Felt heart or heart felt

After seeing a lovely tutorial for making a felted heart I had decided not to do mine, but I'd taken the photos and it was in my 'pending posts' pile so I'm going to do it anyway and apologise if you already know. I made hearts in different colours and strung them together to hang on my pine wall cupboard.  I fell short of making crochet hearts and turned my talents towards something I can do...

The supplies that you need for this simple project are quite minimal.  You will need some rovings or fleece, a cookie cutter in the shape of your choice, felting needle and a sponge.  I use a kitchen sponge which is fine for these small projects and are easily discarded.

The sponge is needed because the felting needle is very hard and brittle (oh and VERY sharp), if the needle bangs onto a hard surface it snaps. Tease a clump of the wool together and place into the cutter which is on top of the sponge.

With the needle make stabbing motions all over the heart.  The barbs on the needle are 'knitting' the fibres together so that the ball of fluff that you started with is beginning to hold together and become firm.

 After a while I remove the cutter and take a look.  The heart is beginning to take shape, so remove it from the sponge and turn it over in the cutter.

 

Once the shape has been felted both sides, remove the cutter once more.  You should have a firm shape that you are happy with.

You could sit back and admire your handy work or you could add an embellishment.

One thing that is for sure, once you get the hang of it, one will not be enough...

How to make dangly earrings

This is my second tutorial using the buttons supplied by Abakhan.  The buttons only have one hole making them ideal for jewellery making. They have made pretty earrings which were much admired by work friends. Here is my quick tutorial on how to make pretty drop earrings using the mother of pearl buttons.

Gather together your supplies. You will need some jump rings, buttons, chain and earwires.

You will also need two round nose pliers and a wire snips.

Firstly cut the chain into two equal pieces about one inch long or 2.5cms.

Using both the round nose pliers open the jump ring.  If you are not familiar with this process, it is important to note that the ring opens sideways by twisting.  If you pull the jump ring open the chances are that you will never get it to close again without distorting the circular shape.

Put a button onto the jump ring but before twisting it closed put the very end link of the chain on it too.
Then you can twist it closed.

Continue joining the other buttons to the chain. I left a gap of two empty chain links between each button but it will depend on your chain.

Continue until half of the buttons have been used. Repeat the exact process using the remaining buttons and chain so that both earrings will be the same.

Open the loop on the earwire, again this needs to be twisted and not pulled. 

Attach the chain onto the loop and twist it closed.

Admire your new earrings.

Pretty decorated candle tutorial

A quick tutorial showing how I have begun to use some of the buttons from Abakhan.  I wanted something pretty and feminine so I chose to decorate a cream pillar candle...

You will need:

ribbon with roses,

cream lace,

heart shaped buttons/beads,

small rocailles,

and sequin pins

and of course a Church Candle.

The tools that I used were a pair of scissors and a tape dispenser.

Measure the lace around the candle so that it has a slight overlap and cut to size.  Using the tape dispenser run a line of tape down the middle of the lace.

Stick the ribbon along the centre of the lace.

Pick up a bead onto the sequin pin.

Wrap the lace and ribbon around the candle. Push the pin through the heart button and use to hold the ribbon and lace secure where they overlap, by pushing t into the side of the candle.

Continue with another bead and button combo until there is one in every gap between the roses.  I used four buttons for my candle but it does depend on the circumference of your candle.

Now admire your handiwork.

Please remove all embellishments before you burn your candle.

Most people recycled and made things in the 70s, we made all sorts including dolls house furniture out of match boxes, paper fasteners and some leatherette (bought to patch the settee!) I have previously covered tins to give them a new life but we used wallpaper instead of the pretty scrap book papers that are readily available today.  I was reminded of the idea over at Torie Jayne's blog and it was so quick and easy to beautify an old tin I decided to have a go. I cleaned said tin and removed the label to use as a template.  I cut some pretty paper to size and stuck it to the tin using double-sided tape.  I then just used a little vintage lace at the top and bottom of the tin, however they also look pretty without it.

Of course the downside of this makeover is that we will have to live off beans for the foreseeable future.  Although an upside is that I will obviously already have my next blogpost title in mind - 'How to clear a room' or 'Don't stand downwind!' ;-)

How to make a gingerbread man garland

Before Christmas I ran a workshop to make a gingerbread garland. Here is the tutorial...

You will need:

wooden gingerbread man - I bought mine from Ebay

 Brown/black/red/white paint

 fabric

 felt

 twine

 raffia

 buttons

 

Paint the gingerbread man, Firstly painting the edges.   Set aside to dry.

Use a piece of scrap paper to make yourself a heart template. The size should be something that would look good with the size of the gingerbread man.

Pin the template to the fabric and cut out four.

Cut out two smaller felt hearts. The felt is used to give the hearts a bit more stiffness.

You will be sewing on the right side of the fabric so you need to make yourself a `felt sandwich`. Use a small running stitch.

Paint the other side of the gingerbread man. Set aside to dry. Now might be a good time to have a cup of tea!

Decorate the gingerbread man so that it looks cute!

Thread the twine through the gingerbread man and make sure that he is in the middle. Place both of the hearts a similar distance from the ginger. Turn over and sew the twine to the back of the hearts.

Make yourself two traffics bows. Sew a button onto the middle of the bows then stitch onto the top of the heart.

This is your garland make it your own by embellishing as you wish. Stand back and admire your handiwork! I tied a knot at each end for hanging. Although this workshop was a Christmas one remember a ginger is for life not just Christmas!

How to make a raggy wreath and rose

Take a metal wreath base...

and lots of fabrics which you cut into strips.  The size of the strips are about 2cms by 10cms but it is dependent on the size of the wreath base. The fabric that I have used is re-cycled cotton shirts which are ideal for this job.

Start to tie the strips around the inner ring.  Try to get the knot in the middle of the strip, so that the strips are equal both sides of it. 

Continue to tie the strips around the inner circle.

Then tie the strips around the outer circle.  I tied my strips so that there was no gap or movement between them. It's a personal opinion but I prefer the wreath to be fuller.

I then decorated the wreath with a raggy rose. I ripped a strip of material from across the whole width of the fabric.  The strip is about 5cms wide by the width of the material. Tie a knot at the very end of this fabric strip.

Holding the knot firmly begin twisting the fabric and start winding it around the knot.  Continue to hold it quite firmly otherwise it unravels :-).

Continue to wind and wrap the fabric.

The completed rose.  I fiddled with the shape a little then put a few stitches in it to stop it from unravelling but I'm sure a trusty glue gun would work just as well.

I made three roses which I attached to the wreath with a few stitches but again they could be glued on.  I also used the same fabric as the roses to make a hanging loop. The wreath is now completed. Stand back and admire your handywork...

...or get your daughter to stick her head through it!