Purple Felt Heart with Beads

A simple name for this post, I know, but I couldn't think of anything else so please, help out if you can think of anything better.

However, today, I decided to put a new kit on the Craft Fairy web site and, as, I've fallen in love with making these felt hearts, I decided to make up kits of these hearts. The first one is this purple beaded beauty.

You will get a fabulous kit that you can use to make 3 of the beaded felt heart in purple that you see in the image.
The kit will consist of:

6 die cut purple felt hearts
1 pack of clear beads
1 pack of stuffing
1 pack of white ribbon roses
1 length of purple spotty grosgrain ribbon

You will need to supply your own needle and white thread for sewing the heart closed.

Lots more felt heart designs

Looking for wedding ideas?

Decorated felt hearts are all the rage. Choose shabby colours and you will create a double whammy of felt hearts.

Rather than bore you all with lots of individual posts on the felt hearts that I've been making, I thought that I would put a whole lot of them on at once. If you're wondering how I made so many then the answer is simple. They  can be made while watching the television of an evening.

So, what are you waiting for? These pretty felt hearts will make fabulous favours for any wedding, or a perfect gift got a bride.

Hearts in Lilac Felt

I hope that I'm not the only one to become obsessed with making a whole load of variations on a theme.   My current obsession is these felt hearts. My daughter said that she really liked them so that was me convinced and I was off. So here's today's heart in lilac this time.

I made it slightly different from the last one so compare them and see what I mean.

  

Beaded lariat in silver and grey

This is my first lariat. I believe that I am proud as I have managed to make a necklace from very few components. The trick in this piece is to bunch all of the beads used at the ends so that they make a striking focal point.

The other thing about this lariat is that you don't really need any findings. The necklace is closed by looping one side over the other. I used the new P'Leather to string the beads and it is wonderfully non slip so it can be placed without the fear of your beads ending up in colourful pile on the floor.

So, what do we have to do?

In the picture below are the beads and P'Leather that I used.

You can find them here on Craft Fairy:

Lt. Rose, 6/0 Glass Seed Beads, Opaque about 4mm, 

 Acrylic Beads, Faceted Oval, Silver Colour about 24mm long

Spacer Beads, Platinum Color, 8mm hole: 3mm

P'Leather Cord 1mm diameter Black, 5 meters

Shocking Pink Painted Glass Beads, Round, 16mm x 10 beads

Start by cutting your 5 metrese of P'leather into three equal lengths.

On to two of the ends, thread a 4mm rose bead, a platinum spacer, a pink glass bead and a 4mm rose bead. Tie a knot at the end of the p'leather to keep the beads from falling off the end. Then tie another knot after the last rose bead. See below:

Once you have done this on two of the ends, you can add a little variety and thread the third cord ens with a silver oval bead instead.

Before you tie the know in the p'leather stager the length of the cords as shown above. Tie a knot about 10 - 15 cm from the end of the last bead. You don't have to be too precious about this, it all depends on how long you want to have the dangling beads.

Now on two of the cords only, thread on a silver faceted bead. Tie all three cords into a knot after the bead.

Now leave a gap of about 10 cm and tie another knot. Then thread a large pink bead onto 1 thread. You won't be able to get two threads through. Tie a knot after the bead.

Leave another 10 ch and tie a knot. Thread all three cords through one of the platinmum spacers and thie another knot.

Leave 20 cm and tie another knot. Add a platinum spacer and knot. 

Leave 10 cm and tie a knot. Thread on a Silver faceted bead and tie a knot. 

Leave 10cm and tie a knot. Thread on a pink bead and tie a knot.

Now leave a space equivalent to ont of the spaces on the first side of the lariat and tie a knot in just one of the cords. Thread on 1 small bead, 1 silver faceted bead, 1 platinum spacer and 1 small seed bead. Tie a knot trim.

Repeat this with the rest of  the beads to match the first side. I varied it a bit on this side and had two faceted silver beads and just one pink one. That way I ended up with a total of 3 pink beads and three silver beads when the lariat is folded over. Look down to see what I mean.

Felt Hearts with Lace, beads and ribbon

Have you noticed that decorated felt hearts are all the rage at the moment? Well, if you haven't you must be hiding under a craft free stone. They are all over Pinterest. I decided that I wanted to make one of my own designs. So I'll tell you how I get started on designing any of the projects that I let you have for free on this blog.

Today's project is a pretty, purple felt heart that I've decorated in beads, ribbon, and lace. 

Keep in mind that these are the quantities that they are sold in, you won't use any where near so much and if you buy the pack of hearts you will be able to make at least 3 of these hearts with lots of ribbon beads and lace left over for other projects.

To make this heart you will need:

Glass Seed Beads, Ceylon Round, Lilac, about 3mm, hole:1mm 6cm tube

Antique Mauve and Ivory Luxury Damask Ribbon 2 metres x 16mm

22mm Guipure Lace x 1 Metre - ivory

Purple Felt Hearts 7.5cm, wide 40% Wool and Synthetic Blend x 6

Light Orchid Satin Swiss Dot Ribbon, 3m x 6mm

Some soft filling. I used kapok.

Cotton, I used an off white sewing cotton, nothing special really, just what I had in my sewing bag.

Once you've assembled these pretty bits and pieces, you will need to start by stitching the mauve damask ribbon to the felt heart. I believe that the stitch is called whip stitch, but it is simply sewing the edge of the ribbon to the heart. 

Now trim the ribbon to match the heart exactly.

Lay on a piece of lace and stitch that to the heart too. Trim the lace. 

Sew the lilac beads to the top section of the heart in a random pattern.

With the cotton,  I used a blanket stitch, join about three quarters of the heart. Remember to add, and stitch in, the loop. You can make it as long or as short as you like. Fill with enough filling to make the heart puffy and finish off the blanket stitch to close the heart.

Finished.

Cube Beads Rock

Well, Christmas is over and my mind is already turning to spring and lighter colours. So, today, these new in cube beads took my fancy and I decided that I wanted to make something light and airy. This is the result.

I got out the trusty teapot to take the photograph as it hasn't had an airing for a while and I thought that the necklace would look good against the white of the pot.

The necklace is a breeze to make and cheap too. It only took 1 strand of these beads

6mm Cube, Crackle Glass Beads, Strands, Pink 32 pieces

Some white beads that I had spare.

100 metres of Monofilament 0.35mm

 Calottes, Silver Colour, 9mm long, 3mm wide, hole: about 1.5mm

15 Zinc Alloy Lobster Claw Clasps, Bright Silver Color, Size: 10mm long,

So, you can make on in no time.

Spend a little make a lot, Seed Bead Necklace

Spend a little make a lot is my motto for this post as I've made a necklace that uses only £1 worth of beads.

You all know what I mean when I say that I'm drawn to packs of beads with lots and lots of colours in them. They shine and seduce and when you get them home you wonder what on earth to do with them. Well, this is what I've come up with. I'm in the process of doing the Video clip but for now I'll content myself with showing you the piccies.

I used
20g 6/0 Glass Seed Beads, Dyed Colors, Round, Mixed Colors, about 4mm 1 pack
6 Alloy Chandelier Components, Lead and Cadmium Free, Antique Silver Color, 34mm just 2 of these
Tibetan Silver Toggle & Bar, Lead Free and Cadmium Free, x 6 sets just 1 set

100 metres of Monofilament 0.35mm I used less than 4 metres.

12 crimps

2 jump rings

Here's the video to explain how to do it.

Fair at Margam Orangery

Last weekend, together with tow of my beading buddies I had a table at the Glamorgan WI Craft Bonanza.

Lest you get confused that's not me in the photo but one of my buddies. I was behind the lens as usual and not in the photos.

We decided to go for a white theme this time as we have discovered that the cloths supplied by the WI are a dark green that kills the colour of the beads. These cloths are old ones that I inherited from my late mother so they have been well used and were perfect for our backdrop. One of the other advantages of using old tablecloths is that they tend to be big enough to cover the large tables that are used in the fairs. Big families needed big tables and hence big cloths.

A bit of a close up of the table.

We also decided that this time we would go for a colour theme. In the past we've put our own jewellery in sections but in the spirit of harmony and the fact that we know our own pieces we went for colour co-ordination where possible and I believe that the table looked better for it too.

My only bug with this table is that the cloth was not straight at the front. I thought that it was before we started but as we moved more and more things away from the front of the table we could see that it was slightly skew. Unfortunately, short of taking everything off the table it had to stay as it was. Lesson learnt. Next time have noting in front of the table when we decide if the cloth is straight.

Tutorial - Midnight Blue Crystal Necklace

I've finally been able to get this video on Blogger. If you click the link below you will see the video. It's only 5 minutes long.

http://www.youtube.com/v/rK2I0RnMRxo?version=3&autohide=1&autohide=1&feature=share&autoplay=1&attribution_tag=WgZ2EHdDnJFjnWjtE5X_qQ&showinfo=1

Lilac Strand Necklace

This is the latest of my necklaces. I decided to go for lilac this time. Love it.

It is priced at only £12. The perfect price for a Chrissie or birthday gift.

How to make a quick and easy bead bracelet.

On the Craft Fairy site I have some beautiful two tone acrylic beads that I have been itching to get my hands on for a while. I just love the two tone sheen that they have and I decided that they were the perfect look and size for this quickly beaded bracelet.

The beads come as mixed packs but I sorted out the pinker of the beads and made this. It is a basic right angle weave, but to dispense with the need for a clasp, I used stretch elastic to make this bracelet.

You will only need two things to make this bracelet and what is more no tools.

Colorful Acrylic Beads, Rubberized Style, Round, Mixed Color x 50

Crystal Thread, Clear, Elastic, 1.0mm in diameter, 6m/roll

As soon as someone helps me out with a raw diagram I will post it to explain all to you.

Spiral Rope Bracelet for fun

A couple of years ago I dragged my friend along to a jewellery making course.  Just for fun I said. Little did I know that I would love it to the point that I wanted to bring the beads to the Craft Fairy web site. I plotted and I planned and now they have arrived. So, of course, I had first dibs and this is what I made. It's a simple spiral rope and it is finished with cones and a toggle clasp to make it a bit more up to date. No fuddy duddy beading for me thank you.

I'll put a tutorial as soon as I've time after doing the Bristol Parchment Craft Show tomorrow.