Sugar & Meringue

I missed it! I have been so busy with School these past few weeks, somehow in my GoogleReader, I missed this post from Sugar & Meringue! Her annual "National Sugar Cookie Day" publication. Last year's was adorably presented, as was this year's.

Open publication - Free publishing - More cookie

It is full of sweet recipes, how-to images and ideas. She has also posted an adorable tutorial on how to make "granny-square" decorated cookies. And, since making granny-squares for a blanket is on my to-do list this Summer, I am smitten with this idea. Enjoy!

(All images and publications copyright Sugar & Meringue)

Christmas in July

I know, I have written about this before on my blog, but in the States, it is a big thing to have "Christmas in July" sales and events. This is not the case in England, where people look at you, as if you are half mad to even mention such a thing. As school is shortly coming to a close for us (tomorrow is our last day, Yipee!), I thought this would be a good time to use a bit of the Summer break to begin working on a few Christmas/winter-y projects.

One, being my crocheted granny blanket, which I have yet to have the chance to begin, with all the craziness of school going on around us. But, also to possibly start a few Christmas projects early. Here were a few things I came across and I might just try to make some of these, or at the very least be inspired by them, especially the sock monkey coffee cup wrap, he has personality!

Do you begin your Christmas making projects early, or are you a last minute kinda gal (or guy)? Enjoy!

Now is a good time to start collecting vintage cookie cutters at thrift stores and yard sales. These "frames" would be gorgeous to have up all year round!

These mice would make perfect teacher's presents or classroom gifts. If you changed the colors they would even be cute for an Alice in Wonderland Themed Birthday Tea Party.

Want to make your own granny square blanket to stay cozy with when the weather turns frosty, go to Meet me at Mike's for a granny square tutorial.

This sock monkey coffee cup wrap is too cute. Perfect for your coffee lovers, any time of year.

(All images copyright their respective blogs)

Tents

We have ONE week left to go of school and I am so ready for it to be over! This last term has felt as if it has gone on forever. It feels too long to still be in school, I am ready to enjoy a little bit of a Summer break.

Summer meant a lot of things and happy memories in my house growing up. One such memory in particular was the summertime rituals my sister and I always did. We played outside, creating bike "roads" out of chalk on our drive way. We went swimming, we went to the library and signed-up for the summertime reading list.

We ate ice-cream and fresh peaches from the farm. We played an endless game of monopoly that we made span the entire length of our Summer break and we built tents. We built huge tents with old blankets and sheets, sometimes encompassing a table and chair and part of a couch in our giant fortress.

We played underneath it, hung out, read, watched movies through our special "spy" hole aimed at the tv, we just had FUN. When I saw this tent tutorial, I just loved it. It brought back all of those little memories. This is a lot fancier than what we built, but I think just as magical.

What a fun summertime project for you and your little ones. I can just see it strung with fairy lights, filled with cozy blankets and pillows and the perfect place to lay down and read a book on a rainy day, falling asleep to the gentle pitter-patter of the rain, with the magical glow of the twinkling lights overhead.

For the how-to click here.

All images are courtesy of Grosgrain Fabulous. Original Post from Cakies.

Danny Brito

Danny Brito is an artist I discovered ages ago, through Danielle Thompson's blog. He is someone whose work I have come to appreciate it. Especially his curly whirly whipped ice-cream beehived hairdo clad women!

This is a little video he made on making a handmade book and I liked his process, so I thought I would share it with you, I can't wait to try making one of my own on my little dollhouse sized machine! Enjoy:


Mini-book from danny brito on Vimeo.

(All images and video copyright Danny Brito)

Some Bunny Loves You

These bunnies are too cute for words! I saw them this weekend posted at The Purl Bee blog. They would be adorable set around a child's place setting at an Easter table (or for grown-up kids too). I would love one at mine!

I come from a very large family of extended aunts, uncles & cousins. Both of my parents are 1 of 8 children and it doesn't matter how old I am, or how long I have been married, I am still at the children's table when we go to my grandparent's house for family events. But, hey, you have more fun with those little people anyway, and with these little finger puppets we would be having a ball!

These bunnies would even be cute tucked in an Easter basket as a surprise from the Easter Bunny, you just have to have one small fun thing hidden amongst all the jelly beans and peeps and chocolate placed in the Easter grass of your basket!

To make your own little bunny Fu-Fu finger puppets follow the directions here:






(Images copyright The Purl Bee, embellishments, Jennifer Michie)

Pom Pom Bunny Girl

This elfin sized Pom-Pom Bunny, by the very lovely Jennifer Murphy has been in my little project file for awhile now. I don't think she is going to be made this Easter, with all the other projects I have on the go at the moment...

But, her vintage sweetness would look very cute on my kitchen table or next to my Easter egg tree. I need the rain to hold off on Saturday so we can go on our twig hunt. Easter is almost here and I haven't collected twigs yet for my tree, once that is done we can get the eggs out to hang up and really feel like Spring is here.

To make your own Pom-Pom Bunny Girl follow the directions below:

 

Tools and Materials
Yarn
Waxed thread
Scissors
Felt
Felt glue (such as Beacon's)
Hemostat
Tiny black beads
Pink embroidery floss
Needle
Heavy thread
Chenille stem
Paper cupcake liners
Pinking sheers
Ribbon
Vintage flowers (optional)
Small circle of wood
Off-white paint
Paintbrush
Pink paper

Pom-Pom Bunny How-To1. Print Bunny How-To PDF to follow along with when creating the pom-pom bunnies. Make two separate pom-poms of equal size by winding yarn around two fingers. Tie pom-pom tightly in middle with waxed thread.

2. Use scissors to clip loops and create frayed ends. Trim a larger pom-pom into an oval for the body. Trim a smaller pom-pom to create a head.

3. Cut ears out of felt. Fold and glue the bottom of each ear to give it dimension, and hold into place with a hemostat until dry.

4. Glue ears into the head with felt glue.

5. Glue bead eyes into place.

6. String pink embroidery floss through the space where the nose should be. Trim.

7. Knot a double-threaded needle with heavy thread; pull through and clip long for whiskers.

8. Open a space in the body for the arms and legs made of chenille stems. Glue chenille stem into pom-pom body.

9. Fold chenille stem in half so cut end gets hidden inside the pom-pom for both the arms and legs. Fold legs vertically, and arms horizontally. For the legs, fold them so the bunny becomes the desired height.

10. Glue head onto body.

11. To make the bunny's skirt, cut the circular bottoms of two paper cupcake liners with pinking sheers.

12. Glue the two pieces together at the waist.

13. Tie a bow around bunny's neck using ribbon.

14. With glue, tack the skirt onto the bunny on the front, back, and under each arm. Dab small dots of glue around the top of the skirt and attach.

15. Bend the bunny's arms. Glue on vintage flowers for decoration.

16. To create a base, paint a small circle of wood off-white. Trace the circle on pink paper.

17. Cut just inside line with pinking sheers and glue onto the wooden base.

18. Bend the bunny's feet at the ankle. Glue feet onto the wooden base.

(All images & tutorial text copyright Martha Stewart)

Shamrock Boutonnieres

St. Patrick's Day is tomorrow and in case you need to make some last minute St. Patty's Day crafts these sweet boutonnieres are on the Martha Stewart website.

They are absolutely adorable and would work well as something cute on your lapel to take you through Spring. You could even add a little ladybug on a leaf for extra luck, if you can find one tiny enough.

Tools and Materials

 Cotton fabric

Waxed paper

Paintbrush

Liquid starch

Iron

Scissors

Pencil

Floral wire

Craft glue

Green ribbon

Corsage pins

1. On waxed paper, use a paintbrush to coat both sides of a cotton swatch with liquid starch. Let it dry. Iron the fabric to flatten it.

 2. Photocopy shamrock templates to desired sizes. Cut them out, and trace them on fabric; then cut out fabric shamrocks. Crease each leaf in half lengthwise.

3. To make a stem, cut a 4-inch piece of floral wire; fold it in half, and twist it until the ends form a tiny V. Bend the V forward slightly and attach it to the back of each shamrock with a small dab of craft glue. Tie a bow around one stem or a bunch of shamrocks. Use a corsage pin to fasten to your clothing.

Click here to get the full set of directions from the Martha Stewart website.

(All images and direction text, copyright Martha Stewart Living)

Blanket Statement

This morning the sun is shining yet again, the little pot of bulbs by my front door are ready to pop open and a rap at my racing green door was opened to find my jolly postman waiting for me with a parcel in his hands.

What was in my delicious parcel? This:

It was written by the lovely Vicki Haninger, who runs the Turkey Feathers Blog and the Pattern Bee web shop where she sells wonderful vintage and retro embroidery designs.

I have been desiring this little book ever since I saw her cute elephant doll, sweetly dressed for a party with a heart bejeweled crown on her head. But you could not get it in England and I could never find it when I went home to visit. So, thank goodness you can now get it through Amazon UK, that makes me 1 very happy camper!

So, sitting down with a steaming cup of tea, I tore into this package like a child on Christmas morning and I flipped through, oohed and aaghed and then I flipped through again and oohed and aaghed some more.

What a sweet treasure this book is and the other ideas it has already started spawning in my head... it is really adorable!

If you can't wait to get your hands on your own copy, you can already begin making a project from her book. She offers this darling little lambkin pattern on her website. It looks like something straight out of a vintage shop. I can just see the 1950's little girl it belonged to in her pink coat and matching bonnet with this little lamb tucked under her arm.

I can't wait to get started making some of the projects out of here. But, first there are bears and bunnies to be made for RosaBlue, so I am busy happily stitching away!

Click on the Lambkin for a pattern and directions:

I Wanna Hold Your Hand!

Aren't these Valentine's from Martha Stewart adorable? They made me think of being little when my art teacher would have us make all kinds of things out of our hands; turkeys for Thanksgiving and Rudolphs for Christmas.  This is a cute carry on from that. You would even make them more grown-up looking by adding on jewels for rings and bracelets if you were giving them to grown-up girlfriends.

Another sweet idea I saw were these Valentine's matchboxes on Inchmark.  They are too cute and if you combined them with the new lace paper cutters from Martha you could really dress these up, by cutting out trim in a Valentine's themed craft paper and wrapping them around your matchbox "gift" boxes.

Speaking of Valentine's gifts, one of the little projects I mentioned I was working on, I finished yesterday morning. It has taken me a bit of time to complete, I have had to steal away time when my Valentine hasn't been around. I am going to tie it to his Valentine's surprises! Shhh! Its a secret!




To make your own Valentine Hand Cards click here:

To make your own Valentine's matchboxes click here:

HeartFelt Love

I have had this project on my computer for awhile now. It is a very sweet tutorial from The Purl Bee! This is a wonderful site for all kinds of knitting/crocheting/sewing information, if you haven't discovered it yet, it is a real treasure! 

They also have a beautiful online store and sell really scrumptious fabrics, a few of which I am dying to get my hands on at the moment, but alas, I am trying to be good and have too many other projects on the go.

I am thinking of making up a few of these for friends.  Just tying them on to their Valentine's packages and not only is is something pretty and decorative, it is something to wear as well!

I am a scrap saver and I have a lot of really yummy pastel felt scraps in a big bag, so,  I am going to dig through that and make a few of these up! They would also look so pretty just in an antique glass jar or a little crystal bowl just sitting somewhere looking pretty and bringing you a little happiness!

If you want to make them too, you can find the full tutorial by clicking on the picture --->

Fairy Mushrooms

While doing a little research for vintage cotton-spun mushrooms, I came across this tutorial for paperclay mushrooms on The Fabled Needle Blog.  I know it is an older post but they were just too cute not to share with you.


On such a cold drizzley morning here in England this brought me a little sunshine happiness.  I can't wait to try making them myself, the possibilities of their uses are endless.

I am already envisioning plans for these little sparkle layered snow kissed mushrooms sprinkled around my miniature zinc Christmas house in December and maybe worked into a wreath with tiny gnomes for some Christmas kitsch cuteness. Oh, now I am getting carried away...

You will find her tutorial here, just click on the polka dotted mushrooms below:

(Mushroom Images from The Fabled Needle Blog, Gnomes from Layer Cake, embellished by Jennifer Michie)

Teeth & Fairies & Bears, Oh My!

I have been quite the busy bee at the moment working on banners and embellishing bags and items for the fair. June is almost upon us, so I do not have long before everything must be done. One of the projects I have made is a variation on a pattern I found on Martha Stewart. They are these adorable “Tooth Bears”.

The little bear is made out of felt with a pocket in the front to place your little one’s tooth in to await a visit from the Tooth Fairy. Martha embroidered the child’s name on her bears, but I have decided to simply put “tooth” across their little pockets. I have also changed the suggested stitch you were to use and I have slightly varied their faces.

They were a fun project to create; they are all different, each with their own little personality coming through. So, hopefully my little bears will speak to the right person at the fair and they will all go to lovely new homes, as they were made to support a charitable cause.

I have included the link from Martha Stewart where you will be able to find more information to make your own Tooth Bear (with the pattern template) for your little person or a friend.

Martha Stewart Show

Please note this template is copyright to Martha Stewart Living.