This Lil' Birdie is Crafty: Felted Flowers

So I'm pretty much the queen of flowers right now... They're pretty much the ultimate accessory for me!  I wear them on jackets...

(UGH... that FACE!!!)

I wear them on belts....

And more than anything else, I wear them on shirts...

Dresses up that insanely boring ol' t-shirt doesn't it?

Well, because I love ya so very very much, I'm going to show you how to make this adorable houndstooth flower!

This lil' guy has become a staple on my red winter jacket just to spruce things up (especially during football season... Roll Tide!), and really this is incredibly easy to make.  And of course, it's hot glued (like most every craft project I do...).

Here's what you need:
-1 piece of felt (not felted wool fabric; I'm talking cheap-o felt squares in the kids craft section at Hobby Lobby 4/$1.00... I picked houndstooth, but there are about 60 other choices -- glittery silver, anyone?)
- hot glue (surprise surprise! <--- it took me 4 times to spell that right....)
- 1 pin or clip or something to attach it to your clothing/headband/whatever...
- Pearls, beads, or something to cover the hideous center of the flower (you'll see what I mean in a minute)
- 15-ish minutes & some Advil for the hot glue burns (no, seriously)

Start by drawing & cutting out 6 large petals, six smaller petals, and a circle (not pictured) from your felt square....

I free-handed mine which is why they're really not perfect.  Just as an fyi, on printed felt it's easier to draw & cut from the back (non-printed) side... I used a sharpie.

Next, you're going to use your hot glue gun to smudge (yes, that's a real word) the ends of each of the petals like this...

 Just make a little accordion fold & get some glue in between.  No worries if they're perfect, you won't be able to tell.  Do this to the 6 big petals, and then the 6 smaller petals just fold the bottom corners towards each other & glue... you'll see... I didn't take a picture...

Then you'll glue each petal onto the felt circle you cut earlier... Start with the bigger petals on the bottom & just arrange them to look like a flower-ish thing-a-ma-doo....

Easy as pie... with hot glue burns... yum!

Then do the same thing with the smaller petals but this time you'll glue them on top of the bigger petals.  I like to arrange them pretty before I start glue-ing....

See how the smaller petals are just glued at the bottom instead of the little accordion I showed you earlier?  Easier to do... Prettier on top....

So see what a hideous center we have there?  No worries, this is where your pretties come in!  I used one big pearl and tiny grey-ish pearls to cover the center.. Just hot-glue them into place....

I made one the other day and used a beautiful vintage button I bought from Etsy.... It was beauti-mous!

Then glue your holder (pin/barrette/etc) to the TOP of the felt circle on the backside... very much like what we did for the Pretty Flowers...

And voila!  You're done!  Now go wear your flower with a big ol' smile (proven to make you feel better about everything -- flowers & smiles that is!).

I'll post a picture of my flower on my coat soon... Until then, go make your own & link to pictures of yours if you do make these (and P.s. these make GREAT Christmas presents... I probably just ruined a few of my own gifts... )