May Day Bouquet

Today I've got a tutorial for a great May Arts Ribbon Project. At my son's school they have classroom "grandparents". These amazing volunteers spend their days helping out the kids and teachers at the school. This year my son's classroom grandma also happens to be our neighbor, so I thought it would be fun to bring back a tradition I haven't done since I was a kid: the May Day Basket.

To make the flowers and basket you'll need:

4 yards of FJ17 1.5" solid/plaid/wired
2 yards of FJ46 1.5" solid/plaid/wired
Thread
Needle
1 foot of 346-22 Fuzzy Pom Pom (pink)
1 foot of 346-46 Fuzzy Pom Pom (green)
1 1/2 yards of wire (I used 18 gauge copper picture wire)
1 - 12" x 12" piece of paper (I used Jillibean Soup Blossom Soup)
3 Buttons
2 large eyelets (optional)
Decorative Border Punch (optional, I used Fiskars Upper Crest Punch)


To create the flowers cut about a 5 foot piece of 1.5" wired ribbon (FJ46). Pull the wire on one side of the ribbon to ruffle the full length of the ribbon. At this point you can snip the long tails of wire to about a 1" overhang to make the ribbon easier to work with.

Start at one end of the ribbon and fold the ribbon back and forth a few times. Stitch through the folds (close to the wire that you just pulled). This folded section will form the center of your flower. Now start wrapping the rest ribbon around the folded section. Secure each wrap around by stitching through the layers of ribbon. Continue wrapping and stitching until your flower is large enough, or you come to the end of your ribbon. Tuck the raw end under, stitch it in place, and tie off your thread.

You should now have a flower that looks like the picture above. Repeat 2 times with FJ17 to create a total of 3 ribbon flowers.

Now it's time to add a stem to your flower. Cut about 15" of wire. It may be a bit hard to find at first, but there will be a small hole through the center of your flower. It's easiest to find from the bottom side (where you did your stitching). Take your wire and push it through the hole. Thread a button through the top side of the wire, fold the wire over and thread the wire back down through the button leaving about 1 inch of wire overlapping on the bottom side of the button. Pull the bottom (stem) side of the wire until The button is nestled in the center of your flower. Twist the wire to secure.

You should now have a flower that looks like this. Repeat 2 more times for a total of 3 flowers.

Set the flowers aside while you make the basket.


Cut a large circle from a 12" x 12" sheet of paper. Cut the circle into 4 equal pieces. You will end up with 4 pie shaped pieces. You will need one of these pieces to create the basket.


Place a strip of strong adhesive along one of the straight edges and roll to create a cone.

Embellish the cone. I used green fuzzy pom pom ribbon (346-46) and a strip of paper punched with a decorative edge punch. To create the handle, punch a large hole on both sides of the top of the cone. To make the handle extra strong, set eyelets in the holes. Thread about 12" of ribbon (FJ46 1.5" solid/plaid/wired) through the eyelets. Tie knots on the inside of the cone to hold the ribbon in place.


To finish your project, plant your flowers in the cone (you may need to trim your flower stems if your flowers sit too far out of the cone). My son is going to have so much fun delivering this to his classroom grandma!