craft: blooming billies

I wish I had all the time in the world to just surf all of the impressive blogs out there. A recent blog I stumbled upon, domestifluff, had a clever tutorial on how to make pom pom flowers. This craft made me incredibly giddy because of my recent infatuation with lucy balls and billy balls.

billy balls +                                                  lucy balls +

I haven't been able to find either in stores to purchase. Admittedly, I haven't overexerted myself in looking for them, but that's besides the point. Domestifluff's craft has solved my problem and I couldn't wait to try it out. Her method suits lucy ball-sized poms, so I modified her method a little to make my desired billy ball-sized poms. Take a look at my results (and a mini step-by-step tutorial).

Tools:

Yarn (I found that acrylic yarn gives the best effect)

Scissors

Floral wire + or twigs

       

Wrap yellow yarn around your finger about 50 times semi-loosely.

Slide ball off finger and cut a piece of yarn roughly 4 inches long.

      

Place the yarn ball on top of the yarn string. Tie a tight knot with the string.

With scissors, cut the tops of all the loops.

You now have a scraggly, almost dahlia-shaped, pom pom. 

(I considered stopping at this step and making a brooch.)

Shave off the excess yarn by taking your scissors and cutting the 

yarn in a circular direction until you are happy with the results.

(Yes, that is a Nancy Drew book underneath the fluff.)

Take your floral wire or twig, and stick your pom on top. 

If you want it to be more secure, you could use hot glue. 

And voila! Happy little billy balls. I think they look pretty darn-tootin close to the real thing, don't you? Thank you SO much, domestifluff, for your inspiration! I'll definitely be trying out more variations soon.

craft: billy ball preview

Here's a little sneak peek for a recent craft I've been working on. More pictures and a tutorial to come!

PS - Isn't that piano gorgeous? A lovely treat that came with the new house we just moved into. I wish I knew how to play the piano, but it's definitely encouraging me to learn!

alias

After years of pining over all of the wonderfully creative and well-done blogs all over the interweb, I have finally felt ready for the challenge of starting up my own. So here I am!

I want to take a few moments to introduce this little blog of mine to the world. You might be wondering where I got the adorably clever name "kelly greenthumb" because, in fact, my name is Amanda. The name encompasses everything I aspire to be: a steward for our precious earth and a crafting, do-it-yourself guru. I like to think of KG as a love child between Captain Planet and Martha Stewart. That's a weird picture I painted, but you know what I mean. And well, it's a nice coincidence that Kelly is my middle name and that kelly green was my absolute favorite color in high school. Thus my alias was born.

I hope to keep this space updated often with various posts about recipes, crafts, tips, adventures, inspirations, and life lessons.

Thanks for taking the time to peruse and partake on this journey with me.