Online crafty tutorials are a great way to learn new tricks. This week I've had a go at two flowery themed ones and I thought I'd show you the results.
First up, magnet flowers from Fiona on Pursuit of Craftiness. Fiona made her sunny flowers with crackle paints but I didn't have any so I had to resort to other techniques. Here are mine.
They're on a filing cabinet next to my desk. I used Floral Delight blank chipboard flowers from Melissa Frances and painted them using Adirondack acrylic dabbers. To embellish the turquoise one I used Perfect pearls (I just rubbed it into the paint with my finger, messy but effective) and added a yellow button. I attempted some distressing on the purple one but it didn't come out right and I decided I liked it with just a simple orange button middle. The green one is probably my favourite - I added white rub-ons from American Crafts. To finish I just stuck flat back magnets to each one. These little magnets are so easy to make - I did these during lunch yesterday and the only delay was waiting for the paint to dry.
Second, are ribbon flowers. This tutorial has a video - I don't know if it has sound, if it does, I didn't hear it (I didn't want to disturb the people working around me!). But it really didn't matter - I was able to make my own flower after watching the video through once. Here it is:
I used pale purple grosgrain ribbon and cotton to sew it up. My first version fell apart because the cotton snapped (I imagine if you can hear the sound one of the pieces of advice you get is to use strong thread! What can I say, I'm not great at following instructions!), but the second time it was fine. I used biggish loose stitches and hid the hole in the middle with a large green button. Again, very easy - this probably took me 15 minutes altogether but that includes finding the ribbon and a needle.
Have you got any online tutorials (either video or photos) you can recommend? Or have you had a go at either of these? I'd love to see what you've made. Post a comment below and let me know.
