fashion statement...

Welcome all my friends!

Are you ready for another fun tutorial?  I thought I would go a little bit farther today than just showing you one technique... instead, I'll share a step by step project too! Ready to get your hands sparkly?

What you need:

Creative Inspirations Paint

White Tulle

felt

feathers

scissors
hot glue gun
exacto knife

flowers/buttons/embellishments

broach pin/ hair clip  (optional)

Step 1: Cut desired length of white tulle. (18-24 inches is good)

Step 2: Cut your tulle to the width you want. (the easy way to do this is by folding your 18 inches in half over and over again until you cut the width in 1 cut.  Tulle is thin, so lots of layers won't affect the cutablility.

Step 3: Paint your tulle. I know it's hard to see, but it really does color the tulle. And yes, you could just buy colored tulle, but then it wouldn't have the shimmer of the CI paints. =)
*I'm using Onyx CI paint*

Step 4: After your tulle is dry, tie it in a bow. Then set aside.

Step 5: Use an exacto knife to cut off the fluffy part on the INSIDE curve of a feather.  (feathers generally have a natural curve in one direction or the other. Remove the inside of the curve.)

This gets really messy, and you will have feather fluff all over your room if you don't keep it under control.. I like to make sure no fans are on, no windows open, and have a lint roller handy to pick up fluff before it can fly away.  =)

Step 6: Using the blade of your scissors, curl the feather along the shaved edge just like you would curl packing ribbon. (this takes a little practice, but it isn't too hard)

Set that feather aside

 Step 7: Paint the smooth tops of 2 feathers.  (don't paint the floofy part, just the smooth top of the feather.)
*I'm using Carmel CI paint*

Allow to dry

Step 8: Curl your dry feather tips, then cut off the unpainted floofy part of the feather.

Gather up your 3 curled feathers, tulle bow, and whatever other embellishments you want to include... (I've stacked a couple flowers and added a button in the middle.)
*that rusty orange flower is painted with Copper CI paint... matches the feathers perfectly, huh!*

Step 9: Cut a small circle out of felt. This doesn't have to be perfect, it will be hidden in the back. You just need it to be a base.

Step 10: Use hot glue to attach your 3 feathers in a cluster on your felt.

 Step 11: Hot glue your tulle bow to the felt circle

 Step 12: Hot glue on any other embellishments you want to hide your felt.

This bow would look dashing as a hair clip, beautiful as a broach, and stunning as a gift topper!

Enjoy!
~Kassi