Creative Christmas ~ New Bookazine!

Appliqued Felt Christmas Tree Decorations

This year has rushed by as I have been pretty busy being part of the sandwich generation!  In other words caring for elderly parents-in-law whilst still having children at home.  My blogging has sadly diminished to practically nothing but, with Christmas just around the corner, I thought I really ought to share my festive makes featured in a lovely new bookazine 'Creative Christmas' which is available in shops now.

I was asked to design a number of projects the first of which is these retro inspired applique felt baubles evoking memories of vintage glass ornaments.

There are seven different designs in the set and they're the perfect way to add a touch of retro glamour to any Christmas display! 

The designs feature both hand and machine stitched elements for a lovely homespun feel!

Stitch the whole range in just one colour of felt for a sophisticated look or pick your favourite design and repeat it onto baubles cut from different coloured felts for a more relaxed family friendly effect!

The magazine contains full sized patterns, easy to follow instructions and clear step by step colour photographs

Merry Christmas!

Felt Camper Van Keyring Tutorial

DIY Felt Combi Van Key Chain

These adorable felt key rings are sew easy to stitch up!  They require only the tiniest amount of materials and make equally perfect bag charms or luggage tags.

Even better, they stitch up in less than an hour and are great gift ideas for your 'difficult to buy for' relatives! 

 

I infused the backing felt on this little car appliqué with essential oils and it now hangs in hubby's car as a cute air freshener!

Tutorial

Supplies

Felt
Coloured fabric
Scrap of denim
'Bondaweb' (fusible web)
Ribbon
Split ring
Black thread

1.  Begin by drawing a template, simple shapes are best and suitable motifs include owls, flowers and hearts. If you doubt your drawing skills you can even download digi-stamps as templates.  I stitched up the car and cupcake using stamps by the very talented Wendy Massey over at Handmade Harbour.

2.  Trace your design onto 'Bondaweb' or other fusible web, iron onto the reverse side of your fabric scraps and then cut out neatly.

3.  Lightly mark the windscreen wipers and 'VW' logo with a pencil.  Now arrange the pieces into position on your backing felt and then carefully fix into place with your iron.

3.  Trim the felt at the top of your design and then lay onto a scrap of denim or other hardwearing fabric.  Fold a short length of ribbon in half and tuck between the two layers.  Now comes the fun part!  Machine around the appliqué pieces at least twice using black thread and aiming for a 'sketch-like' feel.  It doesn't even matter if your stitching is a bit wobbly as this all adds to the appeal of raw edge appliqué and free-motion embroidery!

4.  Now closely trim around your design using a small pair of embroidery scissors.  Finally thread onto a metal split-ring and that's it......See I told you it was easy!

Have fun making your own for Father's Day, Christmas stocking fillers, fund raising, etc. etc....

Felt Hanging Christmas Ornaments

Stitched Felt Decorations

 

This month's Cuddly Buddly design team challenge was entitled 'Something for the tree' and I stitched up these cute hanging felt ornaments.  I also included a second free-standing version.

They're really straightforward to make and so the perfect project to get the children involved.

 You can see my tutorial over at the Cuddly Buddly blog, along with lots of other festive makes from my talented team mates.

All of the materials you need to complete the project are available to purchase from Cuddly Buddly and if you enter my Christmas Giveaway, you could win a £25 Cuddly Buddly gift certificate....but hurry the giveaway ends today!

Good luck! 

Owl Cupcake Toppers

Felt Teacher Appreciation Gifts

Our local schools break up for their half-term holiday on Friday, with all next week off.  It's been a long eight weeks since the start of term back in September and both students and teachers are ready for a well earned rest.

Alice has now joined her brother at secondary school and it was a very successful transition, due to the efforts of her lovely form tutor and subject teachers.  George went into Year Ten and has stayed with the same great tutor for the fourth year running.

As a little thank you for all their help and care in making the first half term so painless, the children and I stitched up some cute cupcake toppers for both tutors.

George also helped out with the design of the packaging and on the back is one of my favourite seasonal quotes;

 'Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower' Albert Camus

The yummy frosted cupcakes were purchased in Sainsburys and the ones pictured only just made it through the photo shoot before they were polished off by some very willing 'helpers'.  I'm now putting off buying replacements until the last minute, hopefully avoiding further temptation!

We're off to Barcelona for a few days next week and when we return it will be almost time for our Halloween party, so it should be a lovely break for the children.  If you're on holiday too, enjoy!

Appliqued Hot Water Bottle Cover

 Upcycled Wool Sweater

September's Cuddly Buddly Design Team Challenge is entitled 'Teenage Christmas' and it proved to be just the nudge I needed to start my festive stitching.  I decided to make an appliqued hot water bottle cover using a Benetton vintage cashmere sweater, which cost me just 20p 'ready felted' (shrunk!) from my local car boot sale;  

I then downloaded and resized this 'Santa Sitting' digi stamp so that his face filled the front of my cover and got stitching. 

Pure wool felt is bliss to sew with as it doesn't fray and feels super expensive.  It's also ridiculously easy to make - Simply throw a 'hand wash only' woollen jumper into your machine on a hot wash.  Heck, I've even sometimes created it by mistake!

For a complete cuteness overload, gently rouge dear old Father Christmas's cheeks with a red colouring pencil.

 The back of the case features a simple overlapping envelope closure, in the style of a pillow case.  

This was such an easy project to make but it looks looks and feels so much more expensive than the usual polyester 'knitted' covers that the shops are full of at Christmas.  I have written a simple step-by-step tutorial over at the Cuddly Buddly Blog and don't forget that 'Pound Stores' sell hot water bottles nice and cheaply should you want to make your own.

Digital stamps are perfect for applique and you could even make a matching card for a real 'Wow Factor'.  Just have a look at this stunning example;

It was made by the very talented Wendy over at Crazy4FlowersCards, her whole blog is full of fantastic creations and well worth a visit.

Happy Christmas!

Free Motion Embroidery - Owl Keyring

Cuddly Buddly Craft Challenge

This month's Cuddly Buddly Craft Challenge is 'Beads and Charms'.  This is a great theme as just about any craft is improved by the addition of a few beads or charms!

I actually chose to widen an already loose theme even futher, stitching up a cute little owl using this Marianne Design die, rather than just adding beads to an existing design. It is now perfect as a keyring or handbag charm!  I've written a full tutorial which will be published on The Cuddly Buddly blog during the challenge.

Now that you've seen my attempt, it's time for you to whip up your own creation.  Once you've finished upload a picture to the Cuddly Buddly challenge page to be in with a chance of winning a lovely £25 gift voucher to spend on any of the 12,000+ products stocked in the Cuddly Buddly shop.

Good Luck!

'Sew Sweet' Cupcake Charm

Appliqued Keyring

Most schools in England have a 'half-term' holiday during the last week of May (a bit like an American 'Spring Break'), so the children have been at home this week.  I deliberately don't sew much when the children are around but did manage to stitch up this cute little handbag charm;

It uses small scraps of fabric free motion embroidered onto a piece of pink felt and backed with a piece of upcycled denim.  The cupcake icon was based on this 'Handmade Harbour' digital stamp.

Travel Sewing Kit

 Altered Mint Tin

My parents spend quite a lot of time in waiting rooms as my father, who has early-onset Alzheimer's, is on a new trial at Addenbrooke's hospital, Cambridge.  My Mum takes her knitting along with her, so I thought I would make her a little travel sewing kit ready for when she stitches up finished items.

I upcycled an old mint tin by colouring it with alcohol inks and then painting the lid with a coat of emulsion (vinyl) paint.  The next step was to stamp an all over flourish pattern using white StazOn ink.  The die-cut shapes were cut with my trusty Sizzix machine and I used the same motifs for both the paper and felt. The needlebook was cut using a 'Matchbook' die which gave it a lovely embossed line along the length of its spine.

The little needlecase fits neatly into the tin lid, leaving plenty of room for thread, scissors, thimble and other sewing essentials. 

My Mum also keeps various other 'essential' items in it including tweezers and nail-clippers, but I whipped these out of the way for this set of photos! 

The tin is lined with the same soft pink felt as I used for the pages of the needle-book. Once all the stitching and gluing was complete, I varnished the outside of the tin for a little added protection. 

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Finally, here's a couple of pictures from lunch on Easter Sunday, it's hard to believe it was just last week!  It was a bit chaotic once the guests arrived, so I only managed to get a couple of photos in the morning.  We seated thirty-one in total, one at each end with fourteen down one side and fifteen along the other.  The menu consisted of soup and bread for starters, jacket potatoes with salads for the main course and then a 'shared' (each family bringing a contribution) sweet trolley. Once we had finished eating the children had an egg hunt in the garden and then we 'geocached' around the local countryside.  

I had intended placing the egg cosies on the table as a place marker for each guest, however we then decided this was asking for them to get covered in food, so we popped them onto the windowsill instead.

If you fancy winning a pair of egg cosies, don't forget you have until midnight tomorrow to enter my Egg Cosy Giveaway.  To take part you simply have to leave a comment on this blog and sign up to follow it either through Blogger or Bloglovin'.  The winner will receive a handmade pair of linen egg cosies lovingly appliqued in any design or colour scheme chosen from these. 

Good Luck!

Appliqued Needle Book

Free Hand Machine Embroidered Needle Case

After a very wet week the rain finally stopped today and, as the sun came streaming in through my study windows, I was to be found happily stitching away creating this cute little needlecase.

As ever it's very much an upcycled project and regular readers will recognise the linen as being from a second hand pair of curtains which I have used for numerous previous projects.  The wonderfully kitsch floral print fabric was also sourced at a car boot sale and I just love its vintage vibe!

The adorable mother bird and babies work perfectly with the soft pastel colours and were based on a digital stamp designed by the very talented Wendy Massey over at 'Handmade Harbour'.  If you feel inspired to create your own applique or papercraft project with this cute stamp you can purchase it here.

The case has two large pockets on the front and back inside covers which are just the right size to hold a few essential sewing items such as embroidery scissors, unpicker or skeins of yarn.  I'm going to use it as a little travel sewing set and it will certainly be an improvement on the ripped plastic zipper bag I normally shove in my pocket!

I'm really pleased with how it turned out and the curved corners and top-stitching give the whole project a nice finished appearance. The word 'needles' was embroidered onto the front using my regular sewing machine and a technique known as free-hand or free-style machine embroidery.  This is basically a method of 'drawing' with your sewing machine by lowering the feed-dogs and then moving your fabric to create wording or designs.

Needle cases make great presents and my niece has just started sewing, having saved up her own money to buy her first sewing machine.  I'm sure she would be delighted to receive a case with her name embroidered on it xx

"Martha's new machine"

Christmas Baking....

Felt Sugar Cookie and Gingerbread Tutorial

At the moment it seems as though much of the UK has become obsessed with all things cuisine due to the enormous popularity of 'The Great British Bake Off'.  Mr Larkin and the children have succumbed to the lure and can be found glued to the television screen whenever it's on. I thought I had managed to resist but even I have found my thoughts turning to baking, but for me it's baking with felt!

At the moment I am thinking about my Christmas sewing as I like to stitch gifts for our family and closest friends.  Last year it was appliqued bunting and patchwork stockings, but this year I thought I might create little ornaments to hang on the tree.  However, my inspiration is lacking as this year's theme seems to be......Baking.....and I don't do that!  

Still even I can appreciate the fantastic skill needed to produce delights such as these;

 And then I had my theme - Felt Gingerbread! So I had a little nose around Pinterest to get me started and found these super examples;

But I wouldn't be happy making direct copies of other people's work, so I spent much of today designing my first felt Christmas gingerbread biscuit.......

There are a couple of things I'm not happy with but hopefully by the time I've designed a snowman, bell, stocking, tree, star and elf I'll have ironed out my faults!

The process was actually pretty simple and whilst there are still elements which need 'tweeking' the basic design  worked, so I thought I would share it with you.

The first step is to cut your felt shapes and using a dab of white glue fix them in place

I then machine stitched around each element (one line of red still to do in the picture!)

I then added a few sparkling beads and sequins to represent sugar crystals  

 The eyes are french knots, although seed beads would also be cute

I stitched a thin strip of matching ginger felt between the top and bottom layers to give the cookie a nice 3-D effect before stuffing them but I actually think I could miss this step out and just sew the top and bottom together.  I'm also going to oversew the seams on the next one rather than blanket stitching them.

The cookies would also benefit from having their design nearer the edge of the gingerbread so that it looks more like 'flood icing'.  This is obviously a simple change to make, I'll just cut a smaller brown felt circle.