The winner is....

The winner is....

I am pleased to announce that ther winner of the blog candy give away is 

Jennie, The Crafty Wife.

If Jennie can get in touch I will post her goodies out to her.

Thank you to all those who took part and please come back soon as there will be regular give aways on this blog for the Next Year.

New Button Tree - Shades of Autumn

I've made another button tree. I made this one as I gave a talk to a local WI and I wanted to show them fairly economical ways that you could craft. This picture is made from just half a pack of our Autumn Shades buttons and a couple of twigs from the garden.

As with the other button tree, it is sewn together and that way it will not fall apart. 
The hardest part of this is finding suitable twigs.
Happy Crafting.

I'm turning my attention to buttons

You may all have noticed that  I have done a lot of sewing lately but now the time has come to turn my attention to buttons. So I have been looking around the internet for inspiration and I have found lots. I saw these on a site called Craft-Craft. Now the idea here is not to copy but to be inspired and these are some of the things that I have found inspiring.

Now all I need to hope for is that I come up with something new and unique that you will all like too.

Pinterest

Have you visited Pinterest lately?

Do you know what it is?

I must admit, that until quite recently I'd never heard of it. Now, though, I use it all of the time.

Basically it's an online pin board that allows you to pin ideas if things that you see and admire. I use mine for inspining craft ideas. I pin my things, but gasp...I pin those of other people too. Lots of things.

You can pin things that you see on Pinterest and things that you see odd the site. Whatever takes your fancy really.

Best of all are the bords that other people have as they are truly amazing. Food, decorating style, craft, Christmas  ......  I could go on and on.

So, why not click on to my Pinterst bar at the side of this blog and go explore.

Craft Fairy Blog Candy

Please post a link to this giveaway on your blog or Twitter. 

 

To celebrate the New Year Craft Fairy are holding a give away.

Rubber Stamp Clearance Day on Craft Fairy

Today I am reducing many of our rubber stamps on Craft Fairy.

These are fabulous stamps, but I have more than I need and the end of the year is coming and we need to clear for the new stock so you will all benefit from the clear out.

Look at some of what's on offer:

and

These won't last long so be quick.

Organza Ribbon flower

Well I must say that I do seem to be on a roll as far as these ribbon flowers are concerned and this is the latest. Ribbon and button offer.

What you will have in this tutorial is the basis bow that will allow you to build up lots more bows. I've kept this simple for you so I hope that you're ready to play along.

You won't need much to make this, just:

1.5 metres of 23mm ribbon. ( The wider the ribbon, the fuller the flower. If you use thinner ribbon you will need to wrap it more to get the fullness. All will become clear).
1 large button
a scrap of contrasting ribbon
thread
needle
1 piece of still cardboard 5cm x 15cm. ( Cut it off an old cardboard box).

To make the flower:

Start with cut piece of ribbon at the top of the card as seen.

Wrap the ribbon around the cardboard overlapping the pieces as you go. Tie a good knot in your thread ( don't worry as it's not going to be seen) and sew a running stitch along the bottom edge of the ribbon.

 Slide the ribbon off the cardboard.

 Pull the thread abd it will ruffle up the ribbon.

When you've pulled tight you can sew the two edges together at the back of the flower and open out the loops. Now you can leave it like this if you like.

 Or you can.....Cut the tops off the loops at a diagonal as shown.

Thread the scrap ribbon through the button and tie tightly. Sew in place in the center of your flower.

Do you like it?

Now I've put an offer on the Craft Fairy home site as usual so that you can get this ribbon at a lower price.
Click here for the offer.

Anniversary blast from the past

I made this card some time ago and it was posted on my old blog. I have been looking through it recently and I couldn't let this one moulder away unseen so I've brought it out and dusted it off for all to see.

For this card you will need:

1. 1 DL card in pale blue.
2. The loving couple stamp from our new Flaunt It sheet of unmounted rubber stamps.
3. 1 sheet of white card for stamping the image and the background paper.
4. Youth is a State of Mind Stamp from the Funny Ladies sheet of stamps.
5. Art and graphic pens from Kuretake in Pink, Skin Tone, Grey and Blue
6. Stazon in Stone Grey


What to do:
1. Use Stazon in Stone Grey to stamp the image on to a piece of white card and trim to size. Colour the image with the pink and blue pens and use a little water to thin the paint to give a paler colour where needed. Edge the card in blue.
2. Decorate a piece of card with the pink calligraphy from the Heart set that you have edged with the blue pen from the Art and graphic pens from Kuretake. Trim to leave a fairly wide border as seen in the example. Edge the card in blue as you did with the earlier card.
3. Stick to the base card and use 3d foam pads to stick the loving couple sheet to the card.
4. Now, use Stone Grey Stazon to stamp the Youth message and again edge in blue. Yes, lots of blue edging here I know but it helps to harmonise the Images.
5. Use 3d foam pads to stick to the card. Your card is finished.

Our Brand New Cross Stitch Kits

I really, really hope that you love these cross stitch kits as they are the first that we have brought out and are excluse to Craft Fairy. You can buy them at the Craft Fairy site

Christmas Ribbon Rosette

Have you noticed how rosettes of all shapes and sizes are becoming high fashion itmas and are being worn by so many people, crafty and otherwise? This is why I've chosen to do my latest project of a ribbon rosette and I've made it in Christmas colours so that it is in time for the coming holidays.

What's even better, is that I've put together an offer for you over on the mothership ( AKA http://www.craftfairy.co.uk/ ) so that you don't have to search around for each product and you will also get a discount by buying the lot! Even better. Click here for the offer.

So let's get on with it. You will need:

16mm red with green dots grosgrain ribbon. This should be cut into 4 x 15cm lengths.

16mm willow green grosgrain ribbon cut into 6 x 10cm lengths

1 piece of satin edged chiffon in a 30 cm length. No need to cut this in to short pieces.

1 red button

1 length of strong green thread.

1 strong needle. I know that I've said this before, but when you have to sew through several layers of grosgrain you will not be able to manage with a thin needle. A thimble is also a good extra to have.

Thread your needle and lay out the cut lengths of willow grosgrain as shown.

Secure the legths of ribbon in the centre with a couple of stitches to stop them moving when you sew the next layers. Your needle should now be on the right side of the work.

 

 Take one of the 15cm strips, form a loop and center the bottom of the loop on the underneath as shown in the image. The edges should overlap about 1cm. Push the needle up through the bottom of the loop, trying to get as closely centered both lengthwise and width wise as you can.

Pull first loop down the thread to sit on top of the bottom ribbons, then repeat process for remaining 3 loops. When all are threaded, arrange  them so they are evenly spaced in a nice circular arrangement. As you will see below.

Nearly there.

Now concertina fold the satin edged chiffon so that the folds are slightly narrower than the ones below and thread the needle up through the centre. Fan the folds out and stitch into place. It is at this point that you will be glad that you have a strong needle. Sew the button into the centre of the rosette.

Last of all you will need to trim the bottom layer of ribbon

on a slant. Then seal the edges with the flame of a tea light, This is by far the safest way to do it. The open flame of the gas hob is a bit too erractic. Finished.