Spring Bouquet

I love this time of year, spring time! It's getting nice out, gardens are being planted, and flowers are coming out.  I have really loved playing with fabric flowers and I wanted to make a flower bouquet that I could have out all spring long.  So I was searching for some inspirations and I come up with this idea.  I found the inspiration here.

Here is what I did.  I bought a 4 inch planting pot and a half circle styrofoam form.  

I used scrap fabric that I already had in spring colors.  I cut the fabric into 2 inch strips.  The longer the strip the bigger the flower.  I used varying lengths to give each flower a different shape. I decided not use the white when I was done. 

To make each flower fold the fabric in half and iron.  Then baste stitch on the selvage ends.  If you want a fray effect like I did for this project here don't fold the fabric in half so the ends fray when you are done. 

When you are done stitching pull on the thread and you will get this.

Here is the fun part, forming the flower! Circle the fabric around each other and shape it into the flower you want.  Stitch it together a couple of times and then add a button or a bead for the center.  Once I had a couple of flowers made I pinned them to my styrofoam form. 

I used pins to keep the flowers in place so I can move them around if necessary. When I was done this is what I had.

I then of course glued some ribbon around the top and I was done.  I had a pretty spring bouquet for my table. 

Things I love about this project. 

I love fabric flowers because there is no wrong way to make them, no flower is the same so it doesn't have to be perfect.  I also love using scrap fabric because it reminds me of what I used the fabric for in the first place.  The blue was used as binding for my first  quilt I ever made, the green was lining for one of my many bags, and the pink I used for decorating a guest book for my best friend's wedding this summer.  

Happy Spring Time!!

Bird Coasters

I love birds, and I love using them in my crafties.  We were watching Portlandia and they had a skit on that was all about me (see clip in post Put a bird on it).  I was laughing so hard because I had this idea about making coasters with birds on them.

I bought 4 ceramic tiles from Home Depot for 16 cents each, I was very happy about the price! I got rubber adhesive circles to attach to the bottom to prevent skidding.  I picked out some blue paint, and got my bird stencil and got to work.

I lightly traced the stencil on the tile with a pencil.  I used a thin brush to outline it and then filled it in.  I did the same picture on all 4 tiles for simplicity reasons.  I wanted a silhouette of a bird so it would be easy to hide mistakes.  I have limited experience painting, so the simpler the better for me. 

Once they were dry I added the rubber circles on the bottom. 

That was it, I had four new bird coasters to add to my bird collection.

Put a bird on it

I love Portlandia, I always laugh when I watch it.  This clip especially made me laugh.

Vintage Fun

I love love love vintage things! I especially love vintage objects that were used for everyday life, 

keys are some of favorites.  A friend of mine, Kelly, found me some keys while she was out antiquing.  When I saw them I knew just what crafty I was going to do.  Kelly and I were out looking for some more great finds and I got an old clock, a fence post cap, and some great burlap ribbon (I have never seen burlap ribbon but my house will soon be covered with it).  

 I took my wonderful keys and my great ribbon and I made a little sign.  I had an 8 x 10 picture frame and I used that as my back drop.  I covered it with purple fabric and went from there. 

I had some scrabble tiles that spelled "dream" and thought those would be great with the keys.  I used my die-cut machine and cut square tags to frame the tiles.  I took a black ink pad and stamped the edges of the tags, it gives it a vintage style. I then added an eyelet. 

I glued the tiles down on the paper and glued them to the burlap ribbon.  At the last minute I decided to string some wire through the eyelets, I'm glad I added it! I then secured the banner to the fabric with some hot glue. 

All that was left was to sew the keys to the fabric.  I played around with lots of different layouts and then just finally started attaching them.  I used thick black embroidery floss to make sure it lasted.  I put my new sign in my old frame and I was done!!

I set my sign next to my new treasures in my living room.  It's a happy little reminder to dream everyday!