clip from The Iron Gate in Franklin!

 
Materials you will need for the rose tutorial:

wire edge ribbon(any size will do but I like using a thicker width so I can play with the petals a little more)

scissors

matching thread and needle

burlap and a litte fabric for a backing

E600 glue

Pin or clip backing(Michaels or Hobby Lobby)

1. First cut out a petal shape from whatever heavy fabric to hold the roses securely.  I chose burlap but you could easily use a heavy felt. 

 

 

2.  Cut a 12 inch strip of ribbon for a large rose and tie a knot on one end.  This is where you will start wrapping your rose. 

3.  On the opposite end of where you tied a knot, pull the wire until you have the ribbon bunched as much as possible. Leave the wire hanging because you will use this to secure the rose once finished.
 
 
This is what it will look like once you have pulled the wire  bunched the ribbon as far as it can go.

4.  Next take the knotted end and wrap the ribbon with the bunched end facing down around the center of the knot. Don't worry too much about the shape of the petals yet.  You can pull and fluff them once you are done wrapping.

5.  Once you have the ribbon wrapped all around the knot, take the wire that is hanging and use it to wrap the base of the flower to hold it together.  
 
Here is a finished rose.  Can you just see 10 or so of these little roses glued to the base of a lamp shade for a little girls room?  If so, stop here and just go for it.  If you want to use it on a package or even on the top of some fabulous high heels then move on to next step.

The only thing that would make this look even better is an antique rhinestone cloche glued to the center of the rose!

6.  I decided to secure it to the burlap with a few simple stitches before gluing onto the pin just to make sure it would not unravel. Since sewing is not my strong suit I took a piece of fabric and glued it over the back of the burlap so you couldn't see my mess of stitching before gluing to the pin.

 
7.  The last step is to glue the pin to the back of the fabric with E600.  This is the best glue for this project and will keep the pin in place. 

 How easy was that?  After you make your first one, you will be hooked and want to find ways to use these pretty roses!

 
 

 


 

 

The Art of Giving

"When I give, I give Myself"

Walt Whitman

Life is crazy busy and it is so easy to forget the little things like inviting a friend over for coffee even if it means your house is not perfectly clean and you have laundry sitting in three baskets with good intentions(yes, embarrassingly enough this is me).

How about making(or buying) some muffins with your children and walking them over to a neighbor?

I have been reading a book titled "Lifegiving" by Tammy Maltby and it has reminded me that God has made women to be unique and beautiful spirits.  We have the gift of sharing our souls, our laughter and our homes.  We are designed to enrich the life of others around us through comforting acts of kindness and hospitality. 

My mother n law is a Lifegiving women and loves to make these strawberry preserves and give them as gifts.  When I visit I am always secretly hoping she has made a batch of this ruby red goodness!  Have you ever known a friend who makes you feel better just being around her?  You feel accepted and loved NO MATTER WHAT?  You want to go to her home not because it is fancy but because you feel her kind spirit and love when you walk through the door?

Think about being a lifegiving woman this week.  How can you spread the love God has given us unconditionally to another?  I would love to hear how you like to give! The recipe below is from one of my favorite bloggers: Elyse of Tinkered Treasures

Just enough Strawberry Preserves

1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled, and sliced or chopped
2.5 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar
Less than a pinch of salt

In a pot, combine the strawberries, sugar, vinegar, and salt. Bring to a rolling boil and cook, stirring frequently for 15 to 20 minutes.

Let cool and serve. Keep refrigerated. Probably keeps up to 1 week (if it lasts that long)

 
 

Learning to Pray

 CONFESSION:

I'm not very good at praying. 

How silly does that sound?  Is there anyone out there in blog land that feels the same way? I have wanted to post on this subject for a while now but embarrassed to actually type these words out.

Is there anyone out there that would rather run a 5K in the Texas heat than pray out loud in front of a group for fear of not saying the right thing like me?  Do you have a specific time you pray so you don't forget to?  Our dinner prayer is: God is Great, God is Good, let us thank him for our food"...seriously it's time for me to break out and really talk to God and teach my children to connect with him in their own way.

Why is  praying out loud so hard? 

I recently went to the MOPs international conference where I attended a session on "the melody of prayer".  Jonalyn Grace Fincher was our speaker and I encourage you to click on the link to follow her blog.  She was such a nice and calming spirit to listen to in the midst of a large conference when we were on the go from session to session. 

Her tips for prayer were simple:

You can find peace in nature and music to help keep you centered on God. Jonalyn says to pay attention to things you naturally notice in life and start praying about those things.

 I don't know about you but I often have little thoughts creep in like...Dear God, thank you for giving me my health today(oh gosh...did I start the dishwasher before I left home) also thank you for giving me strength to keep calm when my 5 year old wrote with a sharpie all over my cabinets today(oh yeah...that really happened!)

I find myself picturing something happy and calming when I talk to God:

 
My favorite summer vacation with my family is always at the beach.  This is what I like to picture.

Sometimes late at night I will play a sound machine of the ocean and pray.

Familiar or favorite smells also help me feel calm and ready to pray.  I like to light a candle when I want to connect to God or just center myself when life gets crazy and fast moving. 

What centers you as a prayerful woman, mother, child of God?

When I hear beautiful worship music at church on Sunday it always makes me feel like the gap from this world to god is a little bit closer (which can be hard considering the place we all live in these days).

This will be an ongoing journey for me and I would love to hear your thoughts on prayer and what helps you to make the connection.

 

The Knot Austin Event

 
The Knot and Events by Decisions hosted a beautiful wedding vendor event at the Vista on Steward Hill Tuesday night.  I went and oogled over all of the desserts on this amazing dessert bar by Stardust pastry.  The three tiered rice crispie cake was a fun focal point for the whimsical bar studded with novels and trays of wine corks and fancy tea cups. 

 
I love this idea of using paper from novels to make flowers and cover the base of the cake.

 
This table had a very "Anthropologie" feel with the use of books and the wine cork displays.

Even  Summer Pruett of Stardust Pastry carried a wine cork tray with little shot glasses of white russian with a chocolate chip cookie sitting on top! Save up those wine corks for some whimsical ways of showing off your food for your next party at home!

 
 
I love the way they wrapped these peaches and added string.  They were sitting in a wood tray from Target(I only know that b/c I have that tray!!!!)

Here is another fun use of rice crispies with a little peach on top.

 
Here are little take away treats tied with red and white baker's twine.

 
Cookie pops with cute little hearts.

All of the beautiful china is from sistersvintageparty.com

 
These cute little silver mushrooms are available at Anthropologie. 

 
Every hour they served a fun cocktail.  This one was my favorite:

Cantaloupe & Basil or a Watermelon-Mojito Drinksicle.  This was a genius move considering it was 100 degrees at 7:00 here in Austin!!!! I almost grabbed three off of the waiter's tray as it flew by me. 

Everyone in this industry just amazes me with their creativity. Event designers are having fun adding furniture to venues for casual little spaces.  Bringing indoor furniture outside is so fun and creates an intimate area for conversation.

 
Provencal Home supplied most of the furnishings at this event. 

This was my favorite part of the party(except for the dessert table of course)..

look at this amazing table with chandeliers hanging from the tree above.

 
 
Can you picture having your wedding party sitting at this beautiful table under these chandelier lit up at night with a swanky band playing?  The swanky band playing here was: Courtney Sanchez and the SWAY.

 
Here is the stage where the band played lit up at night.  You can't see it here but there is a beautiful fountain in the middle of the stage.

 
The dessert bar had it's own little area that had little mason jars floating above with candles.  There was no detail missed at this event.

 
My wonderful friends: Shannon Gatlin(Stella & Dot Jewelry)

and

 Shannon Bourland(owner of Events by Decisions...amazingly creative woman who designed  this event!)

The fabulous Vendors at this event:

Vista on Steward Hill

CRAVE catering

Courtney Sanchez and SWAY

Events by DECISIONS

Geoff Duncan Photography

Liv by Design

Greenbelt DJ

ILD Lighting

Paper Place

Premiere Party Central

Provencal Home

Sisters Vintage Party Rental

Stardust Pastry

STEMS floral design

Uptown Valet