My Makes Forum Launch Party

Do come and join us at the fab new craft forum My Makes . The forum's up and running now and we're having a launch party from mid-day on Saturday 10th September until 8pm on Sunday 11th September.  Fun and games, challenges and much more!  I'm one of the moderators and would love to see you, do come and join in this friendly new craft forum.

Born to Shop card

A quick and easy way to use up some leftover scraps of paper and card.  I can think of a few people this card would be appropriate for!

I found a couple of pretty pink papers in my offcuts box and used strips of  Washi tape on a scrap of card to create a third one to coordinate.  I trimmed them to size, pierced a couple of holes at the top of each for the butcher's twine bag handles and adhered a little wisp of mulberry paper behind.  I attached a piece of white card to a pink card blank with Washi tape, added the bags with thick foam pads to add dimension and finished with a computer generated sentiment. 

Button Heart Hoop

A pretty room decoration from a scrap of dressmaking fabric, an embroidery hoops and lots of buttons and beads from my stash

A nice little stash buster I made for the Fiskarettes UK Facebook page back in June. 

I cut a scrap of dress fabric just larger than my embroidery hoop, drew a heart shape

and sewed on a variety of buttons and beads with a few different shades of embroidery silk, then filled in the gaps with seed beads.

I felt it needed a backing as the fabric I had used was quite thin, so to finish the back I trimmed the surplus fabric to about an inch, ran a running stitch around the edge to gather it and stitched a circle of felt to cover the raw edges.

I have had the hoop for years and never used it for its intended purpose but it now looks really pretty on the wall.  I think I may make some more to go with it!

Spring Surprise Exploding Box Card

A Spring Surprise Exploding Box Card

 

 

 

Inside is a tiny pot of flowers, complete with little bees

 

 

 

This card was great fun to make!  I found a teeny tiny flower pot and made some tulips using cotton buds, green florists tape and the Fiskars petal punch, and added some cute little punched bees with Wink of Stella on their wings for glittery highlights, hovering on strips of acrylic.

I then used green card to make an exploding box card to fit the finished size of the pot, decorated it inside and out with pink and green cardstock and patterned papers and finished off with a little "get well soon" tag. 

This was designed for the Fiskarettes UK Facebook page

Great new craft forum - introducing My Makes

I'm very happy to reveal that I've been appointed one of the moderators for a lovely new crafts forum called My Makes. It's a friendly community for all crafts and I hope you will join us and make new friends and share your own makes.

I have also done a tutorial for this banner birthday card, made from scraps of paper and Washi tape, and will be working on more tutorials for the forum in the future.  Hope to see you there!

Banner birthday card

Scented Strawberry Sachet

I made this little scented strawberry to hang in my car but it would also make a cute scissor keeper or pincushion.  It's published on the Fiskarettes UK FaceBook page.

I cut a semi-circle with a radius of 8 cm from red felt, a white flower and a green leaf and calyx.  

I sewed yellow seed beads randomly onto the berry, then with right sides together sewed the side seam to make a cone shape, rounding the bottom so the shape wasn’t too pointy. 

I filled the berry with toy filling, and inserted a cotton wool ball with a few drops of pot-pourri refresher oil, then gathered the top edge with a running stitch. I then stitched the opening closed and attached a loop of ribbon to the top of the berry.  

I added veins to the calyx and leaf with two strands of green embroidery silk, snipped a small hole in the centre of the calyx to pull the hanging loop through, then stitched the calyx and leaf onto the strawberry.  I sewed some larger gold beads to the centre of the flower and attached it onto the opposite side to the leaf.

A Card for Quick Cards Made Easy Issue 154

Quick Cards Issue 154

Dreamcatcher card

I was lucky enough to be chosen to design a card for Quick Cards Make Easy magazine and was delighted to be sent such pretty papers in bright colours and Aztec-inspired patterns.  I used two triangles of complementary papers, cut out a couple of dreamcatchers from another paper, die cut some feathers and made a rosette from the other papers, added one of the sentiment toppers from the set and finished off with some sequins and tiny gems, all on a background of bright pink cardstock to pull all the colours together.

Fairy Wand

Make a Wish!

I used the Fiskars Shape template to draw two stars on gold felt, cut them out and sewed on star sequins to decorate. The two stars were blanket stitched together, leaving a gap at the base. I  painted a garden cane gold and added a little glitter with a glittery nail varnish top coat. I glued a little ball of toy stuffing onto one end of the stick to pad it.  When this was dry I inserted it into the star and stuffed it firmly with toy stuffing, using a pencil to push it right into the points, then sewed up the gap and added a ribbon and bell.  Magic!

Made for the Fiskarettes UK design team