Bloom Shadowbox Tutorial

It’s time for round two of the May Arts design team submissions and this time I created a shadowbox bursting with ribbon flowers! 

Click here to see the full tutorial!

Supplies: 
- 12 x 12 white shadowbox
- bright papers, stickers, baker’s twine and a stick pin (mine are Pink Paislee Soiree)
- three large green leaves (mine are Prima) 
- alpha stickers (mine are Basic Grey)
- tin foil
- The following May Arts Ribbons:
       - 1/2 yard of 1" ric rac bright pink (330-22) 
       - 1/2 yard of 1" ric rac white (330-01)
       - 1 yard of 1/2" ric rac bright yellow (ARR27)
       - 1 yard of 1/2" ric rac white (ARR01)
       - 1 yard 2" bright green striped (365-2-46)
       - 1 1/2 yards of 1" satin aqua/green (354-34)
       - 1 yard of 1/8" velvet gray (389-18-31)
       - 1 yard of 1/8" velvet dark teal (389-18-04)
       - 1 yard of 3/4" striped twill black/white (382-34-10)
       - 1 yard of 5/8" twill yellow (FN27)
       - 1 yard of 1" satin grosgrain edge pink (HN-1-22)
       - 1 yard of 3/8" double faced satin white (HA01)

First, remove the cardboard backing from the frame and cover it with pink paper.  Then use an adhesive runner to glue the teal ribbon to the edge of the mat, mitering the corners as you go.  Add adhesive to the thinner white satin ribbon and adhere it to the center of the teal ribbon like so:



Now we will create a whole BUNCH of ribbon flowers.

Yellow Flower #1

Use a matching thread and stitch along the OUTSIDE edge of the ric rac like so:

Gather the ric rac as you stitch and determine how full you want your flower to be.  When it is to your desired fullness trim the ric rac and sew the raw edges together tightly.



If needed you can make a few stitches inside the folds to keep the flower shape. 

Yellow Flower #2

We are going to use the same yellow ric rac for this flower but sew it a bit differently.  This time take stitches from the center of the ric rac instead of the outside edge. 



Stitch one small running stitch at each low dip in the ric rac until you reach the desired fullness.  Trim the length and sew the raw edges together. 



Again, turn it over and make a few hidden stitches at the folds to hold the flower shape if needed.

Place a button or brad in the center of each of these flowers to hide any imperfections!

Velvet Whispy Flowers (teal and gray)

Cut 8-12 three inch lengths of small velvet trim. Double each length of trim and thread it on to a knotted needle.  Don’t put the stitch TOO close to the end of the trim or the edge will fray and your thread will come out. 



Continue threading loops until you like the fullness of the flower and then close it by sewing back into the original loop. 

Take a few stitches into the center to strengthen it and hold the shape. 

(the gray flowers were created in the exact same way)

White Ric Rac Rosette

Carefully cut a couple feet of the white ric rac down the middle like so:



Hold the two strands together (or use a bit of glue) and twist them into a single strand:

Cut a small scrap of paper and cover it with adhesive.  Carefully roll the twisted ric rac strand on itself.  When you get to the end, stick the rosette on the sticky scrap of paper, trim around it so it can’t be seen, and adhere the end of the ric rac to the bottom of the paper. 

Pink Gathered Flower

Cut approximately a one foot length of the pink large ric rac.  Sew a loose running stitch down the center of the ribbon either by hand or with a sewing machine.  Leave long thread tails. Gently tug on the ribbon while holding the thread ends so that the ribbon ruffles up:



Tie off the ends of the thread and trim them.  Loosely roll the gathered ribbon on itself and hand sew a few stitches in the bottom so that the flower holds its shape.



White Gathered Flower

Cut approximately a one foot length of large white ric rac.  Take a small stitch at each rise in the ric rac (not the dips) and pull tight as you go until you reach the desired fullness.  Trim the ribbon and join the sides. 



Pleated Pink and White Flowers

Cut 15 three inch lengths of the pink satin ribbon.  Fold each in half and adhere the ends so you have 15 loops.  Crease the folds with your finger.

Cut a small 3 x 3 scrap of cardstock or chipboard.  I drew diagonal lines on mine to help with placement:



Using adhesive at the raw edge begin to place each loop, one overlapping the other, close to the center of the chipboard.




When you reach the end you will have to gently lift up the beginning loops to tuck the last loops under.  Then trim the chipboard back so you cannot see it.



I formed the white pleated flower in the same way but I used 21 two inch lengths of ribbon.



Coiled Flowers

Cut approximately an 18” length of tin foil and fold it so it is about 1” wide.



Hold the end of the twill ribbon (yellow and black/white flowers) to the end of the foil at an angle and wrap the ribbon round and round the foil, overlapping itself.  Do not wrap too tightly.  Use a very hot iron to completely press the ribbon around the foil and then GENTLY pull the foil out of the “tube” of ribbon. 



If the ribbon uncoils it is completely possible to re-coil it in the next step… trust me, I know!

Slowly sew a straight line down one end of the tube.  It is perfectly ok if it curls a bit as you go.

Coil the ribbon tube on itself, gluing as you go, and adhere the end. 



And there you have all the flowers!! 

Finally, create the center element by layering paper embellishments and stickers with foam tape.  Add sentiment stickers, a stick pin, baker’s twine, and the title word.



And lastly, we need to hang our shadowbox.  I simply stapled the wide striped green ribbon to the back of my shadowbox at an angle and tied a bow in the middle. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this project! The ribbon flowers look amazing all grouped together but they are also great in smaller doses on layouts and cards.  And don’t forget to check out the May Art's blog for more ribbon inspiration!