Wedding Dress Sash...

A few of our grandchildren visited us last week. While they were here they got to know my soon-to-be daughter-in-law, Meghann, very well. I think our nine-year-old grandson fell in love. Truly. I'm a little concerned that my son will be elbowed out of the way so our grandson can take his place the weekend of the wedding. I was telling one of my daughters about this last week, and we agreed we all have a crush on Meghann. I knew once she started talking crafts, sewing, and the like that we would get along famously. 

One of the last things Meghann had on her list to do before the wedding was to make a sash to go around her waist for her wedding dress. She saw some photos on Etsy and Pinterest of beautiful bridal sashes, but they were expensive, and she felt confident that she could make her own. At first I was going to help her, but when she was ready to begin I was busy with another project. I became her cheerleader instead as she made this gorgeous sash...

I love what she created on her own. I think the flowers are stunning. She had to get her wedding dress altered, so she had already ordered extra lace which she used on the sash as well. Some brides put the embellishment on the front of the dress, but she'll put the flowers in the back.

This beautiful sash inspires me. I think it's so special that she made it herself, and I can't wait to see it on her...

Fabric Flowers and Wedding Prep...

Wedding season is upon us. This weekend a daughter-of-our-heart {our former daughter-in-law} is marrying in Tennessee, and we're looking forward to sharing that event with her and her chosen. In a few weeks our son and his beautiful bride are tying the knot in California. As my daughter-in-law-to-be said, "We are in wedding sweatshop workshop mode." This week we've been embellishing some beautiful dresses that the flower girls are wearing. The bride and groom have chosen to have their little nieces and nephews all dressed alike and most (that are old enough) will be flower girls and their escorts. The boys will all be in little gray suits (dashing!) and the girls will wear beautiful lacy dresses. The older (5-12 years) girls will be in this champagne colored dress...

 {Country Couture Company Etsy Shop}

And the little ones (3 months - 4 years) will be in this creamy beauty...

{Girly Girl Envy Etsy Shop}

That's 10 little girls parading around in those beautiful dresses and 8 little boys looking as handsome as can be in their three-piece suits! That's the plan. We realize, of course, that the plan and reality rarely coincide. What will probably happen is right before the festivities begin two little boys will get in a mud fight and three little girls will be standing in their line of fire. Wish us luck.

The littlest girls dresses were all dolled up with a cute bow and bling...

so Meghann wanted the dresses the older girls are wearing to have a pretty accessory too. A project was instigated and some flowers were created. You might remember that the wedding colors are green, gray and creamy champagne...

Meghann chose to add a little color to these older girl dresses in the form of a flower...

It makes me wish I was eight years old again!

We used the same technique to make these flowers, as I used earlier this spring...

So pretty. I can't wait to see the grandkids all gussied up! I can certainly recommend the Etsy Shop {Girly Girl Envy} for the littler girl dresses. They came perfectly sewn, were reasonably priced, and arrived right on time. The Etsy Shop for the older girl dresses sent beautifully sewn dresses that were also reasonably priced, but we had shipping problems with both orders we ordered from them. It all ended up fine, but things like that tend to make you cringe a bit. In the end, though, we couldn't be more pleased with these little girl dresses.

Fabric Flowers the easy way...

Things just got a whole lot easier in the flower making department...

A month ago the hubs bought a die cut machine for his company.

He had some custom dies designed to cut gaskets from a rubber-like fabric for a machine his company is developing. While walking through Hobby Lobby the other day, I noticed the store carries dies much like the ones he uses with his machine. It didn't take long for the gears to start clicking.

Today I bought three die cuts at Hobby Lobby. Each one is a little different, but I bought them all with the intention of using them to make fabric flowers. A couple of the die cuts are found in the scrapbooking department and the other is in the fabric department. However, all the die cuts will cut both fabric and paper. Unfortunately, one has to buy the die cut machine to use the dies {pricey}, but I was lucky because I knew I could use my husband's machine.

After purchasing the dies I hightailed it to my husband's office, unpacked bunches of fabric and the dies, and basically took over his lab. He didn't bat an eye. Believe me when I say, my man is a gem.

The three dies I bought were Sizzix Fabi Circles, Sizzix Brenda Walton Camellia, and Sizzix Brenda Walton Peony. In no time at all I cut bunches of petals for fabric flowers by using this machine. I was giddy thinking of all the time I saved cutting the petals out this way.

Then I came home and started the process of melting the edges of the petals over a candle and assembling the flower. I'm so happy with how it turned out...

I combined flower petals cut from all three dies to make this one flower.

Since my DIL-to-be and I will be making a number of flowers for the wedding, this revelation couldn't have come at a better time!

This flower is big and beautiful measuring about 4.5 inches in diameter. The flowers we make with this pattern will be planted on lace headbands for the "flower girls" (nieces of the bride and groom) to wear for the wedding.

Beautiful Blossoms & Life...

One can always tell when my life gets busy, because the first thing that gets axed are blog posts. So far this year we've had a new little grandson join our family, the hubs and I took a cruise to Central America and Mexico, and a son got engaged. All wonderful things! We also have two more grandbabies due in March, a college graduation in April, three baby blessings and the wedding in August. I may have left out a thing or two. Within the next few months our immediate family members will number 33. No wonder I don't have much time for blogging.

This weekend we had a snowstorm. Turns out it wasn't as impressive as the 18 inches they were predicting, but it was still enough to keep us inside, hunkered down with doughnuts and hot chocolate a plenty. Since I was inside a good deal of the time, I used my time wisely and made a few fabric flowers from the pattern I sell in my Etsy store.

My DIL-to-be and I will be making some of these for the flower girls to wear in the wedding, so I thought I'd put a few together and experiment with different types of fabric.

I used 100% polyester chiffon, satin, tulle, organza, lace, etc. Then I garnished them with feathers, buttons, sparkles, beads and pearl add ons.

Today I took some photos of the flowers with the snow as a backdrop. Aren't they beautiful on that sparkley, white snow?

The colors for the wedding are going to be a silver, sage, white, cream and champagne tan. I've ordered a beautiful silver sage fabric that we'll use for most of the flowers...

 This green flower is too bright for the wedding, but I know someone who loves green, so it won't go to waste.

 I have to admit I love the curly petals of this pattern.

I've pinned a lot of beautiful examples of fabric flowers on one of my Pinterest Boards. Feel free to check them out under "Blossoms". They are sure to give you lots of inspiration!

Felt Flower Bookmark...

I received a wonderful gift for Christmas from my son and daughter-in-law. They stood in line for hours to get two autographed copies of "The Cupcake Diaries" -- one for me and one for a niece who is in love with their show!

This is the recipe book and memoir of sisters, Katherine and Sophie, of the hit TLC series DC Cupcakes. It's a fabulous book with many of their wonderful recipes and a lot of savvy advice and encouragement to follow dreams. {I've been lucky enough to taste a variety of Georgetown Cupcakes from their store, and, believe me, they live up to the hype!} It's a recipe book I would recommend for women who love to bake. Mother's Day is coming up in a few months... just sayin'.

The other day I was perusing Pinterest and came upon a delightful bookmark.  I got to thinking it was just what I needed to hold my recipe book's page open while I bake. {It's so frustrating to have the pages of a recipe book flip closed when you are in the middle of creating!} Here's what I came up with:

Felt Flower Bookmark...

Supplies:

felt

elastic headbands

hot glue gun & sticks

Start with some elastic headbands that you can find at most grocery stores, pharmacies, or dollar stores...

Begin by cutting a round circle of felt and filling it in with flowers. Follow this tutorial at Infarrantly Creative to create your flowers. There are a lot of great tutorials on how to make felt flowers, but I really like Beckie's because she demonstrates variations for this lovely fabric flower...

I added a couple of green leaves to the mix as well. Then I took my headband and sized it to the book. I had to make it a little smaller by cutting it at the seam, taking a little off, and sewing it back together. Hot glue your flowery circle to the headband. Then finish it off on the underside by covering the headband with another circle of felt...

If you'd rather, you can make a more simple bookmark by making one large flower and using one of the smaller headbands. This bookmark might be better for paperback novels, but it worked well for my heavier recipe book as well...

I think a bookmark and favorite book would make a delightful gift 

for a mother of any age on Mother's Day!

Linked to:
Sunday Scoop @ I Heart Naptime
Show & Tell Saturday @ Be Different Act Normal
Friday Favs @ Naptime Crafters
Show Off Your Stuff @ Fireflies & Jellybeans
Strut Your Stuff @ Somewhat Simple
Hookin' Up @ House of Hepworths

Sunflowers...

I love sunflowers. Every year my garden sports a variety or two. Like our morning glories, they are hardly ever planted. They volunteer from seeds dropped the previous fall and nestle themselves next to my fence for a splash of color. I absolutely love their bright, sunny faces.

I decided it was high time to create one of these favorite flowers in fabric form. I began by purchasing some fabric in different shades using a sunflower as my inspiration...

I also bought some brown wooden beads that one "might" construe as sunflower seeds...

I used my full, luscious pattern that I created a couple of years ago to created my sunflower, but I only used the three larger petals from the pattern. I cut about five of each of those pattern pieces -- alternating colors from the three "yellow" fabrics that I purchased.

 {To order the original pattern AND this one, 
just go to my Etsy shop!}

Then I cut about six rounds in descending sizes of the two brown fabrics that I bought to make the middle of the flower...

All the fabric edges were singed and the layers of petals were stacked together and tacked in place with a needle and thread...

Then I sewed on the small wooden beads to add a few "sunflower seeds."

I cannot fully describe how much pleasure this little flower gives me! 

Hope you find pleasure in making one too.

{Remember: To "order" this pattern and the original pattern , go to my Etsy!}

Linked to:

VIP @ Designer Garden
Saturday Night Special @ Funky Junk Interiors
All Things Domestic @ Crazy Domestic
Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest
Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous
Strut Your Stuff @ Somewhat Simple
20 Below @ Christina's Adventures
Show Off Your Stuff @ Fireflies & Jellybeans
Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Chic Cottage
All Things Inspired @ All Things Heart & Home
Show & Tell @ Blue Cricket Design
Ten Bucks Tuesday @ Young Nester
Upcycled Awesome @ T-Shirt Diaries
Anything Related @ All Thingz Related
I Made it without my Hubby @ Shanty 2 Chic
Get Your Craft On @ Today's Creative Blog
Handmade Tuesdays @ Ladybug Blessings
Made with Love @  Sew Chatty
Meet-Up Monday @ The House Creative

Simple Expressions of Love...

A few weeks ago, out of the blue, a dear friend of mine dropped off a sweet little gift -- a small box of assorted chocolates and a little birdie that I love! I wasn't home at the time, so she put it by my front door and sent me a text to let me know that a little something was waiting for me when I got home. Don't you love small and simple expressions of love? I know I do. Sometimes a two-pound box of See's candy fits the bill, but most times a little container with three chocolates is all you need to let someone know they are well thought of and loved.

Along this line here is a simple and inexpensive gift from the heart that you can give this Valentine's Day to someone you love or admire. It combines a paper mache box ($.99) covered with scrapbook paper ($.50) and Mod Podge.You can add a beautiful removable flower made from synthetic fabric scraps to the top of the box and (of course) some chocolate and you have yourself a lovely gift. Let's start with the box...

You can buy these paper mache boxes at any craft store. This one is about 3 inches wide by 1 1/2 inches tall. It's just a little squirt -- perfect for jewelry or some chocolate pieces. For a more complete tutorial on how to cover a paper mache box, go to this tutorial I created last Spring. This isn't rocket science though, so most likely you'll be able to get the gist of things from looking at the photos below! To cover the bottom of the box: Cut your paper so there is at least a 1/2 inch overlap on each side...

Then paint Mod Podge on both the paper mache box and the scrapbooking paper and adhere the paper to the side of the box. Slit the "overhanging" part of the paper every 1/2 inch, apply Mod Podge to the paper and the box, and glue the paper to the inside of the box. Do the same to the overhang on the bottom of the box. Then apply Mod Podge over all the scrapbooking paper on the box to give it a little sheen.
 

To finish the inside of the box I cut a strip of paper to cover the edges of the scrapbook paper on the inside of the box. Apply Mod Podge over that as well...

To cover the lid of the box just place your lid on the underside of your scrapbook paper and draw a circle around the lid. Then measure the side of your lid (mine was 1/2"), multiply that by 2, and add that amount (1" for mine) to the edge of the circle.

Cut the paper out and apply it with Mod Podge to the top of the box. All that's left is to slit the sides and Mod Podge them to the side wrapping them around to the inside of the lid much like you did the bottom part of the box.

Now all you have to do is make a gorgeous flower...

The flower pattern that I used is one I created about a year ago. Go here to read the post. This pattern is now for sale in my Etsy store. Go here to buy it!  Once the flower was created, I taped it to the top of the box...

I used three different types of fabric for this flower. The first was a soft pink poly satin, the second a white poly satin, and finally a white shimmery organza. I think it's one of my favorite flowers ever because of the different layers of color and texture...

I chose to tape it to the top of the box in case the recipient might eventually want to take the flower off the box and use it in a different way.

I then added a little soft pink crinkle paper and some chocolate kisses.  A Valentine's gift isn't complete without a little chocolate...

This little gift could be considered 3 gifts in one. A little box to hold treasures, a removable flower to be used however the recipient would like and, of course, some chocolate. It's not an expensive gift, but sometimes those small, simple gifts from the heart are the best of all.

Linked to:
Show & Tell Saturday @ Blue Cricket Design
Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest
SAS Day @ Just A Girl
20 Below Thursday @ Christina's Adventures
Trash 2 Treasure @ Sassy Sites
Linky Party @ Love Stitched
Meet Up Monday @ The House Creative