Felt Flowers from the Land of Oz

Posted on April 3, 2013 by CraftyStaci

I was recently asked by Undercover Tourist, a great website for Disney World park tickets, apps and info, to create a craft to celebrate the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival. As luck would have it, the movie Oz, the Great and Powerful was opening at almost the same time and Disney announced there would be an Oz area in the festival. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but the beautiful flowers on the movie posters made my job easy.

I can’t show you the posters here because Disney has a lot more money than I do, but if you visit the Oz website you’ll see in many shots from the movie there is a lily-looking tropical flower. That’s how we’re going to bring home some movie magic.

To make one flower, you’ll need:

· 2 felt rectangles (about 9 x 12") in two different, coordinating colors

· 5 pipe cleaners

· 3 beads

· 1 chopstick or other wooden stick

· embroidery floss

· stem wrap tape (waxy floral tape, found in the craft store with floral arranging supplies)

· this pattern

Cut the flower shape from one piece of felt and five of the petal centers from the other. Cut along the red lines in the center of the flower, as indicated on the pattern. Cut four of the pipe cleaners in half.

Lay the flower face up and center one of the short pipe cleaners on a petal, about 1/4” from the top. Carefully add a petal center over the top, even with the top edge of the petal. Pin.

Stitch over the center and the pipe cleaner with embroidery floss, using the stitch of your choice. My embroidery floss is variegated, or ombre, which is why it looks like I used different colors.

Repeat on the other four petals. Push the ends of all five pipe cleaners through the hole in the center of the flower, bending slightly if necessary.

On the remaining short pipe cleaners, slide a bead to about 1 inch from the end. Holding the bead in place, bend the top of the pipe cleaner over it and twist it around underneath. Make three of these for the stamens.

Using the pipe cleaners, gather all five flower petals together. Push the bottom ends of the stamens into the center, making sure all eight pipe cleaners are even at the bottom. Wrap a couple of inches of the long pipe cleaner tightly around at the base of the flower. Leave the rest loose until the next step. I used a green one in this photo so you could see it better.

Slide the chopstick into the center of the stems from the bottom, pushing it as close to the flower as it will go. Finish wrapping the pipe cleaner around the stems and down the chopstick.

Starting just under the bottom of the flower, wrap the stem with floral tape, pulling slightly and overlapping as you spiral down.

Bend each petal outward with a slight curve and fan the stamens out a bit.

I made a few leaves to go with these, using the same method except a doubled-over pipe cleaner instead of the chopstick in the center.

These flowers were intended for the spring festival, but they make me feel like I can see a little peek of summer on the horizon.

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Twisted Wire Carrot

Posted on March 27, 2013 by CraftyStaci

As happens to me once in a while, I walked into my sewing room for an entirely different reason, and came out with this bit of Easter décor. Most of the time I can focus on the task at hand, but sometimes I just OH…SHINY!

This copper carrot was inspired by the one I made before Christmas for my Melted Snowman Ornament.

This is a larger version with a different method for adding the greenery.

I used 18 – 20 gauge copper wire. I didn’t measure the length, but I’d guess it was about 4 to 6 feet. I would like to see this with thicker wire. It might be harder to twist, but the look might be more similar to the smaller carrot. I used green felt scraps for the greenery and a cardboard cone for twisting the wire.

Starting from the top, I twisted the wire around the cone.

I wound it too tight around the top, so when I pulled it off I tried to stretch it out, but ended up with a mutant carrot.

Fortunately, it was easy to fix. I just cut off the tip at the point where it looked more carrotish and stuck it back on the cone to bring the end to a smaller point.

I cut several pieces of green felt in different lengths, each about 1/4 – 1/2” wide.

I gathered them all together in the middle. I manipulated the wire at the top of the carrot so it was centered, then wrapped it around the center of the felt.

To make the felt stick up a little more, I pulled it together and wrapped the last bit of wire around the base.

I can’t wait to see what kind of Easter bunny shows up to eat this veggie.

Bendable Bunny Ears

Posted on March 20, 2013 by CraftyStaci

I’d like to give you a brief insight into the life of a craft blogger on the first day of spring in Oregon. I started on the project I’m going to talk about this morning while it was a little cloudy. The clouds broke, and the sun was shining while I cut and stitched. As soon as I was finished and started looking for a little spot of light so I could take some pics the very ugly, dark grey clouds rolled in. I fought through my photo shoot and finally gave up when it started to rain. I sat down to the computer to start writing and some not-tiny hail started falling, which knocked out my satellite internet. Did I mention I also heard some thunder? Happy spring!

Anyway, Easter is hopping this way and I have a cute project to share. This was inspired by a felt flower project I’ll be showing you the first week in April. These are easy to make and, like most of my favorite projects, the details can be changed to suit your taste.

These felt bunny ears are stitched with a pipe cleaner core, so they can be wrapped around just about anything. To make a set, you’ll need this pattern, two pieces of felt (one pink and one bunny ear color), two pipe cleaners and some embroidery floss.

We’ll start with the larger set. Cut two outside ears and inside ears.

Lay the outside ear down with the pipe cleaner on top. The pipe cleaner should reach into the ear 6” from the bottom point. That sounds kinda gross. Don’t think too hard about it.

Lay the inside ear on top, centered and matching the points at the bottom. Pin in place.

Stitch down the center using the stitch of your choice. I used three different versions for the three sets I made here. Hide the knots under the inside ear.

Yep, it’s that easy. I wrapped these around the handle of a basket.

For the first set, I used pink embroidery floss to match the inside ear. On the second I used thread that matched the outside ear so that I could bend the ear over without the contrasting thread showing on the back.

To make the smaller version, cut one pipe cleaner in half (unless you’d like it longer to wrap around something larger) and it should reach 3 1/2” up from the bottom point.

I decided to stitch around the edge of the inside ear on the smaller set. The zigzag stitch in the center is my favorite of these three. They’re shown here wrapped around a headband, and can be easily removed after Easter is over.

I really like the added dimension of the embroidery but if you’re really in a hurry, you could also use a sewing machine and a zigzag stitch down the middle.

I’ll leave you with this: the sun is shining again.

Pizza Box Valentine

Posted on January 30, 2013 by CraftyStaci

The one kid I have still living at home full time is a 17-year-old boy. All of my cute, girly ideas are completely wasted on him. He’ll smile and nod, but for the most part I feel like he’s just humoring me. However, there is one thing that he, like most teenaged boys can’t get enough of – pizza.

So, obviously, pizza was my inspiration for this Valentine project. It consists of a printable pizza box that says “I want to give you a Pizza my heart, Valentine” and a felt pizza candy pocket. Please don’t make me explain my pizza pun, like I had to do for my son.

To make the box, you’ll need this printable. I printed mine on white cardstock first, then kraft cardstock, which looks more pizza box-ish. Be sure to figure out which way you need to turn the paper to print the second side with some less expensive paper before you use the cardstock. When it’s finished, the box measures 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 1”.

Cut around the outside of the box pattern. Cut in at each of the eight dotted red lines. Score the remaining lines by holding a ruler next to each and running down it against the paper with something dull. I used the curved end of a paper clip. Fold up at each of those lines.

Apply glue to each of the six tabs on the Pizza printed side of the box. I used those roll-on sticky glue dots.

Fold the tabs in and stick them to the inside of the box walls.

Fold the top closed. You could stop here and fill it with some candy or a cookie. But I couldn’t let this go until there was a pizza inside. A cookie made to look like a pizza would be adorable, by the way.

I made the pizza using felt, embroidery floss and a few buttons. You’ll find the shapes I used here. Cut two crusts, one sauce and one cheese. I also cut a few olive slices and green pepper bits. If you don’t have buttons the appropriate color you could also cut those from felt.

You could glue all the pieces together, but I chose to sew them down with embroidery floss. I found it was unnecessary to stitch the red because the yellow covered almost all of it.

Stitch the buttons and remaining pieces on with matching floss and simple stitches.

Stitch across the top edge – I used a blanket stitch, but a simple straight stitch near the end would work too.

When you reach the top of the heart on the right, as shown above, stack the second crust under the pizza. Continue stitching through both crusts until you reach where you started on the front.

Flip it over and finish stitching just the back crust.

Fill the heart with candy or other small trinkets.

Pop it into the box…

Close it up…

And give it to your favorite pizza-loving Valentine!

Stained Glass Cookie Ornaments

Posted on December 12, 2012 by CraftyStaci

This project has been on my mind since before last Christmas. In fact, that’s when I bought the supplies. But time ran short and I didn’t get a chance to make them. That sounds better than admitting I was disorganized and let that one slip through the cracks, doesn’t it?

Stained glass cookies are basically cut out cookies with hard candy melted in the center so it looks like colored glass. Simply Recipes has a recipe for them.

I won’t be hanging any actual cookies on my tree, if for no other reason than I don’t want to come home to find the tree in shambles and the dog licking his guilty face. But I can’t wait to hang up my felt version.

To make these, you’ll need this pattern (or just trace around your favorite cookie cutter), brown felt, ribbon, white embroidery floss and sheer, colorful fabric like organza or tulle.

Cut two of the cookie shapes from the brown felt, carefully cutting out the center shape as well. Cut 2 or 3 layers of the sheer fabric, smaller than the entire ornament, but larger than the center cut-out. Cut a piece of ribbon 6 inches long.

Run a skinny string of hot glue around one circle in the center. Lay the sheer fabric over the top.

Repeat the glue as above and add the second ornament circle. Fold the ribbon in half. Pull back the top of the ornament, add a bit of glue, and place the ends of the ribbon in it. Press the top back down over the glue.

They’re actually pretty cute just like this, but I wanted a little stitching, to represent frosting. Use the stitch of your choice and white embroidery floss.

I really like these hung in the window all together so you can see through the centers.

But I also like them each on their own.

They look good enough to eat.

Thread Spool and Button Garland

Posted on December 5, 2012 by CraftyStaci

I’ve mentioned here before, my husband is in law enforcement. The first Christmas after he became a police officer, I bought a little police car ornament. I’ve bought nearly every police-themed ornament I’ve seen since, so we have quite a collection. We also have a nutcracker police force. Our Christmas village is full of cops. I love all of it, but a couple of years ago I started to realize I didn’t have much to represent my own interests among all our holiday décor. That was the year I bought my sewing nutcracker.

I’ve been saving my empty thread spools this year, which are now part of the perfect garland to hang over the window in my sewing room and compliment this stitching soldier.

To make this garland, you’ll need empty thread spools, felt, large buttons (1” or more), beads and about 200 inches of jute or other string to hand it all on.

I used Gütermann 500m spools and cut the felt into pieces 1 3/4 by 6 inches. If you’re using a different spool you may need to adjust that size – make it as wide enough to cover the part of the spool where the thread was and long enough to overlap a bit.

Glue one end to the spool using a hot glue gun.

Wrap the felt around the spool and glue the other end.

Repeat to make as many as you need for the length of garland you’d like. I ended up making 22 of them and used 20 on my garland.

Feed the jute through the two holes on a button, about 14 inches from one end.

Wrap the other end of the jute with a piece of masking tape. That will keep the end stiff while you feed it through each item.

This is a very long piece to work with, so I found it helpful to tape the end nearest the first button to my worktable to keep it from getting tangled. String a bead onto the opposite end. Push it until it’s about one inch from the button. Bring the end of the jute around and feed it back through the bead so it wraps around it as shown.

String a thread spool on, pushing it up next to the bead. Repeat with a bead on the other end of the spool.

Add another button, then repeat the bead-spool-bead process until you’ve reached the end.

I had a couple of spools left over, so I made ornaments from those. If you only have a couple of empties or are looking for a quick gift, this is your project. Attach the felt to the spools the same way as for the garland. Cut a piece of jute 20 inches long. You’ll also need two beads.

Fold the jute in half. Feed the folded end up through the spool. String a bead onto that end and tie a knot above it.

String a bead onto the bottom and tie a knot below it.

Trim the ends shorter if you’d like and untwist them to create a tassel.

You know what you’re going to have to save this year? That’s right, empty thread spools.

Friday Favorites–Easter

Posted on April 6, 2012 by CraftyStaci

One Easter, when my kids were little, I had a stroke of genius. While they were sleeping I closed a bit of white cotton in the front door and when they got up I told them the Easter bunny caught his tail in the door on his way out. Cute, huh? Turns out, finding an amputated piece of bunny tail stuck in their house scared the jelly beans out of them. Go figure.

Maybe I should have went with something more like these Carrots in Dirt from Our Dish. Nobody cries when they get a cookie. Unless it’s covered in dirt. Well, once you’ve convinced them it’s tasty, edible dirt everything will be okay.

I could just have just skipped the whole bunny idea completely and went with chickens and lambs instead. Especially when they’re as cute as these two from Toastie Studio.

Who am I kidding? There still has to be bunnies too. How about a Sock Bunny from My Paper Crane?

Where there’s a bunny, there’s an egg. How does that happen? Anyway, check out this adorable Egg Tee from iCandy Handmade.

Speaking of eggs, it looks like if I want any dyed this year I have to do it myself, since my kids have decided they’re too old. We’ll see who’s too old when I pull out the Kool-Aid to make these Kool Eggs from Hey Jen Renee.

Or maybe I’ll just color them after they’re out of the shell, like these Easter Eggs from Foodjimoto.

I actually tried making fabric eggs one year, similar to these from Retro Mama, but mine did not turn out in a nice egg shape like these. I need to try again because I want these.

These bunny accessories from Etsy seller jennmcmillan are so sweet and completely still attached to the bunny.

I love Sun Scholars Edible Easter Spring Globes and I know that bunny is still sporting a tail back there.

Who am I kidding? Bunny-less Bunny Ear Teething Ring from Etsy seller alskarbaby. Love. Enough said.

Happy Easter!

Friday Favorites–St Patrick’s Day

Posted on March 16, 2012 by CraftyStaci

I like green. It’s not my favorite color, but it’s very high on the list. My birthstone is emerald. I live in Oregon, the greenest state there is. So, why is it every year I find myself searching for something green for St. Patrick’s Day?

It only takes a little bit of green to make yourself pinch-proof and this Green Box Elder Wood Inlay Ring from Etsy seller jewelrybyjohan is the perfect amount.

This Shamrock Quilt Block from Quilting Works could be using in a festive table runner and would be a fun way to use up some green scraps.

Remember Push Pops? My kids loved those things when they were little. They probably wouldn’t mind graduating to these Irish Cream Push Pops from Hoosier Homemade.

This Shamrock Wreath from Spare Time Sanity looks fun and easy to make.

Maybe you’re just looking for a small, simple acknowledgement of the holiday. Check out these Shamrock Straw Toppers from Martha Stewart.

Or maybe, since it’s on a Saturday this year, you’re going all out with a party. Sheek Shindigs has lots of inexpensive ideas for a DIY St. Patrick’s Day Party Table.

I had never heard of a Leprechaun trap until my daughter made one in kindergarten. Apparently, they’re sneaky little guys and must be caught. Family Fun has some clever ways To Catch a Leprechaun.

This St. Patty’s Day Cake from I Am Baker is gorgeous, and I can imagine it in all kinds of colors for other occasions.

If you’re looking for just a little bit ‘o green you can take with you, here’s a Luck of the Irish Key Fob from Buttons Galore and More.

I can’t decide if it would be more fun to serve these Potato Petit Fours from Sprinkle Bakes on St. Patrick’s Day or April Fools.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day…don’t get pinched and be safe!

Friday Favorites–Flowers

Posted on January 27, 2012 by CraftyStaci

The winter after my daughter turned one, I bought an amaryllis bulb. Surprisingly, I remembered to water it a few times, and it bloomed into a beautiful red flower. It just so happened that Codi had a favorite book, which we had to read every day, that included a flower that looked just like it. Every single time we reached that page, she’d point to the flower. The weird thing is, she continued to point at the spot where the flower used to be every time we read the book, long after it was dead and gone.

In the wake of this same girl turning 18 and every day bringing up a new aspect of what college life will be like, I nostalgically bought another amaryllis last month. It finally bloomed a couple of days ago, leading me to a realization. I need one of these every year. Having that bright flower in the window is the perfect antidote for the dreary, post holiday month of January. Even without a little blonde girl pointing it out.

For all the beauty of an amaryllis, with none of the watering, check out this lovely pop-up card from CardNotions on Etsy.

The flower on this Back to School Headband from Brassy Apple is simple enough to make with some motivated little girls.

I like the way this Fabric Flower from I’m Feelin’ Crafty is cut in a spiral, making it curve perfectly.

I love a tutorial that has no words, like these Paper Dogwood Flowers from La Manufacture, and what a fabulous re-use of a shopping bag and tissue.

Do you have an old necktie lying around? Make it into a cute flower with this tutorial from My Heart is Yours.

These Felt Camelias from How Joyful would be perfect on top of a gift or attached to a headband.

I just love the ruffley-ness of these Ruffled Fabric Flowers from Quiltish.

I’ve seen these rick-rack flowers around, but didn’t understand how they were made until right this very minute. Thanks to The Crafting Chicks for excellent directions on their Rick Rack Rosettes.

Buttons always make cute flowers, and here’s a slightly different take from Artsy Crafty Babe.

As if I needed a reason to want a rainbow of duct tape, I’ve added these Duct Tape Flower Pens from Seven Sisters to my want list.

Here’s hoping you find something to brighten up your day today!

Macarons

Posted on January 16, 2012 by CraftyStaci

I’m fairly certain I’ve never made a macaron. They’re adorable, and I’m sure very tasty, but I think I’ve been intimidated. Turns out, they aren’t as difficult as I assumed. And I’ve been spelling it wrong.

Bakerella, queen of the cake pop, shares a simple recipe and pronunciation guide. I’m pretty sure, when I make these, they’re going to have to be in multiple colors and no one is going to be allowed to eat them.

Macarons don’t have to be edible to be fun either. Tell me this isn’t the cutest coin purse ever? The full tutorial is available at Craft Passion.

Felt French Macarons would be adorable little pincushions, and the kit from Etsy seller sweetemmajean comes with the pattern and enough felt to make 12 cookies.

I’m off to the kitchen. Or the sewing room. Hmm….

Crafty Staci

Tag Archives: felt

Felt Flowers from the Land of Oz

Twisted Wire Carrot

Bendable Bunny Ears

Pizza Box Valentine

Stained Glass Cookie Ornaments

Thread Spool and Button Garland

Friday Favorites–Easter

Friday Favorites–St Patrick’s Day

Friday Favorites–Flowers

Macarons

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