Inspiring Inkin' with Amanda Fowler Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator

Hello………..I’m back!  Did you miss me? All the computer technical issues have been sorted out and I am back up and running, thank you to my brother for fixing the problems and for your patience.

To make up for my absence I have a tutorial for you today, these ribbon brooches have been a huge hit with my customers and team during February and March, I hope you love them too!  In fact I have a giveaway for you too, so read on until the end of this post to find out how to enter.

Ribbon Rose Brooch

I made these originally as I was inspired by a brooch I bought for my Mum at Christmas, I was made of chiffon circles that where scorched on the edges, actually that doesn’t sound so nice does it?  I promise it was!

Now Stampin’ Up! UK doesn’t currently sell fabric so I had to settle with ribbon, I tried all different types and  the satin ribbon is best as it gave the effect I was looking for. This tutorial is mainly pictures, it is very straightforward to do.

You will need

1-2m of Stampin’ Up! satin ribbon

1 3/8″ circle of card in a matching colour

Sticky Strip

Brooch Back and strong glue to attach it to the card

Heat gun

Sharp Scissors

1. First cut a length of satin ribbon, the more ribbon the more dimension your brooch will have, don’t worry if it’s not long enough it is easy to join.  Cut as shown below from one side of the ribbon, almost through to the other edge. The cuts need to be about 3/4″ to 1″ apart, I don’t measure them and prefer to have a variety of sizes, as this gives more interest to the brooch as you can see from the picture below.

2. Then you need to cut each section of the ribbon in a curve, it is very important to ensure you cut the bound edge off the top of the ribbon as this will help with the scorching. It takes a bit of time but it is well worth it.

3.Then you need to get your heat tool and melt the ribbon.  Several words of warning, make sure you do this on a heat proof surface and in a well ventilated area.  You will need something to hold down the ribbon as it tends to dance all over the place.  You also need to be patient, you want the cut edges to melt as shown below, a little bit of scorching is okay too.

4. The more you heat the ribbon, the more texture and curves will form, it’s very exciting to watch!

5. Once your ribbon is ready, prepare the brooch back, punch out a 1 3/8″ circle of matching card and cover the whole of one side in Sticky Strip as shown.

6. Peel off the tape liner and stick the ribbon to the brooch back, I have used a contrasting circle to make the pictures easier to see, it will look better if you use a matching colour of card.  You start at the outside edge and work inwards.

7. Continue around the edge, pleat the ribbon gently to make it curve and look more flower shaped.

8. Start a second row and continue around, press the ribbon down hard onto the sticky strip to make sure it is stuck well. Repeat until all the card is covered in ribbon.

9.  Finish in the centre, trim off the excess ribbon if necessary.

10.  Then attach Pearls and Rhinestones to the centre and stick the brooch back to the reverse.  Wear with pride.

I promised a giveaway.  In fact I have 3 brooches to giveaway, and you can choose the colour of ribbon you would like, so get out your Stampin’ Up! UK catalogues and pick a colour.  I will make them for you once the draw is complete.

To enter the draw please leave me a comment (the comment section is at the top of this post) telling me which colour of Satin ribbon you would like your brooch to be made from, to get an extra ticket in the draw mention my giveaway on your blog and put the link in your comment too!

I will do the draw after the Austrailian Grand Prix on Sunday 27th March 2011.  Good luck.

Happy Stampin’