Mollie Makes kit – rose cross-stitch hoop

Here's my latest (finished) craft project; a pretty cross stitched rose made with the kit which came with issue 30 of Mollie Makes.  It was designed by Eline Pellinkhof, a designer, illustrator and crafter - she has lots of cute designs for paper crafts too!

I've never used ribbons or other embellishments on cross stitch projects I've made before, but really liked this spotty ribbon and lace with the rose.  I'll definitely be wanting to add ribbon to my next cross stitch project!

I decided to keep the hoop plain wood, instead of wrapping in fabric strips like the magazine suggested.  I also stitched a circle of felt to the back...

I've already started making the kit which came with this month's magazine (which was only out this week) - unbelievably fast for me!  I'll share pictures of that when it's finished :)

Some recent makes…

I’ve been a subscriber to the Mollie Makes magazine for a couple of years now and have quite a collection of the little kits which come free with each issue.  I love the mix of craft projects, articles and inspiration in the magazines and it’s always nice to get a new craft project to try out each month (even though it usually takes me a while to get around to making them!).  This retro Dachshund is from issue 31 and was designed by Jane Foster.  She makes lovely brightly coloured screen prints inspired by Scandinavian design.  This dog was something nice and simple to stitch in front of the tv one evening.  Just to make it slightly different I decided to add some dried lavender to the stuffing, so it could be used to scent drawers when not sitting on my desk!

I’ve also been making a few handmade cards…

The Steampunk card was for my Dad’s birthday and was made with stamps from the Hexley transport set.  I used a copper coloured inkpad with the stamps and embossing powder on everything except the background pattern.  It’s a long time since I tried using embossing powder with stamps, and I wasn’t very successful with it before but was really pleased with how it worked this time.

I made the other card for Mother’s Day with layered punched and hand cut flowers, leaves and a butterfly from my Butterflies collage sheet.  I also added little gems, sequins and some cotton thread glued in swirls around the flowers.  It doesn’t take too long to cut everything out but I’ve been admiring the Brother CutNScan which would make cutting shapes for cards like these soo quick and easy!

Fabric Covered Buttons diy tutorial

Fabric covered buttons are so easy to make and great for making buttons to perfectly coordinate with your sewing project.  You can buy buttons for covering in a range of sizes, made from plastic or metal.  In this tutorial I’m using 15mm brass buttons.

This is what you will need…

* Metal self cover buttons

* fabric scraps (I’ve found thinner fabrics work best)

* template

* scissors

* pencil

* needle and thread

1. Cut out the template and use it to draw a circle onto your fabric. If you don’t have a fabric pen / pencil a soft drawing pencil works well.  Cut out your fabric circle.

The fabric circle you cut needs to be approximately 2x the size of the button you are covering.  So for a 15mm button it would be 30mm – you can download a template for the 15mm button here. (remember to print it ‘actual size’!)

2. Sew a running stitch close to the edge of the circle.
3. Pull the thread to gather the fabric around the button.
4. Press the edges of the fabric inside the button, making sure the fabric is evenly spread without folds.
5. Finally, firmly press the backing piece down.


I’ll be posting some ideas and tutorials using fabric covered buttons soon!

If you would like to have a go at making these, you can buy sets of 15mm buttons from my shop here.

My latest craft project – a dreamcatcher

I’ve wanted to make a dreamcatcher for a while and when I saw the tutorial in the latest issue of Mollie Makes (issue thirty) I knew it was time to give it a go!  The tutorial in the magazine used bright neon colours which looked really fun but I thought I would go for a more pared-down palette with natural greens, creams and browns.

I used an old bamboo bag handle as the base ring (not sure why we only had one bag handle, maybe I’ll find the other one some time and make another dreamcatcher!)  I wrapped the ring in cream and green cotton yarn.  Then used some cream embroidery thread to weave the hoop, adding some wooden beads as I went.I finished off the dreamcatcher with some larger wooden beads hanging from the ring and a feather from my budgie, Charlie!  I’ve hung it in my bedroom now – hopefully it will catch all my bad dreams! :)

Nautical makes - a handmade card and model boat

I had to wait until after Father’s Day before I could show you these because I made them for my Dad!  The card is made from 2 of the images in my new Nautical digital stamp set and one of the patterned scrapbooking papers.  I cut along the waves of the backing paper and layered them with sticky foam pads to make the sea.  The boat and banner digital stamps were printed on card, I then coloured them in watercolours and cut them out.  If you are going to colour with a wet medium like watercolours make sure you print with ink that won’t run!  I used an Epson printer with pigment ink – see this post I wrote a while ago if you want to know more about dye vs. pigment ink.

I also made this little boat - after picturing it in my head I was so pleased with how it turned out!  It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be either, although there were a few tricky bits that I had to practise first.  I cut the hull from 3/4 inch thick wood and shaped and sanded it.  I then drilled a small hole for the mast, which is made from a bamboo skewer.  The sails were hand sewn and attached to the mast with thread.  The sails were made from fairly stiff fabric but to make sure they kept straight I stitched a little eye pin to the corners of each sail and pushed them into the hull.  I also added a little flag made from satin ribbon.

By the way, my Dad really liked them too! :D

Handmade Birthday Cards

Spring is a busy time for birthdays and other card giving occasions in my house, so I thought I would share a couple of cards I made recently.

This fishy card was for my Dad’s birthday.  I used some backing paper from my set of Fish scrapbooking papers and fish from my collage sheet printed onto card.  The vallis leaves were cut from coloured paper and I made the design more 3D by sticking the fish on with foam pads.  Finally, for a bit of sparkle I used some translucent sequins…

I’ve made a few variations of this butterfly card recently (this one was for my sister’s birthday)…

I love the pearlescent pea green card blank I used for this design, unfortunately it’s a discontinued colour so I won’t be able to get any more :(  I printed one of my butterfly patterned papers onto sandstone coloured card and the butterflies and message were printed on card from my butterfly collage sheet.  After cutting the patterned background to size I coloured the edge with a gold inkpad.  The large butterfly was attached with foam pads and the small butterfly glued to the card along its body, with the wings slightly folded up for a 3D effect.  I also used some pretty yellow and blue gems to finish the card.

Have you bought any of the printables from my shop to use in your cardmaking or craft projects?  If you have I would love to see what you make with them!  Leave a link to your photos in the comments below :)

Stitched Pen Pot

Do you remember the stitched letter rack I did a few months ago?  I now have a pen pot to match!

I had this mesh pen pot for Christmas and have now finished stitching the cross-stitch pattern.  It took several evenings to do and was much more fiddly than the letter rack (getting the needle out of the insides of the pots was tricky even for my little fingers!).  I love how it turned out though and it’s much more fun than a plain mesh pot. :)

I haven’t painted the edges in white acrylic like I did for the letter rack – I’m feeling a bit impatient and want to start using it on my desk!  What do you think – should I paint it like the letter rack or leave it as it is?

3 Makes With… Printable Straw Flags

Today I wanted to share 3 simple projects using just one sheet of printables and a few basic craft materials.  For these projects I’m using a sheet of straw flags with an orange / green Ball Games theme, but you could use flags on any theme you like.  The sheet has 18 flags (2 of each design) and prints on 8.5 x 11 inch or A4 paper.  I printed mine on 240gsm card, you can experiment with different papers / cards depending on what you want to use them for.  For best results remember to use your printer’s highest quality setting!

1. Make a Birthday Card

This is a super easy card – great for boy’s birthdays or change the message for other occasions!  Cut out 5 different flags – 4 patterned and one with space for a message. Trim the pointed end of the one for the message but the others can be left square.  Glue the 4 patterned flags across the card at different angles (making sure the white ends will hang off the edge).  Using the edge of the card as a guide trim the excess off of the flags.  Write your message on the final flag.  Lay onto the card and mark in pencil where to cut the left side.  Trim and stick to the card with foam pads.

2. Make a Gift Tag

Cut 2 flags.  Trim one end from each flag square, making one flag slightly longer than the other.  Punch a hole in each flag.  On the smaller flag write ‘To…’ and on the larger flag write ‘From…’.  Finally tie the two together with some ribbon or thread.

3. Make cupcake toppers and decorate straws

These are great for themed parties!  Simply cut the flags then fold and glue around a straw to jazz up a drink or around a cocktail stick to make a cupcake topper.  The flags with space for messages can be personalised – write names on for individual drinks or cakes.

A tiny meal…

Last year I bought a cake necklace from GiraffesKiss on Etsy for my sister and she loved it so much I thought I would get her another piece of food jewellery for Christmas.  I remember that she had seen a necklace with baked beans and potato smiley faces made from polymer clay on a plate – but could I find where we had seen it? No!  I looked on Etsy and Folksy and saw lots of cute things but not what I wanted.  Having left it rather late I didn’t think I had time to ask someone for a custom order, so thought since I had some Fimo would have a go myself and it turned out pretty well :)

The necklace is really small – the plate is just over an inch across so it was quite tricky, especially making the tiny beans!  The plate is made from Fimo with some wire bent into a loop for adding the chain later.  I can’t quite remember now but I think I added texture to the smiley faces and fish fingers with a needle.  Everything was stuck to the plate with Fimo Liquid then the sauce for the beans was made using Fimo Liquid coloured with some Fimo.  Finally, after it was cooked and cooled, the whole thing had a coat of varnish before I attached the chain (which was also tricky as the links were so small I kept dropping them!).

Handmade Gifts

At the craft fayres I went to before Christmas there were so many lovely handmade things for sale – I would have bought so much if my budget had let me!  Here are a few things I did get…

I did a swap with my sister on lip balms from Naturally Maldon. She picked the Cheeky Cherry flavour and my favourite was Very Vanilla.  They’re made from natural ingredients and not only smell gorgeous but are very moisturising too.  My sister also bought me some lavender soap – I love the smell of lavender and it’s supposed to be calming too.  I’m trying to grow a lavender hedge in my garden, I’ve been growing the plants from seed and it flowered properly for the first time last summer.  Although it didn’t do very well after our house was painted (there seemed to be something in the paint that killed off a lot of the leaves on plants near our house) hopefully it will survive the winter and grow well this year.

I also bought some porcelain buttons from Julie Pettitt Ceramics.  I bought the glossy heart for myself and the pick’n’mix buttons for my sister who loves all things to do with sweets and food!  Julie’s developed a beautiful range of pretty pastel colours which she uses on all her products, which include vases, bowls and pots.

Stitched Letter Rack

I found a great tutorial for making a decorated letter rack via Craftgawker - here's the orginal tutorial which inspired my version...http://camillestyles.com/life-2/diy-cross-stitch-office-supplies/
I started with this silver mesh letter rack...

And painted the edge white with acrylic paint...

Then stitched a pattern with stranded cotton thread through the mesh...

Summer Cake Bunting

The Great British Bake Off is back on tv again, inspiring my sister and I to bake!  In episode 1 the bakers had to make a cake with a hidden design inside so we thought we would try our own.  We decided to make a very simple cake compared to the ones on the Bake Off - ours was just three layers of sponge in graduated shades of green.


Between the layers of sponge are jam and buttercream.  The cake was then covered in ready to roll fondant icing.  We coloured a little fondant with pink food colouring to make some roses for the top.

One thing I really wanted to try out was some fancy piping with glace icing.  So I covered the cake in pale green piped swirls and leaves, it's a little time consuming but looks effective...

We finished off the cake with some mini bunting - it's really easy to make and looks fun on cakes! I used this template to cut pennants from my 'Cupcakes and Roses' themed printable scrapbooking paper...

To make the bunting you need:
paper pennants
some thread or ribbon
2 bamboo skewers

Fold the pennants in half, then lay out with the thread running along the inside fold and glue the two sides of the pennants together.  If you don't glue the thread you will be able to slide the pennants and spread them out evenly along the thread. Tie the ends of the thread to bamboo skewers and push into the cake.

Embellishing printables

Today I have a couple of ideas for embellishing printable gift boxes and tent cards.  They can be made very simply - just print, cut, fold and they're finished, or if you have a little more time you can make them more unique...

On this Pastel Buttons gift box I used some fancy scissors to make the front flap a little different.  The box is tied with lilac cotton yarn and I made a tag from one of my matching cupcake toppers.  I punched rounded corners on the tag and stitched a pretty vintage button to the centre.

I think the tent cards look nice simply printed - but I also love to add an extra dimension to cards with embellishments.  This thank you card has some pink ribbon glued along the edge of the button pattern.  As they're only small cards (3.5 inches wide) it's a good way of using left over pieces of ribbon too!

Letters

Last week I booked the hall for the Creations Christmas Craft Fayre (I know - Christmas planning already!).  I decided that the blog for the fayre needs a revamp, which includes designing a new logo.  I wanted the 'Creations' logo to be handmade and look fun, so tried making letters out of different materials (paper, pen, pencil, stitching, felt, wire) to represent different crafts...

Although I liked individual letters it wasn't quite what I wanted.  Eventually I've come up with stitching the letters with stranded cotton...

Now I need to finalise the details for the fayre, update the blog with the new logo and I can start booking stalls!

Pick of the Week

I love books and I love art and handmade - so what could be better than a handmade book?  This lovely journal is made by Renate Ikinger - she also has an Etsy shop and although this journal has been sold there are lots of other handmade journals available.

Home Sweet Home by ~kreativlink on deviantART

Handmade Buttons and Craft Supplies

I’ve added a new section to my craft supplies shop for handmade buttons: http://www.etsy.com/shop/hfcSupplies?section_id=11101007 and have just started adding these to the shop…

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I finally got around to placing my order for new supplies – so there should be more new items in the shop very soon.  I can’t wait to get my new cardmaking kit finished! :)

It's a bargain!

I don't normally make many impulse buys but I love bargains so when I saw all these magazines at my local market on the magazine stall I had to have them!  Only £2.50 for 3 magazines is an amazing saving.  I have lots of things to read and ideas for things to make... now all I need is a little more time!

Cardmaking

I have been making a few cards using some of my printable scrapbooking papers...

This one is made using papers from the Carolina (SP008) set.  I also tried using a spirelli die cut for the first time - I was really pleased with how it turned out, and it goes well with the paper too!

For this next card I used papers from the Rabbits (SP001) set and made a shaker card:

This last card is a mini zig-zig book and was made using the Strawberries (SP005) papers and the Strawberries collage sheet (CS002).  This was a fun little card to make using different materials and techniques :)

The papers used in these projects are all available to buy from my shop. www.hfcSupplies.etsy.com  What would you make from them?

Paper Rose Card and Tag Kit ~ Tutorial

Here's the tutorial for Kit #002 - to make an Anniversary or Wedding card and matching gift tag. (Craft kits are available to buy in my Etsy supplies shop.)

The kit contains... a card blank, envelope, paper, card, 2 paper roses, ribbon, beads and thread. (The handmade paper included is made by my own hands!)  You will need basic materials to complete the kit - scissors, glue, a needle and thread.  I like to also use a craft knife, ruler and different glues; glue stick, pva craft glue and double sided tape.

To make the card...
1. The first step is to bend the wire stem of the rose into a heart shape.  You can use either your hands or pliers - whichever you find easiest.
Use the handmade paper backing as a guide as to where the top of the heart should be, bend the wire here.  Then bend the remaining length in half.

Shape each half into a heart shape.  Then thread on the beads - you may need to open the heart out a bit again but it's easier to bend closed again than to thread the beads on first.

2. To attach the flower to the backing paper...
Lay the flower where you want it to be on the paper and with a needle or pin make 4 small holes (as shown by the blue dots on the photo).

Using a thread that blends in with the colour of the stem, sew up through each hole, over the stem and back down through the same hole again.  Secure the thread on the back.  This will hold the flower in place and stop the beads from falling off.

3. Mount the handmade paper and flower.  You could cut the red paper, but I have chosen to tear it against a ruler for a softer, torn edge.

4. Next glue the larger backing paper to the card.  Chose whichever layout you like - here are a few ideas...

I've chosen to glue it horizontally along the top.  Trim the edge then attach the mounted flower.

5. Glue along the edge of the paper and stick the ribbon to the card.  (Tip... to get the ribbon nice and straight hold it taut across the card as you lay it down, then smooth along the ribbon to ensure it is firmly stuck down.)

Trim the ends of the ribbon, I also like to add a little dot of glue to keep the ends tidy.

6. Finally add the message.  Included in the kit are 3 messages - 'On Your Anniversary', 'Congratulations' and 'On Your Wedding' so you can adapt the card for different occasions.
I chose 'On Your Anniversary' for this one.  I cut out the message and added a simple pen border before glueing to the card.

To make the tag...
1. Make another rose attached to a handmade paper backing in the same way as for the card.  Then glue to the gift tag.

2. To finish, tie the thread through the hole in the card.  I plaited the thread here as an extra touch.

The finished card and gift tag!...