Big blooms

I need to go somewhere special enough to wear giant flowers like these from Natalie Chan in my hair. I just love the idea of soft petals taking over if only I could just wear one of these to the grocery store. You can find fantastic hair accessories for weddings and special occasions in Natalie's store, along with wonderful veils and hats.

images via natalie chan

Easy fabric flower broaches

I'm right in the middle of making a ton of fabric flowers for our baby reveal party and am pretty pleased with how they are turning out. Using a rather inexpensive fabric, I was able to whip these up in almost no time...the hardest part is the beading. The plan for these is to have my family pick between a flower or bow tie to wear before the husband and I make the big announcement...hopefully the bow ties come out just as fun.

If you would like to make up a few fabric flowers for yourself they are pretty simple and straight forward. I have used this style of flower for packaging on bridal gifts and they are perfect to pin back those loose strands of hair with a little flair. 

To make the flowers simply cut your fabric into several different size strips. I used 2", 3" and 4" pieces to make the different size petals. Once you have the basic rectangle shape roughly cut each piece into a leaf like shape. Don't worry about being too perfect, I managed to cut 3 or 4 petals at once.

Once you have the shape, hover the fabric over an open flame {I used a candle} until the edges begin to curl. Be careful not to hold too close to the fire as it may catch on fire or shrivel up completely. 

Now comes the creative part, using a fabric glue {I used Fabri-tac} start with the biggest petals first and work your way around to create a flower shape. Each flower took about 15-18 petals depending on the size, shape and placement of each petal. 

To make the centers, I used glass beads found at Joann's in the jewelry section. They are super tiny! Now the glue might have made your fabric a bit hard so give it a few bends and pulls to loosen it up otherwise you will be like me and break two needles...though I'm sure it was because I was being impatient and using a thimble to just push it through. Since I switched to the loosening technique I've been on the same needle. 

Easy peasy! Now on to the bow ties. 

images by our designed life

Linked

And for a few things here and there that caught my eye....


The next time the husband threatens me with another cord stretched across the room I'm so doing this. 

image via design sponge

Completely loving this list of 35 life changing ways to use everyday objects. My mind has been blown. I mean, using a can opener to pry open those annoying and totally unnecessary hard plastic wrappers around gadgets is pure genius. Had a total 'duh of course' moment.


Now that most of my friends are having babies or are surrounded by toddlers, I am for sure passing on Treehouse Kid & Craft for all their specialty toy needs. How incredibly adorable is this wooden sewing machine!

image via treehouse kid & craft

Totally loving this spring/summer collection from NAHM. I wish I had another 5 maybe 8 inches in height, being so short does have its downfalls, especially with dresses. 

Discovered I like the taste of fresh garden parsley in green smoothies. When the husband made me a very green very potent smoothie it was like my sinuses opened right up! And I always thought it was just a garnish. 

Have a wonderful weekend friends, we have yet to make plans and I'm a bit excited about it. A bit of sleeping in sounds awfully nice. 

image by our designed life

Create: Hand painted paper flowers

I've been working on these paper flowers off and on again for what seems forever and figured what better time to share then now since I pretty much have to ooze creativity when making them. The goal is to have a large art piece with a gradient of these babies but since they are all hand painted, hand cut and hand twisted, its taken quite a bit of time. I've always wanted to create something delicate yet 3D and am really happy with how it is turning out. Now if only there were more room and a bit more time in the day to get it finished. What can I say, I've got big dreams.

And in case you were wondering I am using white crepe paper and a mixture of acrylic paints to make the custom hues. To form the petals cut strips into shape and twist around floral wire. Piece by piece they slowly take on a flower look, you just have to be a bit patient...some of my flowers have almost 20 individual petals!

images by our designed life

Creative challenge: No.1

Big blooms

This has got to be one of the best DIY projects I've seen in a while! Super talented artist Katie of Katie's pencil box created an amazing pattern of peonies after being a little underwhelmed by an online wallpaper purchase. With the help of her husband, the two created a one of a kind floral piece for their growing bun in Katie's oven and with a wall like this, that little girl is going to have one colorful childhood. Stop on by Katie's blog for more stunning photos of the wall as well as her adorable son Max.

image via katie's pencil box

Happy Spring

Spring is here, though looking out my window you wouldn't know it. Thankfully we got a bit of sunshine over the weekend otherwise I'd be one cranky gal. And since I can't enjoy the fragrant outdoors what better time then surround yourself with a few stemmed gems. I'm so excited to see one of my favorite flowers, the ranunculus, are in season. These and peonies simply make me swoon, what's your favorite flower? Its about time I high tail it out to the flower mart here in San Francisco. When I lived in L.A the husband and I would travel the 30 minutes almost monthly to pick up a few bouquets, I'm seriously slacking in my new hood.

photos by our designed life

Making things

Did you know March is national craft month? I've been creating up a storm lately and loving every minute. Its nice to have a hobby to keep you busy, and though I am super excited about my giant craft of a knitted blanket, my fingers are incredibly tired. How do you knitters do it? I've only got about 10% done and its taken about a month already, I wish I could multitask while knitting but since both hands are in use my dvr has gotten a great workout. Have you made anything fun?
And wanted to say thanks to everyone for stopping by to check out my DIY notebook, its gotten a bit of blog love some from of my favorite crafting finds!

photo by our designed life

Hi guys

As a bit of a new year resolution I'm trying to keep more flowers around to make things just a little bit nicer and from the looks of it, its time for a few new bouquets. Though I do rather like the curled and browned edges. Have you decided to try anything new this year? I've done pretty good at keeping up with my good ol' standby goal to shed a few extra pounds and have somehow managed to get 10-15 miles of walking in every week! Thankfully I'm 22 pounds down and drowning in my jeans, yay! I've got big plans for this year but first, I'm stopping to smell the roses. How about you?

photo for our designed life

Photo of the day, Everything's sick

Everything's sick

043/365

Sometimes when you're sick, everything around you gets sick too.

Photo of the day

"Hanging inspiration"

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I love this pattern on the petals!  Nature is so inspiring.