needles and ribbons and packets of pins...

"Needles and ribbons and packets of pins,
Prints and chintz and odd bod-a-kins
They'd never mind whether
You laid them together

Or one from the other in packets and tins.

But packets of pins and ribbons and needles,
And odd bod-a-kins, and chintz and prints,
Being birds of a feather
Would huddle together
Like minnows on billows or pennies in mints."

Odd little English nursery rhyme isn't it? But ribbons make me think in an old fashioned way. From baby bonnets to victorian tussie mussies, ribbons have been used for embellishment for many years. Anything made with ribbons has a feminine feel. Admit it, don't you feel prettier with just a simple ribbon tied in your hair? So using old techniques and some new ones too, here are projects made with ribbons...

If you'd like to try the ribbon roses pictured above, Save-On-Crafts has the instructions. Or these tiny rosebuds from Instructables.

Learn how to make a woven ribbon headband at Hair-Hardware. They have lots of projects and videos to make all kinds of ribbon hair accessories.

How adorable are these Little Bug Bows from The Ribbon Retreat? I love the dragonflies! Wish I had a little girl to make these for...hmmm my chihuahua is a girl...wonder how she would look with a ladybug on her head? Available to download on a pdf file.

Woven ribbon bracelets from Cut Out & Keep. I bet a teenager would like to learn how to do these. Reminds me of those friendship bracelets

made from embroidery floss.

Speaking of embroidery, have you ever wanted to try it using ribbons? Wonder How-To has 16 videos showing you various stitches.

Need something really unique for a special occasion? Martha Stewart shows you how to emboss velvet ribbon using an iron and rubber stamps and then how to apply it to a photo album or scrapbook. Wouldn't this be perfect for newlyweds? Especially if you used the colors from their wedding...

I was thrilled when I came across this idea from Ink Sell. They show you how to personalize your own ribbon using your computer. Think of all the possibilities with this one... Me personally, I want to print my business name on mine for packaging. I looked into having this professionally made a while back and it's quite expensive to have done. And now I can do it myself!

If you're like me, you have stacks of ribbon spools sitting on shelves. Not a very attractive way to keep them and lots of them end up getting smooshed. Another project from Martha Stewart is this ribbon organizer. Using card files and grommets, find the instructions here. Oh how I love that Martha...she thinks of everything, doesn't she?

Or how about storing them in mason jars like WJTrout did on Flickr? What a wonderful way to display them for sale at craft shows...couldn't you see a row of them with all those juicy colors inside lined up on a table or shelf?

So what do you do with your empty ribbon spools? I usually just toss them out but I'm going to start saving them for this idea from Polly McMillan's photostream on Flickr. Who would've thought to stack them and make a birthday cake...or a bridal shower cake...or any other occasion that I can think of. A perfect centerpiece.

I realized as I was proofreading this post that I may have dated myself talking about tussie mussies. For those of you who are not quite as dusty as me :) tussie mussies or nosegays, as some call them, are cones made of fabric or paper to hold small bouquets of flowers. Created in the Victorian era, find directions to make your own from Seasonal Delights. They are beautiful with embroidered ribbon posies on them. Enjoy!