A Jute Bag for the Tiger in You

You can't have escaped the growing craze for personalized jute bags. Many of them are of stylized faces that look fantastic, but not everyone wants one of these so I thought that I would show you an alternative bag for the more tigerish amongst us.

You can make this bag in an hour, it's that simple.

First, get your hands on a bag from Craft Fairy. Click this link to get one super quickly.

Small NATURAL JUTE Shopper 250 x 110 x 290mm

Then you will need:

Leopard Print Grosgrain Ribbon, 2m x 23mm

Chocolate Brown Grosgrain Ribbon, 2 METRES x 25mm

Raw Silk, Single Faced Satin Ribbon 2m x 38mm

Needle and thread

Double sided tape

Start by cutting a piece of  Leopard Print Grosgrain Ribbon to fit the front of the bag. Stick a piece of double sided tape to the back of the ribbon, remove the tape backing and stick down to the bag. You can now attach it to the bag with a row of running stitches. This will help to make it more secure.

Now make a dior Bow. I'll make a video for this.

Cut a piece of Chocolate Brown Grosgrain Ribbon to the length that you wish to have the bow tails and cut a 'v' out of the ends. Stitch this in place on the bag.

Sew the dior bow to the bag and you're finished.

Hair Bows inspired by Disney Frozen

Today, I have been inspired by Disney's film 'Frozen' as my little grand daughter loves it so much. I decided that I wanted to make some bows to give her for Christmas and this is what I made.

Not the best picture but the light is dreadful today.

Not being happy with just the one colour, I also make this one in pink.

They are made from 28mm white satin ribbon and overlaid with chiffon ribbon to create a light floaty feel.

They are for sale on the Craft Fairy web site so pop on over. 

Such pretty hair bows

Hairbows in a little girl's hair are always so pretty. My litle girl always loved them and her daughters ar eno different. So, these are made for them initially but for you too as I have put them for sale on the Craft Fairy Hairbow section of the web site.

As with everything that I do, i can't just make one of anything. I started with fairly small hairbows but they have grown in size and complexity and now they are double bows rather than single ones.

I have priced these bows at just £2, so no excuse for not buying them.

Go on, bring a smile to a little girl's face.

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.

Pretty pink flowers for a wedding or festival head dress or circlet

I've been itching to use these pretty pink flowers to make a wedding or festival head dress.  They are just the right size ot form into a head dress for a child to wear at a festival or wedding.

I used just 1 bunch each of the white flowers and the pink flowers and I interspaced tham with some silver spikes to give the circlet a little texture.

12 Artificial Silk Roses - 20mm - two tone Pink
12 Artificial Silk Roses - 20mm - White
Bunch of 12 flower spikes - silver

When you have made it long enough then twist the two ends together and your circlet is ready.

Felt Heart with Ribbon Roses

Have you liked the felt hearts that I've been posting recently? I hope that you have as here is another one for you. Nothing like a bit of overkill.

For this one, I decided that I had to break out of the diagonal rut that I seemed to be in and go for a simpler style. It's strange though how one creation inspired the next creation, so for this one I may have left the ribbon and lace behind, but I have used the ribbon roses to make a simpler but very pretty heart.

If you want to make one then you can get what you need here at www.craftfairy.co.uk

Willow Green, Double Faced Satin Ribbon, 3m x 6mm
Blue Ribbon Roses x 10
Aqua 6/0 Glass Seed Beads, Ceylon round - about 4mm 
White Felt Hearts 7.5cm, wide 40% Wool and Synthetic Blend

You will also need some thread and a needle.

Fantastic Tag from Tina Cox

The super talented Tina Cox has created this superb tag form Craft Fairy lace, and satin edged ribbon. Superb.

 If you want to make something similar you will need:

37mm Guipure Lace x 1 Metre - White
Pink Satin Edged Chiffon Ribbon, 3m x 9mm

You can make your own flowers as Tina did or you can use some of the fantastic flowers available here:

Craft Fairy Flowers

Go create.

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.