Getting ready for Paper Cowgirl 2010!

I'm going to Paper Cowgirl at the end of June.  It's an altered art retreat, where we'll learn new fun things to make, meet new people, and eat lots of yummy food.  To get in the spirit of it, several people have started different swaps. Last year, I wouldn't do any of the swaps - I thought I'd never be able to make anything good enough.  This year, I'm still not convinced what I do will be great, but I'm doing several anyway.  I spent this week working on flowers for the Bag of Blossoms swap.  I'm not going to show what I'm making, in case anyone else in the swap reads this (plus, I can't find my camera anywhere. I'm sure it's around here somewhere, but I have no idea where. I foresee house cleaning and organizing in my immediate future. Yuck.)  However, when I was trying to decide what kind of flowers to make, I came across several that I liked, so I'm going to link to them, in case anyone wants to make their own. 

First, a crocheted  and felted version in bright, pretty colors - this pic is from YARNGEAR's author Meilynne - if you knit or crochet, check it out.  She's got some cute stuff.

Next, a very easy to make, mostly flat flower, good for cards or scrapbooks where you don't want something bulky, this picture is from SundayLDesigns.  Look for the How to make Wet Crumpled Paper Flowers tutorial.

This is a very elegant, pretty option from the Martha Stewart Weddings site - they've shown it as a ring pillow, but it wouldn't have to be attacted to anything.  This site had several patterns for pretty flowers, this was just my favorite.

These pretty carnations from the Folding Trees website look realistic, and they're incredibly easy to make, although mine may not have looked quite as pretty as these do. Maybe because I was making them at one a.m.?

And finally, I found two different tutorials for basically the same type of rose, one at Imagine, Create, Inspire:

And one at My Creative Scrapbook:

These are only a few of the ideas I found, it's amazing how many different kinds of flowers people make out of simple things like paper or ribbon.  I've had a lot of fun making mine, although they're not quite done yet.  I'm still not convinced everyone else's won't be better, but I'm okay with the ones I'm doing, and that's all that matters to me at this point.