Make a Spotty Tshirt for Children in Need

'Mummy, have I got something spotty to wear? We can wear something spotty to school on Friday for Children in Need'
For a child whose mother is ever so slightly obsessed with polka dots, Roo has a grand total of no spotty clothes whatsoever! Not a problem, says I, you have some white tshirts we can customise. And then I completely forgot about it.

Until this evening when Roo reminded me that he needed something spotty to wear to school. Tomorrow.

Here's what I did...

How to make a Spotty Tshirt for Children in Need in less than 15 minutes because you completely forgot to do it earlier in the week....

You will need

1 tshirt

a piece of fusible webbing (Bondaweb or similar)

scraps of coloured fabric

something round to use as a template (I used one of those dosing cups that come with EVERY bottle of washing liquid I buy...)

Scissors

Iron

First draw some circles on the paper side of the fusible webbing and cut roughly around them.

Place it, sticky side down, on your fabric and iron in place.

Cut out your circles.




Position your circles onto your tshirt until you are happy with the arrangement

Peel of the backing paper and iron the fabric circles to your tshirt

Put tshirt on and wear with pride whilst helping to raise money for Children in Need!

I do apologise that this is a bit last minute but, you know, that's just how it happens sometimes...

Exciting news...

I have some exciting news to share - I have been selected - along with a dozen or so other fabulous bloggers worldwide - to be a Jane Means Ribbon Stylist Blogger!!! 

For those of you unaware of Jane Means, she is an internationally renowned gift wrapping expert and ribbon designer - what this woman doesn't know about ribbon, quite frankly ain't worth knowing.

I am over the moon to be joining her Ribbon Stylist Blogger team and literally jumped for joy when my lovely postie delivered my big box of ribbons this morning!


Just look!  Dotty, spotty, stripey, gingham, stitched and vintage denim ribbons galore! A selection of wired organza ribbons in just the most beautiful colours. There are even some brand new designs I am not allowed to show you yet as they haven't been officially released.




 I truly am in ribbon heaven! I am bursting with ideas - lovely things to make, tutorials to share and some ribbon styling ideas around the home to plan.




But first things first, it's my sister-in-laws birthday in a couple of weeks. Her presents are gonna have the best wrapping treatment ever!

*apologies for the not amazing pictures - Little Man was running around today with loaded paintbrushes - I just couldn't risk getting them out of the plastic wrappers!

A little something spotty for me!

I spend an awful lot of time making things for other people - either as sales from my website, stock for shops or presents for friends and family. This weekend though, I decided it was time I made something for me!

So I did...

Can you guess what it is?

Maybe a little more...?

My Handmade Christmas (pt 4) A card for life, not just for Christmas...

This year we (that is I, obviously, as it's generally me who buys, writes and distributes!) decided that we were going to keep cards to a minimum - immediate family, close friends and those good friends who live far away and whom we are not likely, but would dearly love to see over the festive period.

In keeping with the whole Handmade Christmas theme I decided it would be a really nice idea to make cards rather than buy them and way back in September I spotted a Cross Stitch magazine with a free 'make your own luxury cards' kit. The cards were cute, contemporary designs in bright colours and there were enough polka dots to keep even me happy. Perfect!! 

Now I, like many crafters, like to dabble, and I have done counted cross stitch in the past. In fact I'm sure there are two or three unfinished 'projects' floating around the place that I will get around to completing one day. The prospect of half a dozen simple motifs didn't phase me at all. 'Won't take long,' thinks I...

But cross stitch is a lot more time consuming than I remembered and each one of those little motifs actually took a lot longer than I thought they would...

...and several evenings were swallowed up putting needle and thread to aida...

 

Once all the motifs were stitched I ironed on some interfacing to the back of the aida and cut out each motif before combining them with other bits and bobs - sequins, felt shapes, buttons - to make up the cards.

I must confess I am quite chuffed with the results and I know they will be appreciated by those who receive them. I hope they will be kept and added to the decoration stash to be brought out year after year.

Despite my best intentions I really didn't have time to make everybody a card so I did the next best thing and sourced some really special cards in for everyone else...

These cards are designed by the lovely Becky Peabody, a Somerset based artist who creates fabulous collages from torn paper and, like me, has a passion for polka dots!  Her gorgeous collection of cards, postcards, notebooks, pictures and more are available from her website dotsandspots.co.uk . Go and have a look - you won't be disappointed :)

So all that's left to do now is finish off the presents and wrapping and get stuck into some Christmas baking...

Folksy Friday - Polka Dots!

I am just a bit dotty about Polka Dots (some might say I'm a bit dotty full stop, but that's another story...). Actually I'm almost obsessed! Polka dot fabrics appear quite frequently in my work - most notably in my Spotty Cats and the 'Polka Dot and Roses' range. I have a big collection of polka dot fabrics in lots of different colour combinations so hopefully you'll be seeing a lot more dots at Forest Flower in the future.

In the meantime I had a gander round Folksy and found some lovely Polka Dots!

This gorgeous Kitty in Paris bracelet from Fluffs Stuff caught my eye - very cute and very dotty!

Kirsty Elson Designs Owl In The Moon would make a cute, quirky addition to a nursery.

Keeping with the baby theme - these adorable Polka Dot Baby Shoes by Angelic Folk are almost too cute for words!

Something pretty and practical - this glorious Pink Polka Dot Bag is from Polka - a shop so packed full of polka dots I felt I was in polka dot heaven...

Who could resist this fab photo from Miss Sugar Bone Makery.

I must find some space in my kitchen for it :)

And finally, lets not forget that boys like polka dots too...

These subtle polka dot Cuff links from Lilies and Daises will add a stylish finishing touch to a crisp white dress shirt.

I hope you enjoyed my selection - there a loads more fabulous Polka Dot pretties available on Folksy - just put 'polka dot' in the search box and see what comes up!