No Sew Flower Magnets

Everyone knows flowers brighten up any room and adding them to your fridge seem like a no-brainer. I know other people have made flower magnets, but I really like the look of them all clustered together like this around something as special as your best friend's wedding invitation!!

Or just in a cluster of two...

I was inspired to make these mostly because I had some heavy duty magnets left over after a children's museum field trip visit. I was also looking for a project to do so I felt somewhat productive while I was procrastinating on finishing some other projects...sometimes good things do happen when you procrastinate, see?!

To make these I used my No-Sew Scrappy Flower Tutorial and tweaked it a little for all the ruffly flowers and threw in some rosettes for fun. 

Here are the ones made with my No Sew Scrappy Flower Tutorial. To spice things up, I made some of the layers shorter, added some different fabrics for extra texture, and added a huge pearl covered center to one!

For the green one, I used a pretty patterned green and cream fabric and added yellow tulle to the center and as an extra layer.

The tulle was  a little tricky to work with, but just keep bunching and gluing (try not to burn yourself) and simply cut off the pieces that look weird.

For the pink one, I cut the spiral of fabric with pinking shears instead of regular scissors. Then I made a mini spiral with pink chiffon and glued it on a tiny circle of felt. When your center is complete, cut off any extra felt and glue it to the center of your flower.

Again, just snip off any pieces that look weird, but this time with the pinking shears. 

I made the purple one pretty much the same as the No Sew Scrappy Flower Tutorial explains, except instead of making a mini spiral to ruffle for the center, I added a fabric covered button in the same fabric as the flower. 

The simple fabric covered button didn't feel as exciting as the others so I had to glue little baby pearls all over it. Much better.

 Most of the rosettes I used one fabric, but on the pink one I added the chiffon and it added a nice texture to it. Must do this more often.

Hope you enjoyed these magnets! Go ahead and make some to brighten up your fridge!

Linking to these fab parties!

Pretty Potholders...kinda

I made this potholder using the Pretty Potholder tutorial and How to Sew with Bias Tape Tutorial from Prudent Baby for a Mother's Day gift. While I still like how it turned out okay, I will be sewing another one to redeem myself. :)

I'd never quilted anything or sewed with bias tape before, so I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself. I really do love how the front turned out. I had to piece some scraps together because I ran out of fabric, but I'm really glad I did. If you want to make one like mine, follow the Pretty Potholder tutorial exactly, except for the front 8x8 square: sew together 4 scraps (2 middle pieces-3 x 8 in, 2 outside piece 2.5 x8) right sides together with a 1/2 in. inseam, press seams open, then continue with the tutorial. 

For the back pieces, I used a solid green 8x8 and green for the back of the pocket as well (mostly because I was running out of fabric).

I must say it doesn't look too bad from far away, but if you look closer...

bunched up bias tape.

a bad corner or two.

and stitching that didn't get covered.

I know why all those mistakes happened and how to fix them, so that's good, I guess. I will be making another to redeem myself, but I won't plan on giving it to anyone, just in case. Usually I try to do a trial run on new projects that I plan on giving away, but time ran out. Oh and did I actually give this one as a gift? Of course. Hopefully she'll love it anyway. 

More posts coming soon hopefully. I've been doing a lot of sewing lately, but haven't finished anything! I'll try to get myself in gear. 

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day (and had more success on your gifts than i did). 

Run for the Roses

source

The Derby is such a fun Kentucky tradition. It's also a great excuse to have a party with all your friends! Since we're living in Ohio now, I didn't get to have a Derby Party like I did last year, but I thought I'd share our fun with you today. I'm writing this post while watching the coverage on this year's Derby!

 

Everyone knows the most important part of the Derby (besides the incredible horses, of course) is the hats. My friends and I gathered some "beautiful" materials from WalMart the night before our party and whipped up some ridiculous hats. 

 I have to confess that it did not take too much creativity to create my hat. I literally took the huge bouquet we bought and attached it to the hat. I did clip off the long stems and wrapped the bottom of the bouquet in white satin ribbon and hot glued the ribbon in place. I wove floral wire into the hat to attach the bouquet and added some hot glue as well to secure it. 

 Beautiful, huh? Haha. 

 My friend, Annie's hat: Black sequin ribbon around the top of the brim and black and white polka dot ribbon stripes. It also had some great pink and green flowers attached!

Love those dots.

 Kelly's hat: Black and white striped ribbon and some flowers, all topped off with a black feather! Yes, that is a bottle cap you see in the middle of that beautiful flower. Ha! We like to keep things classy. To be honest though, you didn't even notice it. 

Looking good, Kels.

You're looking at the winning hat right here. We had an easy little drawing (with money in a hat, of course) and Sarah's horse won! 

She made so much money that day. 

As you can see, there's no reason to spend crazy amounts of money on a one of a kind hat. You just have to get creative with some floppy hats and cheap embellishments and make your own!

Hope you're enjoying the Derby and Happy Mother's Day weekend!

Can I Have That Job?

So I'm really sorry about the lack of posting from me the last week. I do have some fun craft posts coming soon. Last week I was preparing for a whirlwind weekend trip to Disney World! And of course, last weekend,  until yesterday, I was there. 

Matt's mom wanted to have her birthday there with all her family and we had the most amazing time. Since I hadn't been there since I was around 7 or 8 years old, I noticed new things I'm sure I didn't notice then... 

like how beautiful the park really is. 

The architecture of the buildings, flowers everywhere, and all the details that go into making the park "magical" are incredible.

I was especially in awe when going through the "It's a Small World" ride. 

The set inside is so great. Lots of glitter. Lots of vibrant colors. And lots of singing, of course. 

 I want these heart flowers for my porch. haha.

 These goats were precious.

 Lazy Eye Hippo...

 Love those birds! 

Love these dresses. 

Soooooo....how do I get that job? You know-designing the set for "It's a Small World." It probably needs updating somewhere. I could sew some beautiful costumes, glitter some huge flowers...I'm not a professional set designer, but I could be. :) 

If anyone needs any huge glittery heart flowers or floral goats, call me-I'm feeling inspired. 

More posts this week. Thanks for reading!

10 Minute Pearl Earrings Tutorial

Let's make some timeless and classic pearl dangly earrings!

Wouldn't these be great for a Mother's Day gift?

This post was originally seen on Luxe Boulevard. 

I'm just reposting in case you missed it!

These earrings are so quick and easy. Even if you've never made jewelry in your life. Seriously.

First gather your materials. If you don't have any on hand, all these supplies can be found at any craft supplies store. Check for sales and always use coupons!

You'll need all those tools except the crimp tool.

Get 2 10 mm pearls and 4 8 mm pearls. (I usually just use glass pearls.)

You'll need 4 eye pins, 2 head pins, and 2 ear wires.

And here we go.

Here are the detailed instructions to make a simple loop that I copied from my Huge Flower and Bow Necklace Tutorial in this post here.



After your simple loop is made,

Make another simple loop above that pearl and connect another eye pin. Slide the last 8mm pearl on and make another loop above it.

 Now you're done!

Here's just a few tips.

 When you make the loops above the pearl, be sure to make them as close to the pearl as possible. If you look at the one on the left, it is not very close to the pearl. I just cut that one off and re-did it (so it might be good to have some back-up head pins and eye pins available.) This makes it look much cleaner and more professional.

Also, when you are making the loops, be sure to create the loops so that they are going in the same direction.

DONE!
While it seems like a lot of steps, it really is so easy and shouldn't take much longer than 10 minutes!
Happy jewelry-making!

Linking to these parties