Felt Rosette Tutorial

     I know that there are a lot of tutorials for this out there, and they are all amazing, but I just wanted to share how I did it. And since, you're here all ready...

      First cut out a piece of felt, rough 4 inches square.

  
     Then draw a spiral starting in the middle of your square.  It doesn’t have to be perfect, I actually found that the less OCD I was, the better it looked.  (I would suggest not using a blue marker though.) Smaller space between the lines of the spiral will give you a shorter denser rose, larger gaps will give you a taller thinner rose. 

 

     I found leaving the middle of the spiral round gives you and handy flap that helps a lot when gluing everything together.

     
     Then roll up the spiral starting from the outside and rolling in towards your center flap. It doesn’t really matter how you roll it, I like mine a little messier, the roses came out looking fuller and more natural, but it you want to line up the ends it will look more uniform and neat with the rose petals tighter together.  

     This is where the flap from the center of the spiral comes into play.  Don’t roll the last ring of the circle, and place a dollop of hot glue on the underside of the rose, then press the flap into the hot glue.  This holds everything together better and also gives you a flat surface on the bottom of the rose which makes gluing it on easier.

 

     On a side note, if you haven’t heard of the magic of a low temp hot glue gun, I cannot praise them enough.  My mom has several for her classroom and I fell in love the first time I stuck my finger in the hot glue (which was in the first few seconds of the project) I panicked and tried desperately to get the hot glue off my finger before I burnt myself and failed around for almost a minute before I realized that I actually had not burnt my finger.  I had just stuck my finger in hot glue, and it didn’t hurt.  This opened a whole new world to me! (I still wouldn’t advise touching the metal tip, I found out by accident that in fact is still very hot.) So if you are accident prone, like me, I would definitely advise a low temp hot glue gun. Martha Stewart makes a very decently priced one that has switch so that it can use both low and high temp sticks depending on what you are working on.

     

     Ta-Da! An easy peasy felt rosette!

Felt Bunting Tutorial

     Again, there are many, many ways to make this, this is just what my mind came up with.

 

The bunting is even easier.  Just cut out an even number of felt triangles into whatever shape you think the perfect flag looks like. (I personally prefer an isosceles triangle to an equilateral one.) You’ll also need piece of string (I used felt in this tutorial but landscapers twine in the felt wreath, anything you have will work just fine.)

 

     Stack them in sets of two, and holding them by the bottom point with the top layer peeled back, glue a line of hot glue along the top edge of the bottom triangle (like putting mayo on a sandwich.) I found this was easier than trying to get them to line up while you glue in quickly hardening, but is you have steadier hands than I do, and aren’t prone to panicking when times grows short, you can just as easily stack them later.

 

     Then (still holding the top layer back) place the triangle where you want them along your string, and press the string into the hot glue, and then press your top layer on top of the not sticky string.  And them repeat for however many flag you want on your bunting. (I could do this all day, but only did three for this tutorial, they are now hanging over the corner of my computer.)

     And that’s it! Even more easy peasy.

This will sound odd...

     But I think that when something is made with love, somthing of that love stays with the iteam.  No, not all the seams will be perfect, and it will have flaws, but when it is made by a happy, loving heart, it will be special.  Even if if is not made for you, or even made for anyone in particular.  I think the opposite is also true, if the maker doesn't care for the craft it will be obvious, even if it is done without a single mistake.

     So as a spin off of this unusual thought, I like to be happy when I sew.  I try my best to think happy thoughts, and find I care for the finished product much more if it is done with an overflowing heart rather than a frustrated one.  One of the easiest ways to do this, in my humble opinion is to watch sappy movies.  They are so filled with love (even if it is cheesy love) that that love overflows into my heart, through my hands into the project.  (I know its crazy, but it makes me happy to think that maybe the love will rub off as the product is used.)

     So today I watched Letters to Juliet as I worked on my blanket (I'm a little over halfway done with the sewing!!) if you have not seen Letters to Juliet and you like happy, hopelessly romantic movies, this is a must see.  Then I watched Little Women which is one of my all time favorites.  No it may not immediately come off as a romantic movie, but I have yet to see a movie so filled with so much love. I then moved onto Love Story which i had not seen before (it is not a happy movie at all, so it was not what I was looking for.)

     Tomorrow I think I'm going to watch my Disney Princess movies, (I have all of them but Cinderella) and I should have all of the sewing done for the blanket, and will spend the weekend cutting all the lines.  We'll see how it goes.
     But what are your favorite happy movies? What are your guilty pleasures movies? What do you watch to make you smile? (Even if it does make then men in your life roll their eyes and sigh.)

my crafting nook

     This is my crafting nook. I'm rather nosy and love to know what everyone else's crafting spaces, rooms, corners, or tables look like, so I thought I would share.  I have bins on the shelves (very recently put up by my talented husbandman) for fabric crafts, paper crafts, and general crafting supplies.

     I have an curtain rod from our old apartment placed through the brackets for ribbon.  Mason jars are hung by their lids (which are nailed to the undersides of the shelf) and filled with buttons, ribbons, bias tape scraps, and safety pins.

  

     My inspiration board is magnetic and filled with whatever I need in reach. My straight pin container is also magnetic, and my scissors and fabric shears hang by ribbons through their handles.  It is covered with pictures, magazine clippings (I have a thing for house plans) and stained glass.

     My fabric is housed in my hope chest, or is will be as soon as it is done, the cedar keeps everything safe and smelling lovely.

     Madeline stays away from dust under her toile and seersucker cover.  My favorite piece however is my telephone table that I have re-purposed to hold patterns. I love having the open shelf to rest my scissors, pins, and fabric scraps on, and the hidden nook just right for keeping patterns out of sight.  Not to mention that it is delightfully retro and very comfy.

    My current plantlife is very simple, and yet since it is cut, I can't kill it (always a bonus!)  My mom (who teaches horticulture at the local high school) made it for me as a welcome home surprise, and I think its wonderful!

     How about you? What your favorite thing in your crafting space?

My first Blog

I started another small, part time blog, and would love to share it if anyone has an interest in looking.  It was all about my Christmas Crafting for the husbandman and my first Christmas!

http://ourfirstchristmas.posterous.com/

I would love to know what you think.