DIY Flower Magnets and Some Flower Tutorials

When looking up ideas for Brylee's chore chart, I knew I wanted to skip the stickers and opt for something that could be reused. Magnets are perfect for that. And I happened to have a whole set of small magnets not being used. However, my magnets were a little "boring" for something I was hoping to get Brylee excited about.

Cloth Flower Inspiration

We (mom, sister and I) headed to Hobby Lobby for inspiration. Have you been to a craft store lately? Oh my, so cute! Seriously, you don't have to be creative or crafty, just go find what you like, glue it to whatever you're trying to redo and you've got a fancy new update! I narrowed all the adorable options down to these flowers...

Then, as I waited for my mom and sister to get what they had gone for, I started looking at them and thinking the usual "I can make that." These cute little flowers were just fabric, ribbons, felt and buttons. How hard could it be?

I know this is the part of the story that I'd usually confess how wrong I was and how I attempted to do it myself but it just wasn't worth it. Not this time!

I bought a sheer pink fabric remnant for $.40, a purple and a pink felt rectangle for $.50, then used some of my sister's ribbons, random buttons and fabric scraps I held onto despite my conviction to throw them away. That's a grand total of $.90 to make 16 flower magnets that would otherwise cost $17.97 + tax to purchase.

Cloth Flower Tutorials

I've admired all the flowers popping up everywhere (shirts, purses, headbands, rings) from afar. This was a perfect chance to try making some myself. The first few flowers were just me going by instinct and my mom looking up some ideas online. Then, I put them away for a few days and jumped back in and found some great tutorials to make adorable flowers.

Here are some of my favorites with links to the tutorials...

Fabric-Felt Rolled Flower

Cute detail that's so simple. I didn't sew or hot glue. Just cut the fabric in a spiral and started turning, hand-stitched through the bottom to hold it together and glued it down. Of course, it probably helps that my magnet version is much smaller. Perfect for a magnet; not sure I'd use it for anything else.

T-shirt Flower

These are resourceful and cute! Trying to make this small enough to fit on a magnet didn't end with the same result. These aren't my favorite magnets, but I do plan to make a couple of these flowers, perhaps for a shirt or a headband like in the tutorial.

Floppy Flower

Love this whimsical flower! Again, the small version of this wasn't turning out exactly as I imagined, but still really cute. This will need to be made again.

Frayed Flower

These are so easy and versatile. Stitching-and-pulling-tight is the concept I started with. But the results can be so different depending on how you pull. Or how much you stitch. And what materials you use. The "poofs" on the right are the same idea, but bunched in a poof rather than formed into a flower.

Fabric Flower Ring

This simple and cutie rose is one of my favorites. I used ribbon and, again, didn't hot glue. Once I had it wrapped up, I stitched a couple stitches through it to hold it together. I've been wanting a flower cocktail ring and I think this would be perfect!

All of these flowers were resourceful, cheap, and fun. They will be a perfect check for Brylee's preschooler chore chart. More about why I DIY later. And, I'm sure, more fabric flower projects to come :)