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!

Several days later...

Geez. I really didn't think it would take this much time to finish up these projects! But, I'm finally done. From an unfinished wooden box that I got at Hobby Lobby, I made this for my little niece's birthday...

It is filled with all kinds of goodies from here and here.

And, inside that little envelope in the lid is a hand-bound journal that I made for her. The guts are made from several pages of vintage handwriting paper that I've been hoarding for several years.

I must confess, this gift idea was not my own. It belongs to this insanely talented lately. Her original project can be viewed here. Oh, to have one ounce of her creativity!

The best part of the whole package, though, was this:

I had it commissioned from the talented Miss Mushroom Meadows. My niece, Madalinn, obviously has a unique spelling to her name. Forget ever finding any kind of tchotchky with that spelling on it. So, I had a special little stamp made just for her! And, I love the little octopus fellow! Anyway, I worked out a trade for this little cutie, and this is what I made in return:


A little Christmas in July...I know. But, I was at a loss for another cute project to make. Unfortunately, it's dull and gray outside here today, so the light wasn't the best to capture all of the sparkle on this little house. There is sparkly fake snow all over the base that the house rests on, and lots of sparkly Stickles on the scalloped roof. You'll just have to take my word for it...it's much prettier in person.

I've really been trying to use up my stash lately...not buy anything new. This project was great for that. I used up a lot of bits of my favorite Love, Elsie papers, some vintage Christmas images that I've had for years from ARTchix Studio (the images inside the windows), and some Krausbouillion (old-fashioned krinkle wire...looks like teeny-tiny tinsel). I've had that Krausbouillion for years. I bought it here years ago simply because I thought it was pretty. When I finally had it in my little hands, I had no idea what to do with it. So, there it sat, hidden away, in my drawer full of ephemera and altered book supplies. When I was making this house, I thought it needed something draped along the roof. Some miniature plastic Christmas lights from Michael's? No. That would take away from the vintage look of the house. Then, I remembered this stuff that was stashed away in my craft room. Perfect! It's kind of hard to work with...very springy...so be forewarned. The house was one of those Doodlebug Designs blank houses. So much fun to make! I'm definitely addicted.

Anyone have fun plans for the weekend? Not much here. There is lots of yardwork needing to be done, and I have a couple of scrappy projects that are due. I hope to have some time to dive into some Halloween crafties that I have been dying to get started on. So, hopefully, I'll be back sometime this weekend with some pretties to look at. In the meantime, we'll be doing lots of celebrating around here. I just found out that Bryan passed his promotion board with flying colors. So, as of Sept 1st, he'll be an E-6! Yay! A step in the right direction while we are patiently waiting for the warrant officer packet to go through. :0) Happy weekend, loves!

What a weekend!

Okay, so I had my little pity party on Friday night. Hey, everyone is allowed one once in a while. But, I'm over it. And, how could I not be? I had a pretty fabulous weekend! Rather, more of a LUCKY weekend. First off, I won some of the fabulous new Halloween line from Making Memories. It's called Spellbound, and it's fabulous! Definitely my favorite Halloween line this time around! In case you missed it, take a peek...

(All images from the Making Memories blog)



Good stuff, right? So, after I got over the high of winning that, I went to check my Bloglines. Lo and behold, I won Lisa Garay's yummy "Rainbowliscious" RAK. Thanks, Lisa! And, as if that wasn't enough, I scored a Fiskar's prize pack from 2Peas! Talk about luck! And, they couldn't have gone to a more grateful girl. Seriously. With the price of, well, EVERYTHING skyrocketing lately, the crafty budget was the first thing to get nixed off the spending list. I haven't bought scrapbooking or craft supplies in I don't know how long. Months. So, I truly am grateful. Unfortunately, my luck doesn't extend beyond winning scrappy supplies and purses because we didn't score a single number right on Saturday's Powerball.

Don't go yet! There's more good news! I received an e-mail last week from the amazingly talented Heather Bailey requesting to use one of my projects to advertise her new paper-crafting line for Autumn Leaves! Of course! Did she have to ask? Tee hee! You can find Sake's mini-book from last month's Label Tulip kit on Heather's new paper-crafting site here. And, be sure to check out her brand new shop! Lots of fun sewing patterns, fabric, paper crafting goodies, and her famous trash ties!

And, to end on another good note, I have been asked to guest design for Lotus Paperie" for the month of August. So honored to have been asked...thanks Vanessa! Check back there on August 1st to kick off a month full of challenges!

Hope everyone's week is off to a great start. If you were lucky enough to go to CHA, I want to hear all about it! And, I promise to keep my jealousy to a minimum. ;0) I'll be back in the next couple of days with some fun projects that I have been working on!

it's been a bad day. please don't take a picture.

"We're sick of being jerked around. We all fall down." Indeed. I *heart* Michael Stipe. Hope you're all having a better Friday than I.

the girl effect

Something to believe in (turn the volume up before you view it - the music is beautiful)...


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And, something to inspire. I could seriously stare at that blog post all day. So many pretties!

One more thing...who wouldn't want to win this?

Go. Sign up. Quick. Just click on the image. It'll take you where you need to go.

Happy Thursday loves!