June 4, 2010

Flippin' With Flowers



Hello Again!! My name is Lori Apgar and I am honored to be back as a Sassy Designer!! For those of you who don't know, my Gypsy screen cracked last week and I have been a little lost without her! Thankfully, I completed this project before she cracked!!

I wanted to try cutting fabric with my Cricut, and with summer right around the corner I thought this would be a great time mix my project with some summerwear!




I bought some fat quarters from Michaels and Wal-Mart as well as used some left over fabric that I already had. I picked up some hot pink flip flops and a visor from Michaels. My original color scheme was hot pink and zebra stripe. Well, the zebra stripes looked too chunky once the fabric was cut into small flowers. I changed out the hot pink for the orange flowered fabric. Lucky for me, I work at Michaels and was able to pick up another pair of flip flops and a visor in white!!




Cutting fabric is a bit tricky when you don't have a ton of patience like me! I almost quit more than once, but I do have a stubborn streak as well!

The first thing you need to do is iron Heat and Bond (or something similar) to your fabric. This will stiffen up your fabric and make it easier to cut. I did iron my fabric first to get out the wrinkles, then ironed on the Heat and Bond. My friend uses a heavy duty iron on paper, but this is all I found at Michaels. Next time I will seek out something more Heavy Duty!!



Following the directions on the package, place the paper side up (shiny side towards the fabric) and iron to the wrong side of the fabric. Do not peel off the paper until after you cut the fabric.




You should use a new blade and a new mat. My friend also recommends using painter's tape to tape the fabric down to the mat. This helps keep the fabric tight across the mat. I did not have painter's tape handy, so I tried scotch tape. It did not really seem to help much and it did not come off the edge of the mat easy.



I used Plantin Schoolbook for my flower shape and made four different sizes of flowers. The pink fabric cut the best as it was a pretty thick fabric I used to make drapes for my daycare with. You can see here the orange flowers did not cut well. I used scissors to snip the parts that did not cut through all the way. I did peel off the paper backing once I removed the flowers from the mat.





Once cut, I had a difficult time getting my flowers to have some texture. I tried running them through the crimper, but that did not do much. Crumpling does not work with fabric like it does with paper ~ that would have been too easy!!

I decided to poke two extra holes (one on either side of the middle hole) and gather the flower a bit. I used my Cricut dental tool for this and it worked like a charm. I only poked my finger once!! I used the biggest brad I had and poked it into the bottom hole, back up through the middle hole and down into the top hole to gather the layers together. I did this one layer at a time. I couldn't take a photo as I needed both hands and did not have a helper handy!



I glued a rhinestone on each flower. I used Tacky Tape to glue the flowers to the flip flops.

I made a third flower with the extra pieces and glued it to my visor with a glue dot.



So here you have a nice flowery pair of flip flops and visor!! This project was a bit frustrating, but I am glad I stuck with it! I will be giving away this pair of flip flops and visor on my BLOG.

Thanks again, Sassy, for having me on your blog!!

22 comments:

Sheila aka SassyLady said...

Wow, how fun are these! TO THE BEACH is my battle cry and I'm taking these along! They are adorable!

flowerdisco said...

Lori...this is a very nice project.

Psss! I bought a pair of those flip flops at M's too for the same purpose which I never got through with it but the flip flops killed my feet :( just sharing my experience.

Sheila aka SassyLady said...

Adding to Flowerdisco, my first pair every summer hurt my feet.... I just have to break my feet in slowly and its always been that way. May I suggest to all to do the same.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE to see what you ladies come up with - if only I were as creative. SassyLady taught me glass etching on Monday at her house - that's as far as I've gotten. Love this project!

217 Creations said...

OHHHHHH!!! SO cute!!! I need to make apair before my vacay!!!!!! Thanks Lori!

papillon digital design said...

very cute and sassy!!

Beatriz Farquhar-Guzman said...

They are adorable!!!!!!! what a fabulous idea!!!!!
Happy Friday!

Angi Barrs said...

Love your project Lori. What a cute project.

Sandy said...

Look at you go girl! What fun I've had this am strolling through your little boutique of creative inspiration...and so much inspiration there is to be had! Love this idea...just the cutest and love how you've used your cricut to create these fun and fab summer fashion statements...toooo cooool! Thanx so much for all of your love thoughts and prayers the past few months...your encouragement means more than you will ever know....I am so blessed to have such fabulous bloggy buds...God is good!!!! cya soon!

Unknown said...

Thanks ladies!!

I did want to add that last summer my flip flops from Michaels did kill my feet!! This year they are more cushion-ey and the strap is a smooth plastic (kind of stretchy). They feel better on my feet than last year's model!

Sandy from Ukiah said...

What a cute idea... they turned out just adorable.

Deanna Mulder said...

Wow! What a great project. I love it. Thanks for sharing it with us.

CuddlyBunny said...

See? I know better than to drop in here ... now I need summery fabric, some of that iron-on paper stuff and flip flops!

Your summer set is AWESOME!

Sandi Clarkson said...

What a cute cute project .. didn't think I would have the patience .. but my granddaughters would have a ball doing this .. so I'm putting it on our to-do list!

flowerdisco said...

Thanks for the update Lori, lol. I will get a pair and will do mine this year...I promise! LOL

Debbie said...

What a wonderful idea! Great for the summer. Thanks for the tips on using fabric with the cricut. I definitely want to give it a try.

June said...

Super Cute!!!! Love this idea and love love love flip flops!!! I will definitely be trying this!!! Thank you for the inspiration!!!!!

Cheryl Boglioli said...

Thanks for all the tips on the fabric. I've been thinking of using some fabric with my Cricut and now you've explained some of the things to look for. Love the accessories for your summer wear!

Unknown said...

I did read on another post about cutting fabric with the cricut that you should take the paper backing off before you cut. I did not do that, so I might have had better results. Thought I would pass this info on!

Sentimental Scrapper said...

What a great project!! I have been wanting to try fabric with the heat and bond. Sorry to hear about your cracked gypsy screen!

scrappinlil said...

What a great idea and project...love it. I have been wanting to try fabric but now I know how..thanks alot. TFS

Audrey Frelx said...

Hi, again, Lori. Like I said on your blog, this set is just too darn cute for words!!!