fraises

Isn't that such a pretty word for such a lovely fruit?

I love these strawberries from Martha Stewart crafts.


image from martha stewart crafts

Being a girl of limited means, however, I opted to try to find a way to make my own. Here is my tutorial on making strawberry embellishments.

Ingredients:

~adhesive backed felt in strawberrylicious colors. You don't need the whole sheet, just enough to make some berries. My strips are about 2" x 5.5". You'll want to keep the backing on until you actually use them in your card, layout, etc.

~green felt for leaves. Again, just enough for some caps & leaves if you like.

~embosser with Swiss Dots embossing folder

~scissors & pinking shears (if you wanna get really fancy)

If you don't have adhesive backed felt or an embossing folder, you can still do this, stay tuned until the end.

1. Run your strips through the embosser. It might take a few runs to get the texture you want.


See? Instant strawberry seeds.



2. Get out some scissors & cut out strawberry shapes. It's like a heart, but not such a deep V at the top & a rounded out bottom.



3. Now for some caps. I use non adhesive felt for mine. First cut out a semicircle.



Then, cutting from the flat side up, cut out some leaves. Don't cut all the way through, though, make sure you leave the top intact. It makes it easier to adhere to the strawberry.



Voila! Strawberry!

4. If you'd like some leaves, use pinking shears to cut out leaf shapes.



The image above also shows strawberries made without the adhesive backed felt. Just use regular felt & make your own "seeds". I made these by making itty bitty stitches & French knots as my friend Leah taught me they were called, but you could use beads, seed pearls, maybe even eyelets or brads.

Enjoy!