Just Dandy: Fabric Love

A few of you have contacted me about those fun fabric flowers I created on one my cards during the Papertrey Ink countdown. They are so fun and easy to make...I thought I would put a little tutorial together for you.

Of course, the first thing you are going to need is fabric. I picked this pattern from one of my favorite fabric designers, Joel Dewberry. This is from his Notting Hill collection.

After you have selected your fabric you are going to need a backing for your flower. I have been using Papertrey Ink's Vintage Cream felt. It's neutral so it's goes with just about any fabric I use and it also goes through my die cut machine like butter. You could hand cut a piece of felt free hand but I find it easier to run it through my machine then to sit and try to create a perfect circle by hand. I use one of the Spellbinders circle dies to die cut my felt to create all of my flowers like the one I'm sharing with you today.

Now, here is where your free hand cutting will come in. I cut about 45 circles out for each flower....give or take depending on how full you would like it. Die cutting fabric isn't as smooth as die cutting felt so that's one of the reasons I just hand cut them. Also, they do not need to be perfect...in fact the less perfect, the better.

To start your flower you will need to gather the very middle of each of your fabric circles....just like you see me doing above.

Then you can start adhering them around the outer part of your felt circle. I use a hot glue gun when making these but you could use whatever method of attaching these that you would like. Hot gluing works best for me.

This is what it will look like after the outer part of your felt circle is filled in. You do the same thing on the inside. Work your way around until you have reached the middle. You really can not mess it up!

Voila! This is the finished flower. You could leave it just as is...

or fancy it up a bit with a button and felt leaves!

I hope this helps those of you who were curious how they were made. I've made about 75 of these babies so far and can't seem to stop. They are scattered all over my craft studio!

Happy creating!
~Melissa

We are half way through this months Papertrey Ink countdown. YEAH! So happy you all have stopped by to say hello. I have more projects for you today using My Mother, My Friend and Polka Dot Parade #1 and it's another lengthy post so I'm going to jump right into it.

For today I went a little big and prepped a LARGE amount of my embellishments before I started. I also created a few fabric flowers that I thought would be fun to use on a card or two. I'm so addicted to beautiful fabric and can't get enough of it. The striped fabric flower you see is what inspired my color combo for today. That particular fabric is from Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane collection.

Let's switch things up a bit and start the day off with a card using Polka Dot Parade #1. The little bunny is perfect for creating a baby card and that's just what I did here. I mixed the word 'BUNNY', from Polka Dot Parade #1, with 'Welcome, little baby bee' from Baby Button Bits. I just didn't ink up the 'bee' and replaced it with the 'BUNNY'. I stamped a small flower, from My Mother, My Friend, on the bunnies tales in Pure Poppy ink and gave the bunnies floppy ears by lightly scoring across their ears and folding. A bit of lace and a Pure Poppy button were added to complete this one.

Here is another 'BUNNY' card featuring a little peek-a-boo bunny. I stamped my sentiment onto a die cut frame from My Mother, My Friend. The tiny flowers along the bottom are from the Polka Dot Parade #1 set.

The flowers around the frame were die cut from the My Mother, My Friend die collection and stamped with the flower images from the set. I added a bit of cream twine and Pure Poppy button to finish this one off.

This card features a couple of the My Mother, My Friend die cut frames and large die cut flower. The letters to spell out 'MOM' were die cut using the Block Alphabet die collection. 'Thanks for believing in me' is also from My Mother, My Friend.

I added a couple of pearls and a couple of die cut leaves from Heart-2-Heart #7 to finish it. I have to say that Heart-2-Heart #7 has been coming in quite handy. I seem to be using those leaves a lot lately! :)

'Happy Birthday My Friend' ...using more images and dies from My Mother, My Friend. Lots of flowers and lace on this one.

And last but not least...here is a card using one of those fun fabric flowers that I created. This fabric is also from the Heather Bailey collection I mentioned above, Nicey Jane.

And that wraps up day three for me. You'll want to be sure and stop by to visit these ladies...

I'm off to start my day with a special friend of mine who is celebrating her birthday today. Looking forward to our favorite coffee shop and some great girl talk. Thanks so much for stopping in... I hope you all have a fabulous day!

~Melissa

*ALL SUPPLIES ARE PAPERTREY INK UNLESS NOTED OTHERWISE*

WELCOME, LITTLE BABY BUNNY:

STAMPS: Polka Dot Parade #1 & My Mother, My Friend (available February 15th), Baby Button Bits

CARDSTOCK: Rustic Cream, Aqua Mist, Sweet Blush, Spring Moss