Crochet Project: Ruffled Flower

Another flower, this time I made this for me. 

I bought some white acrylic yarn from the mall and wanted to try making booties after I downloaded a pattern on Ravelry. However, I didn't think this type of yarn will be good for any baby so I scrapped that idea and tried to make a flower for me instead.

I didn't use a pattern for this one. I just made a circle and then to make it ruffle, I just put 3 or 4 DC on each DC stitch on the previous row. The scalloped edges was something I tried to figure out on my own too. I think I did one SC and HDC on one DC on the previous row.. and then one HDC and one SC on the next DC on the previous row.

I then sewed on pearl beads and Swarovski crystals at the center, glued a piece of felt at the back and a piece of Velcro. The pin or clip can be attached to the flower using Velcro. I'll try to make another one and write down the pattern so I can share here.

Linking up to the following parties:

Made by You Monday at Skip to My Lou | Handmade Tuesdays at Ladybug Blessings | Making Mondays Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. |

Crocheted Flower

After my... um... success (yes!! I call it success) with my crocheted cowl from the Crochet Along at Maybe Matilda, I decided to try making a crocheted flower. I had no idea how, I had no pattern, but I just tried the different stitches until I had what looked like flowers :)

The larger one looks like a doily and this is the FIRST time I made a doily that stayed flat!! Yey! I tried crochet a long time ago, back in high school. And as I keep saying, I never really learned. They taught us crochet in our Home Economics subject back then and I have no idea how I managed to get through the crochet part. I guess my mom finished my project for me helped me with my final project which was just a doily. My doilies always ended up NOT flat. 

Anyway, back to my crocheted flower. I layered them and used a brad (got them from the scrapbooking supplies section at a book store) to attach the 2 flowers together. 

 

One of these days, I will try to repeat my process and document my stitches. And then I can share my pattern. 

I wanted to use this flower as a clip and pin, and before, I just added both a clip and a pin at the back. Thing is, when my daughter uses it as a clip, she ends up playing with it and I don't want her pricking herself accidentally with a pin. For this project, I added Velcro at the back of the flower. Then I took 2 small felt pieces: on one, I hot glued a clip... and on the other, I hotglued a pin. And then I glued Velcro to the back of both felt circles.

Back of the flower, 2 pieces of felt: one with the clip and one with the pin.

Now me and my daughter can use it as a clip (safe for a toddler, no risk of pricking) and I can use it as a pin too :) And I can make more flowers and re-use my clip and pin!

I am linking up to the following parties:

Craft-O-Maniac Monday at Craft-O-Maniac | Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T | Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple | Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do | A Round Tuit @ Creating My Way to Success | Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Amaze Me Monday at Dittle Dattle | A Marvelous Mess at Marvelously Messy | Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes | Pink Hippo Party at Pinkapotamus | Sundae Scoop at I heart Naptime | Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming | Not Baaad Sundays at Lamb Around | Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Take-A-Look Tuesdayt at Sugar Bee Crafts | Handmade Tuesday at Ladybug Blessings | Tuesday To-Do Party at The Blackberry Vine | Homemade Projects at Tip Junkie | Link Party at Running with Glitter | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog | Tuesday Confessional Link Party at Confessions of a Stay at Home Mommy | Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims | Show Me What Ya Got at Not JUST a Housewife |

Tiny Blooms Hairclips

Since I made my pink rosettes clip, I've been using it a lot since it goes so well with my wavy hair. I decided I needed more colors so I made some more.

I prepared a short tutorial on how to make them.

You will need:


Materials to make the clip with the white flowers.



• A hair clip
• A small felt circle (around 1 inch in diameter)
• Your flowers (you can use rolled rosettes or cut flowers from a piece of lace/trim like the one in my photo)
• Green satin ribbon (0.25 inches wide)
• Glue gun

Step 1: Cut 3 1.5 inch strips of satin ribbon. Fold in the middle, overlapping the 2 right sides (see photo below). Secure both ends with glue gun. Repeat for all 3 strips.

Step 2: Glue the 3 strips of green ribbon on the felt circle.

Step 3. Glue your flowers on to the felt circle. You can use rosettes or flowers cut from lace trim (like the white one, and then I added small pearls to the center of each flower).

Step 4. Glue the felt circle to the clip.

Detail of the white flower clip.

I think I need these clips in more colors. I love them!

I am linking up to the following parties:

Show Me What Ya Got at Not JUST a Housewife | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog | We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado | Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs | My Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims | Will See It Wednesday at Fabric Bows and More | Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Handy Man, Crafty Woman | Link Party at Tea Rose Home | Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts | Creative Juice at Momnivore's Dilemma | Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple | Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks | Thrilling Thursday at Paisley Passions | A Crafty Soiree at Katie's Nesting Spot | Commercial Break Thursday at Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom | Catch a Glimpse at A Glimpse Inside | Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge | Friday Favorites at Inspiring Creations | Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes | Keep It Simple Sunday at The Tattered Tag | Sundae Scoop at I heart Nap Time | Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming | Not Baaad Sunday at Lamb Around | Take a Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts | Craft-O-Maniac Monday at Craft-O-Maniac | Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Made By You Monday at Skip To My Lou | Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. | Motivate Me Monday at Keeping It Simple | Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do | Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | A Round Tuit at Creating My Way to Success | Inspire Me Monday at Singing Three Little Birds | Marvelously Messy at A Marvelous Mess | Amaze Me Monday at Dittle Dattle | Handmade Tuesday at Lady Bug Blessings | Tuesday To-do Party at The Blackberry Vine | Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie | Tuesday Party at Running with Glitter |

All Things Pink: Shoes, Clip, and Bird's Nest Necklace

I had a post for today drafted last Monday and ready for posting but I decided to scrap it and write another one to add a few things. From my blog title, you would guess that I love pink. I do! But for some reason, I don't wear a lot of pink. Yesterday... I decided to pass by the mall before going home. And guess what I found??? The perfect pair of pale pink peep-toes!

I haven't worn high heels since I got pregnant in 2009. And after that... high heels are just crazy high! What's with the 4? 5? 6? inch heels anyway? Do shoe designers have a thing against walking? Anyway, I love peep-toes and the heels on this baby are only are only about 3-inches high. They're quite comfortable too.

And when you find a good thing, you know what you should do? Buy it in every color available!

Nope, I didn't wear it like this :) Just showing you the other color.

The lady at the store said this also came in black... only when they checked, they don't have it my size anymore :( If I have these shoes in black, silver, gold and red... I can live in them forever! And I would probably buy 2 pairs of every color so I'd have a spare. These are totally my style!

I wanted to wear the pink one today. I decided to whip up a hair clip real quick before I left for work to match my pink shoes.

I saw something like this at Papemelroti and have been considering just buying one from them since they weren't expensive... but I think about all those ribbons, glue stick and clips I have at home and what the heck. Let's make life a little harder and just make one, right? I still just might buy other colors from them later. I really like this clip. It goes so well with my wavy hair.

And the last thing on my plate today... I'm also wearing it in the photo above... the bird's nest necklace. I've been seeing a lot of these on other blogs but wasn't really thinking I was going to make one. But... I've been following Amy at One Artsy Mama for a couple of months now and she recently discovered the joys of jewelry making. I remember, when I first started, it was addicting. But through time, and since I am concentrating more on learning how to sew, my interest waned. But reading Amy's posts... her enthusiasm is viral! You can't help but catch it. She made this pretty bird's nest on her first attempt at making jewelry:

Pretty isn't it?

And since then, I've been thinking of giving it a try. So I looked for tutorials online and found one I liked at Can't Stop Making Things. Last Monday, before I left for work, I decided to try it and here's what I have:

You know how some people say "This looks better in person" about some thing in photos? Well, this is just the opposite. I can honestly say that my bird's nest looks much better in the photo! ;) You can't see it from the photo but the nest is just a little lopsided. I only put one 'egg' in the nest for the one pretty little egg in my nest: Andrea. the nest looks a tad empty after I was done but since I wired the egg in there, it was a little difficult to add more. So one egg it is.

I want to make one for my sister too so we'll see if I get any better at it. If you're not into DIY or do not have the patience for it (because trust me, this requires patience with a capital 'P'), Amy set up an Etsy shop where she sells these pretty nests. I think she also customizes the color and number of eggs you want. She even made these into earrings and rings.

I am linking up to the following link parties:

Link Party at Tea Rose Home | Sugar & Spice at Seven Thirty Three | Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts | Hoo's got Talent at Night Owl Crafting | Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple | Creative Juice Thursday at Momnivore's Dilemma | Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks | Thrilling Thursday at Paisley Passions | A Glimpse Inside at Catch a Glimpse | A Crafty Soiree at Katie's Nesting Spot | Commercial Break Thursday at Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom | Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge | Friday Favorites at Inspiring Creations | Saturday is Crafty Day at I Am Along For The Ride | Free for All at Young and Crafty | Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes | K.I.S.S at The Tattered Tag | Sundae Scoop at I Heart Naptime | Sunday Showcase Party at Under The Table and Dreaming | Not Baaad Sundays at Lamb Around | CraftOManiac Monday at CraftOManiac | Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Making Mondays Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. | Motivate Me Monday at Keeping It Simple | A Round Tuit at Creating My Way to Success | Inspire Me Monday at Singing Three Little Birds | Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do | Take-a-Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts | Handmade Tuesdays at Lady Bug Blessings | Tuesday To Do Party at Blackberry Vine | Show Me What Ya Got at Not JUST a Housewife | Tuesday Party at Running with Glitter | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog |

Satin and Tulle Flower Tutorial

Last March, I posted about these flower clips I made:

Black Satin and Red Tulle

Gold Satin Ribbon and Cream Tulle

I wasn't able to prepare a tutorial then and to pepare one, I needed to make another clip. So I did (more than a month after, sorry about that). I'm meeting some girl friends from college later tonight and 2 of them have daughters around Andrea's age.

Anyway, for this clip, you will need:

I wasn't trying to be artistic with this shot... I was just trying to find the best lighting where you can see the cream tulle in the photo ;)

• 1.5 yards of satin ribbon
• 2 strips of tulle, around 1/4 inch wider than the satin ribbon, 1.5 yards
• A piece of felt , cut into a circle, 2 inches in diameter (not pictured above) 
• Needle and thread
• Clip
• Glue gun

Step 1: Singe the edges of your satin ribbon to prevent fraying.

Step 2: Layer your satin ribbon and 2 strips of tulle into one strip. Position on to the felt and place a few stitches to keep it in place.

Step 3: Fold your strip of ribbon and tulle to make a pleat and secure the fold/pleat with a couple of stitches.

Step 4: Continue making folds/pleats with your strip of ribbon and tulle around the edge of the circle felt, securing each fold with a few stitches.

Step 5: After making a complete circle, continue folding/pleating the satin ribbon and tulle to make a smaller circle.

Step 6: Continue folding and pleating to make smaller circles until the free space at the center becomes too small to add another layer. Cut off any excess ribbon and tulle and singe the edge of the ribbon to prevent fraying. The fold the edge of the ribbon and tulle inward to hide it and secure with a couple of stitches.

See? from the photo, you can't see the edge of the ribbon and tulle because it is folded inward.

Step 7: Using your glue gun, glue a button or other embellishment at the center. I used pearl beads for mine.

Step 8: Before you add your clip to the back of the flower, you can cut another circle of felt to hide the stitches. Sometimes I do...sometimes I don't (when my stitches are even and pretty :). Anyway, you can glue your clip or pin at the back.

A pretty pink bow for a pretty little girl.

I did say I have 2 friends with little girls right? So I made another one... I used a wider strip of satin ribbon this time, and no tulle.

A pretty pink satin bow for another pretty little girl.

The process is the same only for the center, instead of sewing the edge of the satin ribbon inward, I twisted it into a circle and used hot glue to secure it. It became the 'nest' for the big pearl bead I glued to the center.

My other friend has a little boy, and I initially wanted to make a bow tie for him like this Li'l Mister Bow Tie from Delia Creates. I had the the perfect fabric for it too... but I didn't have the time to make one (a little busy this week and Andrea has been staying up late so no free time in the evening) so he's getting a toy instead.

I can't wait to see my friends! It's been years since our little group was complete. The last was before any of us were married I think. And now... we all have kids! And this will probably be the last in a long time since one of them is moving to Dubai in June :-/ Anyway, last post for the week for me. Hope you all have a great weekend!

I am linking up to the following link parties:

Free for All at Young and Crafty | K.I.S.S. at The Tattered Tag | Sundae Scoop at I Heart Naptime | Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming | Not Baaad Sundays at Lamb Around | Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T | Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do | Made With Love Monday at Sew Chatty | Motivate Me Monday at Keeping It Simple | A Round Tuit at Crafting My Way to Success | Inspire Me Monday at Singing Three Little Birds | Amaze Me Monday at Dittle Dattle | DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff | Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes | Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Manic Monday Link Party at Sew Happy Geek | Take a Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts | Tutorial Tuesday at Hope Studios | Handmade Tuesdays at Ladybug Blessings | Tuesday To-do Party at The Blackberry Vine | Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie | Tuesday Party at Running with Glitter | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog | Show Me What Ya Got at Not JUST a Housewife | Sew Cute Tuesday at Creative Itch | Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs | Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims | Will See It Wednesday at Fabric Bows and More | Share the Wealth Wednesday at Laugh, Love, and Craft | We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado | Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Handy Man, Crafty Woman | A Marvelous Mess at Marvelously Messy | Sugar & Spice at Seven Thirty Three | Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts | Hoo's Got Talent at Night Owl Crafting | Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple | Creative Juice at Momnivore's Dilemma | Get Your Brag On at Gluesticks | Thrifty Thursday at Saved By Love Creations | Wednesday Link Party at Tea Rose Home | A Crafty Soiree at Katie's Nesting Spot | Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage | Commercial Break Thursday at Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom | Thrilling Thursday at Paisley Passions | Catch a Glimpse at A Glimpse Inside | Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge | Friday Favorites with Inspiring Creations | Lovely Crafty Weekend at Lovely Crafty Home | Weekend Wrapup Party at Tatertots and Jello |

Weekend Wedding and Satin-and-Tulle Flower Clips

I didn't get to do much crafting (or much of anything!) last weekend, because we attended a wedding. A classmate from high school had her church wedding in the province where I grew up. It was a 3-hour drive just to get there, so we went Friday night and stayed with my dad for the night. Tiring as it was, it was all worth it. Wanna know why?

Because...

 

Flower girl again! She's so pretty, and so well-behaved and she walked down the aisle (with a little help from mommy) with no fuss. Super proud mommy moment! :) That's my hand holding hers. I had to crop myself out of the photo because I was smiling so much.

Anyway... here's me before the ceremony started:

Notice the clip? I made it Thursday night to match the dress I wore for the wedding. I didn't get to take a proper picture of it because...

Here's a better view of the flower clip (minus one pearl bead, tsk tsk tsk), as worn by Andrea.

...Andrea wore it on Sunday to go to the mall and visit my family at my mom's afterward. My sister saw it and laid claim to it... hounding Andrea the entire time, trying to snatch the clip from her head. Andrea defended it well by screaming at my sister every time she tried to reach for it. But since my sister wanted it so much, I decided to give it to her anyway.

But Andrea likes big flower hair clips lately. When she sees one lying around the house, she would take it and try to put it on her hair by herself. So cute! She can't do it herself yet though. Anyway, so I made this one for her instead:

I'm not as happy with it as the first one so I will probably make another one soon and share the tutorial with you all. Stay tuned!

Dainty Fabric Flower

My sister is into large fabric flowers lately to dress up the usual pony tail. I've been making them for her but last weekend, I was stuck with no new idea. I have tried all the tutorials on fabric flowers that I like. So I decided to 'wing' it and this is what I ended up with:

Not bad huh?

I used a combination of techniques I learned from making other fabric flowers. For this flower I used:
- 1 strip of lining fabric with beige damask print, 2.5 inches wide, and around 12 inches long
- 1 strip of the same fabric, 1.5 inches wide and 8 inches 10 inches long
- button for the flower center
- a felt circle in a coordinating color, 2 inches in diameter
- needle and thread
- glue gun

Click the photo to view a bigger version of the image.

Step 1. Take your 2.5 inches strip of fabric.
Step 2. Fold your fabric into 1.5 inch wide rectangles. You can get around 8 folds using the a 12 inch length of fabric
Step 3. Cut the folded fabric into a petal shape. I didn't use a pattern. You should get around 8 separate petals.
Step 4. Singe the edges of each petal. Make sure that the fabric curls toward the wrong side of the fabric.

Repeat Steps 1 - 4 using the 1.5 inch strip of fabric. After this, you should have a stack of big petal shapes and small petal shapes.

Step 5. Take one of the bigger petals and sew a gathering stitch at the bottom. Then take another petal and do this for all big petals until you have around 7 or 8 petals stitched (I used 7 for mine.. but after I finished, I think I would have preferred it with 8).
Step 6. Pull the thread to gather petals and then tie both ends of the thread together to form a flower.
Step 7. Repeat Steps 5 and 6 for the smaller petals. Glue the small flower on top of the bigger flower using hot glue and then attach the button to the center.
Step 8. Attach the felt circle to the back of the bigger flower using hot glue.

And you're done :) You can attach a pin or a clip at the back. Since my sister will be using this for her hair, I used a clip. No picture of her wearing it yet because I am just sending it to her today.

I hope you all had a great weekend! And now... it's the start of a brand new (and potentially tiring) week for me.

I linked up to the following link parties:

• Craftastic Monday Party at Sew Can Do
• Craft Couture Monday at Craft Couture 
• Handmade Tuesdays at Ladybug Blessings 
• Link Party at Tea Rose Home

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm not much for celebrating Valentine's Day (since it's a working day... I don't get any holiday vibes from it). But since I have a little girl I love taking pictures of... and since I made matching shirts for her and my niece...

There's my happy little girl! My niece just woke up so she wasn't in the mood.

For Andrea's gift to her cousin Helaena... I took 3 chocolate-covered cookies, tied it with a ribbon and topped it off with a heart clip I made.

I also made a matching clip for Andrea:

We had to celebrate yesterday (Feb 13) since Valentine's Day is a Monday (working day for everyone except the 2 little girls). For Andrea's gift to her aunt, grandma and great grandma... nothing too fancy. We just bought them chocolates and I glued red felt hearts on the wrappers (no picture, sorry). I didn't have much time to be creative because I was busy preparing for the Valentine Fair here at the office. I didn't have much time to prepare for the Valentine Fair either though... I'm still sick... and bed ridden from Friday to Saturday. Too bad. Anyway, I'll be posting tomorrow about the items I offered at our Valentine Fair (and we also have a raffle and pick-a-prize... I'm hoping to win a big stuffed animal for Andrea, keeping my fingers crossed!)

I linked up to the following link parties:

Clips and Pins

I had a little extra time yesterday so after I finished packing for our trip, I decided to make clips for Andrea out of fabric scraps.

ITEM 1: Fabric roses from t-shirt scraps

ITEM 2: Red velvet clips with a gold rhinestone center. These are for Andrea.

ITEM 3: Need I say this is for Andrea? It's a hair clip/pin.

For ITEM 1, I pretty much followed the instructions from Trey and Lucy except for the dimensions and the type of material. I used scraps from t-shirts I cut up. The gray one is about 3 inches in diameter and the smaller one is around 2 inches in diameter.

ITEM 2 is very simple. I used:

• 2 3-inch strips of red velvet
• 2 rhinestones
• 2 clips
• glue gun
• needle and thread

Overlap the edges of one of the red velvet strips and sew. You should end up with a loop or velvet ribbon. Flatten, make sure the overlapped sewn edge is at the center. Gather the center and sew. Sew in the rhinestone. Attach to the clip using hot glue. Ta-dah! You're done.

ITEM 3: It's a hair clip/brooch for Andrea. This one is also very easy and perfect for dressing up hats, shirts, bags... anything you can think of that needs a blast of color.

You will need:

• Ribbon, around 8 inches
• Colorful satin flowers (I got mine from the scrap booking supplies section)
• rhinestone 
• brooch pin
• hair clip
• needle and thread
• circular piece of felt with diameter around the same size as your fabric flowers

Sew the ribbon around the edges of the felt circle. Create small folds in the ribbon as you sew to create ruffles. Layer your fabric flowers and sew. Sew the rhinestone at the center. Attach the clip and pin at the back using hot glue. And you're done!

I hope my instructions made sense. I will post pictures of Andrea wearing these soon. Happy crafting!

EDITED 1/6/2011:
I posted this at Tea Rose Home's Link Party!