Thank you, announcement and zippers.

I've had quite a few comments on my giveaway post expressing concern as to the state of my sanity.  It's quite possible you are just now learning the truth - that I am truly LOCO!  But hopefully you realize how much I appreciate you guys, too!  You know, when I put that rule in there about telling me why you love bugaboo, mini, mr & me it was kind of just a whim, you know, so it wouldn't be TOO easy to "win."  But now I see the GENIUS insight I must have subconsciously had, because aside from feeling pretty swell in all respects (honestly, I'm blushing guys) I now know that 1) if I ever had the strange desire to discontinue either a) Yummy Mondays or b) Tales from the Crib I would probably have a full scale mutiny on my hands.  Good to know.   And 2) I can feel even more comfortable being myself here, which is probably the most significant outcome of your comments.  So thanks!  

One more announcement before the tutorial: if you have or do in the future ever make anything from my recipes, tutorials or show and tell-y type posts or even remotely INSPIRED by it, will you please let me know?  You can leave a comment or shoot me an email.  I want to start featuring some of you folks who do my stuff successfully - because it's pretty cool when something turns out for me, but when it works out a second time it's a miracle.  And that needs to be documented.

bugaboominimrandme(at)yahoo(dot)com

On with the show!

Soooo, you all thought I forgot that I promised tutorials for the Christmas creations I showed you, didn't you?  Bwah-ha-ha!  I fooled you!  I didn't forget!  I just got sidetracked... which is easy to do around here...  For the next week or so I'll give up the details on how to create each of the Christmas gifts I simply showed off.  We will begin tonight with the most requested tutorial: The Zipper Flower Headband.  (Yes, girls at my church, this one's for you.)

You are all probably going to roll your eyes or want to smack me for this tutorial, because really, there is absolutely nothing concrete or technical to say about creating these.  It's a lot of trial and error, or actually - because it's ridiculously easy - trial and SUCCESS!  

Good news?  You only need two things to make a zipper flower.  And only two MORE things to make it into a headband!

Zipper(s)

Hot glue gun

Now, if you're going to make a headband:

felt

plain metal headband (you can get at most any craft store)

That's it!  

Okay.  Generally, one zipper makes one flower.  If it's a very long zipper, a 1/2 zipper can make one flower.  So begin with the number of zippers appropriate for the amount of flowers you want.

See that little staple thing at the bottom of the zipper that keeps the zipper pull on?

Cut it off.  You can just use an old pair of scissors.  (Please, girls from church, for the love, do NOT use your mom's good scissors.  Trust me.)

Unzip your zippers all the way to pull the zipper pull completely off.  Now you've got something like this:

Take your first 1/2 zipper and begin with the bottom, where there are no teeth.

Dab on some hot glue,

And fold it down.

Now, dab some more hot glue on the back side,

And twist your teeth up and wind them to the side over the glue.

Was that confusing?  Here's what it looks like from the top.  

Now, wind the zipper around completely and glue in place.  This is the center of your rose.  You can continue just rolling the zipper around a few times if you'd like, before you move on to the next step.

Now, working little by little, run a line of glue along the bottom of the zipper,

and then pinch it together at the same time as squishing it into the center.

Do this again.  And again.  Around and around.  

Vary the distance between "pinches" and how much zipper you "pinch," or rather how BIG the pinch is, if you will.  Looks a little like this:

It IS a little strange looking at first.  Now we will add the second 1/2 of the zipper.  Just line the teeth up and glue.

And continue on running glue lines and pinching/squishing.

Some (maybe) helpful tips:
The closer to the center, the closer together you should place your pinches.  Then as you continue rolling and gluing and pinching, make the pinches more gradual and loose.
Make sure to use as little glue as possible while still making it secure.  Put the glue along the very bottom of the zipper.  You don't want the hot glue squeezing out everywhere and making things ugly.


A note about zippers:
OK, this might sound really silly, but I think zippers are kind of expensive.  (Am I the only one?)  So if I'm not going to use it to actually zip something up, I buy them at the thrift store.  Usually only 25-50 cents a zipper with an added bonus of really cook looking metal teeth and some that have a vintage feel.  Nice.  Some of them look scary and rumply, but that's ok because you are rumpling them up anyway.


OK, so when you are done, the rose will look like this: (Except it will not have changed color.  For some reason I only had a picture of the completed black rose, not the green one.)  

Now, if you are going to do a flower cluster, you might like some variation.  So you can roll up 1/2 of a small zipper for a rose bud.  You just Dab some hot glue and start rolling.  Dab hot glue every so often to secure the roll in place.  

Are you going to make a headband?


Grab your felt.  Any felt is fine as long as it matches your zippers.

I like to have two layers of felt for sturdiness, so I hot glue on one side, 

Then fold in half.

Put a bunch of hot glue on the back of the flowers, 

And press it down onto the felt.

Glue the rest of your flowers down in the arrangement you like.

Cut around the flowers in an oval-ish shape.  Then, bend the oval back, kind of in half, and glue in between each flower to secure them to each other.

Cut out another felt oval the same size as the oval on the back of the flowers.

Figure out where you want your flowers to begin on your headband (I usually make mine of center, down to the side.)

Spread some glue on the back of the flowers.

Press it onto the headband in the right spot.

Then put glue on the other felt oval and sandwich the headband.

This is totally style preference, but I really like to save the zipper pull

And glue it somewhere fun.  Just for kicks.

And you're done!

Voila!

And here is the token "look-it's-totally-wearable-cuz-it's-on-my-head-but-it's-late-so-everyone's-asleep-and-therefore-I-have-to-contort-myself-in-order-to-get-this-shot" self-portrait.

And you know the drill.  Ignore the absence of hairstyle and makeup.  Thanks.

*Be sure to check just below for all the fun parties I link to!