Photo Flower

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Gotta love midterms, right? Well in the mix of all my studying and paper-writing, I decided to take a crafting break. This one is so easy to do, and it's such a cute way to bring an early spring to your room. Plus, it helps clean out your crafting bin from all those left over pieces.

 

What you'll need:
-Sturdy wire (mine is beading wire)
-Wire cutters
-Yarn (as many colors as you want to use- I used 2)
-tape
-Magazine pot (See? I said that this post would show up again)
-Clay or poster putty
-glass rocks to fill the pot (left over from this craft)

 
The first part of this craft is to shape your flower out of wire. Make one petal at a time, wrapping the wire around the center post so each is secure. This also creates the center for your flower (think daises). Then make stem, folding the wire so it goes up and down the length 3 times for added stability.

Now decide what pattern you want to create with your yarn. I only had access to pink and purple, but it definitely matches my dorm this way. Pick a peddle to start on (it doesn't really matter which one) and tie the yard firmly to the wire. Next tape the short tail from the knot to one of the unwrapped petals. This is temporary, but it needs to be held down while you start wrapping. Wrap the yarn tightly around the wire, continuing around the petal as you go.

If you want to make more than one petal the same color, don't worry about using a separate piece of yarn for each one. It is actually easier to pass behind the center of your flower (by doing this you are essentially picking the front and the back of the piece) and continue wrapping on the other petals. Once you are done with that color, tie the end that you are holding to the end that you taped down in the beginning. If the knot is tight enough, this will keep the whole thing from unraveling. Follow the same steps for as many colors as you want to do, tying it all together in the back when you are done.

To finish it off, grab one of the cute bowls/pots you made from magazines in the earlier post (or find a different vessel) and put a glob of clay at the bottom. I actually used that poster putty that you use so you don't damage dorm walls, and that works just as well. Stick the stem of your flower into the clay and mold it around the wire so it stands up straight. Finally add the glass rocks to the pot to fill it (apparently I didn't bring as many as  I thought, so I'll have to finish filling mine over spring break).

All that's left now is to find your favorite photos and stick them between the petals of the flower. Cute, right?! Unlike a normal "frame" this is both whimsy and easy to change out. You could add a different photo every day if you really wanted to. Enjoy your new decor, and, as usual, happy crafting.