Ribbon petal flower tutorial

A friend sent me this pic of a flower hairbow she was trying to make. 

(I have no idea where the pic came from, so if you know please let me know so I can give the appropriate credit.)

She wanted to attempt her own version, but was having a hard time with it. I played around to see if I could make it and here is what I came up with.

If you want to attempt your own, you will need the following: 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, needle, thread, hot glue gun and hot glue, small piece of felt, hair clip, and something to embellish the top. The original pic used a pearl button, I used a premade ribbon flower.

Start by cutting 8 strips of ribbon at 4", 8 strips at 3 1/4" and 8 strips at 2 1/4".

  Take one strip of each size and line up at one end. You will use your need and thread at this point. Run the need through the end that is lined up. Pull the shortest piece over and run the needle through, follow with the middle piece and finally the longest piece. 

Here it is with just the 3 pieces lined up...

 Shortest piece pulled over...

Middle piece added...

 Finally, the longest piece...

 Once you have all the pieces on the needle, run a few stitches through to hold it together.

Finger press the pieces so that the folds are creased. This is not super important, but gives the point at the petals versus a rounded petal.

Continue until you have 8 petals...

Next, cut a small circle of felt. This is the back of your ribbon flower. It will help hold it together.

Add a dab of hot glue to the tip of each "petal and place on the felt. I started with 2 directly across from each other and then added the 2 in the opposite direction, so it made a plus sign.

Continue adding the petals until all petals are glued together in the center.

 Then add a dab of glue between each "petal" so that they are all attached. I added this between the longest ribbon pieces only.

 Flip over your ribbon flower and attach your hair clip. I just ran a line of hot glue down the clip and attached to the felt.

Flip back over and add your embellishment to finish your flower. 

I think it turned out super cute. It will be adorable attached to a crocheted headband for a baby or just clipped in an older child's hair. 

These directions will give you a flower that is approximately 4 1/2" to 5" across. You could always start with a smaller outside piece and cut each ribbon piece down to make a smaller ribbon. You could even skip the 3rd ribbon and just use 2 pieces for each petal to make small clips for pigtails. 

Let me know if you have any questions. If you decide to make your own, please send me a pic or a link to your blog post!

Spiced olive oil

My hubby likes to play chef…a lot. He’s an amazing cook and constantly comes up with gourmet meals for the daughter and I. So, when he decided to make his own spiced olive oils, I just thought…gotta blog it!
We found these oil dispensers at Wal-mart.  They were $3.97 for a set of 2. We got 2 sets. The olive oil hubby used was just the Kroger brand of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. You could use whatever type you like.

He made four types…red pepper, garlic, basil, and rosemary. Those are the four main spices he uses in cooking. If you make these for your home, go with whatever spices you use regularly.
Measure the oil to fit in your containers. After washing the oil dispensers, we filled with water and measured how much would fit. Then poured that much oil in a saucepan. (Make sure to leave enough room to fit the spices as well) Add in the spice you are working on. The amount of spice you add is a personal preference. The more you add, the stronger the flavor will be in the oil. Bring the oil to a boil and then let simmer for 5 minutes. Cool to room temp, then pour in your dispenser.
Here is the red pepper and garlic versions. They will be cloudy at first, but after they sit overnight, the oil will clear up. The spices will fall to the bottom, if any is left in your oil. (You can always strain out the spices before pouring in the dispense…again, personal preference)



For the rosemary and basil versions, hubby put sprigs of the the fresh herb in the dispenser as well as in the boiling oil. It’s just prettier that way.





Sorry there isn’t a beautiful finished picture. You see those wonderful slices of French bread in the left corner??? Well, as soon as the basil version was done, we had to pour some over the bread and try it. Enough said!!!!
If you make your own, let me know how it turns out. We actually made these a couple months ago. I wanted to see how we liked them before posting this. Let’s just say We barely have any left! Time to make more!!!!