Hi there!  I’m Joanne from Ready, Set, Craft! and I am just thrilled to be guest posting here at Maiden Jane today!  I dabble in a little bit of everything crafty and do some baking, too – but paper-crafting is kind of my “thing.”  I love rubber stamping, and am a demonstrator for Stampin’ Up! – I do workshops and classes and share project ideas with my customers.  It’s so much fun!

Today I’m excited to share a quick and easy project with you that I hope will get you “thinking Spring” as much as I am!  The great thing about my flower clips is that they are quick to make and use supplies most crafters have on hand, and it’s definitely a project you could make with the kiddos.

Let’s get started!

Supplies!  Two punches, a scallop and circle (any size will do!), scissors, permanent adhesive, paper scraps in a variety of colors, ink pads to match your paper scraps, clothes pins, and sponges.

Punch and cut!  Punch out one scallop (this will be your flower), one circle (the center of your flower), cut a strip of green the same length and width as your clothes pin (mine was about 3 and 1/4 inch long by 1/2 an inch wide), and cut out a leaf (I cut mine freehand – you could also use a stencil or die cutting machine)

Ink!  Sponge corresponding colored ink on each piece of your flower (yellow on yellow, green on green, etc.)  This creates a subtle textured effect and makes the flower “pop”

Stick!  Using your adhesive, glue each piece of the flower to your clothes pin.  The leaf first, then the stem, and finally the flower and its center on top of that.  Press down firmly to stick.

These are so quick to make that you can put together a whole garden full in just a few minutes!  A set of these would make a great gift…

You can use them to clip together receipts, to-do’s, bills, etc…

Or to keep bags of candy or chips closed and your snacks fresh!  Please don’t pay attention to how few robin eggs are left in this bag… I mean, a girl needs to snack while she crafts, right?  It encourages creativity you know!

You can even use them to mark a favorite spot in a catalog or magazine… to show hubby the newest decor items from PB you absolutely can’t live without perhaps?

So what are you waiting for?  Grab some scraps, some clothes pins, and get started!  Thanks so much to Jane for having me here today – it’s been such a blast!  I do hope you’ll stop over to Ready, Set, Craft today to see Jane’s over-sized beach bag tutorial – as a beginning sewer I’m always looking for new projects to try and this one is at the top of my list!