Woof woof

This is the present I've made for my other niece who is 2.5 years old.
The kennel was adapted from the design here and I just altered the front to make it into a dog kennel.
It was hard on the fingers sewing the panels together and it took a lot longer than I was expecting!
The dog is from a pettern I'd saved from an old quilting magazine which had a special on toys and I thought he needed some food and water so I made 2 little bowls from felt for him together with 'water' and 3 juicy bones!

Run, run as fast as you can...

This little gingerbread man has now been packaged up to send to his new home tomorrow. Hope the recipient likes him as much as I do and looks after him well ( I nearly had second thoughts on whether to give him away as he looked so at home on my tree!)

Let's go fishing

I have had the idea to make this in my head for ages and kept putting it off thinking that it would take ages to make.
However once I started it was quite easy and didn't really take that long.
To make the fishing rods I used a short length of garden cane and covered it twice in quilting fleece. I then covered this with bright material, sewed a length of thick ribbon to the end and added a piece of velcro to the other end of that.
The fish have the other piece of velcro on them. I thought for an 18 month old it would be better to use velcro rather than small magnets which could come loose or could be swung around!
I made a little fishy themed bag to store all the pieces in.
The complete set:

Packed and ready to go fishing!:

cards and gifts

This is the engagement card I made for little brother who got engaged recently- I've never made an engagement card before so needed a few ideas from friends first!

I have made this calendar for my boyfriends parents (it is of their dog 'Hugo' which we looked after earlier this year).
I used a friends bind-it-all machine to make the blank calendar and then decorated each page with small stamped images of dog bones, paw prints etc. I then added photos, calendar pages printed from the internet and dog themed embellishments.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

This is the felt tree decoration I made for Sarah for a swap. I thunk I may make some of them for myself now as I was pleased with how it turned out.


I made this snowman for my friends little girl to hang on her tree. I don't think you'd be able to buy a decoration from a shop with her name on so I decided to personalise the decoration.
The snowman was cut with a sizzix die and then the pieces sewn together and finally, after embroidering the letters on the circles, they were securely sewn on.


And finally this is the inchie decoration for the swap. The squares were very fiddly to do and sewing on the glass beads took ages but I'm really pleased with how it has turned out-I just hope it arrives at it's destination safely!

Woof, woof

This is the first time I've made a card where I've decorated the inside as well as the front. I had two stamps from elzybells that went well together so decided to use one on the inside of the card as well.
I think I will try decorating the inside of cards more often as I like the 'finished 'look of the card.

Twinkle twinkle little star

These stars have been made for a Christmas decoration swap-I need to make just one more and then they are off to their new homes in America, Canada and Australia.

I tried to photograph them to show off their twinkliness (is that a word!) but it isn't showing up much in the photo- they look much nicer in real life!
They are made using beautiful glass beads and using very fine wire.

A Christmas gift

I have made this counting book for my little niece for Christmas.
I bought a blank board book and covered each page with patterned paper. I then used various sizzix and cuttlebug dies to cut out the animal pictures. These were then stuck onto each page along with a number.
The pages were covered with sticky backed plastic to help keep it clean from grubby fingers! I'm not completely happy with how the plastic has 'bubbled' a bit around the pictures but overall I'm pleased with it and it'll be a book that I know she hasn't already got!
I haven't taken pictures of all the pages-just my favourite! The counting pages go up to 10.

Next time I make a board book I think I'll search around for bargain ready-printed story books and decorate over the pictures on them as they are a lot cheaper than buying a blank book!

Christmas is on it's way!

I've got quite a few Christmas cards made now. Usually I don't start until at least the beginning of December but this year I seem to be more organised (at least with making cards-the rest of the projects are still in the design stage!)
These are a few of my favourite cards so far.

This one is made using a stamp from a set which came free with a card making magazine, my new cuttlebug cut and emboss snowflake which I love, and various embossing plates to create the background.
This is my favourite card so far so I think I'll be doing quite a few more in this style.


This card has been made using a pad of papers which came free with a craft magazine. The mouse and decorations on the tree have been decoupaged and the greeting is a rub on.


The last card for today has been made with scraps of paper from my Christmas box and a decoupaged bear image (can't remember where this came from). The corners are cut using a thin cut die and the snowflakes are using a punch.

finally...

At long last I've got round to posting about my hug swap goodies. I received the beautiful mug wrap and mat from Renata. They are beautiful and the sewing is so neat!
I've decided not to use them for their proper prupose as I'd hate to spill tea over them so the mug wrap is being used round one of my pencil pots in my craft room and the mat is on display in my craft room.
So thankyou again Renata and I hope mine sent to you arrives soon!


Today I recieved my goodies from the Autumn swap so thankyou very much-they are lovely.
I recieved a lovely autumn mat, a coffee themed teatowel which will look great in the kitchen and lots of lovely autumnal ribbons.


And I know my Autumn swap partner has recieved her goodies. I only took a photo of the mat I made which I did machine appliqué around the leaves. It's the first time I've done that technique and I was really pleased with how it turned out. Unfortunately I can't find the photo anywhere on my computer! I know it was on here because I was looking at it earlier but I can't find it in any folders now! So I have put the photo on which was on Paola's blog-i hope she doesn't mind!

I think I might make some similar place mats for the Christmas table like this. I'll add it to the long list of projects I want to get done by Christmas!!!

golden angels

This is my card with an angel for the bubblyfunk challenge. I'm not sure i like the colouring on the angels dress- it's come out a bit too orange so may have another play leter with different colours of glitter pens.

fluttering fairies

I made this card for my nieces first birthday. The fairy stamps are from two different packs of stamps by 'Red Hot Bed'. they have been coloured with glitter pens to give them a fairy shimmer.
The paper letters were from a pack from qvc and I inked the white letters with lilac ink and then embossed them twice using holographic embossing powder.

A few cards

Made for various friends birthdays- so many seem to have their birthday in October and November!
-and a thankyou card ready for after christmas!

Silver silhouette

I made this card for a challenge on a forum with the theme of 'silhouettes'.

I initially used silver mirror card for the background but thought it looked too 'shiny' when finished so I took all the card to pieces and changed it to a piece of matt silver card. I also did the image again as it was starting to rub off the black paper-it is stamped with an embossing ink pad and then I used silver cosmic shimmer powder over the image- after wiping over the image lightly to remove any stray flecks i sprayed it with hair spray and there is no more smudging!

It doesn't show up too well in the photo but the powder creates a lovely shimmery silver which is similar to a foiled rub-on

The weekends results

I have had to force myself to make 2 cards this weekend for birthdays that are coming up.
This is the first time I've used a pre-printed card. I added a stamped image by Penny Black and punched flowers, some of which are raised.



The second card was framed using a small stamp of different leaves. I have raised the outer end of each leaf to make them stand out more. The monkey was stamped onto different shades of brown paper and then cut and placed together to make the image-this is a technique that I haven't tried before but will be using a lot more as it makes the image bolder than just water colouring it.




I have also finally got round to showing the inchies I've been sewing for the swap. Don't look too closely at the red sewing around the edges as it is not as neat as the samples! I have used lovely glass beads to make the pattern on each of the finished ones.
Only 10 more to finish!

a new project

A new project project I've started is the a melly and me pattern called Lottie and little lady which is lovely. The big ladybird has a little bag to hang around her neck which holds a little baby ladybird (little lady).
I couldn't find any brighter red spotty material for her body but this does look a bit brighter in real life than in the photo so I think it'll look good when it's finished.
It took a while to get the arms and legs looking right but the pattern overall is very easy to follow and make. I'm sure she'll look a lot cuter when she's fully stuffed!

I have also made a start on my inchie christmas decorations for the swap. Unfortunately my sewing on the edges of the inchies isn't quite as neat as the sample so I've added plenty of beading to detract the eye from the edges!
I'll take photos tonight and post them tomorrow.

owl template

As requested here is the owl template for any of you who wish to use him on cards, applique etc. Feel free to resize him larger or smaller.
I would love to see what you do with him!
I don't know how to add for you to download directly but if you right click on the picture and save it to your computer you will then be able to open it in word or similar program (hopefully!)

a crinkly toy

I finally found put how to make a toy crinkly sounding by using cereal packet bags.
I washed the bags that the cereal is in from inside the box and layered 2 pieces of it with some wadding.
I sewed eyes and a beak onto the front piece of material and sewed the wings which have 1 piece of crinkly bag in them.
I then layered a piece of wadding and 2 pieces of crinkly bag and then on the top the piece of patterned material with the eyes and beak sewn on, right side up and then the other piece of patterned material, right side down.
The wings were then pinned in the sides so they were inside the sandwich.
I then sewed all around the outside leaving a small part unsewn in the bottom to turn it the right side.
After turning the owl the right way, the bottom seam was sewn together on the machine.
Apologies for the blurry photo!
And for all those who have asked for a template of the owl I used on my clock- I haven't forgotten and will put it on here tomorrow.

a little bird house

I have been wanting to make a little paper birdhouse for ages after seeing them in magazines and on other blogs. It was the challenge on the bubblyfunk challenge blog that gave me the push.
I started out making a birdhouse with just the large bird on and a circle of paper to show the hole but then decided to cut the hole out (not easy when the house was already stuck together!) and add a couple of baby bluebirds inside. Of course then mother bird needed some food to take to her babies so i made a red worm for her to hold.
This is the first photo of my work that i have taken outside- I thought it'd be a much nicer photo if I placed the birdhouse in a tree in my garden!

Twit Twoo

I have finally got around to altering a clock which I've had for years. It previously had a picture of Winnie the Pooh on which was very nice but it was time for a change. I've had these papers and die cuts swirls in a pack from QVC for ages.
I drew and cut out the owl and layered him up with some 3D foam behind him and in between some of the layers.
He was then placed onto the board which I have covered in different papers, edged with ink. I have only stuck them on using double sided tape so if I ever want to re-cover the clock or have it back as a Winnie clock then i should be able to.
The clock now has pride of place in my craft room.
I still have loads of the papers from the pack left so I think i will cover and decorate a cheap wooden set of drawers which were bought from IKEA next.

couple of cards

These are a couple of cards i have made recently after a visit to Stamp Addicts. Both the owl and bear stamps are by Judikins and are lovely to work with.
I wanted to make all parts of the owl card co-ordinate so tried stamping on ribbon with the same leaf stamp I'd used to make the background-I wasn't expecting it to turn out as nice as it did so it's something I'll be doing a lot more to make my own patterned ribbons!
The owl card is also the first card I've made in ages which didn't use any pre-printed backing papers-it has been sponged with ink and stamped using small rubber stamps (an idea i picked up from Stamp Addicts as they used small stamps to make the backgrounds on most of their sample cards in the shop)
I have started a couple more cards using this bear on mens cards and will post them here when they're finished.

Humpty

This toy was made following an Alan Dart pattern which I spotted on ebay. I have only tried making one toy by Alan Dart before and found it very confusing and didn't finish it as it was all going wrong. Yet again this pattern was very difficult and it took a lot of extra stitches to get his body looking symmetrical and egg shaped! I made his feet and hands differently to the pattern as I wanted to get him finished and was fed up of the fiddly bits. I embroidered a nose onto him after this photo was taken.
He will be delivered to my niece next weekend.

tilda bunny

This bunny was made from a Tilda book 'Crafting Springtime Gifts' -there are so many lovely projects in there. The actual bunny wasn't too difficult to make but the clothing directions were a bit confusing and the dress turned out too wide at the top (although doesn't look too bad once on) but the hat isn't at all like it should be-I don't know what I did wrong but I couldn't work out the proper way to make it!

baby quilt

This is the first quilt I've made and whilst making it I was thinking it'd be my last! I didn't realise just how long it would take to make and how difficult it would be! Each stage took loads longer than i expected and I found it difficult to sew the squares together so that each strip of squares would fit toegther and have neat corners.

In the end i don't think it mattered too much as you don't really notice and I think it adds to the hand made charm of it. I love the end result-it was really snuggly and if it hadn't been in baby colours I think I would have been tempted to keep it myself!

The quilt was for my friends second and baby and my friends really loved it. Now to get started on a quilt for myself!

my first bag

This was a bag i made for my sisters birthday. I followed a free pattern on the internet and found this gorgeous thick fabric in the local quilt shop. I was expecting the bag to be quite difficult to make but the instructions and diagrams are so clear that it only took me a couple of hours to make and was pretty easy ( the only thing I did wrong, due to rushing, was taping the pattern together the wrong way so my bag turned out smaller than it should have done but it still looked good when finished!)