How to Make Fabric Poofs

I shared with you my Valentine's Day Mantel the other day, and mentioned that I would be giving a tutorial on how to make the fabric poofs that are in the buckets on my mantel.  I'm not really sure how to title these little guys, but poof is just gonna have to work right now.  If you think of something more creative, by all means, share!

Here's the step-by-step on how to make these:

Supplies:
-fabric

-scissors {or rotary circle cutter}

-circle shape to use as a stencil

-pins

-stryrofoam ball

1. Take your fabric and either trace out circles using a stencil of your choice.  OR, using a rotary circle cutter. For a short time while living in CA, I made and sold hairbows to a children's boutique.  In order to help with my little business, my husband found and purchased this tool for me and it saved me a TON of time!  Now, I'm glad to have it for projects like this when I need to cut out multiple circles.  This is what it looks like:

It's very similar to a compass, like used in math class, but this one has a blade on it.  You simply measure out the diameter of your circle, place the point on the fabric, and turn it around to cut out a perfect circle.

2. Once your circles are cut out, fold it in half, and then in half again, so that it looks like this:

3. At the bottom point of the circle {where all the folds meet} place a small straight pin and then insert it into the stryrofoam ball.

4. Continue inserting the fabric circles in this manner until you have enough of the ball covered for your liking.  For my purposes, I only needed half of it covered, because the bottom portion would be resting in a bucket, but you could continue all the way around the ball to make a complete sphere.

 At some point I had purchased this little bucket from the dollar bin at Target, and it was the perfect spot to rest my little poof of fabric.

This method is great for all kinds of crafts!  The original tutorial I saw using this method was for a heart wreath:

Felt Heart Tutorial

Valentine's Day Mantel {that Cost Me Nothing}

The world of blogging has opened up a whole new world for me, including being less practical in my approach to holidays.  My college dorm was never decorated for anything, besides Christmas {it's probably a good thing I dropped out of the Elementary Education program.  My classroom would have been very boring--no cool bulletin boards, room decorations....}, and I've never really found it necessary to decorate my home for each holiday.  However, the more I've read blogs and browsed magazines, I've discovered that there is nothing wrong with having a bit of fun on these holidays!  And, I don't have to go crazy with it, spending lots of money and taking a ton of time to create something fun.  With just a little bit of thought, some planning, and creativity, holidays can be more festive and I'm finding that I like it this way.

When Beth, from Home Stories A to Z, announced she was hosting a Valentine's Day Mantel party, I decided I would go for it!  However, I didn't want to go out and buy anything in order to make mine.  This project was completely put together from things I already had, just spruced up a bit.

I tried taking this wall hanging down, but I don't like moving art around for the holidays, so I opted to put it back up.  Plus, there is an outlet behind it, so finding something that was large enough to cover that up was difficult.  I don't mind that it's there.

I'll show you how I made these little 'trees' in another post.  Super easy, and super cheap!

I have had this frame sitting on our entryway table for months, for the purpose of keys, etc.  It was the perfect participant with a little DIY art {chalk writes really well on thick scrapbook paper}.

I found these buckets some time last year, in the dollar bins at Target.  They can serve countless purposes, but best when not used as clutter in your craft closet, as mine were!  I'll also show you how I made those fabric 'poofs' soon.

What better way to express love than by a picture of the love of my life with me.  This photo was taken at my sister's wedding and I love it!

photography at my sister's wedding by Colling Photography

And, one last glimpse of the whole thing.  

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