It’s my Birthday! Besides that it is such a beautiful day today Sunny and 73º. I love spring! My favorite flower, the Tulip, is in bloom. They are just the perfect flower, simple and coloful!
It is the makings for a Happy, Happy day!
It’s getting closer to Mothers Day and mom’s like it when you make them gifts 🙂
Here is a project you can make for you mom or yourself. Flowers that last year round.
Supplies needed:
Felt :: 1″ Button :: 3/4″ Art Buttons :: Pattern :: 18 gauge wire
24 gauge wire :: Small pot
Make your pattern, I drew around the 1″ button then added petals. Cut out the flower.
Cut 2″ of 24 gauge wire, I used copper, any kind can be used. Center the 3/4″ Art Button on the flower. Use a needle or piece of the 24 gauge and poke it through the button holes felt, wiggle it around to separate the fibers of the felt. Fold your 2″ piece of wire lightly in half. From the back side of the flower, push the wire through the button holes to the top and twist once. Lay the wire down flat so it is out of the way. Putting the stamen wire in now keeps these 2 pieces together while adding the stem wire.
Cut 6″ of 18 gauge wire. From the backside of the flower push the wire through one of the button holes. Approximately 1 3/4″ through the flower, bend 90º, as you would when making a wire loop. Slide the long end of the wire up further from the top, enough so you can finish bending the wire to go back down through the other button hole. The wire will naturally want to curve and cross. Straighten a little as you go to make it easier to push it down through both holes. With your wire straigthened and through both button holes, slide the 1″ button onto the wire and through both button holes. I used shell buttons because it’s what I could find in my studio. Plastic would work also.
Wrap the short end of wire around the long piece of wire. Use your pliers to bend the tail of the wire into the stem.
Curl your stamen wire.
Repeat this as many times as you would like for your bouquet.
I used a small terra cotta pot for my flowers. A yogurt cup would work. Decorate the container. Put styrofoam, flower foam or in my case, clay (it was within reach in the studio), in the bottom of the pot. Place wood Excelsior, paper shred, easter grass, yarn, whatever you like on top. Arrange your flowers. Viola!! A gift your mother or yourself.
This weeks question:
What was your best birthday gift or suprize?
Leave a comment and you could win these four 3/4″ buttons, so you can make your own bouquet.
Tari “Birthday Girl” of Creative Impressions In Clay.
Katie
April 18, 2009 at 7:43 pmHappy Birthday! And, that is the cutest idea for a Mother’s Day gift! Maybe I will make one for my mom :o)
As far as best gifts go, I’ve been pretty lucky because my hubby does a great job of gift shopping! I loved the $100 gift certificate he got me to my local bead shop the first year I started beading – it didn’t last long, but I loved it!
But, my favorite is probably when he got me a Nintendo DS…I told him about this commercial I saw for a game called Brain Age and how you could only play it on a Nintendo DS…He made some “ok, whatever” comment – mostly because I already had a DS (and Brain Age) wrapped and under the tree :o) He had already seen it and knew it was a perfect gift for a nerd like me (haha)…
Hope you have a super birthday!
Jocelyn
April 18, 2009 at 7:54 pmLoved the flowers! I have just begun to doing bead work and am already addicted!
I read your blog everyday!
Jocelyn
April 18, 2009 at 7:56 pmDarn Blogger my comment went poof before I was finished!
Happy Birthday and many more.
Thank you fo rall the great tips on tools and patterns! For a newbie it’s priceless!
Gail W.
April 18, 2009 at 8:43 pmHappy Birthday,Tari!And a wish for many more!!I never get surprises on my birthday,and I'm o.k. with that.I tell them what I want.But one Saturday,I told everyone,lets go to Moms'.Me,husband,daughter&2 grandkids drove up 85 to N.C.,on the way I made husband stop and buy some peaches and chow-chow,saying"we can't show up empty handed".They fussed at me,which meant I put my finger down and said-hush!We stopped.We got to Moms,my whole family and cfriends were their and I still didn't get it.Finally,my mom said-Gail,look at the balloons,NOW!It was my birthday surprise party and I hadn't even noticed!
Tari of ClayButtons.com
April 18, 2009 at 10:23 pmThank you for the birthday wishes!! Next year is the big 5-0! I will celebrate not being eligible for AARP yet!
SummersStudio
April 19, 2009 at 1:26 amHappy Birthday! I love how you find such creative use for buttons. OK my best birthday gift ever was this year when my son returned from Iraq on my birthday after a 15 month deployment. We were able to meet him at Ft Hood and spend a week with him, getting to know him all over again. It was a special blessing and the first time I’ve spent my birthday with him in over 6 years.
Fab Fibers
April 19, 2009 at 2:57 amHappy Birthday to you!
Love those button flowers.
My best birthday ever was when I had my 40th Over-the-Hill party.
All my friends and family were there. They even had a wheelchair to wheel me around in all night.
Dale
April 19, 2009 at 3:49 amWhat bright flowers! I’m sure they’d brighten anyone’s day.
As for me, my favorite was my christmas present, when my parents bought me an ipod. It isn’t directly art related, but i do so love rocking out with my i=pod while creating. It just adds that extra dimension of excitement for me 🙂
Alice
April 19, 2009 at 12:30 pmHappy Birthday!!!!! My favorite flower is the tulip also! Too bad all the critters around our home dig them up.
My best birthday was when my husband called my boss and arranged time off for a week long get-a-way to Las Vegas (without me knowing about it). He told me we were going to Kansas City for the night, and would pack my bag for me and pick me up from work. On the ride up he gave me a card and at the bottom he told me about the Vegas trip. The bad thing is that I easily get car sick when I read, so I never made it down to the writing at the bottom. He had to tell me what it said!
Cute flower project! Thanks for sharing.
LLYYNN - Lynn Davis
April 19, 2009 at 1:17 pmHappy Birthday and many happy returns … such cuteness in these flowers, such genius in making spring flowers while the April rains are falling! Made my day sunnier just looking at them.
BEAUTY BEAUTY!
tamdoll
April 19, 2009 at 2:10 pmHappy Birthday! These flowers are adorable and such a nice project for springtime.
Thanks for the chance to win.
Lucie
April 19, 2009 at 3:15 pmHappy Birthday,
My most favorite birthday surprise was when I turned four I received a bouquet of flowers from my dad. That was super special.
:-) MaryLou
April 19, 2009 at 3:15 pmHappy birthday!
That’s such a cute bouquet, but I’d be sorely tempted to use those buttons as closures on beadwoven bracelets. I’m a button FANATIC. 🙂
As for my best birthday surprise? Well, it was something very simple. My husband made a Happy Birthday sign for me and hung it on the inside of the garage door, so when I pulled into the driveway and pressed the door opener, it flipped down and welcomed me home. It was a wonderful surprise to see that there, having just come home from a long day at work; and three years later the sign is still hanging there (I smile every time I see it). 🙂
Bead-Mused
April 19, 2009 at 3:41 pmHappy birthday!! My biggest surprise was finding out that my youngest child was coming early! A month early! We managed to hold her off for 11 more days, and all went well. But what a BIG surprise!
Theresa
theresa @ tbuchle DOT com
Alice Howe
April 19, 2009 at 4:19 pmI was teaching in Berlin, living with my son there. He was 18, so still in the years where he’s the most important thing in his world. But he took me to an Italian place for dinner and really spent that time with me. I was so touched. It was simple, but it WAS the thought that counted.
Alice Howe
abeadlady
April 19, 2009 at 4:49 pmHappy Birthday, Tari!
My best birthday surprise was when I turned 65 last year and all my beady buddies threw me a surprise party at the shop where we teach. It was great! This year they took me out to dinner. Can’t beat this bunch.
Love your buttons. I can see them in a piece of my bead embroidery as focals.
Arline
Terry Biz
April 19, 2009 at 5:44 pmCindy –
I love this idea – when my girls were young, we made this out of bonded fabric. Felt wasn’t in then.
My favorite gift was when a few Mother’s Days ago, my three daughters surprised me by cleaning my entire apartment while I was at work. And, boy, did it need it!!
bluelapis
April 20, 2009 at 12:29 amHappy Birthday! I love your buttons. They are so bright and colorful. I can see these used in so many different ways!
My favorite birthday gift was meeting my now best friend of 27 years, and finding out we have the same birthday! We havent spent one apart since. No matter where we live or what we are doing, we are always together for our birthdays.
TesoriTrovati
April 20, 2009 at 4:56 pmSuper fun buttons! What a cute idea…would make a great mother’s day project (do you think I could leave this instruction for my husband to find and make with the kiddos?! ha ha!) Thanks for sharing. Enjoy the day! Erin
Kiwiken
April 22, 2009 at 5:01 amI do like the bouquet, but I imagine that I would just love those buttons in bracelets!
My best birthday surprise… well, it may not be particularly useful or even art related, but for the first birthday I spent with my boyfriend, he bought me a whole bucket of red roses! Yeah, I’m a hopeless romantic, so it was the perfect gift 😉 I still have one of the flowers, dried up.
Mari Aparicio
April 24, 2009 at 11:39 pmBeautiful, I loved it!