Vintage Flower Blossom Tutorial

I took this pretty but boring silk flower and took it apart so that the petals were loose.

Then I just quickly put it back together (minus the plastic center insert) and sewed some little stitches to make it bunch up all nice and fluffy like.

I got some lace and cut out petal shapes. I got so lucky because the pattern of the petals were already weaved in the lace, I just cut around them. Then,I applied a bit of hot glue to the very lower tips and tucked them within the flower.

I had some pretty shimmery peach tulle that I cut into petal shapes. Instead of cutting them in individual petals, I cut them out in 4s (like a x shape, how you would fold a piece of paper to cut a snowflake). Then, I cut it in half to make 2 blossoms opposite each other. I folded it to make a double layer of tulle. I layed the flower flat and put the x shape 4 piece petal on top and then the double pieces I glued within the flower. I would have done much more tulle pieces, but I only had this tiny scrap of tulle.

You can see how I added felt circles to the back of the vintage clip on earring. To remove the clip on, I soaked the earring in warm, soapy water for about 10 minutes and the glue holding the clip on just dissolved.  Because many vintage earrings and brooches are concave, I glued the felt circles on the back to give a flat surface to work with. Makes placing it much easier and sturdier. I then hot glued the earrings in the center of the flower, holding the petals down flat so that I didn't get glue all over the place.

For the back, I glued a felt circle on to cover up the stitches and make it more secure of a base. Then, I glued on the barrette and then, glued a piece of fabric over that (not shown).

Now you have it, a pretty flower! You can use the flower as a hair piece with a barrette like I have done or use a headband or tie, or make several for a bouquet, add it to a basket, make Christmas ornaments, or silvery elegant black ones for Halloween...Great for dress up for the girls, a wedding, a fairy wand... you can add feathers, beading on the petals, more tulle, ribbon, leaves, a lady bug or butterfly... anything to make it your own. I would love to see what you do!

More fun creations at Kimba's DIY day and the flower will be in my shop later today for those more interested in purchasing rather than buying!

*Post is linked to seven thirty three's Sugar n Spice girly linky party.

I Found It!

After about a year of looking for the perfect desk for me, I found it on Craigslist 2 weeks ago! It was a bargain, for it is all real wood, no veneer here. It rained every time we tried to arrange a time to pick it up, and it was an hours drive, but hey, I have it now and am oh so happy!

I love that there is a nice hutch that I can place little treasures and change the theme throughout the year as I am known to do.

Of course, it will need a paint job one day, but that can wait for a while.



Our old desk was so bad, that it literally fell to pieces when we pulled it away from the wall! I took the nasty, ugly drawer, took off the roller caster slide things, sanded it down and painted it red! Now, it serves as a little storage box thing on top of my desk! Like it?

So, for my Craigslist perusing friends, I found excellent tips on Small Notebook that will help you! Are you tired of clicking on post after post only to see that same Aztec print couch and brassy art deco marble top dresser? Well, with Craig's Toolbox function, the photos automatically pop up so you just keep browsing (only if you have Firefox as your browser). Seriously, this shaves hours off of your hunting.



Here is my little Goodwill chalkboard/corkboard shelf I painted and hung. It's my little inspiration board for now.



I found The Lettered Cottage blog today and it's great! It is a husband/wife design consulting team and they also make handmade decor as well. Today, they are offering a giveaway of a Hudson Goods pillow. If I were to choose which one I would want, it would be the red stars one. It was a toss up between that and the blue star one though! Which is your favorite pillow?

They have some great items, I esp love the vintage fork and spoon chandelier!

I'm really glad to have found the blog of true designers and Hudson Goods has some interesting "behind the scenes" posts as well on their blog. Go and take a peek.



And oh, I LOVE this room, found on flickr from Domino mag. Totally my inspiration at the moment!

Chippy and Sweet

If you want to DROOL over some lovely rooms (and get a little inspired too) then look at Decor Pad. I'm thinking it's kind of like a Kaboodle of design images, I think there is a forum too.

Have any of you ever visited Casa Sugar? I just discovered it today, and it has tons of flea market redo, celebrity rooms (not that I care) and decorating ideas. Just thought I'd share. This post about redoing a vintage chandelier is most excellent. (The tip on using Krylon Fusion spray paint instead of sanding is amazing).



PS. I want to know if anyone has found that PERFECT robin's egg blue aqua paint, but not too bright, not too pastel, not too blue in color, I can't find it anywhere, I need some ideas! Feel free to link photos with name of paint in the comments :)

I found Deco Chic's blog and though it is entirely in Spanish, I believe the post was about a Shabby Chic store closing. It had all of these lovely pictures and so I just had to share:























Thanks Viv for the Kreative blogger award!! Your blog is super swell too :)