How To... Make a Hanging Halloween Decoration

How to... Crochet a made-to-measure plant pot cosy

I picked up a lovely pot of apricot coloured chrysanthemums from my local supermarket for a bargain price of 60p the other day. I do hate to see a good plant left to die so naturally it came home with me.
All it needed was a good water and a bit of dead heading to look as good as it's full-priced sisters.

Oh, and something HAD to be done about it's somewhat dowdy pot...

Upcycled Coffee Tin Desk Tidy with Jane Means Ribbons

Did you notice the snazzy new 'I'm a Jane Means Blogger' badge in my side bar? I made the suggestion a few months back that the little tribe of ribbon bloggers might like a badge to show off  on their blogs and now we have one! (if you click on it, it will open up all the blog pots I have done featuring Jane's lovely ribbons)

I have used the ribbons to decorate empty gravy granule tubs before - now here is an idea for upcycling those lovely tins that the new Barista style instant coffees come in. (You could of course use gravy granule tubs for this make too!)

Ribbon Decorated Cushion Tutorial

So, I promised you a couple of tutorials to tie in with this month's Crafty Obsession  and here is the first - How to make a cute decorative pillow with ribbon trim.

The instructions are for a small pillow measuring approx 32cm x 24cm but it can be easily adapted to make a pillow any size you want!

Instructions include a seam allowance of 1cm - add extra to the width (the short edge) if you feel you need it!

 

 

Crafty Obsessions - Ribbons

lovely Jane Means ribbons in shades of spring!

Crafty Obsessions took a little break in March (as life took over) but it's back for April and this month I am sharing my obsession with ribbons!

Rainbow Raindrops and Smiley Clouds!

If every cloud looked as cute as this one I'm sure we wouldn't be quite so sad to see them scurrying across the sky. I always imagine the world looks brighter after a spring shower but imagine a downpour of colourful raindrops making rainbow puddles and painting the world in bright hues!

Craft Blog Club Challenge - Cover a notebook

A few weeks ago I spotted something new on Twitter on a Tuesday night.

#CraftBlogClub - hosted by the lovely Emma of Life is Peachy every Tuesday between 7 and 8pm - gives crafty bloggers a chance to chat about craft blogging, offer advice support and generally have a bit of a giggle. Emma tries to keep us focused on a theme each week (she also does a fantastic write up on her blog afterwards covering the main points talked about) and also sets us a monthly challenge. As there are so many different craft bloggers, each with their own niche, it's a great idea to get us all to offer up our own interpretation of a theme...

This month's challenge was to cover a notebook.


I chose to use a simple method I have used many times before but with a little twist, trying something new is what keeps things interesting right? I wasn't sure how well it would work but I am pretty pleased with the results!

You will need

Fabric - measurements depend on the size of book you wish to cover

one piece of main fabric
one piece of iron-on, medium weight interfacing (not essential but a good idea if you are using a light fabric)
one piece of contrast fabric

Ribbon for the spine trim
Ribbon for wrap around tie
matching button

Measuring up - your main fabric needs to be (4x the width of the front cover ) + the spine measurement  x the height of the book + 4cm
The contrast panel needs should be the same height as main panel and a bit less than half the width.

so for my A5 note book the main fabric measured (4 x 10.5cm) + 1cm  by (15cm + 4cm)
or 43cm x 19cm  and the contrast panel 20cm x 19cm

Cut the piece of iron on interfacing 1cm smaller all around - so in this case 41cm x 17cm - and place it centrally on the wrong side of your main fabric. Iron into place.

Press a 1cm seam along the 2 short edges and sew it in place (you'll see in the picture that I folded a hem on the long edge too - I'm not sure why, it's not necessary. I must have had a brain melt at that moment ;-) )

Fold the fabric in half length ways to find the centre point that will sit on the spine of the book.
Cut a length of wide ribbon - I used this lovely 20mm  Whitby Stripe by Jane Means - the height of the book + seam allowance (so, in this case, 19cm) and stitch it into position down the centre of your cover.

Now place your notebook, open, on the right side of the cover, making sure the spine is aligned with the ribbon. Fold each end over the notebook cover.

 Slide the notebook out of the cover and then take your contrast panel and pin it, face down, centrally so it covers the gap between each folder over end. (Again, no need to fold that little hem over like I have in the photograph - however you could fold over and hem the two shorter sides if your fabric is particularly easily frayed)

Stitch across the two long edges with a 1.5cm seam allowance. Trim the seams then turn through.

 Press the cover and slide the notebook into it's new jacket!

Adding ribbon loop and tie

Cut the ribbon approx 3 x the width of the book. I used a lovely cream and baby blue stripe ribbon from the Jane Means collection.

Seal the ends by holding it close (but not too close!) to a naked flame.The heat melts the fibres and stops the ribbon fraying.

Fold over one end to form a loop and stitch a button in place, sewing through the two layers of ribbon

Take a few stitches through the top layer of the book cover to secure (you might want to leave the book in the cover while you do this so you don't end up stitching right through the cover. Like I did...

Wrap the ribbon around the book and tuck the loose end through the loop.

Add a pen and pop it into your bag for stylish note taking on the go :-)

Happy Crafting!

Handmade Wedding bunting idea...

The other day I received a call for help from a friend of mine.

She has a family wedding coming up and the bride and groom, wanting a rustic, handmade feel for their big day, had requested that the guests each send a handmade bunting flag. Their idea is to stitch all the flags together to make a beautiful and totally unique addition to their wedding decorations.

What a wonderful idea!! Not only does this get everyone involved in their wedding preparations but at the end of it they have a gorgeous keepsake to remind them of their special day and all the people that came together to make it even more special.

But why did she need my help?

Well to use her own words "How does one sew?...(The whole family) know I can't even sew on a button!"

I hate to leave a friend in need and, lets be honest I don't need much encouragement when it comes to sharing crafty stuff!  I arranged to pop over and give her a hand. I wasn't going to make it for her, just give her a few pointers. Plus we get to drink lots of tea and have a natter too. Sounds like the perfect morning to me :-)

I took along a little bundle of materials and trimmings that fitted in with the 'rustic' theme. Fran wanted a natural look...

pretty crafty things....

Pretty natural fabrics, lovely cream and sage spotty ribbon from the Jane Means collection, some pretty pompom trim and a selection of vintage lace, buttons and embroidery threads.

We sat and talked ideas and Fran chose the base fabric she wanted. Then we set about appliqueing a gingham heart. Poor Fran's hands were shaking as she applied the first few stitches but she soon got the hang of it!

first tenative stitches

She added three rows of vintage lace trim, then we made a little bow with the spotty ribbon and attached it to the flag with a heart shaped wooden button.

buttons and bows

Now confident that, yes, she could actually sew on a button, Fran added a couple more and finished off the flag with some cute cream coloured pompom trim from Seamstar .  Once she was happy with her work she cut out the flag.

steady....

Fran was so pleased with her finished bunting...

proud crafter!

...and so she should be! The girl who said she lacked creativity and had absolutely no idea what to do and how to go about it, I think she did a pretty damn fine job, don't you?

The lucky couple have received the flag now and they love it too - it's going to look so pretty strung up with all the other handmade flags from their other guests!


It's such a fabulous idea and the perfect way to celebrate such a happy day :-)


ps - Fran agreed to have these pictures taken of her work in progress, just to prove to the rest of the family that actually, she can sew on a button. And more besides!

NEW :: Upcycled wool fabric needle books

You may remember a few weeks back I showed you a lovely wool fabric skirt I picked up from a charity shop £1 rail. Although I didn't know exactly what I was going to make with it I knew the lovely fabric would lend itself well to a variety of projects and the colour offers the perfect backdrop for many different colours

The first thing I made was a cute little needle book as a gift for my dad who loves to do cross stitch.

I used some lovely ribbon from my Jane Means stash for the button loop and decoration. If you watched the Great British Sewing Bee you might recognise the narrow grey stitched ribbon - it's the same one Anne used to great effect embellishing her blouse in episode 1 .  I adore the simple red, grey and white stripe ribbon too - a decorative touch without making it girly!  The button came from Nan's button box.

I lined it with a pale blue and white striped cotton and made the 'pages' with black felt.  Then I finished off the gift by filling it with a selection of gold plated needles.

He loved it!

So did I!! In fact I loved it so much I made a couple more...

This one uses Jane Means stitched gross grain ribbon in sage and the same narrow ribbon as before but this time in green. The lining fabric from my stash matches beautifully - right down to the stitched lines as part of the pattern!

I have used pale green felt for the pages and another vintage button holds it all together.

On this needle book I have used Jane's beautiful red ribbon with grey polka dots - it looks like it was made to go with this fabric!  The narrow stitched ribbon comes in red too and once again has been used for the button loop. A lovely etched button and matching red top stitching finish this one off nicely.

Inside I have lined it with gorgeous Lama Love by Monaluna Organics sold by one of my favourite fabric suppliers Seamstar (stay tuned - I have an upcoming blog post all about their great new monthly craft club!) It's cute and quirky and goes with the grey and red theme perfectly! Bright red felt pages hold your needles safely.

Both these needle books are available now from my Folksy shop priced £8.00 each. I am still offering free post and packing on ALL UK orders through Folksy so why not go take a look?

I feel there are few more needle books to be born from this fabric/ribbon/vintage button combo yet - perhaps you have a colour combo you'd like to see? I may have to create some matching pin cushions too...

Wrap it up...

I do love making presents - especially when I stumble across that special pattern/idea that would suit a special someone so perfectly it seems almost like divine intervention.

I love wrapping presents too

But what I love best is making the wrapping as much a part of the gift as the gift itself!

This was a pressie for my brother - he wanted a ravioli stamp, so that's what I got him. Not the easiest thing in the world to wrap. I suppose I could have found a box for it or put it in a gift bag but I had the idea that it would be nice to pair it up with a bag of good quality pasta flour.  Still there is the wrapping problem so I also got him a couple of tea towels ( you can never, ever have too many tea towels!) wrapped them around the the bag of flour and tied it all up with some lovely blue and white striped ribbon from my Jane Means stash.

The actual main part of the gift - ravioli cutter - wasn't even wrapped but tied in place with the ribbon!
I finished the whole gift off with a vintage map gift tag (you can get these as a free download from here) tied on with kitchen string.

He loved it!

I always find wrapping little things neatly (I am a stickler for neat when it comes to wrapping gifts) really difficult. You can either bulk it up with lots of tissue or find a suitable box to put it in then wrap that but too many layers and it becomes a bit like the 'pass the parcel' party game...

I found these adorable pillow box printables over at the delightfully named Picklebums blog. Simply print, cut out, score along the dashed lines, fold, add a little sticky tape/glue and done. I tied some blue stitched ribbon from Jane Means around the box to finish it off.

I love these simple stitched ribbons - they come in so many colours you are bound to find one that matches your wrapping.  Here's another I did, complete with one of those fab vintage map gift tags!

I always love getting gifts wrapped with proper ribbon  You can absolutely guarantee it will get carefully tucked away and used again.


Or is that just me?

Woven Ribbon Lavender Pillow Tutorial

Now we have Bonfire Night out of the way, I guess it's time mention the 'C' word...

Let's not get too festive and sparkly just yet (no, really, plenty of time for that NEXT month!) but those of you who aspire to a Handmade Christmas really should start thinking pressies if you haven't already.  I have about 5 half completed pressie projects on the go at the mo. I'm not panicking. Yet.

I've raided my Jane Means ribbon stash again to come up with this stylish gift idea - and it's a great way to use any lavender you may have dried in the summer!



You will need a couple of meters of your chosen ribbon - I have used these lovely polka dot grosgrain ribbons in co-ordinating turquoise and chocolate brown - a couple of small pieces of fabric and some dried lavender.


First decide on the size of your pillow and cut out two pieces of cotton fabric approx 2cm larger than you want the finished size to be. Mine measures 10cm x 8cm finished so my base fabric pieces were approx 12cm x 10cm.

If your pillow is oblong, like mine, you will need to cut shorter lengths in one colour to fit the width and longer lengths in the contrast colour.  I used 7 x 10cm lengths of the turquoise ribbon and 6 x 12cm lengths of the chocolate brown ribbon.

Now, using one of the fabric pieces as your base begin weaving your ribbon strips. You may find it easier to pin the ribbons to the fabric or tack them in place around the edges as you go

Try and keep the ribbons matched up edge-to-edge for a neat finish. It's a bit fiddly but don't worry about it too much as you have the base fabric underneath to stop and lavender escaping the finished pillow!

When all the ribbon strips are in place and secure take you other piece of fabric and lay it, face down, on top of the ribbon panel. Pin, tack and stitch all the way around, leaving an opening in the middle of one long edge to turn the pillow the right way round.

Turn, stuff with dried lavender, stitch up the gap and you're done!!

These pillows are so easy to adapt too - use wider ribbons to make larger pillows. Use up your ribbon scraps and make a lovely colourful boho inspired pillow. Use all one colour for an elegent textured look.  You'll find loads of gorgeous ribbons on Jane Means website if you need any further inspiration!

Ribbon scraps and gravy tubs...

Here's a quick and easy way to use up those ribbon scraps, recycle empty gravy granule tubs and organise your desk/craft space all in one go.






Measure around your chosen pot/canister/tub and cut lengths of ribbon just slightly longer (to allow for an overlap). Attach the ribbons to the container using narrow double sided sticky tape for an almost instant  makeover! You can use fabric glue if you prefer but you need to allow a little extra time for the glue to dry.

And that is it! I told you it was easy!

Keep hold of the lids and use your pretty decorated tubs to store craft supplies - buttons, ribbons, beads - or they make a lovely addition to your desk for paperclips or rubber bands. Without the lids they make great pen pots!

I used a gorgeous selection of ribbons in autumnal colours from my Jane Means ribbon stash for this stripy  pencil pot.

Alternatively wrap the canister in a lovely piece of fabric and glue in place. Add coordinating ribbon to the top and bottom to cover the fabric edges.

Chocolate brown and burnt orange Jane Means ribbon coordinates beautifully with this lush Saffron Craig owl print fabric. The taller canister lends itself beautifully to showing off this collection of wooden knitting needles! (my mums . . . although I may just *forget* to give them back!)

I think they look great and they are really are so easy peasy to do I may end up with ribbon covered storage pots all over the house.
I wonder if the Other Half would like one for his spanners . . .

Playing with Ribbon. . .

I have thoroughly enjoyed sorting out my new ribbon stash from Jane Means.

Organisation is the key when you are a butterfly crafter like me - my stash of fabric, yarn, buttons, ribbons, beads, paper tools and haberdashery tend to spill over their allotted spaces and find their way into all sorts of unlikely places (which usually means that when I am actually looking for a particular item I can never find it without an extensive search and much muttering under breath!) I knew I had to take control of all these lovely ribbons straight away or things might get messy. . .

Fortunately I had the perfect little 'treasure chest' sitting empty waiting for something suitably precious to fill it. Wrapping the ribbon around card 'bobbins' (cut out from cereal boxes) and writing the product code and description next to each one looks so cute AND will help me share all these ribbons with you when I blog all the lovely projects I am planning!

Ribbon Bookmarks

 

I love to read!  I usually have AT LEAST 3 books on the go at any one time - currently I am reading the very funny 'An Utterly Impartial History of Britain' by John O'Farrell, a novel from the fantasy series by Raymond E Feist as well as flicking through the new Erica Knight book on crochet. Trouble is I can never find a bookmark when I need one, which means I usually end up using scraps of paper or *gasp* folding the corner of the page over!

Here's a really simple idea for using up small lengths of ribbon you may have left over from another project to save your pages and they make great little gifts for the literary people in your life!

Now obviously, a length of ribbon on it's own would make a perfectly good bookmark but it's very easy to pretty them up with some necklace ends and a few beads.

I have used these bar clamps to finish off lovely knitted necklaces my mother-in-law makes but they are the perfect width for these 15mm stripe ribbons.  Just attach a few beads to either end to add some weight and voila! Gorgeously simple bookmarks ready to adorn your latest read and helpfully remind you where you got up to without a folded page corner in sight.

This lovely piece of Ocean Jasper co-ordinates well with the sage green and cream stripe ribbon for a more masculine bookmark.

Why not create a ribbon bookmark to match a special book to give as a gift?   I have used the orange and brown stripe with some amber coloured beads here.

The beads at either end create a bit of weight that hold the bookmark in place. I love the green and purple stripe combo with beautiful swarovski crystals and acrylic star charms.











You don't have to use beads at both ends - a lovely silky tassel in co-ordinating colours would look gorgeous too!   Why stop at one? Create pretty bookmarks for all your favourite books :-)