Relationships, asking for help and a little DIY

Planning a wedding forces you to stretch your resources. And I’m not just talking finances (though those will be thoroughly stretched, my wallet misses money *sigh*). You’ll also be stretched emotionally, physically (because of all the running around...but sadly in my case I've also stretched width-wise) and relationally, for lack of a better term. I'm pretty self-reliant and my biggest challenge in this whole wedding planning process is realising that I can’t go it alone… I actually have to RELY on people. Some people will let me down and some will go over and above anything I’d ask of them, but like it or not I have to let people in.

So for the woman who HATES asking for help, in this season of my life I find myself calling in a lot of favours/making several withdrawals in a lot of my relationship love banks. It’s been hard for me to do but I have been pleasantly surprised by how much people are willing to help. I’m glad I took the plunge and reached out. Thanks Girro, Dj Panda, Director Chrome Dome, the Village, Japanese Songbird, the pub formerly known as the Black Pearl and all other people who've taken up stuff/ agreed to be bullied/ volunteered to help out. You guys are AWESOME and I shall revenge appropriately.

That being said, today’s quick DIY is a gift/bribe for a group of people who are going to deal with a lot during this season…my bridesmaids. PS I made them agree to formal terms and conditions (wink wink Mad Genius); they are now contractually bound to love & accept me even if I’m infected by bridezilla-coccus; a viscous bacteria that for some reason commonly affects brides. Symptoms include mild panic attacks, the delusion that everything revolves around the patient, obsessions with colour schemes and emotional outbursts. They are also contractually bound to help me craft my various DIY projects- case in point the flowers they'll be helping me make.

Anywho, since we are meeting next weekend to craft things, I thought I’d give them a little…“I love you now get to work” present (you know I love you girls). It’s pretty simple; we did this with the 4H club yes 4H not 4K, and saw it recently on Pinterest. What we called wavy band back then I now find out is called rick-rack. 
You can check out the tutorials that inspired this: thecraftingchicks prismrosedesigns and missfancypants.

What you’ll need

1. Rick-rack: found in a variety of colours and are very cheap. I got 7 meters for Kshs 150/= on Biashara street.
2. Felt- again you can buy a small roll for Kshs 150/= there is no point buying it by the metre that’s too much.
3. Scissors
4. Needle and thread/Hot glue/ fabric glue or if you have one, a sewing machine
5. Alligator clips- or any kind of hair clip you think can work3. I got these on the street for Kshs 50/=

Step 1

Interlock the rick-rack

Step 2

Glue/ stitch it in place so it doesn't move

PS steps 1 & 2 are optional, you can still make a flower with the rick-rack as is but I prefer how this one turns out.

 Step 3

Cut out a felt circle slightly bigger than your alligator clip.

Step 4

Roll the glued/stitched rick-raw. You’ll begin to see the flower immediately. I dabbed a little hot glue between layers to secure it in place as an extra precaution. It will now kind of resemble a closed rose, so use your fingers to open out the outer edges.

Step 5

Glue your flower to the felt then glue your clip to the other side of the felt. You can also glue a safety pin and make it a brooch instead.

 I added a fake leaf on some because the back looked pretty messy… mishaps with my glue gun.

And the final result…. Tada! (sorry I took these on my blackberry, didn't come out so clear, will try again and post new pics later)

Step 6

Get gorgeous model, let’s call her mum, to put one on and pose for you.

PS this is very easy to do, did 4 flowers in one episode of Castle…love that show! Then again I've loved Nathan Fillion since he did Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and would watch anything he's in.