Project: Sweet Singed flowers on a budget

Budgets. We all should have them. We all should love them. I hate them.

Apparently since infancy I have never been a fan of this word.

"NO."

When I am told no this is what I hear: why not but I want it how can I get it how soon can I get it what are choices A B C to get around it no well crap A B and C didn't work what are D E F you say no but I heard yes would crying work in this situation should I hold my breath maybe if I pout and add the sad puppy dogs eyes in the mix...

Crafting on a budget means making hard choices, or being creative with your funds. These little blossoms are your money maker. Nope, no need to go to a fabric store to buy any fabric. Drop by your local thrift or second hand store, preferably on bargain day. My local haunt is the Disabled American Veteran's thrift store. On any given day you can find a deal BUT on Sunday's is when you get the best deal ever. All items are tagged with a variety of colored tags that rotate over blocks of time as items come in. Each Sunday they pick two colors of tags that have a special discount. One color is half off; the other color is 5 for $1 or 25 cents each. Quite a clever way to turn over old stock isn’t it! Also, quite a fabulous way to make dozens of flowers for less than 25 cents in fabric! You want to look for synthetic fabrics that you can melt. Yup, we're playing with fire again! YIPPIE! Formal type dresses don't do well, but floaty summer dresses and skirts work most the time. My favorite are hideous pajamas and robes with crazy patterns that are so slick you are certain when you sit down you will slide right off your bed and hit the floor with a large embarrassing thud.  It's almost like they were made that horrible just so they could be reborn as really pretty flowers!

Supplies:
Synthetic fabric
Scissors
Lighter
Needle and thread (we prefer upholstery thread)
Center embellishment- beads, buttons, acrylic rhinestone

Cut your fabric into 5 rough circles in varying sizes. Don't focus too much on pretty little perfect circles. You actually want them to be imperfect to add some character to them.

Hold your fabric circle with the print facing up and run your lighter along the edge melting the fabric. The more you apply heat to the edge and even a little bit along the underside the more your petal will curl up. Do not leave it in one place for too long or it may catch fire. We learned last week it is best to be prepared for this with a handy bowl of water under where you are working to drop it in. Our legal consultant insisted this week that we modify our fire prevention advice. Not that you will need it but it can't hurt to have a fire extinguisher in arms reach when playing with open flames while crafting.

Repeat this step for each of your circles then stack together and sew.

Finish with your choice of center decoration. Now remember we saved all that money on fabric.... so we splurged on another pretty blingy button.

Here's a few wonderful idea of things you can apply your singed flowers to.