Design by Night

I'm working on a few Valentine sweet treat hair accessories. Here is a little preview of what will be in my Etsy shop soon!

Sorry it has been such a long, long time that I have come up with any new tutorials. Lets just say life and family things got busy...but it is a new year and I want to start it off good. What better way to start off then with an easy felt flower tutorial? I love felt and flowers so here we go. Supplies: Hot glue gun 1/8 of a yard felt Scissors Printer Print out the pattern below. (Use the scale to make sure the print out is the correct size). Cut the felt so you have 4 of each size petal. NOTE: you can make a larger or smaller flower by increasing or decreasing the number of petals. Starting with one of the small petals, glue a line along the bottom straight edge of the petal. Roll the petal into a tube like shape, this creates the center of your flower. Take another small petal and glue along the bottom, wrap this petal around the first petal roll you just made. Continue gluing petals around the center going from smallest to largest petals on the outside. Play...

And the obsession with flowers continues. I don't understand I was such a tom boy as a child and now all I think about are flouncy, flirty, girly, fabric flowers. I blame it on the time a brick was dropped on my head and my mom thought it was hysterical...from tom boy to tutus! Anyway here is another no sew flower. However, this one is a bit trickier because of the light weight of the fabric and the hot glue. So BE CAREFUL not to burn yourself, it if very easy. No one wants hot glue gun burned fingers! Supplies: Hot glue gun Butter Knife (I used a plastic one so I didn't ruin a good one) Small piece of felt Chiffon (about an eighth to a quarter of a yard) Tulle (about an eight of a yard) Medium to large sized decorative shank button Print out the pattern below. (Use the scale to make sure the print out is the correct size). Out of the felt cut one 2.5"circle. Using the square, cut 30 pieces of chiffon and 10 pieces of tulle. Take a square of the ...

Need instant gratification? Well this is the tutorial for you. These quick and easy no-sew felt flower bobby pins will take you no time what so ever! Supplies Felt Bobby Pin Scissors Button Hot glue gun Cut five 2" circles out of the felt. Place a dab of hot glue slightly off center in the middle of one of the felt circles and fold in half. Place a second dab of glue in the center of the folded felt along the folded bottom and fold in half again. The final petal should look like figure 3. Repeat steps 2 and 3 with three more felt circles. Take the last untouched circle and fold it in half. Carefully cut a small slit in the center. Thread the bobby pin through the slit. Glue the petals to the front of the bobby pin backer. Add a dab of glue to the center of the flower and add a button to finish (I would suggest a shank style).

I love getting catalogs in the mail, for me they are a poor man’s magazine. One of my favorite things it so sign up for catalogs from expensive stores, pick out an outfit or an item and try to find a cheaper version somewhere else to recreate the look. Recently I got a catalog from Fossil. One of the photos showed a girl wearing a simple cardigan sweater and a cluster of oversize flower pins. All in all, the pins were not that expensive individually but if you wanted to wear the in a cluster of three it would cost you around $45, plus they weren’t even handmade! After looking at the catalog several times I decided to take a trip to the fabric store and see if I could come up with an alternative that I could make for less money. For less than $10, I made three pins…making this project great for gift giving! What you will need to make one large (approximately 4.5”) pin: 1/8 of a yard of 30” wool felt Straight pins Scissors 2.8 cm pin back Sewing needle Thread in matching color of wool R...

Puppy puddle? Chips not strong enough to hold the salsa? Drippy pancake batter? I am constantly reaching for paper towels. Inevitably our recycling bin has it’s fair share of craft paper cylinders that make up the core of paper towels and toilet paper rolls. For years my idea of repurposing the tubes was to use them as an amplifier and howl in them, driving my dogs crazy and earning an eye roll from my husband. However, recently I was struck with an idea. The curve of the cardboard would lend itself well to making paper flowers, hence this tutorial was born. Sorry it is a little lengthy… Tools & Materials 1- paper towel roll core Scissors Button Paper glue Page of paper (can be recycled from an old book or magazine) Brown paper shopping bag 28 gauge wire (or wire that you can bend and manipulate that is heavy enough to hold up a paper flower) Wire cutters White craft paint (optional) Small paint brush (optional) Instructions Cut the paper towel roll lengthwise (fig. A). From the cu...