Felt & Fabric Flowers with Feathers Wreath in a Frame

Tongue twister!

No, that's not why I put an F on my wreath...

just coincidental. Haha! ;) Our last name is Foster.

Here's a little tutorial I've put together for ya. Complete with instructions/links on how to make each flower on this baby.

This is the finished product.

This is what it looked like before I decided to add a little to it. I thought it needed more presence.

I've been told I can't leave well enough alone. Oh well!

 THIS is what it looked like yesterday when I got it.

I intercepted it as it was destined for the thrift store.

I couldn't wait to transform it!

 I peeled off it's pink tinsel layers and found the wreath to be like new!

I loved that one part was thicker than the rest, too! Perfect place to put the flowers.

 I wrapped it in 2" wide black satin ribbon,

 gathered my fabric/felt/ribbon/feather scraps,

 and made these flowers.

The tutorials for these are

HERE (Big Ruffled Silver one),

HERE (Two-toned Red & Black ones),

HERE (Black Petal one on far left)

HERE (Small Rolled Rosettes), and

HERE (Fluffy, Loopy Felt ones).

 I hot glued them right on the ribbon.

 Here are all the flowers on it.

 Then I added the feathers.

 This was originally the finished product.

By the way,

HERE's a tutorial on how to turn your regular, short, plain dollar store wreath hanger into this ribbon hanger.

But then I decided I wanted to add an "F" for Foster.

So, I (very sloppily) cut it out of some pre-used foam core.

 The pics uploaded sideways. Oh well.

I wrapped it in torn fabric strips,

 then added a flower and some feathers.

 I glued the F onto the wreath, and hot-glued the wreath onto an empty picture frame.

 And now it hangs on my door.

:)

Petal Felt Flower Tutorial

This is a fun one, too! The picture doesn't do it justice. It really is a cute flower!

First, cut out a bunch of petal shapes.

Put a line of glue on the bottom of the first petal.

Roll up and add a couple more petals, doing the same thing. This makes your center.

 Continue to add one petal at a time...pinching the base of each petal together before adding it to the flower--to pucker it a little.

 Add as many as you'd like. I made my flower kind of small--only because I ran out of felt. Haha! I'd normally run to the store, but I do most of my crafting in the middle of the night while my kiddos are sleeping.

I added a pearl to the center so it would match my project.

HERE's the finished project, if you'd like to see it all together.

Ruffled, Singed-edge Fabric Flower Tutorial

This is one of my FAVORITE fabric flowers ever!

For this one in the picture, I used taffeta, but you can use any fabric that will singe.

First, you tear a 2" strip. I probably used about 24" in length for this big flower here.

Singe the edges...only be kinda messy about it.

 I love the rustic look of these edges! Especially when made into a flower!

 Next, sew a basting stitch down the center. Don't worry if you're off a little.

I think it looks better with a little irregularity to it-- more natural. Ya know?

Now gather it.

 Fold it in half length-wise, using the stitching as your fold-line. I folded the gray sides together. You can lightly iron it if you have a hard time keeping your fold together.

Now, put a dab of glue on your starting edge, and coil it to form a center.

 Continue to glue and coil until desired size is reached. Glue bottom of flower to a felt circle...to keep it clean and give it a little extra integrity.

Done! Fancy, eh? I especially love two-sided fabrics for these!
Click HERE if you'd like to see what I ended up making with these.

Double-layer Spiral Felt Rosette Tutorial

This is such an inexpensive and easy flower to make!

I bought the felt at the dollar store. But since it was so thin, I decided to stack it...

This is the result. I love the two-toned look!

Okay, so first, I cut the circles. I used a CD as a guide.

 Then, you cut a spiral, leaving about an 1 1/2 circle (or oval in my case).

*The thinner you cut your spiral, the bigger in diameter your flower will be, but it will be shorter.

 Then, taking the tapered end, put a dab of glue on it and roll it. No need for glue between layers. It'll stay together. You'll notice that the top piece will become longer than the underneath piece. No bigs. You can re-trim your center circle.

 When you've gotten to that point, glue each layer together on the center circle.

And VOILA! It's done! You can hot-glue a button, bead, pearl, or whatever in the center of these, too! These flowers are cute for just about any use-- wreaths, hair flowers, brooches, topiaries, embellish pillows & clothing, etc!
Click HERE if you'd like to see the project these flowers ended up on.

I'm gonna blog about a frog...

THIS frog. Who says Valentine boxes have to be boxes? And GREEN is a perfect color for the occasion, right? Well, it works for us!



Here he is! He looks love sick, doesn't he?
Lift his tongue to open his mouth.

 

Take a clean, empty can. Hot glue
the lid on.

Trace your can on to the center of a
piece of card stock. Any color will
do; it won't be seen (here's an
opportunity to re-purpose).



Draw legs & eyes. Line up a second
sheet underneath it.



Cut both pieces of card stock out.
Cut the eyes off one of them.

Using those pieces, trace and cut out
4 green felt legs and one set of eyes.
Set aside for later.
(I marked the fronts & backs of
these, but did it on the wrong
sides! Use a pin to mark it so you
don't make my same mistake!)

Okay, now you're ready to roll. Lay your can down on to a piece of felt. Roll it like you would if you were wrapping a gift and cut it AT LEAST a half an inch too big on both sides. Glue it on using a hot glue gun. Overlap the felt on the circumference of the can... just a little.



Glue the extra felt down on
to the rim. Do the same the
plastic lid on the other side.



Now take your circle w/ legs and cut a piece of felt about an
inch bigger around the cut-out. Cut slits all the way around
and start gluing one tab down at a time, gently pulling it in
the direction needed to make it straight against the sides.



This is kind of what it'll look like.

Glue on one pair of legs to cover tabs.
 Line it up as evenly as you can.



Now glue his cute bum to the bottom of the can.
Add a heart.

To cut the mouth out, pinch the
center of the felt and cut to make a
hole to start from.

Do the same thing you did with the backside, to the front.
Wait to glue the inside of the mouth in the next step.
Glue the head onto the plastic lid side of the can. Make
sure it lines up the same as the back (so it stands okay).



NOW, glue the mouth tabs to the inside of the plastic lid.

Glue the remaining legs & eyes onto the back of the head. 



Now, it's ready for YOUR creativity!

 THIS IS THE FUN PART!

Make a mouth at least 1/2" bigger than the hole. Glue
on at the TOP OF MOUTH ONLY!
Add whatever you want now!

"Feed me"!

 That's it! It's not too difficult, but is a little time-consuming. It's worth the effort, though! Let me know if you come up with your own version of this! I'd love to see it!

Here are a few more ideas!

We made the puppy out of a baby formula can. The love
bug is made from a frosting container. Instead of a flap, I
made that one so the whole lid (face) can come on & off.

HAPPY CREATING!