the leafy green: DIY Fabric Flowers #1

In an attempt to flex my creative muscles, I searched some of my favorite "Do-It-Yourself" blogs and found a few tutorials for fabric flowers. These are the perfect projects for me because they are simple and I'm currently obsessed with the trendy, hair flowers for Lily...and maybe myself as well...we'll see!

The first tutorial came from Simply Vintagegirl Blog and was super fun! I'll admit, I was a little nervous about this project because it involved fire...but it was easy!

Materials:

Cardstock
Scissors
Fabric (a silky, synthetic fabric)
A tea-light
A bead (or button...really anything you like for the center of the flower)
Glue gun (or needle and thread, if you are more awesome than me!)
Hair Clip

First cut 5-6 circles out of the cardstock. You want the largest circle to be about 1/2 an inch larger than you want the finished flower to be and the remaining decreasing in size slightly each time.

Next, use the cardstock circles as a pattern to trace the circles onto your fabric with a pen before cutting them out.

To create the petals, cut 4-5 slits into each fabric circle. When I did this first one, I didn't cut deep enough into the circle. You want to cut about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way into the circle...this will help with the next step.

This is the "hard" part. You are going to use the tea light flame to crinkle the edges of the petals. Hold each circle approximately an inch away from the flame. Be very, very careful as it is NO fun when you burn yourself! Make sure to rotate the circle so it doesn't catch on fire.

When you have done that will all the fabric circles. You simply need to attach each of the circles together. I "cheated" and used a glue gun!

Lastly, glue your bead or button into the center of the flower, a small piece of cardstock to the bottom to stabilize it a bit and, finally, your hair clip...and BAM, you're done!