Free prints - Love or Boo

I have been seeing these types of prints around on the internet and in magazines so thought I would whip up a couple.  I really like the Love one and then thought of doing a cute one as a very light nod to Halloween below (Halloween is not very big in Australia).  I can think of loads of different words to do now.  You can download one or both of these here:

Love print

BOO print

If you want to make one up yourself using a different word, you can do what I did and use Powerpoint.  I applied a background colour and then added each letter in a separate text box (so I could arrange the letters touching one another), changed the text colour to white, centred them, made them a size I liked and arranged them, printed them out and popped them in the frame.  The font I used is Mirisch (I got it from www.dafont.com).  I really need to find a better (prettier) spot to photograph things!  Don't mind my radiator... (look away now Karen).

Snowflake stamp

I am getting an early'ish start on Christmas here, seeing as I am attempting to make a good portion of presents for my family.  I will post them as I get them made (depending on whether or not the recipient is likely to read this blog of course).  Here is a stamp for making gift tags using my newly acquired speedball lino cutter and some proper stamp making supplies.  I am very happy with how this turned out.  I have worked out that I really like doing fine line work so my next one might be more of an outline with fine line detail in the middle.  I have a hard time narrowing down my choices of what to do though!

Doily table

I stumbled across this today and doesn't it look amazing???  These are doilies preserved in resin.  Kristina with a K, I thought you would particularly like this too!  It is from the Ornamentalist blog.  I have a bunch of doilies like this from my Nana.  I am not sure if I could commit them to resin just yet but wow.

Everyone sick of felt flowers yet??

Too bad!  Ok, I think this is my second last idea for felt flowers (well, that I am going to post anyway...).  These would look cute in abundance on your fridge or noticeboard I think.  I have simply glued a smallish flower onto a decent sized magnet (I love these larger, really strong magnets - I got them in a hardware store in Malaysia and I wish I had bought about a hundred of them!).  I wasn't sure if the glue would stick but I have used regular old craft glue and whatever I stick to them sticks very well (this is the glue I used to glue foreign coins to some magnets too and they are still going strong).

Also, a quick hello and thank you to all my Followers!  It is so cool seeing you there.  It helps knowing I am not just talking to myself.... :-)

A big thank you to One Pretty Thing and Craft Gossip for featuring some of my projects lately as well.  Those sites are very cool - go check them out!

Actually I really should update my blog list at the side there.  I have so many more in my Google Reader...

Denim offcuts and felt flowers

I had a thin strip of denim left over after hemming a pair of jeans so I thought I would use it up on yet another hair thingy for Princess E.  I did try and take a photo of it in her hair but it was getting late and the light was bad (and she was incapable of standing still today!) so the photos ended up too blurry..maybe tomorrow.

Okay, here is the strip of denim (lol, didn't realise I didn't focus on it too well there)....

which I then just loosely stitched along one edge and gathered it up, tying the thread in a knot to hold it.

I made a felt flower and stitched it on to the denim 'flower'.

I then used a giant hair clip Princess E had in her collection and glued the flower on and secured it with a couple of stitches (and more glue) as well.  I really like the look of the denim's reverse side here.

I put a normal sized hair clip alongside it here to show perspective.

I have another denim strip so I might make another one to attach to a little tote bag or something else for her.  We will see.  I also made another felt flower and attached it to a black headband.  My models were uncooperative today so Sparkle the penguin had to stand in.  Looks very smart on Sparkle I have to say!

Decorative camping paper & writing set

I decided to make a full sheet of my camping themed 'doodles' and you can click below to get that too.

Paper - Camping

I used a sheet to line some envelopes so I could make a matching set of stationery.

To line the envelopes, just turn your page over, use an envelope to outline your basic shape.

Cut around that but inside the line by about half a centimetre.

Apply glue to the back of the paper and pop it into the envelope.

Camping writing paper - free printable

Update: I think it is working now, please let me know if it isn't!!

I designed this a few days ago.  I did some little doodle drawings and thought they would look cute on some writing paper so I thought I would share seeing as I ran out of good light this afternoon to photograph my next felt flower project.  I have no idea why I was drawing these as I have never even been camping (and it is not likely in the near future).  Maybe with spring finally here my thoughts are turning to the outdoors and imagining what other people might be doing there anyway!  lol.

You can download it here (there are two A5 sized writing sheets per A4 sheet - I will work on the Letter sized one too):

Camping writing paper - A4

Felt flower brooch - felt flower series

I am a little obsessed with making felt flowers just now.  They are so easy and you can get so many different effects - what's not to like really?  So, along the lines of my previous post of six things to use them for and the kick off one yesterday, here is the continuing second part of the series.  Over the next week or so I will post more uses for them as I get them done.

For this flower, I used two petal layers and a simple button centre.  Out of interest, and for perspective, the bottom layer petals are 6.5cm long and I used 9 individual petals and the second layer is 5cm long and I used 7 individual petals (I wouldn't normally use that many but these petals are skinny).  I did make a third layer but the flower was just getting too thick by then so I didn't use it.  I didn't make a pattern or anything - just cut the first petal out to the shape you are thinking of and then use that as your pattern for the others.  Felt is very forgiving so don't be too concerned about getting them all perfect.

Then I just stitched a safety pin to the back because I don't have access to proper brooch findings.

I added a drop of glue over the stitches to hold it all in place securely.

I love these brooches attached to a tote bag just as much as on a coat.  You could pop them on a lot of things really.  Let me know if you make one!

Play watch for kids

Here are the instructions for how to make a cute little play watch.  The first photo is the one I have done for the tutorial and the second one is the original I made for my daughter many moons ago.  For the original I just used a liquid paper pen to add the 'watch face' if  you can call it that.  It has nearly worn away now but it has lasted well considering I made it at least 5 yrs ago as a quick problem solver for a toddler desperate for a watch like Mummy's and has been worn a lot.  Lord A (nearly 4 yrs old) now tries to get it as well.

All you need is some wide elastic, a large'ish button with a flat side, needle and thread and a permanent marker of some sort.

Then I couldn't resist adding in a cute little felt flower just to girlie it up a bit.

Measure around your child's wrist and allow a little for overlap.

Stitch through the overlap securely.  You could use a sewing machine if you want but I did it by hand and it is very fast.

Use your marker to draw in your clock face.  I decided to add numbers to this one.  I also used the wrong side of the button because it gave me a flatter surface.

Layer the button and flower over the join in the elastic and stitch through all thicknesses to secure.  I used the green sharpie to colour over the white thread too.  As a safety note, I used a double thread and stitched the button on very securely.  Definitely do this if you are making this for a toddler.