New Team Spotlight Treasury

Pink & Red, Hearts & Flowers....all from the Lone Star State!

Click on photo to go to Treasury

Liz, of LavenderLizard, is our team Spotlight Treasury curator, and creates Treasuries on Etsy featuring members of the ETC team. She works through our membership list, choosing members alphabetically....eventually, everyone gets featured!

Members featured in the Treasury pictured above are: Gabeadz, GabsBags, GailsCrafts, GemmaJoy, GinaPina, GingerBabies, GlassMouse13, GlassNWood, GlimmeringGems, GlitzGlitter, GoAgainstTheGrain, and GoatGoatSheep.

Thanks, Liz, for creating such a wonderful Treasury for us (again!), and I'm sorry for not getting this posted to our blog sooner. Folks have until 7:49pm tonight (Eastern / Etsy time) to check out this Treasury -- be sure to sign in and then click on each of the items and leave a comment!

Tuesday Tutorial - Pretty Little Flowers for Your Hair

Connie, of ReFabulous, is sharing another wonderful tutorial with us, this time for pretty little fabric flowers for your hair! The original tutorial appeared on her blog...

We recently spent an afternoon crafting some lovely hair bobbies. These are so simple to make! The flowers can be used in many different ways, as well -- hair clips, brooches, pins, embellishments. . . .

We used reclaimed dress linings to make these -- I had plenty left over from my deconstruction for sachets, and I never knew what to do with this type of fabric before. It's a synthetic fabric, a silky polyester.

(CAUTION: please use extreme caution when using this tutorial, as a flame is used in this process. Do NOT allow children or pets near the flame, and do not allow children to play with the flame, burn themselves or anyone/anything else. I am not responsible for any accidents or injuries resulting from this free tutorial.)

To make these little hair bobbies (or clips, brooches, pins, etc.), you will need:

* synthetic fabric, such as polyester
* scissors
* candle and matches/lighter
* glass jar, filled with water
* clothes pin
* a piece of foil
* needle
* thread
* beads, buttons or other embellishments
* hair bobby, clip, pin blank, etc.
* strong adhesive, such as E6000


1. Cut out circles (or whatever shape you like) from the polyester that are slightly larger than your desired finished flower size. We used concentric circles for ours for a fuller, layered look. Be sure to cut a few extra, to allow for experimenting and mess-ups.


2. Light your candle, and place on a sturdy surface, away from flammables, pets and children. Place your jar of water within reach.

3. Using a clothes pin, hold one fabric circle over -- not in -- the flame of the candle.


You'll want to experiment with a few extra circles, as different fabrics will act uniquely when held near the flame. Some will curl in one direction, some turn colors, some crinkle. Holding them closer to the flame or longer will also achieve different results. Once you've achieved the look you want, set the circle aside on the foil to cool.

4. Repeat on all the fabric circles. Extinguish your candle when you are finished.


5. EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: If you hold the fabric circle still for too long, or too close to the flame, it will scorch and/or catch on fire. If this happens, quickly and carefully place the burning fabric in the jar of water to extinguish the flame. Be very vigilant -- as some fabrics tend to ignite quicker than others!

6. Next, arrange and stack your fabric circles (petals) into flowers.


7. Using your needle and thread, sew a few stitches through all the layers of petals -- just a little "X" will do -- fastening all the petals together. Tie off thread in the back of the flower.


8. Now, attach your flower center. If you are using beads or buttons, stitch them in place, tying off the thread in the back of the flower. If you are using other embellishments, a strong adhesive (such as E6000) may be used to attach them to the flower.


9. Finally, attach your flower to a hair bobby, clip or pin back using your strong adhesive.


10. Set aside on the foil, and allow it to dry thoroughly, according to your adhesive's recommendation.


And that's it! So simple, and so pretty. The possibilities are endless -- imagine these flowers layered with ribbon, mesh, tulle, organza. . . or topped with an antique brooch or cameo! These would make sweet little gifts for teachers, co-workers and friends, or even lovely stocking stuffers. Have fun!

For lots more photos and a video illustrating how quickly these fabrics change and curl, please check out Connie's full tutorial on her blog.

Thanks again, Connie, for sharing another awesome project with us!

Tuesday's Tutorial - Paper Flower Bouquet

Ann, of DuctapeandDenim.etsy.com, has graciously allowed me to share with you her Paper Flower Tutorial. These gorgeous flowers can be made out of various papers and colors to match seasons. This one is for fall colors, but can be adapted to fit any season.

Jordi got in the mood to make our paper flowers again a few days ago so we made ourselves a bouquet and put a kit in our Etsy store, too. These are really easy & quick to make. And you can make them in whatever colors you want. I always like to include some of my old paper in them and ink the edges but you wouldn't have to do that.

Here's how to do it:
Punch several circles for each flower. I used 5 different punches ranging from 3" to 1". Some scalloped, some not. If you don't have punches you can cut them out, or even tear them. It just takes longer.

Wad up the papers. This is the fun part! Make them as wrinkled as you want -- or don't even wad them if you want a cleaner look.

Ink the edges and some of the folds. I've also used glimmer mist on some and wadded them up while they were still wet. That works good, too. Color Box chalk ink in chestnut roan is my favorite right now for this.

Here's the stack of circles ready to assemble. You can glue them together and then glue a button on top or use a brad. Today I decided to use up some of the brads in my desk. I inked my craft stick (Jo just bought ANOTHER box of 1000 so we have to make LOTS of these now!!!) and glued some leaf punches on, too. Although when you put them in a display like I show above you can't really see the leaves. For the bouquet in the first photo I stuck an old piece of styrofoam in a clean veggie can, stuck my flowers in, and covered the styrofoam with shredded papers. Then I took 2 strips of coordinating papers and taped them on and tied a piece of jute around the whole thing. It probably took me 20 minutes to do the whole bouquet. You've probably seen these on my blog before. We've made bouquets for Valentine's Day, July 4th, and Christmas.

I think I'm going to make some flowers and glue magnets on the back for my fridge. I need new magnets. :-)

Check out her blog to see the full tutorial. Thanks Ann for sharing this fun and creative project!