It's time for the giveaway!!!

It's my 50th blog post!!

I never thought I'd manage to keep this blog going when I signed up with blogspot - I don't have a great record at this kind of thing (I always gave up writing in diaries sometime in the middle of January). But I've reached my 1st milestone so I'm feeling pleased with myself, especially given all the ups and downs of the last year - bereavement & moving house included.

I'm very very pleased that this has coincided with the run up to Christmas because it gives me an excuse to create a package of seasonal goodies for the lucky winner. I love Christmas & making things to give & share at Christmas is very important to me (you can find lots of our ideas at our Christmas website - Christmas Matters). So whoever wins this giveaway will get a package full of Christmassy delights including handcrafted decorations and other goodies (& keep in mind I make excellent chocolate fudge & even more excellent sloe gin)!

So, please leave me a comment, telling me what you love about Christmas, to be in with a chance of winning an extra Christmas present this year! The draw will be made next Sunday on the 7 December. Good Luck!

Paper Hearts!

I've been experimenting with a few crafts for Christmas decorations that we can add as step by step projects to our Christmas website. We've created Christmas Matters to celebrate all the joy, fun & creativity of Christmas. There's tons of Christmas-related stuff to be found there - recipes, craft ideas, film reviews, book reviews, music reviews, stories & lots of information about the traditions & customs which make it such a fun time.

These paper hearts are definitely going to be included because they look so pretty & are great fun (although a bit fiddly until you get the hang of it) to make. Some people believe they were invented by Hans Christian Andersen - you can see some examples of paper Christmas decorations at the Hans Christian Andersen museum in Odense. The sweet thing about them is that they fold out to make a little basket, so that you can put homemade biscuits or yummy chocolates inside.

It's traditional to make them with paper which is glossy on 1 side - I expect that is because that makes the weaving a lot easier, but there is nothing to stop you experimenting with different papers & even fabric. I bet they would look fantastic with origami papers, gorgeous handmade papers & even fabric - for instance they look great made with felt.

Step 1
Download this pdf template, print it & cut it out.

Step 2
Fold a piece of paper (making sure that the template will fit) and place the short, straight edge of the template up against the fold. Draw round the template and then cut round on the line. Repeat with another piece of paper.

Step 3
Mark & cut lines on your 2 pieces of paper as indicated on the template to create 3 strips on each piece. You will end up with 2 pieces that loook similar to those pictured here. We have marked letters and numbers on the strip to aid the following explanation - you don't have to do this!





















Step 4
Now you are ready to start weaving. You need to have a bit of patience but persevere and it will all come right in the end! Bring the 2 folded pieces of paper togther, corner to corner & slide strip 3 between the folded pieces of strip C. Don't push it all the way into position - leave yourself room to push strip B between the folds of strip 3 (see picture which will hopefully make this a bit clearer - huge thanks to Sandy for the pictures!).

























Step 5
Continue with your interweaving of the strips. You will have to do a bit of bending and shuffling but it will all work out, I promise! See the picture below for the final stages of weaving.

































You should end up with something like this:


























Step 6
Create a hanging ribbon for your heart. I made 2 holes at the middle of the top on either side of the heart & the threaded through a piece of raffia and knotted the ends - this means you can easily access the heart basket to put goodies inside (and get them out again!).

Once you have made a few of these (and practice definitely makes perfect with this one) then you might want to try some more complicated designs. There are some fantastic ones on this wonderful website with a section all about Danish woven hearts..

I hope you have fun making some of these lovely decorations.

Elf Hat Christmas Tree Decoration -It's Tutorial Time

These felt Christmas tree decorations were pretty much the bestsellers when we started selling craft kits on Ebay last year (we've moved over to Etsy now - a much nicer place to be). You can buy a kit containing all you need to make one again this year but I thought it would be fun to offer the pattern as a resource for people who want to go & get their own bits & pieces for the project (or of course, you can raid your stash!).

Depending on how you fast you sew, this really isn't a time-consuming project & the results are really pretty. I reckon a beginner could make one of these in an afternoon so there's nothing stopping you! We use them to hold a big handful of sweets or chocolate money & then hang them on the tree.

You will need:

1 piece of felt about 12x25cm for main body of hat

1 piece of felt about 1.5cmx20cm for the hanging loop
embroidery thread
assorted buttons and beads to decorate
2 larger buttons to attach the hanging loop
needle & a couple of pins







Step 1
Cut the larger piece of felt so that it will form the shape of a cone when rolled. In the picture the 2 short sides are 12cm in length & the inner angle is about 130 degrees.

















Step 2
You don't have to do this next step, but I find it very helpful to mark a line 1cm along the curved edge to the central point (see picture). This reminds me not to sew any beads or buttons on that area which will be covered when you roll the hat into the cone shape.















Step 3
Sew on the buttons & beads in a random pattern all over the hat using 3 strands of the embroidery thread. Remember to leave 2 clear areas on opposite sides on the rim of the cone for sewing on the buttons for the strap/hanger (you'll do this after you have sewn the cone shape).

















Step 4
Roll the felt into a pointed hat shape, overlapping the edges where you have made your pencil line. Pin (if it helps ) & sew along this edge on the right side of the hat using overcast stitch - I like to use a contrasting thread here because it looks so cute.






















Step 5
Sew on the larger buttons on opposite sides of the hat about 1cm from the edge.



Step 6
Cut slits, a little shorter than the width of the buttons you have just sewn in either end of the piece of felt for the strap/hanger.


















Step 7
Fasten the hanger on to the buttons & tada! You're done...

I think some ric-rac edging and a little bell would make fantastic additions to this little hat if you have the inclination.

There's lots more Christmas decoration, food & celebration ideas and resources at our Christmas Matters site. Enjoy!

How did I ever do without one...?

Here's the first needle book I made myself back when I was starting to craft with any kind of seriousness. It's the most useful piece of equipment that I have - no more hunting around for my fave needles through the various boxes and tubs that make up my 'storage system'. It's practical and pretty too because it's made with my favourite Liberty tana lawn fabric - I really love it & have no idea how I did any sewing without it. It makes me feel very professional too! The ones I have run up since have sold well in the shop too, so I am obviously very fond of making them. The later versions have little ribbon and button closures too & I like finding just the right button for each scrap of fabric.

A more fiddly needle book I made recently for the Fairy Tale swap is this little lily pad (my theme, chosen by Lottie, was The Frog Prince). I think it came out pretty well although I now wish I had made the lily a little bit bigger (sorry Lottie!!). It's made almost entirely with wool felt - dark green on the outside, light green on the inside and the white flower. When I was making the flower I got to thinking it would make a lovely hairclip - so I am hoping to try that out when I get a chance. I think I am slightly put off by the fact that I HATE cutting felt - it always seems to go wonky - especially when I am cutting teeny tiny bits... I expect my hard-living 20s did for some of my fine motor skills. Of course felt is so lovely to sew that as soon as I get the cutting out of the way I forget all about how annoying it is & come up with lots of lovely new ideas for it. I am currently working on a very cute little Xmas pudding and a lovely little Christmas stocking - prototypes of decorations I hope to sell in the shop. Great fun!