handmade wedding part one • DIY felt Craspedia flowers

other than June 23rd, 1979, the closest to my heart that a wedding has ever been, happened on March 9th, 2013 in Aiken•SC

it was the marriage ceremony of my first born son Daniel to the love of his life Katie

since the wedding ceremony and reception is traditionally planned and carried out by the bride and her family, I took on the rehearsal dinner and a couples shower with joy and anticipation!

I had wanted to make felt ball flowers for some time. I was also curious about paper flowers and wondered how I could incorporate them into the mix.

I was very familiar with felt balls from my days working at Ornamentea.com. I used 2cm wool felt balls to make a flower that looked much like a Craspedia, commonly called Billy Balls.

••• this is the look I was going for•••

and this is how I did it

photo 1

poke a hole in the felt ball with a very sharp needle • poke ALMOST all the way through but don't ACTUALLY go ALL the way through! this hole is just to get you started

photo 2

the second needle I used was thick and dull • this needle came in a pack of upholstery needles • keep in mind that some of these were sharp but this one needs to be a fat dull needle so that you can create a hole big enough for the stem to go into the felt ball

this time you REALLY do not want to go all the way through the ball

but what you DO want to do is move the thicker needle around in a circular motion to create a bigger hole (see photo 3)

photo 4 

dip the end of a floral stem wire in white glue • I used green covered wire stems that I purchased at AC Moore • 12 pieces in a pack for $1.99 • I poured some glue in the bottom of a butter tub, it's easy to use and you can put a lid on it to store it • I bought a gallon of white glue years ago for all my projects • sometimes I need a mixture of 3 parts water to 1 part glue so these butter tubs are handy for that

dip about 1/2" of the stem in the glue and immediately insert the stem into the hole (see photo 5)

photo 6

no need to worry about any glue showing on your felt ball as it will dry clear • you can lay them on your work table to dry or stand them in a glass or vase to dry

NOTES

sometimes the green thread on the stem wire will push back as you insert them into the felt ball • no need to worry about that as it can make them look more realistic!

Ornamentea.com has a great selection of felt balls in many color combination packages. However, for this project I needed many of one color so I purchased 100 in Lemon from Felt Supplier on Etsy • and don't be fooled by the fact that they came from Poland, the turnaround time was pretty fast

you'll notice that some of the stems are curled • that's simple!

 the first bouquet of felt ball craspedia flowers ready for a party to 'shower' Daniel and Katie

 next up... paper flowers

better at projects than posts...that should count

I've actually been quite crafty since my last post,

just not diligent with my crafty blog.

Let's catch up.

First I came up with a good use

for two of the old doors

that came out of the back hall remodel.

I had been contemplating something new

for displaying my necklaces at shows.

cut down the doors

remove the knobs

pull out my favorite paper, scraps and maps

 and the white glue/water mixture

and

voila!

I added corkboard to the other side

and then hinged it together.

Here it is in action

at The Handmade Market!

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Then there was the pillow for Piper.

I got out the fabric samples that Holli had given me

from when she worked for an Interior Designer

I began by cutting squares and rectangles

out of the samples

and sewed them together.

As I got closer to the overall pillow size

I had to sort of work it like a puzzle.

 

side one

side two

The pillow insert is a very used insert from a chair.

That's what led me to make this in the first place.

My favorite chair and a half had lousy pillow inserts.

I finally purchased some great feather inserts.

I couldn't just toss the old ones!

They looked sort of flat and even split in the center.

But, for some reason it just looked like a comfy doggie pillow to me!

look at those sad pillow inserts

before...

after...

one happy Piper!

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Next up

 the paper poms

*

Oh, the paper poms

who knew the paper poms would be tricky to make?

certainly not I.

I had this great idea to make paper poms

for decorations for a

Bridal shower I was hosting 

for my dear friend

Alison.

My friends and co-hosts 

Becca and Libby

got in on the fun.

My first shock was that the flowers would turn out so large!

For some reason, I thought they were going to be 

these small little flowers that would turn into

a garland.

They could have been,

but as we tried them

we found out that the smaller the flower

the harder it was to work

First you cut a width of tissue paper

about the same size as what you want

the finished diameter of your pom to be.

Libby had just folded her purple paper accordion style

and was adding the floral wire.

We followed the directions

on 

Martha Stewart.com

I worked on the green poms.

We rounded some of the ends

as shown on Martha Stewart.

Some of them we trimmed to a point.

 Becca worked on an orange one

with rounded ends,

Carefully pulling layers

of tissue out from

each end.

Here is a green pom in progress.

The funny thing is that we thought

our poms were awful at the time!

Looking at these photos now...

They were actually

some pretty great poms!

No one can see the torn pieces here and there!

The holidays came and went

and

it was time to use our tissue paper poms

for the shower.

Our original plan of a garland

was replaced with

this awesome bunch of flowers

hanging

from a light fixture.

Cheers for Libby

and that idea!

If you look closely

you will see 

additional flower poms made of tulle.

They were made on the spot

out of lots of loops.

It was the perfect filler.

I know that I learned more than just a new craft

with this little project.

Three capable artists

thought they could whip through

this little project.

When the tissue paper

started tearing,

the frustration level

starting growing.

We expected perfection

from the start.

But, after a few hours

and a lot of laughs,

it turned out

we made some

pretty nice

tissue paper poms!

Thanks Becca and Libby

for the memory!

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And finally,

the sweetest project of all...

Footprint pictures with "the greats"

I like to call my great nieces and nephew

"the greats"

After all,

they are pretty

G R E A T

!!!

We spent part of the holidays

with family in Des Moines this year.

That gave us the priceless opportunity

to hang out

with 

the greats!

We searched Pinterest for a project idea.

Made a few creative additions of our own.

And here is how it went.

Camryn

Sat perfectly still

not one bit ticklish.

Gage

Super ticklish!

Hayden

Another ticklish one.

It was a challenge

to keep those toes

out of the green paint!

This one was Camryn's.

I added the star.

Holli added the trunk.

And for our crafty addition

to these mini masterpieces.

Holli added song lyrics.

Camryn's and Gage's

Auntie Carol and cousin Emma

wrapped them up

to surprise

some happy parents.

T H A T

was a fun afternoon!
I
L O V E
my greats!

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