Rolled Fabric Flower Headband

I was in a craft store a couple months ago and they had a display table out with different crafts laid out on them with copies of the patterns right next to each item. One item they had on display was a really cute headband with 2 flowers made from rolled fabric. I grabbed a copy of the pattern and it has sat in my craft bag since then. Dadoo and I had a family reunion this past weekend with family pictures being one of the things we were doing so I decided it was time to make some cute matching headbands for Pumpkin and I to wear in our family picture.

I've also decided that this post will be a tutorial as opposed to my other posts merely stating where I got the pattern or simply showing a picture of the finished project. So here goes:

Materials you'll need:
2 corresponding fabrics of choice
3"x3" piece of felt (approximately)
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
1/2" width braided elastic
2 Jewels, rhinestones, or buttons
Velcro (optional)
Feathers or tulle (optional)
Scissors
Cutting board or other surface to use while gluing

Step one:

Cut 2 strips of fabric- one strip 3"x12", the other strip 3"x8"


Step two:

Take one strip and roll it on the bias into a tube shape.


Step three:

Curl one end in and secure with a small dab of hot glue.

Continue twisting and curling fabric around as loose or as tight as you want the flower to be. Secure every inch or so with a dab of hot glue.


Once you've reached the end of the fabric, tuck end under and secure with glue.

Step four:

Put some hot glue on your piece of felt and place fabric flower onto felt.


Step five:

Add any jewel, rhinestone, or button to the middle of your flower.



Repeat steps 1-5 with other strip of fabric.



Step six:

Once you have both flowers glued onto your piece of felt, cut the flowers out as close to the base of the flower as possible.
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Step seven:

Take elastic and cut a piece big enough for a headband to fit your head. Glue the ends together overlapping just slightly so as to add some more tension to the elastic once its worn.


Step eight:

This next step is personal preference--if you want to make more flowers and be able to interchange them then I suggest cutting some pieces of velcro and gluing one side to the back of the flower and the other side to the headband. If you just want permanent flowers, then place some glue along the elastic over the part you've glued together (so as to create a seamless headband) and place your flowers onto the elastic band. Once the flowers are secured, place a dab of glue in between the two flowers to hold them together.


Step nine:

This step is optional--you can glue either feathers or pieces of tulle to the back of your flowers to add a unique touch.



Happy crafting!

Beanies and Booties and Flowers, Oh My!

I've been in a crocheting mood the last couple days and so far I have finished two projects in the last two days.

First, is a pair of booties called the Camellia Booties that I purchased from Vita A. of the Mon Petit Violon designs at http://www.etsy.com/shop/monpetitviolon.



The flowers are different colors but the yarn all came from the same skein which is pictured behind the booties. I think its kinda cute and unique with both flowers being different :)



Secondly, I made a beanie called the Squiggle n'Swirl that was also purchased on Etsy at http://www.etsy.com/shop/RAKJpatterns. The lady that wrote this pattern is another extremely creative woman named Kristi Simpson. The beanie is super darling and I really hope it fits whoever's baby I give it to. It is very simple and very easy to make. I may just make one for my little Pumpkin for the upcoming winter.



I'm currently working on a third project and after I'm finished I will make another and post instructions step-by-step, but until I'm finished, I'm not revealing what it is that I'm making :)

Mystery Project!!

Can anyone guess what I'm making?!

Cross Strap Sandals

I made these cross-strap sandals for another friends' little girl that just turned 1 year old! She is the cutest little thing, and I mean little! Her parents are from Guam or the Philippines (not quite sure which) and are rather short people; very nice individuals though. I wanted to make something different than the normal booties that I crochet and remembered I had a pattern for sandals! So I made some for 'Tink' and I'm not sure if they fit or if they even liked them. I really hope they did :)

Sewn Booties

These are a pair of pink zebra print booties that I had sewn for a friend’s 10 month old daughter. I found the pattern through a link that was posted by a blog that I follow. When I get the time, I will post a step-by-step tutorial on how to make these. They are really simple to make and really cute. I found that making these booties is a good way to appease my creative mind when my hands (and willpower) are too tired to crochet anything :) Here are a couple pictures of the pink zebra print booties after I finished them and being worn by 'Georgia Peach':




Aren’t those just some of the cutest chunky legs?! Dadoo told his buddy ‘Georgia’ that and Georgia replied (with one heck of an awesome Southern accent I might add), “I chew on those chicken legs every chance I get!”

My Creativity: A History

I’ve been crocheting for about 11 years now and never really got past the basics, i.e. blankets, scarfs, etc., until Summer 2010 when I was pregnant with my daughter. I was only working part-time during the day while my husband worked full-time on the graveyard shift. I was alone every night. Uncomfortable. Suffering from insomnia (pregnancy will do that to ya).

With nothing but time on my hands and knowing we were having a girl, I thought to myself, “Self? Let’s make some cute crocheted flowers for Baby K…..just in case she has hair. If she doesn’t? Well, then we can glue some clips on the back of the flowers to clip onto ‘brain-squeezers’.” Only one problem with that…..I couldn’t crochet a flower if my life depended on it. Blanket? Sure. Scarf? No problem. Flower? Not on your life.

My husband (we’ll call him ‘Dadoo’) has a cousin who crochets incredible things so I asked her if she could teach me how to crochet a flower. Yet another problem. She lives about 45 minutes away from us and I really don’t ever drive to her neck of the woods unless there’s a family function. I told ‘Dadoo’ that I had asked his cousin to teach me and, the genius that he is, suggested I look for a video on YouTube. I hadn’t even thought of that! Brilliant!

So I searched for a video and found several. I started out with the pretty basic of flowers and eventually branched out. Next, I tried making little baby beanies. They’re pretty simple. The trick is getting the sizing right….which I didn’t do with the first one I made. Super cute hat….I just made it too small :/ Oh well. After I mastered the beanie, I decided I wanted to add ears to them. Mission accomplished.

The most amazing thing I’ve made so far……is the Bearded Beanie.

Our friend, we’ll call him ‘El Presidente’, was talking to Dadoo about snowboarding. Somewhere in the conversation came up the little tidbit that I know how to crochet. El Presidente got all excited and said, “Look at this dope picture! It’s a Bearded Beanie! I have been looking for someone who can make one for me because I really don’t want to pay $40 for one online!” My translation of this was, “No one knows how to make this.” to which I internally replied, “Challenge accepted.”

I scoured the internet for instructions on how to make a Bearded Beanie. Sure there were patterns out there, but you had to pay like $10 for ‘em. Not gonna happen. So I found a pattern for something similar and tweaked it :)

Thus, the Bearded Beanie was born!



I have since then tweaked the beard a bit more to make it look more natural. I think I’ve sold a total of 14 Bearded Beanies :) And I had great advertising during the ski season because Dadoo and El Presidente both wore their beanies every time they went snowboarding!




I have to admit, I am quite proud of my handy work.

Eventually, I got tired of crocheting (and my hands cramped something fierce) so I decided to try the whole ‘singed flower’ project. I had no idea what I was doing and didn’t know what one of my friends was talking about when she was telling me about them in the first place. I told my mom about what I was trying to make and she took to the internet (amazing thing that it is) and found a blog with instructions on how to make said flowers and when I figure out how to do it, I will post a link to the blog.



Now to make a long story short, I started following a crochet blog called Mon Petit Violon. That woman is a freaking genius! I have purchased several of her patterns already and have made several cute items for my little Pumpkin.





(I even sewed the Easter dress she’s wearing.)

The next 3 pictures are just some other things that I’ve made and as I make more items, I will post pictures.









So there ya have it folks….how I truly got my start. Dadoo even told me on our way home from his parents house tonight that he’s impressed with how creative I am. Really meant a lot to me because to me, crocheting is my hobby. I don’t really consider it a talent. Anyone can do it if they set their minds to it.

Adios and vaya con Dios.

Welcome to Kieralee's Garden!

So I’ve decided that with all the little crafty projects I’ve been doing, I need to post them to a blog instead of just posting pictures on FB. I’ve also considered doing a consignment with Heartland Paper to sell some of the cute items I make; which would make sense since most of my friends on FB have stated that they would totally buy the things I make. Anyway, more to tell another day. Hopefully, I'll have the ambition to post instructions on some of the things I make so you can make them yourselves if you feel so inclined :)