Tutorial Tuesday

I don't know that I will make this a regular thing, but for at least this Tuesday, I'm going to offer a fun, free tutorial. I'm still going through piles and piles of my stash, trying to use everything up. I have WAY too much stuff. I started making these little flowers on Sunday as part of a banner that I am making for one of Hazel's Christmas gifts. They are so fun, cute AND totally addictive! Plus, they use up lots of left-over bits you'll have lying around. So, let's get started, shall we?

Start off with a piece of fabric...any fabric...cut to 5" square.

Fold it in half on the diagonal.

Fold it in half again.

And, again.

Now, using a *sharp* (that's A LOT of fabric you're cutting through...pull out the good snippers!) pair of scissors to cut the folded fabric into a petal shape.

You'll end up with something that looks like this:

And, when you open the fabric up, it will look like this:

Now, take a large brad (these are the 18mm size from Bazzill). It doesn't matter what color the brad is...you're not going to see it. Put a glue dot smack-dab in the middle of that sucker.

Position the brad in the center on the BACK side of the fabric. Press down so that it adheres firmly.

Go hunt through your daughter's drawer for some tiny rubber bands. Don't have kids? You can buy a box of these in the hair care isle of the grocery store for pretty cheap. They need to be SMALL rubber bands, otherwise the band will hang out the sides. We don't want that. It wouldn't look as pretty. ;0) Anyway, fold the fabric back over the brad; secure with the rubber band.

Kinda' looks like a shuttlecock for badminton, huh? Wrap that rubber band as many times as it takes to get it tight around the brad. Now, you should have something that looks like this on the front:

And, this on the back:

You'll have to tug on the edges of the fabric, and fiddle with it until you get the flower to look just the way you want it. After you get it looking all pretty and proper, go ahead and get to decorating. First, I started with a felt Prima flower. Cut a slit halfway up the middle of the flower.

Then, wrap it around the center of the flower, and secure with a dot of hot glue. You should have something that looks like this:

Then, I took a softie charm from KI Memories, and adhered it to the center of the flower using a little hot glue.

Add a pretty little jewel on top with another dot of hot glue.

Voila! A pretty little flower. Bend the back prongs of the brad if you intend to glue the flower in place like I do. Or, punch it through your paper, then secure the prongs:

Here is another one I made.

Fun. Addictive. Pretty. I'll try to come up with something for next week. Maybe I can do a fun little tutorial every week. We'll see. Here's a little peek at my LO for the next prompt at So Tell Me Your Story. Stay tuned on August 1st for this challenge:

I've been so insanely busy the last couple of days. I had a ton of deadlines pile up all at once, and I'm desperately trying to bang them out. I got 2 projects picked up for publication, so I have been writing up all of the instructions, supply lists and getting them ready to ship off to the publisher. You'll have to wait a few months for details on that. It's hush-hush. ;0) Other than project deadlines, I painted half of our deck (it got up in the 100's again, so I had to take a break from being outside for a couple of days). We've already started planning the Halloween party, and out annual Thanksgiving dinner that we host for the single soldiers and a couple of our married friends. I got to skip out on that last year since the guys were deployed. But, people have already been asking if we are going to have another one this year. I was only planning on a couple of people coming this year, but it looks like we'll have WAY more than a couple. Eek! Busy, busy, busy...and it's only Tuesday!