Gathered ribbon flower

I've looked at so many pictures and tutorials of how to make beautiful flowers from ribbon, fabric, punches, etc. that I thought I'd have a go.  This was inspired by some work from the lovely Jessica at Bits and Pieces, and she also designs for Marcia at  The Stamp Spot.

The flower is simply made using a length of ribbon (approx 6 inches) and running a stitch down one edge (up, space, down, space).  This is then gathered when you pull the start end and the finished end of the stitch thread together.  A few stitches to hold the middle together and it's done.  You can experiment with different stitch lengths and different ribbon lengths to see how it puckers differently, giving you a more or less ruffled flower.  Add any embellishment to the centre to hide the stitching.
I ran a strip of 1inch double sided tape across the card, then used another strip of the same ribbon and as I stuck it down I did some random gathering.  I found this was an easy way to tie the flower in better - rather than having it stuck in the middle of nowhere.  I did make a little mistake in that I ended up with the wrong side of the ribbon on the flower, so it has a matt finish whereas the strip is shiny - but we won't tell anyone about that ;)