Hearts for Christmas in Shabby Colours

Christmas, gulp is coming, and I feel the need to make beautiful decorations for the house. So this is the latest.

It really is a quick and simple heart to make and will look fabulous on a few dried twigs. 

To make it you will need:

Felt hearts in light stone

Buttons from the natural selection.

A length of tan and brown saddle stitch ribbon

Cotton thread.

Wadding

To make this heart:

Sew the buttons on to one side of the heart shapes. Use both and medium and small buttons.

Stitch around the edges with blanket stich. Leave enough room to fill the heart with wadding and to stitch in the ribbon.

Finished.

Have entered this for the 'Fab 'n' Funky' Button it Up challenge.

Bags More Ideas

Last weekend I exhibited at the Hobbycraft Show at the Cardiff City Stadium and had a wonderful time. I met lots of wonderful crafters and I hope that I was able to inspire them with what we had for sale. I believe that the most popular inspiration was the bag designs. You've all seen them before, but to may customers they were new. So it has spurred me on to come up with more designs and this is the latest. It's artistically arranged in my garden of course.

You will see that I've used a different bag this time. Well you do need a bit of vatiety in life and a girl can't have too many bags.

All of the following items are linked to the website.
You will need:

Natural Sage Coloured Jute Bag

Red Ribbon with Green Saddle Stitching
This is a 23mm wide fairly soft ribbon which allows you to make the folds easily.

A piece of Light Stone Felt

Embridery Cotton

Buttons


First of all, make the roses  as described in a previous post. I make three widths of rose so that they would look better on the bag. All the same size is not so good. Look at the picture below to see what I mean. The graduating in size looks best.

Sew the roses to the felt as shown. Then stitch a line of embroidery thread to make stems. No need to be too precise here.
Sew the felt to the bag with blanket stitch.

I then added some large red buttons because I love buttons and because they look good on the bag.

Rose Posy Picture so 'Chic'.

Today's post is going to be about using some of those beautiful flowers that we sell at Craft Fairy in a picture frame. I've made this because so many of my customers say that our flowers are too beautiful to use and they keep them in a draw to look at from time to time. Well we cant have that can we. So this is how to get them out of the draw and use them to good effect.

Do you like this frame? Does it look expensive? Well, it actually cost me 99p and it came from the shop of the same name. You probably have a local one yourself so get on over and have a look at what they have in stock. There was no glass. What did I expect for 99p? Better for the purposes of making this picture.

The paper is from Making Memories and was part of my stash that I'd been keeping for a long time as it was too pretty to waste.

 Cut the paper so that it fits on the backing board. Fix it in the frame.

For the posy, I used a selection of flowers.

Large curly roses in pink.
Vintage blue roses in blue

Shape your roses so that they form  round shape as seen in the image. Then apply foam pads to the back of the posy.

Stick down onto the backing paper.

To make the vase cut a vase shape from some decorative card. I used some non shed glitter card but you could use any toning card that you have.

Tie a knot in a piece of 16mm ribbon. I used french blue,  and trim to make it look like a bow. Apply tape to each side of the ribbon and tape to the back of the vase shape.

Now attach this to the picture with more foam pads and your picture is complete.

I have just entered this on the Our Creative Corner Challenge. So if you have anything in the colours pink, aqua and a flower then why don't you enter too.

Shabby Chic Lace Flower Tutorial

Shabby Chic Lace Flowers are really hot at the moment so this is my tutorial pick for today. If you click the image you will see the video.

I was inspired to make this flower as www.craftfairy.co.uk is now stocking this fabulous pointed lace. I believe that it is leavers lace. That is the same type of lace as the one used on Kate Middleton's wedding dress.

Apart from the lace, you will need a needle and thread and a flower to put in the centre. Please see my video on making folded flowers to see how to make one for yourself. 

Jackie has made a flower using this way of making lace and ribbon flowers on her blog, 

SCULLDUGGERY (CARDS BY JACKI)

So go look and see what she's made.

Pointed Petal Ribbon Flower

Well, the video camera has been out again and this time it is for a pointed petal flower. As I am into spots lately, I have used the fab taffeta and satin 38mm ribbon again. It really is too good to resist so why bother to try. This is what you'll get:

Here is a list of the things that I used:

38mm spot ribbon in Shocking pink
Buttons
thread
pins

Off you go. Now I want to see what you've made.

Mock Kanzashi Flower

I've entitled this entry a mock kanzashi flower, because It looks rather like a kanzashi flower, but it is made from ribbon rather than from fabric.

I've not shown you how to make a ribbon flower in a while and, truthfully. I made and photographed this one a while ago. You have seen a version of this on the jute bag.

So, if you want to make one of these then read on.

Take a length of strong thread and put a large knot at one end. Beware the small knot as it will not hold!

Start by cutting several pieces of ribbon. I used 23mm wide ribbon so the measurements below are for that type of ribbon. You will need to adjust the measurements if you use a wider or narrower ribbon.

Fold the ribbon over to make the shape shown below. Using the thread with the knot, begin to make small running stitches along the bottom edge of the folded petal as shown below.

When you get to the end of the first petal continue threading onto the next. Do not break the thread.

When you have threaded at least 5 petals on the thread, you can begin to pull the thread tight and as you pull, the petals will start to form a circle.

 Pull very tight and stitch the first petal to the last one and your basic flower is formed and ready to embellish. Below is what you should get.

Now all that you need to do is sew a button or bead onto the centre.

Ribbon wreath for inspiration

Today I have a ribbon wreath for a little Christmas inspiration. I don't have a photo tutorial for you as I forgot to photograph it as I went along but I can give you written instructions instead.

Basically what I used for this was a 20 cm polystyrene wreath that came from a twin pack that I bought in the Range for a £1. Yes, you did read that right, 2 for a £1. I was shocked that they could be so cheap.

I stuck a piece short (about 6cm), of double sided ribbon to the outside edge of the wreath and stuck the end of the ribbon to it and started winding until I reached the end of the piece of double sided. The I stuck the next piece onto it. I continued to wind and stick until I got to the end and then I stuck the end to the back of the wreath.

Now take a piece of the wired tartan ribbon and create a loop at the top of the ribbon. Tie a bow to the loop with a couple of extra tails to make it look fuller.

Finish with a couple of really large roses to create a colourful Christmas ribbon wreath.

All items used for this wreath are available here at Craft Fairy.

For my Demo at Dandie Crafts

On the 13th October, I will be demoing at Dandie Crafts on the Treforest Trading Estate.

So I am busily making cards to demo on the day. This is the first one that I came up with as I was specifically asked to demo ribbon weaving. I hope that you like it and will come along to look, learn and chat.

I will post the other things that I will demo as I make them so keep on checking back with me.

Bags of Fun

I've decided to go back to my recent obsession of sewing and I've decorated another bag. I wanted something quick and simple that would also be effective and have everyone asking. 'Where did you buy that bag?'

I hope that this fits the bill on all counts.
To make the bag, get the Summer bag kit from Craft Fairy.

Simply take:
1 jute bag, this one measures   Jute bag size 250x100x280mm
I piece of 6mm apple green ribbon
1 piece of flower ribbon 23mm wide
Some buttons from the summer flower pack
needle and green thread.

First make your flowers
Cut three lengths of ribbon in varying lengths and sew to front of bag. I used a couching stitch
Sew your ribbon flowers to the top of each length of ribbon.
Sew a button to the center of each ribbon flower and swing your bag. as it is now ready to use.

How to Decorate a Fabric Bag

Don't you just love it when something turns out right? Well, I do at least, and this latest bag is a 'just right' for me.

The kit is available from Craft Fairy at an offer price until the 25th March.

Everything can be bought separately if you would prefer.

To be honest this bag is simplicity itself to make.

Attached the green ribbon to the bag with Bondaweb. Occasionally put in a loop to look like leaves.

Attach the pink flower ribbon over the bottom of the flower stalks with Bondaweb.

Sew the buttons in place and the bag is done. How easy is that?

OK .... alert:

You can use double sided tape too.

Cupcake Hair Bows

In my last blog entry, I showed you the new cupcake ribbons that have just arrived here with us at Craft Fairy. This time I am going to be far more proactive (don't you just love that word) and show you a simple bow project.

I've put in a picture right away as I always find it annoying if you have to wait until the very end until you find out what it is. 

So, to make this bow you will need:

Cupcakes on Pink grosgrain ribbon 16mm wide

Brown grosgrain ribbon 16mm wide

a button from the flowers button pack

Strong thread

a needle

Double sided tape.

C

Cut two 24cm pieces of 16mm brown ribbon 

Cut two 24cm pieces of 16mm pink ribbon 

Put a piece of double sided tape in the centre of each of the 4 pieces of ribbon. Make sure to put it on the wrong side of the cupcake ribbon.

When you've done this, remove the covering from the double sided ribbon and fold the outer edges to the centres that they touch and are held in place by the tape. 

Sick all 4 pieces as shown in the picture above. 

Cross the two pieces of brown grosgrain as shown and sew the two pieces together with a running stitch. 

Pull the thread tight and loop it around the ribbons so that they bunch up in the centre. Repeat this stage with the cupcake ribbon.   

Now, sew the cupcake ribbon onto the brown ribbon and finish with a button in the centre. You can add a pin or a barrette to the back if you like.

Cupcake Crazy

Everyone seems to be going cupcake crazy these days and not just for eating either. We have had a delivery of fabulous cupcake ribbon and I couldn't wait to get it on the web site for all to see. i thought that I'd give everyone on the blog a quick peek at the fabulous, and oh so hot ribbon.

 The first one is a 9mm grosgrain cupcake ribbon with really cute tickled pink cupcakes that seem to just dance across the ribbon.

 The second is every little girl's dream ribbon. Pink and cakes, what more could you ask for. Yumm!

For the last one, we couldn't leave the chocolate aside and so here it is in the fantastic 16mm chocolate brown grosgrain ribbon. Even more yumm!

Christmas Ribbon Rosette

Have you noticed how rosettes of all shapes and sizes are becoming high fashion itmas and are being worn by so many people, crafty and otherwise? This is why I've chosen to do my latest project of a ribbon rosette and I've made it in Christmas colours so that it is in time for the coming holidays.

What's even better, is that I've put together an offer for you over on the mothership ( AKA http://www.craftfairy.co.uk/ ) so that you don't have to search around for each product and you will also get a discount by buying the lot! Even better. Click here for the offer.

So let's get on with it. You will need:

16mm red with green dots grosgrain ribbon. This should be cut into 4 x 15cm lengths.

16mm willow green grosgrain ribbon cut into 6 x 10cm lengths

1 piece of satin edged chiffon in a 30 cm length. No need to cut this in to short pieces.

1 red button

1 length of strong green thread.

1 strong needle. I know that I've said this before, but when you have to sew through several layers of grosgrain you will not be able to manage with a thin needle. A thimble is also a good extra to have.

Thread your needle and lay out the cut lengths of willow grosgrain as shown.

Secure the legths of ribbon in the centre with a couple of stitches to stop them moving when you sew the next layers. Your needle should now be on the right side of the work.

 

 Take one of the 15cm strips, form a loop and center the bottom of the loop on the underneath as shown in the image. The edges should overlap about 1cm. Push the needle up through the bottom of the loop, trying to get as closely centered both lengthwise and width wise as you can.

Pull first loop down the thread to sit on top of the bottom ribbons, then repeat process for remaining 3 loops. When all are threaded, arrange  them so they are evenly spaced in a nice circular arrangement. As you will see below.

Nearly there.

Now concertina fold the satin edged chiffon so that the folds are slightly narrower than the ones below and thread the needle up through the centre. Fan the folds out and stitch into place. It is at this point that you will be glad that you have a strong needle. Sew the button into the centre of the rosette.

Last of all you will need to trim the bottom layer of ribbon

on a slant. Then seal the edges with the flame of a tea light, This is by far the safest way to do it. The open flame of the gas hob is a bit too erractic. Finished.

Poinsettia Wreath for Christmas

Some of you may remember the poinsettia flower that I did as a tutorial a few weeks ago. I pondered and pondered about what I could do with it and finally this wreath is what I came up with.

If you want to make one then you will need some red felt to make the wreath and some kapok to stuff it. I cut out a circle of felt. I used a large ribbon reel but feel free to improvise and use whatever you have in the house. The centre was marked with a reel of beading wire that I happened to have handy.

The wreath is sewn together using good old blanket stitch and stuffed with kapok just before it is completely sewn together. Sew the poinsettias to the wreath.

I uesd a 38mm satin ribbon in teal to make the bow and the hanging ribbon. You can buy it from Craft Fairy here.