Free Felt Flower Pattern Printable

Felt Flower Pattern Craft Tutorial

Free Printable Download

This super duper easy little felt flower craft is great for kids and adults. Use up your felt scraps to make several for embellishments. These also make adorable children's hair clips or headbands. For a home decor project, try attaching them with some ribbon to a vase or upcycled tin can. You can either stitch these by hand or make it even quicker by using your hot glue gun to whip through a pile of these for decorating.

MATERIALS:

3 colors felt sheets
hot glue gun and glue sticks or needle and thread
button, pom pom or other embellishment for center
scissors and pencil
free printable pattern

FELT FLOWER CRAFT INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Get the free felt flower printable pattern here. Print and trace the pattern pieces onto the appropriate felt sheets. (If sharing, please link directly to this post and not the download itself.)

2. Cut out the three different size layers of felt petals for the flower. Layer the petals from largest to smallest centered on top of each other.

3. Use hot glue to adhere the petal layers together or stitch with needle and thread. Attach a button or other embellishment in the center. It is just that easy!

DIY Tissue Paper Flowers Craft Tutorial

Easy DIY Tissue Paper Flowers for Decorating

Make several of these at once for a party or your home!

I've seen these beautiful and bright tissue paper flowers floating around the web on Pinterest and other places for a long while now. When I worked as a craft editor, I even made some for a photo shoot and magazine tutorial, but I had yet to make any for myself. Recently I decorated a school bulletin board and used these big, bold yellow flowers as part of the scene. These are not only cheap and easy, but quite fun to sit and make. And, you can craft several at once for an entire paper flower bouquet.

Download Free Printables Now

MATERIALS:

a packet of tissue paper (about 8 sheets stacked per flower)
sharp scissors
pipe cleaners or something else for securing the centers 

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Using a packet of tissue papers, unfold the packet and cut it into 2-3 strips lengthwise. One packet can easily make a few flowers depending on how large you'd like them to be.  About 6-8 sheets stacked (or approximately one small dollar packet of tissue papers) makes a fluffier flower, more sheets stacked makes the flower dense and not quite as pretty in my opinion.

2. Fold each stacked strip segment accordion style, back and forth, in about 1 to 1-1/2 inch increments. Once folded, press down to crease the edges well. You can leave the ends straight edged or cut them rounded or at diagonal angles like I have in the photos. (Check out this super neat graphic by Rust and Sunshine for a guide to different edges for tissue paper flowers.)

3. Then find the center of your accordion folded segment. Cut out small triangular notches opposite each other as seen in the photo below. This will help make a nice spot for the pipe cleaner to fit snugly and make it easier to fold out the flower petals later. (This step is really optional, but in my experience making these flowers, I find it much easier to fold out the petals if you notch the center first.)

4. Now wrap the center of the pipe cleaner a couple times around the center of the folded tissue paper in between the cut notches. Then twist the pipe cleaner very tightly to secure it all in place.

5. Finally turn the secured stack on its side and fan out the accordion folds. Gently open up the folds and pull the paper layers toward the center to shape the flower petals. The delicate tissue paper very easily rips so be careful! Thankfully they are easy to make if you mess up one or two in the process (which I have done on more than one occasion!).

Need sweet decorating ideas for these colorful flowers now that you've made up a bunch? Well, come on over and check out my Pinterest Tissue Paper Decorating board. There's lots and lots of neat ways to use them as well as other photo craft tutorials on how to make them in all shapes and sizes. Okay, so I'm a little obsessed with these right now!

DIY Recycled Cereal Box Flower Art

Recycled Cereal Box Flower Wall Art 

With Felt Wool Balls and Free Printable Pattern

I don't know about your household, but we go through at least a few boxed food items like cereal each week. Often times the thin cardboard gets tossed in the recycled bin or trash. Lately, I've been saving some of them in my "items to upcycle" stash. Really it is just a box full of odds and ends that's a continually growing pile of recyclables. I also have a large pile of my handmade wool balls in all colors and sizes. For this easy craft, I decided to combine the two - recycled cereal box and halved wool beads. The instructions are below. 

MATERIALS:

letter size or larger piece of recycled cardboard
choice of acrylic paint color and flat paint brush
small 4-inch square or large piece of patterned card stock
four 1-inch round felt wool balls (or you can substitute buttons, brads, etc.)
sharp Xacto knife or straight edge kitchen knife (if using wool balls)
hot glue gun and glue sticks
scissors and pencil
frame with 8-inch x 10-inch opening
free printable pattern

CRAFT TIPS:

When you paint onto thin cardboard, it can warp a little. If this happens, once the paint is completely dry, use a thin towel covering the painted area and a non-steam iron to press it flat. Set your iron to medium heat and slowly work the area on top of the towel, not directly on the paint, to flatten the cardboard. 

RECYCLED CARDBOARD FLOWER INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Get the free printable flower pattern. (If sharing, please link directly to this post and not the printable itself. Thanks!) Print the flower shape. Trace it onto the back of a piece of letter size or larger recycled cardboard. Cut out around the edges to make it an 8-inch x 10-inch rectangle with the flower centered.

2. Next use the flat paint brush and your choice of paint color to cover the negative area (outside the flower) of the cardboard. Let dry completely. Then follow my craft tip above to flatten out the cardboard if needed.

3. From the patterned card stock, cut a small oval for the center of the flower. I just eye balled the approximate area and size and then trimmed it down as needed. You could also use a large oval or circle punch if you have one. Use hot glue to adhere it to the cardboard.

4. If using wool balls for the embellishment, first cut them in half with a very sharp Xacto knife or straight edge kitchen knife. I saw slowly back and forth while rotating the bead to slice it in half which usually works well. Be careful to watch your finger tips though! Once the balls are halved, place 7 to 8 of them next to each other on the outer edge of the patterned card stock center. Use hot glue to adhere the flat backs to the cardboard.

5. Now place your upcycled flower art into a pretty frame and hang it on your wall. You can see below where mine now hangs in my kitchen above a matching red shelf. I created it specifically for that space to dress it up a bit. And, yes my kitchen is a crazy bright red, but I love bright colors and wouldn't have it any other way. I am a bit funky after all!

Handmade felted jewelry in my Etsy shop once again!

 

After more than 3 years of being away from Etsy and my blog, I'm finally back and slowly getting things going once again online. Oh, how I've missed it! 

My last post was way, way back in 2010 when my family went through a transition and big move across states for my new job as Craft Editor for Reader's Digest Association's Milwaukee branch. It is hard for me to believe that it has been that long ago since time flew by, but I'm thrilled to have made my way right back here to being an independent crafter. In future posts, I'll go into a little more detail about by absence online, what I've been up to and why I am thankful to be blogging about and selling my creations again, but for now, I just wanted to pass along that I've reopened my Etsy shop and will also be blogging regularly soon. (Yippee! Well, at least that's how I feel when I type that last sentence!)

For all of you who knew my felting blog in the past, I hope for it to be much the same as before with crafts, fiber and felting information, tutorials, tips, reviews, features and some personal tidbits and photos. It will take me a while to get rooted again and back to blogging so I appreciate your patience. I am looking forward to doing it all again though!

If you'd like to know what in the world I have been up to for the past few years (witness protection, extended Caribbean vacation, top secret spy mission...hmmm, nope), visit my personal portfolio site and feel free to snoop around a bit. As I said before, I will eventually post about it, just not this particular day.

P.s., the felt flower will be listed in my Etsy shop soon. I also hope to do a tutorial on how to make these in the near future. It was created through a combination of needle and wet felting techniques.

Handmade Felted Play Hat with a Flower Theme

In the midst of everything, I have found some time to do a little feltmaking!  Hoorah!  I recently went to a local felting guild meeting (my first one) and really enjoyed myself.  They pick a theme for each month.  Then they share their needle or wet felted creations with one another at the next month's meeting.  September's theme is flowers.  I was very happy to have a focus for my felting.  I think it has helped me to find time to create things again and given me a little inspiration.  In the photo above you can see my handmade felted wool hat being worn by my lovely daughter, Rowynn, while she plays with a bin of my needle felted flowers, hearts, geodes, and other beads.  The hat is a bit big on her and a bit snug on me so I have deemed it a play hat, and she loves to wear it around the house.  It has a flower on top and pointy cut out petals that make the hat itself a flower of sorts.  It is all corriedale wool.  I made it through a combination of needle felting and wet felting.  Although I don't have as much freedom in the variety of shape of my hats with needle felting the bases, I have found that it is easier time-wise for me to needle felt first, and then wet felt the hats to finish them out.  I did come across this wonderful pointy needle felted hat form though and want to purchase it soon.  My existing foam hat forms are ones that I've crafted from combining a pillow bolster and foam pad.  They work just fine, but I'd like to have some more variety.  Below are some photos of the process and some more of Rowynn in the hat.  I've also made an alpaca/wool mix hat that I've yet to embellish and photograph so hopefully I can get that finished and share it soon.

Gigantic Handmade Felted Wool Flowers! A Beautiful, Bold Creation for Your Purse, Coat, and More!

Yesterday, I shared my new line of striped scarves. (Thank you for all the kind comments about them!) They are now listed for sale in the scarves and hats section of my Etsy shop. While working on making those scarves, I was also creating these gigantic felted wool flowers. They are handmade through a combination of both needle felting and wet felting. They are either merino or corriedale wool or a mix of both.

Each is a whopping 12 inches (30.5 cm) in diameter! They are a bold, beautiful attention getter and a good conversational piece too. I plan to have them listed in my Etsy shop by the beginning of next week and will have more color combinations on the way. These are really fun to make so I can see myself creating several. Each one has its individual characteristics that make it completely unique and one-of-a-kind which is just like a real flower in nature.

If you'd like to see more photos, you kind find them on my flickr account.

Some New Nuno Felted Scarves and Wet Felted Flowers

This is another one of those "I just had to share" moments. Last week, I made a post about dyeing silk chiffon scarves. Over the last week, I was actually able to get some felting done and made a few of those hand dyed scarves into nuno felted, or laminated, scarves using some super soft, fine quality merino wool. I also made matching wet felted flower pins to go along with the scarves. I plan to eventually list these sets in my Etsy shop so be on the lookout. I think that they'd be especially nice for holiday gifts.



If you'd like to see more photos of my new scarves and flower pins, please visit my flickr photo gallery.

Etsy Showcase tomorrow!

I'm in Etsy's home page showcase tomorrow. You can see their main showcase and read more about it here. These are really just purchased advertising spots that "showcase" one item and allow viewing access to up to six items of your choosing. I've not had a huge amount of selling success from the showcase's in the past, but I usually do get a lot of hearts from it. I just hope those hearts turn into some sales later on! Even though it hasn't offered a lot of selling success in the past, I still think the showcase is a great feature on Etsy.

I am thinking of putting this flower pin or my felted soap as my main item for the showcase. It is always so difficult for me to decide what item to display. I want to attract viewers and intrigue them to visit my entire shop. If you have an opinion on what item to use, please leave a comment or send me an email. I'd love to have some input on what one item to showcase. Really, any item in my shop is up for the position. I just have to decide which one! Argg!

Yippee! 100th sale on Etsy!

I reached my 100th sale on Etsy this week! A big woohoo and yippee!! As of this month, I've had my shop, thefunkyfelter, on Etsy for a little over 6 months. I'm quite surprised and thrilled at how well I've done thus far. The sellers' community of Etsy and the buyers there have been so helpful and encouraging. I thank all of those buyers who have helped me to reach this milestone! I've received such great feedback comments from many of you, and it is much appreciated. I'm also very grateful to all the supportive sellers on Etsy and the Etsy admin who keep it all up and running.

The 100th sale couldn't have been to a nicer Etsy buyer and seller, berkshirehostess, for a custom made pair of pink and orange geode earrings. I really appreciate her business and was happy to do her custom order. I always enjoy making wool beads for jewelry, especially in such bright, summery colors. If you like what you see in the geode earrings, be sure to check out my shops for what is currently available or contact me for a custom order of your very own.


Berkshirehostess also has her own shop with a fabulous variety of aprons, handbags, and other crafty handmade items. The first item that she purchased from me was one of my flower pins in the "Wild Child" series, so called that because of the vibrant colors. You can see it attached to one of berkshirehostess's wonderful handbags in the photo. Although she's keeping the flower brooch to adorn a hat of her own, the lovely handbag is available for purchase in her Etsy shop so go have a look! Although my "Wild Child" series of brooches have sold out, I do have several other pins and brooches to choose from so that your purse, handbag, or hat is not lonely. You have to make sure to accessorize! . . . And perhaps, I will revive that "Wild Child" series of brooches again. I do love those vibrant, happy colors!

I hope to have 100 more sales on Etsy before the end of 2007 comes! I really think that is an attainable goal. Besides, it is always good to have a goal in mind to work toward. Now I just have to find the time to get off the computer and get to work on some feltmaking and other crafty endeavors.

Roses are red . . . uh, or maybe hot pink?

As far as roses go, I say bright luscious hot pink is the new red! I know that spring is upon us and summer is quickly approaching so where does that leave woolly felt?? Well, I say felt is an all year accessory. Check out my little flower pins as the proof. They are bright, cheery, and very warm weather friendly. I, the funky felter, refuse to go into hibernation for the summer!! I will felt all year around. Okay, so I will also dye silk and make paper too, that's the well-rounded fiber artist in me, but the feltmaker will not die for the warm weather months.

I will continue to make bright, cheery jewelry, accessories, and more. I thought that I'd want to slow my feltmaking down in the summer, but I'm really looking forward to having the time to complete some larger projects as well. Yes, it will be hot and steamy with all the boiling water and sunshine as I felt my creations, but I can handle it. And just maybe, I'll shed a few pound in the process - the feltmaker's workout plan!

Woohoo! I'm on Etsy's front page today

I was wondering what to write about today. Then a very nice fellow etsyian and felter, lanadeflor , sent me a message to let me know that one of my items is on Etsy's front page (at least for a little while)!! WOOHOO :o) I've never been on the front page before that I know of, and it is totally thrilling!

I've been needle felting these lovely flower rings in all different colors and the mint green and pink one is featured on Etsy's front page. They make me think of spring and fun and children laughing and playing! A big thanks to glasshousejewelry for putting me in their beautiful treasury list and picking such stellar items. Anyway, here's the "famous" ring that made it to a little bit of Etsy stardom. And here's some of my other flower rings, just so they don't feel left out. There are many color combos available in my Etsy shop as well as some flower pendants, heart pendants, and butterfly rings and pendants.