Tutorial for making flower balls and a florist bow

Flower balls (or pomanders, which is their formal name) are pretty fun. They can be used to carry in a wedding for flower girls and even the bride and they can be used for fun decorations.
They also are inexpensive and fairly simple to make.

Not long ago Keren, my kids and I had fun making some and Keren took picture so I could do a tutorial.



1 Step: Gather your supplies. You need a Styrofoam ball, flowers like button mums or daisies (and more than is in the picture), corsage pins, a knife (or something else to cut the flowers off the stems), ribbon for a handle and a bow, a pair of scissors and a hot glue gun is nice for attaching the ribbon.Step 2: Make the bow.
A. Pinch about 4 inches from the end of the ribbon in between your thumb and fingers. With your other hand pull the ribbon around to make a loop and then pinch the end of the loop with the start of the loop between your thumb and fingers.B. Now make a loop on the other side and bring the ribbon back to again pinch between your thumb and fingers. Make one more loop on each side (for a total of 4 loops) the same way.
C. Make the middle loop by flipping the ribbon over your thumb and squishing the ribbon between your thumb and fingers again. (this is a fairly short loop)
D. After making the middle loop make 2 more loops on each side like in step B. (There will be a total of 9 loops, 4 on each side and one in the middle.)
E. Make another loop similar to the middle loop but much longer. This will be cut in half at the bottom to make tails. Now take either a wire or a ribbon and thread it through the bottom loop and the middle loop and around the side loops and tie it tight in the back. This keeps your bow together. Now you can cut the bottom loop in half to make tails and you can also cut the bow off of the spool of ribbon (you can leave about 4 inches to create another tail). Your bow is done.
Step 3: Glue a ribbon loop and your bow to the top of a Styrofoam ball.Step 4: Get your flowers ready by cutting the heads off of the stems.

Step 5: Poke a corsage pin through the center of each flower and then pin it into the ball. carefully cover the whole ball by poking flowers in.

Step 6: Spray with Crowning Glory flower solution to make it last longer or even just water will help to keep it fresh longer.

It is all ready to be carried.


You can also make the pomanders without the bow and just attach a single ribbon that can be tied somewhere for decoration.

However you do it, I hope you have lots of fun!

Tutorial for making flower balls and a florist bow

Flower balls (or pomanders, which is their formal name) are pretty fun. They can be used to carry in a wedding for flower girls and even the bride and they can be used for fun decorations.
They also are inexpensive and fairly simple to make.

Not long ago Keren, my kids and I had fun making some and Keren took picture so I could do a tutorial.



1 Step: Gather your supplies. You need a Styrofoam ball, flowers like button mums or daisies (and more than is in the picture), corsage pins, a knife (or something else to cut the flowers off the stems), ribbon for a handle and a bow, a pair of scissors and a hot glue gun is nice for attaching the ribbon.Step 2: Make the bow.
A. Pinch about 4 inches from the end of the ribbon in between your thumb and fingers. With your other hand pull the ribbon around to make a loop and then pinch the end of the loop with the start of the loop between your thumb and fingers.B. Now make a loop on the other side and bring the ribbon back to again pinch between your thumb and fingers. Make one more loop on each side (for a total of 4 loops) the same way.
C. Make the middle loop by flipping the ribbon over your thumb and squishing the ribbon between your thumb and fingers again. (this is a fairly short loop)
D. After making the middle loop make 2 more loops on each side like in step B. (There will be a total of 9 loops, 4 on each side and one in the middle.)
E. Make another loop similar to the middle loop but much longer. This will be cut in half at the bottom to make tails. Now take either a wire or a ribbon and thread it through the bottom loop and the middle loop and around the side loops and tie it tight in the back. This keeps your bow together. Now you can cut the bottom loop in half to make tails and you can also cut the bow off of the spool of ribbon (you can leave about 4 inches to create another tail). Your bow is done.
Step 3: Glue a ribbon loop and your bow to the top of a Styrofoam ball.Step 4: Get your flowers ready by cutting the heads off of the stems.

Step 5: Poke a corsage pin through the center of each flower and then pin it into the ball. carefully cover the whole ball by poking flowers in.

Step 6: Spray with Crowning Glory flower solution to make it last longer or even just water will help to keep it fresh longer.

It is all ready to be carried.


You can also make the pomanders without the bow and just attach a single ribbon that can be tied somewhere for decoration.

However you do it, I hope you have lots of fun!

Charlotte at Grammer's

Two days/nights with Grammer on summer holidays!!
Supper/movie last night
Breakfast/swimming/lunch out with Comox friends/then
to Koffi for knitting group...then picnic/supper on the lawn on the
flowergardens above the businesses in our condo complex!
THEN we are going to sew a summer dress for Charlotte...
lots of plans...we'll see how much we get done...
Christopher stays two days/nights next week.... probably hiking
and walks with him.

A Village Life

I had these 'village life' panels for the longest time. Back then when I wasn't very daring nor was I clever enough to put fabrics & colors together . . .  Panel looks very medieval.

 
Decided on a light green around it and then put a bright pink as its 2nd border. Didn't know what to do after that. So it sat unfinished for a couple of days . . . Finally, thought pinks & greens all around it would like nice.

Found a nice greenish fabric with small red flowers as its backing and went back to shocking pink for its binding . . .
Nice effect! I like it. Don't you . . .? ;-)

Measurement : 42" W x 52" L

Made up of 100% American cotton

Price : RM 120

Status : SOLD!

Go.....

Lately this verse has been going through my head, over and over again.....

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always,

to the very end of the age."

Matthew 28:19-20

and this one.....

"He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved,

but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

Mark 16:15-16

This was the message that Jesus gave specifically to the eleven apostles but I think it still is something He wants us to follow today. It makes me think: "Am I really "going" and am I really taking the time to tell others about the good news and what Jesus told everyone to do?"

I want to do that more. I want evangelism to be a part of my life just like breathing and eating is. That is what has been convicting me lately, What about you?

Go.....

Lately this verse has been going through my head, over and over again.....

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always,

to the very end of the age."

Matthew 28:19-20

and this one.....

"He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved,

but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

Mark 16:15-16

This was the message that Jesus gave specifically to the eleven apostles but I think it still is something He wants us to follow today. It makes me think: "Am I really "going" and am I really taking the time to tell others about the good news and what Jesus told everyone to do?"

I want to do that more. I want evangelism to be a part of my life just like breathing and eating is. That is what has been convicting me lately, What about you?

Kansas!

Home, home on the Range... This song was written by a Kansas Dr., Brewster Higley. He was probably talking about his native Kansas where "the skies are not cloudy all day."

Kansas is a state that I have actually lived in (We lived on Range Rd too so I thought the song especially fitting then). We just lived there for a year and a half when Mara was a baby and then moved when Jonathan was less than 2 weeks old. Though Kansas is not "home" to me and it isn't the landscape that I find the most beautiful it is still a very neat state and we did enjoy our time there.

The Landscape of Kansas is mostly low, rolling hills, with wooded river valleys in the eastern half. There is great evidence of the world wide flood in Kansas, as it has been a great place for finding fossils.

Kansas gets its name for Kansa which means "people of the south wind". There is indeed a lot of wind in Kansas, and it is not always a kind wind. There can be big storms, tornadoes and blizzards. While we lived there we did spend some time in the basement waiting for tornadoes to go by (and we were not far from where they hit causing loss of life.) but I had rather wanted to see one and I never did. I decided it might be better to stay safe!

Some of the state's biggest money makers are wheat, sorghum, airplane manufacturing (In Wichita, the town we lived in) and beef. There are also huge military bases which has added many jobs. There are also oil and natural gas wells and in Kansas is one of the few sources of Helium. (So you can be grateful for Kansas when you have floating balloons at your party!)

Kansas became a state on Jan. 29, 1861 and it is the 34th state. Its nickname is the Sunflower state. The capital is Topeka but its largest city is Wichita. Wichita is a nice city with a well made road system which makes it almost impossible to get lost and at least when we lived there (2000-2001) there was very little traffic problems.

Pizza Hut was started in Kansas in Wichita in 1958.

One of the foods we enjoyed while studying Kansas was apple fritters. Kansas is well known for growing wheat. A hardy strain of wheat was brought to Kansas by a group of Mennonites from Russia. It was well suited for Kansas soil and climate and worked out very well. Kansas is one of the USA's top producers of grain.

The picture above it of Whole Wheat Sticks a recipe from a Kansas wheat site.

A recipe that we made but I didn't get a picture of was Sunflower Popcorn Bars. We really enjoyed them. I did substitute molasses for corn syrup however which made it a bit healthier.

We also enjoyed Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes and Corn.

What do you love about Kansas?

Kansas!

Home, home on the Range... This song was written by a Kansas Dr., Brewster Higley. He was probably talking about his native Kansas where "the skies are not cloudy all day."

Kansas is a state that I have actually lived in (We lived on Range Rd too so I thought the song especially fitting then). We just lived there for a year and a half when Mara was a baby and then moved when Jonathan was less than 2 weeks old. Though Kansas is not "home" to me and it isn't the landscape that I find the most beautiful it is still a very neat state and we did enjoy our time there.

The Landscape of Kansas is mostly low, rolling hills, with wooded river valleys in the eastern half. There is great evidence of the world wide flood in Kansas, as it has been a great place for finding fossils.

Kansas gets its name for Kansa which means "people of the south wind". There is indeed a lot of wind in Kansas, and it is not always a kind wind. There can be big storms, tornadoes and blizzards. While we lived there we did spend some time in the basement waiting for tornadoes to go by (and we were not far from where they hit causing loss of life.) but I had rather wanted to see one and I never did. I decided it might be better to stay safe!

Some of the state's biggest money makers are wheat, sorghum, airplane manufacturing (In Wichita, the town we lived in) and beef. There are also huge military bases which has added many jobs. There are also oil and natural gas wells and in Kansas is one of the few sources of Helium. (So you can be grateful for Kansas when you have floating balloons at your party!)

Kansas became a state on Jan. 29, 1861 and it is the 34th state. Its nickname is the Sunflower state. The capital is Topeka but its largest city is Wichita. Wichita is a nice city with a well made road system which makes it almost impossible to get lost and at least when we lived there (2000-2001) there was very little traffic problems.

Pizza Hut was started in Kansas in Wichita in 1958.

One of the foods we enjoyed while studying Kansas was apple fritters. Kansas is well known for growing wheat. A hardy strain of wheat was brought to Kansas by a group of Mennonites from Russia. It was well suited for Kansas soil and climate and worked out very well. Kansas is one of the USA's top producers of grain.

The picture above it of Whole Wheat Sticks a recipe from a Kansas wheat site.

A recipe that we made but I didn't get a picture of was Sunflower Popcorn Bars. We really enjoyed them. I did substitute molasses for corn syrup however which made it a bit healthier.

We also enjoyed Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes and Corn.

What do you love about Kansas?

Fabrics galore!

A dear friend went to Australia and I asked if she could pick up some fabrics for me. Told her to just grab anything that catches her fancy. She did a good job! Thanks so much Jelita ;-) The above prints are just so sweet for girls.

These are just great as I haven't got any pirate prints. Looking forward to see how this will turn out.

Already have some ideas for the alphabet one . . .

There are a few more. Thot I'd save them for later. I just love stashing up! Who doesn't?! ;-)