Ribbon Flowers {tutorial}

With all of the Burlap Ruffle Wreaths I've been making lately, I've also been working on some embellishments for them! Today, I'll show you how to make the ribbon flower that I added to my latest Christmas wreath.

The materials list for this is super simple (as is the tutorial)

- grosgrain ribbon (less than 1 yd to make one flower)

- hot glue

- scissors

- button or brad for flower center

Step One:

Cut 4 strips of ribbon in approx. 6"-8" lengths.

Step Two:

Bring ends of each strip together and press into a figure 8 shape.

Step Three:

Twist the ribbon into a true figure eight shape and secure with a dot of hot glue.

Step Four:

Repeat four times and glue all together!

Step Five:

Flip over and add button or brad to front.

These are great for hairbows for little girls, or to add to gifts at the holidays!

Check out a few other fun designs of these in my etsy shop too!

Linking up to:

Ohh Baby

Not Just a Housewife

Burlap Ruffle Wreath {tutorial}

Whew! It's been a while since I've posted! Oops! Time flies around the holidays, doesn't it???

I've been working on a few new items for my etsy shop and this is one of them! I thought I would share with you a little "how to" if you'd like to make your own for the holidays!

Materials List:
-foam pipe insulation tube ($0.97 at Lowes)
 {note: get the skinny one, the fat ones don't do as well, you can cut it in half and make two wreaths!}
- 2 1/2 yards of burlap
- duct tape or electrical tape
-hot glue & gun
-ornaments and embellishments
-string or yarn (small piece)

And here's the step-by-step!

Step One

Cut the tube in half and tape the ends together with duct tape.

I start the tape at an angle and wrap it around for about a total of six inches. You want to be careful with this step and work on shaping the tubing to be nice and round or you could end up with an easter egg shaped Christmas wreath! :) 

Step Two

Cut strips of burlap.

First strip is about 4" wide by 2 1/2 yds long, second strip should be more like 6"-7" wide for the ruffle. If you want a denser ruffle, get more yards of fabric, but the 2 1/2 is minimum.

Step Three

Hot glue one end of 4" burlap to wreath form. I like to start where my duct tape is.

Start at an angle and wrap around the entire circle. This may take some trial and error to get it just right, so don't glue as you go. It will stay just fine with glue at each end.

This part doesn't have to be perfect because you don't really see it. The ruffle will cover it eventually.

Step Four

Take the larger strip of burlap, count up about 10 strands and pull one.

Keep working the fabric down the strand until you start to see a ruffle effect. This will also take little trial and error. The strands can break on you, but keep going.

If one strand breaks, the one next to it pulls much easier!

Step Five

Lay out the ruffle on the wreath and make sure it will go all the way around.

You may need to adjust your ruffle a little at this point to make sure you have enough to cover the wreath and make the ends meet. Hot glue the ruffle to the wreath form.

Step Six

Glue (or sew) the ends together.

Step Seven

Cut a small piece of rope and glue to the back of the wreath for hanging.

I like to take a small scrap of burlap and glue over it to finish it.

Step Eight

Hang the wreath and glue the ornaments and embellishments on wherever you'd like!

(if you are going to add something hanging in the center, it is much easier to glue this on while the wreath is hanging versus laying on a flat surface)

P.S. Check back soon for a tutorial on that ribbon flower in the top left!

Enjoy!

Linking up to:

Ohh Baby

Not Just a Housewife

Fall Fabric Pumpkins {tutorial}

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year, and I think that goes for a lot of people out there!

Back to School, football games, cool nights and sunny days and all the warm feel good stuff like bonfires and apple cider and jumping in leaf piles. How can you help but love fall?

Sooo, that means for this gal, lots of fall crafts and decorating!

Cordurouy Fabric Pumpkins

Materials List:

Fabric - 1/2 yard? (about 1 pant leg)

coordinating thread

contrasting fabric (6" square piece)

jute, sisal, or just a natural rope or twine

scissors

sewing machine (or ALOT of patience for hand stiching)

stuffing

piece of a tree branch or stick

glue gun

Start out with your corduroy fabric.

In my case, thrift store pants that were 1/2 price the day I was there.

Cut up the seams of the pants until you have just fabric laying flat.

Here is a pattern that I think you should be able to print to scale:

Right click on the photo below and click Print Picture.

When your print dialog box comes up, click Preferences.

 Then, select Letter size and fit to page and it should be just right.

I'm a little new to the whole adding printable stuff to the blog, so bear with me!! :)

Print the page out twice. Cut the body of the pumpkin out (shape 1) and cut 8 pieces of fabric.

On the second page, cut out the leaf topper (shape 2) and cut 1 piece of fabric in your contrasting fabric (6" square piece)

Place right sides of fabric together and sew along one side. Backstitch at the long (bottom) side, where you will put the stuffing in. Otherwise, when you turn it and stuff it, it will not hold together!

Continue placing the right sides together and sew along one side as you begin to form a ball shape.

top of pumpkin

bottom of pumpkin

Finish by sewing (right sides together) the first piece and the last piece to close the ball.

Turn right side out.

 

Stuff.

At this point, it is optional for you to place a running stich around the opening and pull on the ends to gather. I did this with some and not others and it really didn't make a huge difference at the end. If you do, I would recommend using embroidery thread (any color since it gets covered) for stability.

The next step is where your fah-bu-lous present wrapping skills come into play! Wrap this baby up like you would a present you want to watch your kids struggle with for hours on Christmas morning! Seriously, the tighter you pull the rope, the more gathered and sectioned your pumpkin will look!

Since you have 8 sections to your pumpkin, you will start across the top so that you end up back up on the top. I like to follow the seam lines, but you could also do it in the middle of the lines for some added interest...

bottom

Note here that again, the tighter you pull, the less of the opening will show when you are done, and the easier it will be to cover with the leaf template.

top

Pin your Shape 2 pattern to your contrasting fabric (6" square piece) and cut out.

Fold in half and make a small cut in the center, then fold the opposite way and make another cut perpendicular to the first. When you are done, you will have a small X right in the center of your fabric where you can pull the rope through the top.

I cut a few extra leaf shapes and added them to the top for some dimension.

I secured all of it with hot glue. At this point, you could also choose to add some contrast stitching with emboridery floss as I did in the photo below.

This little punkin was a pair of very lovely (and far too small for me) velvet Ann Taylor Loft pants that I picked up for $2.50 at Goodwill the same day I found the white corduroy ones (among many others that are being made into pumpkins at the present time)

Ok, final steps, you're almost there! Hot glue that stick onto the top of the pumpkin, right in the center where the knot of the rope is showing through.

Start to wind the rope around the stem until you get up to the top and back down again. Swirl the remaining rope around with some hot glue and your fingers (and yes, you will get burned if you are not careful on this step) and you are done!

Linking up to:

House of Hepworths

Flaunt It Friday
Transformation Thursday
Make It Monday

 

DIY Artwork

I am still in the midst of my "big boys" bedroom makeover. Although it is no where close to ready for the big reveal, I thought I would give you a little glimpse of a project I completed this week.

I've had this canvas forever... I bought it for our first house and painted it to mimic a dish I had bought at a little shop in downtown Savannah, where we were living at the time. I got sick of it, I think I had given the plate away, and I had a very haphazard, unplanned attack on this canvas with a blue paintbrush about a year ago and it was an epic fail... so it sat around just begging for a facelift and to go back on the wall somewhere.

I started taping off the stripes and quickly remembered rule #1 of painting. Prime. oops.

Then, I used a T square that just so happened to be the same length as my canvas to make sure my lines were straight. I started out trying to eyeball it, and that didn't work. I am way too lazy to measure anything, so thank goodness I had the T square on hand. I taped off one color at a time then painted each line.

The paint dried very quickly since it was acrylic paint and I made sure to peel the masking tape off pretty quickly before the paint dried completely so that it would not peel. Success!

I used what I had on hand:

Americana Spa Blue & Burnt Umber

Ceramcoat OJ

Craft Smart Lime Green

The white was latex I had on hand.

And voila! Finished product:

The dresser was found at a second hand furniture store in New Brighton, PA called Capo's a few years back. We were visiting my family for Christmas and I saw these in the window and had to have them. I almost left the dogs behind because it was a tight squeeze. I carted these 12 hours back to Savannah from PA. They are that awesome.

The lamp was a recent yard sale find, and just the right color. Can't beat $7!

 

Linking up to:

On Sutton Place

Ohh Baby!

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

Remodelaholics Anonymous

Fancy This Fridays at Truly Lovely

tatertots and jello Weekend WrapUp Party

Funky Junk Interiors

Design DNA

craftomaniac monday

Thrifty Decor Chick