April's Hat: More Flowers!

Spring, at last! My flower garden is showing signs of life again, and I am so happy the snow is gone.

To make this hat, I used the Folkwear Metropolitan Hat pattern. Other than the gathered detail of the crown, which kind of eluded me, I found it straightforward and easy to make. I used fleece for the exterior, and for the lining some tie-dyed cotton blend that I had from my stash.

Years ago, when I was trying to make the awful drafty windows in our old house less so, I covered them with panels of fleece as makeshift insulation. For my daughter's room I used cream and stitched bright fleece flowers (from a remnant) randomly all over them. The fleece for my hat came from those "curtains."

Sewn together, with one of the fleece flowers stitched on. Sewing on all those little flowers took forever.

It's a comfy, slouchy hat, cheery and bright and fun. And it's probably too warm to wear it now, but it can also be a great hat to wear in the cold and snow, bringing a little sunshine to a winter's day.

I will almost certainly make this hat again, but I think I will eliminate the gathered crown. Or maybe I just need to play with it some more to figure out exactly what the instructions are telling me to do...

Cupcake Bouquet (Tutorial)

My daughter's 14th birthday is this weekend. The theme has sort of evolved into Cupcakes. Giant Wilton cupcake pan, cupcake paper plates and wrapping paper, and one giant stuffed plush cupcake (from Gramma). I thought it would be cute to make a bouquet of flowers that looked like cupcakes. Here's how I did it.

The supplies: 6 silk carnations, 6 2.5 in. Styrofoam balls, cupcake liners, and glitter glue. The Mylar film, ribbon and cylinder box are for the vase.

Cut the ends off the balls so you get sort of a small cookie-shaped piece.

 Foam "cookie"

Roll the edge of the "cookie" on a hard surface to flatten it, and to make sure it fits in the cupcake liner.

Remove the flower from the stem, poke the stem into the center of the Styrofoam. Try to keep the stem perpendicular.

Push it all the way through so you get a nice, clear hole.

Put hot glue in a circle in the bottom of the cupcake liner. DO NOT get it in the center - you need to poke the stem through that.

Using a knife, remove a cone-shaped piece from the center of the Styrofoam, around the hole. This will accommodate the bottom of the carnation, making it sit deeper in the cup. (If you're using flowers other than carnations, that have a flatter base, you might be able to skip this part.)

Poke the stem through the hole, top down, out the bottom of the cup. This will mark where you push the stem through the other way so you can reattach the flower.

Put the flower back on the stem, snugging it down into the Styrofoam cookie.

Run a little hot glue around the bottom, to hold the cup in place.

Cute, huh? You can stop here, or...

Put some glitter glue on a piece of waxed paper.

Dab your flower in the glitter glue, adding a little color and sparkle to the tips of the petals.

Like sprinkles on a cupcake!

I used a raised cake rack to put them in to try, to keep them from touching each other and transferring glue, and to keep all surfaces exposed to air for drying.

Here's the vase they'll sit it once the glitter glue has dried. The ribbon is held in place with double-stick tape. After the party this weekend, this can go in her room, and no glass to break!