While going through my felt for this project, I discovered some red felt in my stash and couldn’t help making a bunch of flowers with it.  I got out a styrofoam ball I had on hand and decided to see how long it would take me to cover it with red felt rosettes.   This was a fun and easy project.

Here’s what you need to make one:

Mine was a four inch diameter ball.  I used about a quarter yard of felt, or approximately 45 rosettes to cover my ball.  The circles I started with (using this tutorial) were about 2.5 to 3 inches across.  In addition to the ball, felt, and a glue gun, I also used a length of ribbon to hang it, four little faux suede leaves cut from May Arts ribbon (you can find some here if you’re interested), a straight pin and some little pearl beads.

To begin, I arranged the four leaves and the ribbon to attach to the top of the ball:

Then I stuck a straight pin through all of it.

A drop of hot glue on the foam ball and then I stuck the pin down into it to hold the ribbon and leaves in place.  My reason for adding the leaves was to have more than just a white ribbon sticking out of the top of the ball.

Then simply start rolling up the flowers (again, you can find a tutorial for that here) and gluing them to the ball.  I started by attaching the first rosettes right next to the ribbon.

The first four flowers surrounded the ribbon, creating the top I wanted.  I love how the green leaves stick up like the top of a strawberry.

Just keep rolling and gluing until the ball is covered with flowers.

Then, if you wish, glue a small pearl in the center of each flower.

This ball ended up being about 6 inches in diameter when I finished it, so it’s a good-sized ornament or decoration.  It’s also my first Christmas project of 2011, and I’m excited to decorate!

Tell me, do you decorate for Christmas over Thanksgiving weekend, before Thanksgiving, or do you wait till December to deck the halls?

Have a great day!
Jennifer

So far the flowers I’m making have been relatively small, so I’ve started by cutting felt circles which are about 3 inches across.

I’m going to add a clip to mine, so I also need a small felt circle cut.  In the larger circle, cut a spiral from the outer edge to the center of the circle.

Beginning with the outside end, carefully roll felt.

Continue rolling until you’re at the end of the felt.

Add some hot glue to the flower and fold the last bit of felt over the glue. (This is the back of the flower we’re looking at; the front is face down on my mat.)

If you want to add a leaf, dab more hot glue on one corner of the flower and attach it.  This is some faux suede May Arts leaf ribbon that I’m using (which I love).  You can order some here, make your own with felt, or do whatever you wish.

If you’re not using a clip with the flower, at this point you can glue it to whatever project you’re working on.

To add a clip to this rosette, take the second smaller felt circle and clip it inside the hair clip.  This will prevent the hot glue from making the clip stick together and become useless.  Add more hot glue to the bottom of the rosette and simply press it onto the hot glue.

Turn the flower right side up and add whatever detail you may wish to the center of the flower.

You’re done!  Up next:  see how I used these clips to make unique napkin rings for Thanksgiving dinner!

Hopeful Homemaker

I bought this chair in April at the thrift store for $4.00.   The frame is a heavy duty metal one which means it will last for many years.   A few coats of white spray paint and new fabric have given it a fresh, modern look.

The fabric is an outdoor weight in a bright pink zebra stripe.  I had a leftover piece from another project and it worked perfectly.  I like the punch of color and pattern it offers to the simple chair.

Here’s the before:

And the after:

I think this chair will ultimately live in my daughter’s room when we make room for two beds in there.  For now we’ll use it wherever we need an extra seat.

Cost breakdown:
chair:  $4
paint:  $4
fabric:  stash

Total cost for project:  $8.00 and less than 1 hour.   Success!

Jennifer

I’m sure there’s a tutorial out there somewhere for making these rolled paper flowers, and if I’d hunted for one I might have saved myself an hour of time spent figuring them out.  But then, I might have wasted an hour on the internet looking at all the amazing things other people are making so… here’s how I make mine.

I tried rolling strips of paper but couldn’t get enough bulk.  Then I was peeling an apple for my daughter’s birthday pie.  I always peel my apples in a circle, leaving the peel in a long spiral.  As I looked at the long string of peel it dawned on me that I could cut my paper the same way.   I tried it and it worked, but still not enough bulk.  So I added a second paper and rolled two strips together.  Better, but not enough.  I settled on three pieces of paper for one rolled flower.  I was using my old dictionary, which has fairly thin pages, so you could probably get away with two sheets of thicker pages.

Ok, here goes.

Tear out three pages.  Lay them flat and with a pencil, draw a spiral on the page.  Begin in the center and try to make each ring about 3/4 inch away from the previous one.

Carefully cut along the lines you drew.

You’ll end up with something like this.

Now find the outer end of the spiral (the end that was on the edge of the page) for all three pages and line them up together.

Fold or pinch the ends a little bit so you can wad them up for the very center of the flower.

Now begin to carefully roll your paper around the center you just made.  Roll tightly and carefully.

When you get to the end it should look something like this (above).

Carefully turn the rolled flower over and add a generous dot of hot glue to the flower, being careful not to burn yourself.

Quickly place the flower in it’s intended spot and hold in place for a few seconds while the glue begins to harden.

Add more flowers, making certain to glue them closely together so the wreath form isn’t visible.  Keep going (and going, and going) and eventually you’ll have a unique wreath.

Have fun!

Hopeful Homemaker

The rosette ribbon I used is $8 per yard at a local shop.  Luckily I got it on sale for $4, but since I needed less than a yard it was an affordable project at either price.

Materials needed:
pillow form, size of your choice
fabric, enough to cut two pieces the size of your pillow form
zipper in a coordinating color, as long as one side of your pillow
ribbon of your choice, long enough to make a band around your pillow
pins
thread in contrasting color
sewing machine and zipper foot
seam ripper

To begin, measure your pillow form.  Many of them have the dimensions printed on the tag or packaging.  If yours doesn’t, measure it from corner to corner in both directions.

Cut two pieces of fabric the exact same size as the dimensions of your pillow.  When I make pillow covers I don’t add seam allowances because I want the pillow to look plump and full.

Cut two pieces of ribbon long enough to go down both front and back of your pillow.  If you were stuck with less ribbon than you need, you could also make this pillow with ribbon only on the front, and a different fabric on the back.

Decide where to place your ribbon on the pillow and carefully pin it in place.  My ribbon was wired, so as I pinned I tried to straighten out the wire and make it lay flat and neat.  MAKE SURE TO MATCH THE TWO SIDES OF YOUR PILLOW WHILE YOU’RE PINNING SO THE RIBBON WILL LINE UP NEATLY WHEN YOU SEW IT TOGETHER.

Carefully sew the ribbon onto the fabric, keeping your needle just inside the wired edge.

Repeat on both sides of the ribbon, and also the other half of the pillow.  Doesn’t it look pretty against the white?

Now carefully pull the wire out of the ribbon so your pillow will be soft and flexible.

Next comes the zipper!  Line up the front and backs of your pillow cover with right sides together.  Carefully pin them along the side where your zipper will lay.  If the ribbon meets along this seam, be careful to line them up well and pin carefully in that spot especially.

Sew along this edge with a 3/8 inch seam allowance.  Carefully press open your seam.

Carefully test your ribbon to see if it is safe to iron.  Mine wasn’t (as in, I would have melted it if I’d ironed it) so I just finger pressed that part of the seam open.

Now take your zipper and place it, right side down, on top of the seam you just pressed open.  Carefully pin it in place, making sure to have the center of the zipper line up right on top of your seam.

With a zipper foot on your machine, sew the zipper on top of the seam, going down one side and back up the other.  It will look like you just sewed your zipper into a seam, making it appear useless.

Once the zipper is sewn on, turn the pillow cover over, and from the right side, unpick the seam you made when sewing the two sides together.  There, underneath the seam, is your zipper!

Continue down the length of the pillow, carefully unpicking the entire seam.

Pull out the little broken threads after the seam is unpicked.  Open your zipper at least far enough for you to get your hand through it.  You’re almost done!

With right sides together, carefully line up the remaining three sides of your pillow cover and pin them together, again taking extra care to line up your ribbon.  Beginning at one end of the zipper and using a 1/4 inch seam allowance, sew around all three sides of your pillow.  Don’t forget to replace the zipper foot on your machine with your regular sewing foot!

I usually put my machine on a zig zag stitch and go around those three seams one more time to help minimize unraveling inside the pillow.  This is helpful if I like the pillow cover and use it long enough that it needs to be washed.

Now trim any stray threads and turn the pillow cover right side out.

Place your pillow form inside and zip it shut.  You’re finished!

Place it where you like and enjoy your one-of-a-kind pillow with gorgeous, expensive-looking detail!

This project was simple and took less than an hour.  Because I already had the pillow form, fabric and zipper it cost me less than $4.00 to make.  I always use zippers in my pillows so I can change them often and store only the covers.  I re-use the pillow forms all over my house.

If you try making one, I’d love to see how it turns out!

Hopeful Homemaker

The pattern comes from this issue of Quilts and More.  I purchased it at my local grocery store because it is full of projects I want to make.  I’m guessing you might still be able to find one at a Barnes & Noble.  If not, it would be easy to draw your own pattern.

You need a large circle of felt, about 8 inches in diameter, and two pieces for the “toppings.”

With two strands of embroidery floss, blanket stitch the first, larger topping to the center of your circle.

Repeat with the second, smaller topping.

Add a red or pink button for your cherry on top.

Your circle should look like this.

Turn the circle over, wrong side up.  Thread a needle with 36 inches of sewing thread.  Knot the ends of the thread together and begin a running stitch around the perimeter of the circle, about 1/4 inch in from the edge.

Gather the circle.

Stuff with filling.

Tighten thread until the hole is less than 1 inch in diameter and carefully knot your thread.

Cut a circle of felt to cover the hole.

Whip stitch into place.

You’re done.  All you need is a parfait glass.  We found ours at WalMart.  This pincushion is designed to sit on the top of the dish.

This allows you to store buttons or other notions in the glass beneath the pincushion.

It was so easy to make that I experimented with other colors, too.

My girls quickly saw the potential of these creations and whisked them away to the toyroom for use with their little kitchen.

I’ve seen some of the cute felt food that people are making for children to play with but I had no idea how much fun it might be to make it!  This project left me wanting to stock the playroom with sweet little bits of food.  Whether it’s used as a toy or a pincushion, this was a fun project.

Hopeful Homemaker

Shared at DIY Day

Here is what I came up with.

I found a piece of foam core board at WalMart in one of the school’s colors (dark blue).

Using a dark colored marker and a small ruler, I drew a Y on the board.  I was able to see the lines well enough to complete the project, but they don’t stand out.

Next I took white (another school color) miniature muffin cups and crumpled the bottoms, pinching them into a point.

Using my hot glue gun, I dabbed a bit of glue onto the point of the muffin liner and glued it to the outline of my Y.

Repeat with more muffin cups, gluing them along the edges of the letter.

When I dreamed up this idea, I pictured the letter completely filled in.  When it took 200 cupcake liners to do the outline, I decided to stop there.  Two hundred liners may sound like a lot, but it was actually a calming experience for me to perform a simple, repetitive task while my mind was still spinning after this unexpected dash to the doctor’s office.  In all I think the project took less than an hour.

Because I purchased miniature cupcake liners in bulk last year, the only cost was the $3 foam board.  Everything else I had on hand.  As I was working on it, I was thinking how fun it would be to make one of these with a number on it to celebrate a birthday party.  You could also do a monogram.  I really liked using the school’s letter in this instance.  The muffin liners added much more dimension and interest than simply drawing would have done.

This was a fun way to make a big statement for our party.  It added festivity to our gathering without too much effort or cost.  I’ll be using this idea again!  What do you think?

Note:  to see how we incorporated the school letter idea into our dessert, check out this post.

Hopeful Homemaker

shared at DIY Day and Girl Creative

A couple of years ago I picked up an old wicker rocking chair for $5.  It’s been used here and there, but most recently it’s been sitting in the basement.  Not much to look at.

The wicker table was a thrift store find.

A trip to Home Depot yielded three cans of Rustoleum spray paint in Spa Blue.   It reminds me of a piece of Pine Cone Hill furniture, or an Adirondack chair out of a catalog.

It’s just what I was hoping for.  I’m pleased with the results.  Don’t you love what a little paint can do?!

I know where I’ll be sitting when the little ones enjoy a backyard picnic tomorrow!

Every spring I feel like our cherry tree turns the backyard into something of a paradise.  My blue wicker is the finishing touch that begs you to go sit beneath it and inhale the lovely scent of the blossoms while you lose yourself in a good book.

Wish you were here to join me!

Hopeful Homemaker

Shared at DIY Day and A Silly Little Sparrow

I used a bleached burlap for the outside and chose a coordinating hounds tooth pattern from my stash for the inner lining.

To determine the size of my fabric, I measured the space I wanted it to use on my shelf.  This would be the base, and then I decided how high the sides were to be.  Once you know those numbers, multiply the height of the sides times two, and add that to your dimensions for the base.  For example, if you want the base to be 8 inches wide by 10 inches deep, and your sides to be 6 inches high, then you need to add 12 to the width and height of the base.  This means you will cut your fabric to be 20 inches wide by 22 inches long.

Once you do this, you might want to reinforce the fabric by ironing some interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric.

Now you need to lay the fabric flat and on each corner, cut out a square the size of the height of your bin.  If we continue the measurements from the above example, you will cut a 6 inch by 6 inch square out of each corner.  This will leave you with something of an “x” shaped fabric.

Repeat with the piece which will be your lining.

Fold each “x” in half on a diagonal line through the center square or rectangle.  Carefully line up the sides of each piece, with right sides together (RST) and sew down that six inch line.

You will be able to see that you have just formed one corner of the bin.

Repeat with the remaining three sides until you have made a little box.

Repeat with the other piece of fabric to form a second bin.  Turn the outer piece right side out.

Now for the embellishments!  I chose to make a handle and a little pocket for a label.

For the handle, decide how long you wish it to be, and cut your fabric that long, but twice as wide as you want it.  With RST, sew the fabric into a strip lengthwise.  Turn it right sides out, tuck the ends under, and attach it to the outer bin wherever you want it.

For the label holder, I cut a small rectangle, and then cut another, smaller rectangle out of the center.  I placed a piece of clear vinyl behind it and sewed around the inner edge of the burlap rectangle.  Then I sewed the rectangle to the bin on the sides and bottom only, leaving a pocket in the top.

Lastly, place the lining inside the outer shell.  Fold the liner under, and then fold it over the top of the outer shell to form a contrasting strip around the top of the storage bin.  Carefully sew into place.

You’re done!  Now go fill it with whatever you made it to hold.

I must say that the burlap was a bit of a hassle to deal with, especially in spots where I was sewing through several thicknesses of it.  Still, I’m happy with the result, and it’s nice to have the size I needed without spending any money.  I love it when I find useful ways to use my stash and it’s always fun to combine creativity with organization.

I hope you’ll try one and tell me what you think.  It was a lot of fun!

Hopeful Homemaker

This post linked to DIY Day

Easter is a holiday that means more to me with every passing year but I don’t enjoy the thought of spending a lot of money on the commercialized aspects of the holiday.   I see the cute Easter baskets for sale in the stores and think that I could just make my own, but I never have… until today.

Instead of the traditional brightly colored baskets, I decided to make one in a more subdued color scheme.  I used an unbleached cotton for the outside, white on white damask for the lining, and white and cream ribbons from May Arts to decorate it.

I started by tracing a circle onto a piece of interfacing to give the basket stability.  I then ironed it onto the back of my fabric and cut the circle out.

To determine the circumference of the circle, multiple the diameter by pi.  I then added 1/4 inch for a seam allowance, and cut the piece for the side of my basket.  I ironed some interfacing onto the wrong side of this piece as well.  Folding it in half (right sides together or RST) I stitched it into a circle.

Next I carefully pinned the sides and base together, again with RST.

Carefully stitch around the edge of the circle.  I used a 1/4 inch seam allowance and went slowly so I would maintain a good curve and be sure not to have any holes.  Remove the pins and turn right side out.

Now repeat the above steps with your coordinating fabric to make the lining.  On this step, I skipped the interfacing because I felt the basket would be sturdy enough without it.  After sewing the base and side together, leave the lining inside out.  You should now have two fabric buckets that look like this:

Lining up the seams, carefully place the lining inside the basket and gently smooth it into place.  I decided that I wanted a bit of the white to show around the edges, so I folded the brown fabric down deeper than I did the white.  I also used a piece of 5/8 inch ruffled white ribbon in this seam so that there would be a touch of ruffle peeking out.

Pin in place.

Now for the handle.  Cut a piece of fabric that is as long as you want but twice as wide as you want, plus 1/2 inch.  For example, I wanted my handle to be two inches wide, so I cut my fabric 10 inches long by 4 1/2 inches wide. I then cut a piece of interfacing that was 10 inches long and only 4 inches wide.

Iron the interfacing onto the wrong side of the handle fabric.  Now fold in half lengthwise and iron, then turn the raw edges under 1/4 inch and iron.

Stitch down the edge of the handle to close it.  I usually stitch down both sides so the appearance is uniform.

Next I used more ribbon to embellish the handle.  First I sewed a strip of the May Arts suede/ruffle white ribbon that is 1.5 inches wide, and then I added a strip of the same ribbon but in a 5/8 inch width on top.  These ribbons look so pretty layered on top of one another.  It reminded me of a tuxedo shirt.

Once the handle is finished, pin it into opposite sides of the basket.

Now CAREFULLY stitch around the top rim of the basket.  This seam will hold the handles in and also secure the lining.  I set my machine on its slowest setting and went slowly, remembering that when I stitched through the handle my needle was going through 8 thicknesses of fabric, four layers of interfacing, and three layers of ribbon!  Gratefully, my machine did well and we had no broken needles!

Look how pretty the handle looks once it’s all sewn together!

Inspired by my Ranunculus from weeks ago, I wanted to create some white flowers on the basket.

I used more of the suede/ruffle ribbon in both white and cream.  With a needle and thread, I started rolling the ribbon, tucking and winding as I went with a stitch here and there to hold it in place.

To secure them to the basket, I simply used my hot glue gun.  After the rosettes were in place, I cut three suede leaves (again from May Arts), pinched one end, and glued them in as well.

The verdict?  I love it!

The project wasn’t difficult or time consuming.  Without a doubt, I’ll be making my own Easter baskets from now on.  I’m very pleased with the understated elegance of it.

The simplicity of the color scheme and the simple flowers somehow speak “Easter” to my heart better than any Easter basket I’ve seen.  I’m excited to use it!

I hope you like it, and I hope you’ll try one of your own!

Hopeful Homemaker

This project was created as a submission to the May Arts Spring Challenge.   Thanks May Arts!