Random ribbon: A Drunken Stampers Challenge

My Guy was SO thrilled to be included in this week's Drunken Stampers Challenge! Because as I'm sure all of you know ... the non paper crafters in our households adore it when we give them crafty jobs!

ADORE IT. I said.

His job today was to choose a ribbon for the Drunken Stampers Ribbon Pull. The DS directive requires either a random choice from our ribbon bins or spool number 21 for those of you who are more organized.

My small collection of ribbons doesn't require it's own area (yet), so I plopped the ribbon bucket in My Guys lap and said "choose."

Oh, jeez, calm down everybody. I said, "PLEASE choose."

His pick was surprising and a bit annoying. Surprising because it's a somewhat girly ribbon (as if ribbon is ever anything except girly -- he said it reminded him of the nice Spring weather we've been having -- Awww).

The annoying part of his pick is the size. It's a wide ribbon -- about three quarters of an inch.

This is problematic for me because ribbon pretty much has to be woven, threaded or laced. I don't know why. I see other creations, beautiful pieces people build with a line of ribbon as a left hand border or a ribbon with a bow wrapped around a die cut. I always think they are so pretty.

But when I try it ... I can not get past the feeling that I've just glued some string to a piece of card stock.

So, My Guy's choice of wide ribbon would need some relatively large holes for weaving, threading or lacing.

Luckily I found this basket on my Cricut cartridge: Easter 2010. I modified it a bit (larger holes for the ribbon, hello), including removing a handle.

Oh, actually a super cool thing about the ribbon choice: Turns out that the pattern on the ribbon, "stick flowers," exactly matches a flower shape on another of my Cricut carts: Accent Essentials.

So odd.

Alright, at this point I chose the glitter-print paper on the background (Die Cuts With a View Garden Party), cut the sentiment and started gluing.

The basket and sentiment are set with sixteenth-inch foam, the yellow flowers are set with eighth-inch foam and the blue flowers are fairly teetering in place with quarter inch dots.

Every other flower petal was curled by a pull through my thumbnail and first finger and the flower centers are glittery pops thanks to hand-punched glitter foamies. There are a couple of glitter foamies dots elsewhere on the card as well.

By the way, foamies are an often overlooked but important addition to your card making toolbox. They are cheap, usually pre-stickied, add texture and height and take on beautiful, if sometimes strange, appearances when painted or stamped.

Come to think of it, I bet foamies are cool after heat embossing, too ... I bet they M.E.L.T! Or burst into flames and set the house on fire.

Maybe I'll try that later in the summer, outside and near the chiminea.