My Chaos and a Nugget

   If I was ever under any illusions that life would slow down since enrolling my kids, I was sadly mistaken. Days fly by in a blur. I remember the transition into homeschooling. It was hard creating structure in our home at the time. I remember praying specifically for God to "bring order to my chaos". 

    I am renewing that request.

    Recently, I made the decision to pursue my own business. I took the short drive to the County Clerk's office and registered my official name with the state. Applied for my tax ID number and opened my own bank account.

Im officially "Amara Eternally Beautiful", upcycled furniture and home decor. 

  This has been a dream of mine since forever. My husband can attest to that. I have a passion for making a house into a home. I love creating something old, sad, and worn into a work of art. What others consider a lost cause, is my Cinderella.  Maybe this is because that is what God has done for me. My junk, turned treasure. An eye sore with so many imperfections, turned masterpiece. If He can do that with me than, oh the possibilities! The end result, not perfect, but beautifully imperfect and wholly loved. 

  I have lots of decisions to make. Im hoping they are smart ones. I am going to make mistakes. That's ok. I may or may not be deemed "successful", that is ok too. I recently was given a nugget of wisdom about starting your own business.
 "You will have a lot of serious competition. Plan on it. It will get hard and you will feel inadequate. Just remember what you are passionate about and do what you love."

               Im taking this one to the bank.

A perfect Saturday project

     In NH, my family does these craft days. Similar to what I picture of the old fashioned quilting bees. Us ladies, older and young alike, gather around doing crafty things, chatting away. Ours usually includes coffee brewing and some sort of sweet to go on long with it. That is where I learned how to do these cute fabric flowers. From my sweet aunt Susie, who is the queen of crafty things.

    These are really quite simple and I've found many different uses for them. I hope you will too.

Supplies needed:
*Card stock (or regular plain paper works too)
*Pen
*Scissors
*Fabric (scrap fabric works well) You can use whatever print or texture you want, depending on what you have in mind for it.
*Thicker fabric (to use for your flower base) *I used a scrap of quilt batting.*
*Needle and thread (for hand sewing)
*Pins
-Optional
*A hot glue gun with glue sticks (If you'd prefer to use in place of sewing)
*Any embellishments you might want to add. Buttons, pearls, charms, etc.


               #1

Draw a four petal flower on paper.*card stock works well here*
I free-handed mine, folded over, like when you do snowflakes. Draw another, just a little smaller than the first. I traced the first one, then cut about 1/16 in. more off than the first one. Then trace another one, doing the same thing again. Cut them out.

     You should have three shapes like this.

                                         #2

    Next Trace your flowers onto fabric. Cut them out.
You will need four Fabric cut outs each for the two larger sizes. 3 cutouts of the smallest size. A total of 11.

 It helps to pin your flower cutout to the fabric to hold it in place.

Pin

     

                         

                                          #3

    

    Using the thicker fabric, trace and cut out a small circle. This will be the base of your flower. *I used a jar lid as my stencil.*

#4

     Use one of the biggest flower cutouts, and fold it in half. Then fold it in half again. This makes your basic petal shape, 

One side of your flower petal should be folded while the other side is open. Align petals so that the open side is to the back of the folded side. 

Like this picture below.

Attach your flower petal to the middle point in your circle base. Pin it into place.

Repeat this with all four  biggest flower cutouts. 

#5

Sew a simple straight stitch along the bottom edges of each flower petal to attach it to the round base. *or hot glue if you prefer*

#6

Repeat steps 4 and 5 with the middle size cutouts and attach them the same way you did the first ones, except overlap each seam. Like this.

#7

Using 2 of your smallest cutouts, fold each petal in half like this. 

Then  fold again like this.

While holding the last fold in place, twist opposite petal open. And pin to secure. 

                                        #8

Place the middle of the two petals (that you just made) into the center of your flower, staggering them, so as to look like a small four petal flower. *You can also just hot glue them into place*

Use your last small petal to make the center of your flower. 

Fold your petal in half, then in half again.(like before) Roll it up lengthwise   *I rolled mine twice* Then fold up the bottom. Like this. 

Sew (or hot glue) this into the center of your flower. Fluff your petals and embellish any way you want.

Wallah!!