Flowered Bag

 Hello! 

This month for my Gwen Studios project I created a flowered bag using their ribbons, buttons and iron-on patches.

Flowered Bag

To make this bag, you'll need the following:

A bag, canvas or burlap 

Gwen Studios 3/8" ribbon, pastel buttons, bee patches 

Hot glue, Felt Glue

The following are links to Walmart.  

Pastel Buttons

Solid and Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon

Bumble Bee Patches

Instructions:

For the flowers, choose your buttons.  Cut matching or contrasting ribbon in 3" pieces.  I used 8 per flower and hot-glued them to the back of the flower.

I added a smaller button in the center of the larger one.  

Arrange your flowers on the bag as desired.  Mark the stems with a fabric marker if you like.

For the stems and leaves, cut green grosgrain ribbon in the lengths to fit your design.  To adhere the ribbon to the bag, I used Felt Glue from Beacon Adhesives.  

Adhere the stems first aligning them with the bottom seam.  I tucked the ends of the ribbon into the seam.  If your bag doesn't have a seam, you could fold under the end of glue some buttons over the ends.

Hot glue the flowers over the ends of the stems.  Use felt glue to adhere the leaves.  I overlapped the leaves and tucked the ends into the seam.  I left the top of the leaves unglued.

To finish, glue the bumblebees among the flowers.

Valentine's Day Garland

 Hello Everyone!

This month I'm creating a Valentine's Garland for Gwen Studios using their ribbon and their new buttons.  It's a fun project that will brighten up your Valentine's Day. It's easy enough that everyone can make it.

You'll need:

A large sheet of stiff felt in red (Kunin Friendly Felt)

Gwen Studios Button Favorites in red and white

Tacky glue

Gwen Studios red and white Taffy Stripe ribbon

Cut the large sheet of felt (12" by 16") into 4 pieces (each 6" by 9").

On each piece, outline the letters for "LOVE" in white buttons.  I did this freehand, but you can make a pattern by writing out the letters to get the sizing as you like it.  I made the "O" in the shape of a heart.  My letters are about 3 1/2" high, but there's room to make them larger if you wish.

Glue down the first set of buttons along the letter.  After outlining the letters with white buttons, add a second layer with red and white buttons.  When you are satisfied with the look, glue these to the first layer.  

Cut eight 3" pieces of ribbon.  Fold each in half and glue the ends together.  Glue these loops on the top of the flags even with the sides and 1/2" down.

Cut a strip of ribbon about 8" long for each flag.  Glue this across the top and even with the top edge.  Fold the ends to the back and glue.

Cut two more 6"pieces of ribbon for each flag.  These will be crossed on the end of the flag as shown.  Mark the center of the bottom of the flag and cross the ribbons on that point.  Place the ribbons 2" above the corner and crossing at the center point.  Glue down and fold the ends to the back and glue.

Here are all the flags.  I was going to trim off the corners on the bottom to create a more pointed flag, but I decided I liked the look.  There are a long of possibilities for finishing the bottom edge.

Glue buttons in the top corners.

Here's the garland strung on a red bead strand.  You could use ribbon also.

Here are some links where you can find the materials I used. The buttons can be found at Walmart and the ribbon at Michaels.

Gwen Studios white buttons

Gwen Studios red buttons

Gwen Studios Red and White Grosgrain Ribbon

For more Valentine designs using Gwen Studios ribbon and buttons check out the Designer Crafts Connection blog.

I'm a member of the Gwen Studios design team and receive product (which I love and recommend) as part of my compensation.