Summer Free Time: A new blog and fabric flower tutorial!

Here I go again... my 12th attempt at starting a blog (maybe not 12th, but might as well be!).  Now that it's summer, I have a little bit of free time... come fall, we'll see if this continues... I'll make my best attempt!

So, here goes.  I'm becoming a teacher.  Yes, that seems crazy to say.  I never thought I would hear myself say that.  I went to school for business, graduated college, stayed in the business world for three years, but found my world being turned upside down as I started to work with middle school and high school students in my city.  I found a new passion was placed on my heart and I had a deep desire to serve the kids here in Denver.  I wanted to find a way to build relationships with kids, to see them more often throughout the week, and to instill in them the belief that each kid is truly beautiful in a unique way, and each one has a different story that has shaped them to be who they are.  I want to help them cover the lies they've believed about themselves with words of truth, love, and hope.  And so, here I am.  Next month, I'll begin teaching at a school in Denver-- I'll be working closely with middle school students in Special Ed and doing some intervention work with multiple grades.  I am thrilled that God has opened the doors to put me here, and know that I have a lot to learn, but willingly accept the challenge with confirmation that this is exactly where I need to be right now.

I hope that in this blog, I can share the victories, challenges, and blessings that come through my teaching experience, and also through my daily life in this city.  Through this blog, I hope to share my experiences and ideas in teaching, fun DIY projects to do easily and cheaply (yes, a crafty side has come out of me that I didn't know I had), fun cooking recipes that I receive or come up with, and more than anything, I love to see where God is moving in and through my daily life and it is a privilege to be able to share what I'm learning about Him each day.

Fabric Flower Tutorial:

So today, I'll start with something fun... with it being summer, I have just a little downtime before school starts.  Yes, it's been crazy with multiple trainings, but I do happen to have a few days in between where I get to relax.  Since I love crafting more than organizing or cleaning (ha), I'm spending some free time doing some fun and cheap projects.  One of my favorite projects that is cheap, easy, and practical are fabric flowers.  You can pin them in your hair with a bobby pin, pin them on a scarf or purse for decoration, etc.!

And you only need a few materials:
-one piece of paper
-an old t-shirt
-glue (I've used both glue guns and Tacky Glue, but glue guns work a little better and keep it more secure)
-safety pin

So here is the first step

1)Draw a flower about the size that you want the fabric flower to be-- I usually make it about 2 to 3 inches long and wide:

2) Then, pin it to your t-shirt and trace and cut the flower out.  You'll want to cut 8 of these out.  Usually, if I have a pin on it, I'll over lap the fabric so that I can cut multiple flowers at a time.  This saves a little time and energy:

3) Then, I cut a small piece out of the left-over t-shirt fabric that's about an inch long and 1/2 inch wide.  I've seen some people use felt, which seems to work well for this, but I didn't have any in my apartment, so I just used the t-shirt fabric and it worked fine (This will be the base of your flower):

4) Now that I have the basics done, I'll take each flower, and fold it half way over (hot dog-style):

5) Then, I fold it one more time half way (hamburger-style).  I usually put a small dot of glue in between these layers so that they stay folded:

 6) Next, I take 4 of my fully folded flowers, and I place them over the base of my flower that i cut out earlier.  I glue each one onto the base.  I usually put a big dot of glue in the middle as well to make it extra secure:

 7) Then, I took my next 4 flowers that were fully folded, and layered them on top of the first layer.  I layered them so that they were on top in the opposite direction.  In other words, I placed each one over one of the cracks in between each flower from the first layer.  Does that make sense?  I'm struggling to find the right words to explain it, so post a comment if it's confusing!

 8) To give the flowers a little more volume, I took the edges of each of the top 4 flowers and glued them together like this:

9) Now, I want to put something in the center of the flower to finish it off.  You could just glue a bead or rhinestone or something cute on the center, but I didn't have any around, so I cut a small piece of t-shirt fabric, a little over an inch long.  Then, I rolled it tightly, glueing it along the way:

10) Then, I put a dot of glue at the center of the flower, and placed my glued center into the middle:

11) To make it a little more secure, I stuck a little glue on the outside of my center and glued it to the edges of my flower.  This creates a little more volume as well:

12) Once the glue is dried, flip it over, and glue a pin onto the flower so that you can pin it!  At the time, i just had a simple pin like the one below, but you can find some in the jewelry section at craft stores that have a flat surface on one side (see second picture of white flower for example), which makes them easier to glue and stay.  You could also glue a hair pin onto it instead if that's your preference.  Again, I'm just using things I have around my place! :)

And there you have it, now you have a beautiful fabric flower you can wear for any occasion!  You can make all sorts of colors, depending on what t-shirt fabric you have.  Here's another one I made in white:

I have a few more fun ways you can make fabric flowers... my next flower tutorial will be this style-- enjoy!!