How to make fabric flowers.

I wanted to have some flowers that I could put up in my studio. I couldn't find what I was looking for. So I decided to make them. I have 12 of these that I will be using. I just adore them.

Supplies needed.
5 fabric circles
1 felt circle
1 strip of fabric
hot glue and glue gun
pen
scissors





I started by tracing and cutting out 5 circles from the fun fabrics I wanted to use. These circles are about 7" across. Felt circle is 3". The strip of fabric is about 2"x 43".


First mark out your felt circle. you'll need 5 equal spaces.

Take your fabric circle, and fold it in half.

You're going to gather the edge. I used an accordion fold.

I apply glue to the felt circle between the 2 lines. Then I carefully lay the felt down, let it spread out to sit between the lines, and hold it a couple second.

I made did a video of the previous two steps just to make it more clear.

Repeat this step with all 5 petals/fabric circles.

Then you are going to add the center. Take your long strip, and fold one of the sides long ways. You're going to glue this down to the middle of the felt.

Twist the fabric strip, and glue it down in a spiral.

Keep going until the spiral covers the entire middle, all the way up to the petals. This is how you're covering up the unfinished ends of the petals. When you're done, cut the end. Glue it between the spiral, and the petals.

I like to pull on the petals a bit to fluff them out pretty.

You now have a pretty flower to use to decorate whatever you want.

Bonus kitty pic. Cause, she loves to help.

Grow with me dress to skirt.

This is my grow with me dress. I love having things in the studio for clients to wear. But buying outfits for every age is not easy. So I decided to make something that starts out as a dress for little kids, and fits as a skirt for big kids.

Supplies

2 pieces of fabric, 1 piece cut to 17 " the other cut to 12 "

ribbon, enough to go the full length of the fabric, plus 4"
thread.

Start by cutting your fabric.

Finish one edge along the long side of both pieces of fabric. I like to surge the edge, then roll it and finish with a zigzag stitch.

Next you'll sew both pieces together, on the unfinished edge. Make sure the shorter piece is on top, and the right sides of the fabric are facing the same way.

Fold the whole skirt in half, with the right sides facing together. Sew the short ends together, making a big hoop.

With the skirt still folded in half, you're going the cut a small slit 1.5 inches down. You'll do the cut where the pieces are sewn together at the top, right where you folded it in half. This is where the top front of the dress will be.

Do a finish stitch on the cut. Either by doing a surge stitch, or by folding it back, and sewing it with a zigzag stitch. 

Now you're going to make the pocket for the ribbon. Fold the top of the dress down about 1", wrong sides together. Stitch a narrow zigzag along the edge. This allows for the biggest pocket space.

You'll be left with a finished opening where you can feed the ribbon through. Feed the ribbon through the entire pocket. 

You should now have a dress/skirt.

Have a bonus picture of my kitty for making it to the end.

Backdrop painting: Make backdrops that are Bokeh friendly.

I, like most photographers, love to have beautiful bokeh in my photos. Living in the midwest, I have 70% of the year where I need to rely on indoor sessions. I decided to make some backdrops that take less space to get good bokeh. The hard part, was to figure out how to paint the circles so they would look closer to natural. Here is my solution.







The Bokeh stamper.

What you'll need

stick/brush handle
fleece
stuffing
string
scissors

Ball the stuffing up and put in the middle of the fleece

Place the stick in the middle of the stuffing

Wrap the fleece up and around the stuffing and stick.

Tie the fleece onto the stick with the string.

Visit the video for a walk-through of how to make them.

For reaching the end of the post, I gift you a bonus kitty pic.

Welcome!

Welcome, please have a look around. There isn't much to share right now, but there will be soon. I want to fill this blog with everything that I do. I love photography, and have taken a DIY approach to my props and backdrops. I also adore to craft, and have for as long as I can remember. I spent 2 years teaching crafts to kids, and plan to use that experience here. My final love is trying to keep myself healthy. I like using real foods, and natural products.

I have 2 little boys who love to help me whenever they can. They'll be coming along on this journey too. They love to pose, play, and eat whatever they can. They'll even be coming up with some of our projects.