Yup

Before I get into my toot-worthy Instant Craftification tutorial, I thought I should share a brief story from my day. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I suprised my coworkers this morning by baking cinnamon rolls for them in the oh-so-cute little oven we have at work. When I baked a batch for L and I yesterday morning, they were light and fluffy to the point of practically needing to be weighed down to prevent them from floating away. And then I tried baking some at work today. They barely puffed, and could be described as neither "light" nor "fluffy." Cooking in a foreign kitchen is like wearing someone else's shoes ... they may technically do the same job as the the ones you're used to, but you just feel like your mojo isn't working. But enough about that ... it's time for some Instant Craftification!

I'll start this one off with a little bit of backstory. I LOVE belts. Especially the little waist-cinchy ones. I could buy belts all day long, but I have to stop myself because as much as I love buying belts, I also love eating and having a roof over my head so those have to come first (sadly). As a result, I have a small but mighty belt collection of mostly simple styles that can be paired with almost anything. But sometimes I want something a little more funky than a basic black belt. And with that, I give you this ...

Buckled Up Tutorial

Before and after. Cute, right?

Supplies

• 1" wide strips of patterned fabric in your desired palette (length will depend on how large you want your rosettes to be)
• Fabric glue
• Small piece of sturdy fabric for base
• 1" wide elastic strip (long enough to fit tightly around the buckle of your belt)
• Sewing machine (or needle and thread)
• Scissors / pinking shears
• Pencil

There are lots and lots of great tutorials available online for making fabric rosettes, so I won't try to reinvent the wheel. Basically, you fold your fabric strip in half lengthwise, tie a knot at one end, and then twist, wrap, and glue to create the layers of the rosette. The more times you twist and wrap, the larger your rosette will be. Create three rosettes in varying sizes for your buckle and allow them to dry thoroughly. Note: Putting together each of your rosettes can take a little time and practice, but it's a great way to keep your hands busy while watching a DVD.

Stitch a leaf shape onto two pieces of fabric (backs facing inward), and use your pinking shears to cut around the outer edge. Arrange your rosettes and leaf onto a piece of sturdy backing fabric, and trace around the outer edges of your arrangement with a pencil. Use your pinking shears to trim along the inside of your pencil lines. Slightly overlap the ends of the elastic and stitch together to create a loop. Sew the elastic loop onto the back side of your backing fabric, keeping in mind how you want the rosettes and leaf to sit in relation to your buckle. Glue the rosettes and leaf onto the backing fabric as desired, and allow to dry thoroughly. Slip the elastic loop around your buckle to give your belt a fresh, new look.

I already have like 10 other ideas for additional buckle embellishments to create. It's almost like getting a brand new collection of belts, but without the spending money part! I guess that's kind of like having my belt and eating too.