O Christmas Trees

One of the things that really got me into the holiday spirit this year was working on my partner's package in the Christmas/Winter Ninni Swap on Craftster.  (What's a ninni?  Click HERE to find out!)

In her swap questionnaire, my partner Diane said one thing she would like is "...the beginning of a little forest land setting that relates to Christmastime--I like the idea of snowy woods with little creatures around a tree..."

I mulled that over for a while; I thought about making something small, then something bigger...trees...snow...Christmas...and this is what I came up with:  big snowy Christmas tree pillows!

The center tree is 14", the two side trees are 12".  I just drew a tree shape on paper and cut it out, and used that for the template for cutting the fabric.  I used iron-on interfacing to firm-up the fabric, then sewed on the buttons, and then sewed on the backing and stuffed them.

I was thrilled when I remembered that I had the stuffed-raccoon-making-kit I showed you yesterday; the raccoons were PERFECT to go with the trees because Diane's Christmas decorations are all red, lime, and turquoise!  I whipped up the two raccoons, and voila!  A wintery, Christmassy, forest scene for her sofa!

But this was supposed to be a Ninni swap, right?  I didn't forget the Ninnis; they don't go with this forest scene though.  I made them smaller, as ornaments for her white Christmas tree:

"Fa la la la la, la la, la la!!!"

Raccoons! (A Product Review)

The biggest and best thing I got in my "swag" bag of free goodies at the Blogger's Meet-up this past September (in Little Rock, Arkansas, hosted by Craft Gossip and sponsored by EK Success Brands), was this cute kit to make two plush raccoons.  The kit contains everything you need to complete the project, including a needle and stuffing.

This is an "American Girl Crafts" product, designed to go with the American Girl dolls, so a girl can make a large raccoon for herself and a smaller one for her doll.  It's a really cute idea!  The kit comes with an instruction booklet with lots of pictures.  The material is felt, which is perfect for this sort of project, since the edges won't unravel.  Each piece has little holes punched in it where the stitching will go, so you just sew through the holes, like those big sewing cards you might have done in kindergarten!

 As an introduction to hand-sewing, it's not bad.  There are a large number of pieces to assemble, which might be a bit confusing to a young sewist (it is recommended for ages 8 and up), but the details are exactly what make these raccoons so cute, so with a little guidance from an adult I think it would go together quite well.

The circles on the tummies are open on top to form a small pocket--that's a nice touch.  My favorite detail is the shiny sequins that are sewn onto the eyes, which makes them look alive.  I love the overall design of the raccoons; the simple outline combined with the surface details makes them very appealing.  I've noticed this kit in my local Hancock's fabric store; there is a small section of American Girl crafts, so the product seems to be widely available.

I made these raccoons for a special purpose--which I will tell you about in my next post!

Wintery Blue Bags

Now that we are well into December, my crafting has shifted from Christmas-themed to a more general winter theme.  Coincidentally, I had some special orders this week for purses that are blue and winter-themed. 

Lee Ann, a regular customer of mine for many years, LOVES bears and teddy bears, so when she called to ask for something wintery that would go with blue jeans, this is the first fabric I thought of, since it has bears on it.  It has a wonderful back-woods, log-cabin feel to me.

But I wanted to give her more than one choice, so I made this bag too.  The fabric has different stripes of wintery scenes:  snow-covered houses, bare trees, and big silver and white snowflakes.

At the same time I was making these two bags, another regular customer, Debbie, called to ask for snowflake bags for herself and her daughter (Debbie ordered the Christmas bag and school-themed bag I showed you a couple of weeks ago).

I made these two bags for Debbie and her daughter, and then showed all three pictures to Lee Ann.

Much to my surprise, she chose the second bag with the bare winter trees!  It really is a great fabric, with touches of metallic silver sparkling all over it.

Just as I sat down to write this post, Debbie called to say her daughter had just picked up the two snowflake bags (I had left them for her at the local store that carries my crafts) and they both LOVE them!  She said they plan to get bags for every holiday and season!  That means I need to start looking for some great Valentine's Day fabric!!

Scrappy Braided Fabric Bracelet: A Tutorial

I love these braided fabric bracelets I made for my partner in the recent Fabric Jewelry Swap on Craftster; several people expressed interest in them, so here comes a tutorial!

Quick summary:  you simply braid together 3 fabric strips, adding a charm along the way, then secure the ends and add an elastic loop and button for a closure.  Here's how I did it:

1.  Cut 3 different fabric strips 1 3/4" wide by at least 15" long.  There will be waste fabric at the beginning and end of the braided section, so you need to cut the strips longer than the size of your wrist.  A 7" bracelet fits my wrist comfortably (my actual wrist measurement is 6 3/4"), so this tutorial is for a 7" bracelet.

 2.  All the fabric edges will be left raw.  Start by folding the ends of the 3 fabric strips as shown, and stack them on top of each other so you can sew them together on the sewing machine.

3.  Run a line of stitching through all 3 folded fabrics at one end.  This is just to keep them together so you can start to braid.  Since this will eventually be waste fabric that you cut off, this part doesn't have to look pretty.

4.  To keep the fabrics from moving around while I braided, I pinned the sewn end to my ironing board.  You could also tape the sewn end to a table top.  Now, BRAID!!  To keep the braid smooth and even, I twisted each fabric strip as I braided it, as shown in this picture.

5.  Braid for 7", then put a couple of pins in the ends of the fabric strips to keep them from unravelling while you add a charm. 

 I used a charm from this kit that I had on hand; but you can add any kind of a charm here.  Attach it to an 8mm split ring (they were included in this kit), and slide it onto one of the fabric strips, right up to the spot where you stopped braiding.  Then keep braiding for at least 2 more inches.



6.  Unpin the braid from the ironing board (holding the loose end so it doesn't unravel) and take it to your sewing machine.  Sew the loose end securely (this part will be cut off, so it doesn't have to be pretty, but you do want your braid to be nice and tight here.)  Go ahead and cut off the unused fabric that wasn't braided (about 1/2" beyond the stitiches you just sewed).  From this cut-off fabric, cut two strips 3/4" by at least 3".  You will use these strips in the next step. (If you don't have enough fabric left, you can use any scrap fabric you want.)

7.  Now it's time to finish the ends.  Measure 1 1/2" from the charm; this will be the end where you sew on a button later.  Place a pin to mark the spot, and machine-sew back and forth across the braid right there.

Take one of the 3/4" wide strips you just cut, and wrap it around the braid two times.  It should be centered over the line of machine stitching.

Leave the end long, like in the picture, and sew all around the edges of the fabric strip several times to secure the braid.

This is how it will look.

Using sharp scissors, cut off the tail of the fabric strip; then cut off the excess braid beyond the strip you just sewed on.

8.  Now you will finish the other end.  Start by taping a hair elastic in the middle, and cut it in half. You will use one half for the closure (save the other half for your next bracelet!)

Measure 6 3/4" from the finished end, and mark the spot with a pin.  Machine-sew back and forth across the braid there to secure it.  You will finish this end the same as the other one, with the addition of the elastic loop.  Before wrapping the 3/4" fabric strip, you need to secure the loop with a few stitches by hand (my experience was that if you don't do this, the sewing machine foot will push the loop to the edge and it will be very off-center).

Now wrap the 3/4" strip around the braid and loop twice, leaving the end loose.

Sew around the edges several times to secure the braid.  Cut off the loose end of the strip.

Before cutting off the excess braid, pull down the elastic loop and hold it firmly so you don't accidentally cut it off!

This is how the finished end will look.

 8.  Sew on a button and you are done!



My Favorite Planner: A Product Review

I want to show you my new favorite calendar/planner, because it would make an awesome gift for any woman who likes art, watercolors, birds, or nature.  I bought it at a museum gift shop this summer, but I've only recently started to use it, and I love it!  It is drawn and painted by the wonderful  Geninne Zlatkis.  The covers are flexible and there is an elastic band closure.  This is the front, decorated with her signature birds:

This is the inside front cover.  I LOVE Geninne's birds!

 There are undated pages like this for weekly planning; you can start any time of year--just write in the dates.

Then there are 13 of these monthly pages, which are also undated, so you can start whenever you want to.  I started mine in November!

The calendar pages are interspersed with blank note pages, and full-page artwork.  So beautiful!

 

This is the inside of the back cover, which has a little pocket.

Do yourself a favor and click on Geninne's name (above) to visit her blog.  She posts beautiful pictures and artwork every day; she is a constant source of  inspiration to me.

I love this planner so much that I just ordered two more on Amazon! (They call it "Avian Friends Pocket Planner" if you are looking for it there.)  I am using mine to plan out my blog posts; the small size is just right for that (just 4 1/2" x 5 3/4"), and the pretty cover makes it easy to find amongst all the other "stuff" near my computer.

And the Winners Are...

(UPDATED Dec. 13, 2011)
It's time to announce the three winners of a pair of my Christmas ornament hearts!

Using a True Random Number Generator that I found online, I chose the three winners (the number corresponds to the order in which the comments were posted).  There were 51 comments; here are the three numbers that were chosen:

Winner Number One:
True Random Number Generator Min: Max:   Result: 8

Winner Number Two:
True Random Number Generator Min: Max:   Result: 18

Winner Number Three:
True Random Number Generator Min: Max:   Result: 44


#8 is Margaret (macky5331)

#18 is Gatearte in Barcelona--please contact me with your mailing address (leslieandersen4@gmail.com)
#44 is Elaine Akers

A great big THANK YOU to everyone who left a comment; I enjoyed reading them all, and I am always happy to be able to share what I make with readers!  I will have more giveaways in the future, and in the meantime, I will continue to share crafty ideas and tutorials with you (there's a super-cute scrappy braided bracelet tutorial coming up next week--don't miss it!)

Helping

A few Sundays ago in church, we heard one of my favorite Bible passages from the Book of Proverbs, about a virtuous wife.  This part really speaks to me:

"She obtains wool and flax and works with loving hands.  She puts her hands to the distaff, and her fingers ply the spindle.  She reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy..."

I personally don't know what a distaff is, and I don't use a spindle; but I do sew things every day and I do work with loving hands, so I feel like a modern-day version of the virtuous wife.  But the last line bugged me, because it's been a while since I could say that I have reached out to the poor and needy.

On Monday, as on most Mondays, I drive my daughter back to college, 45 minutes away in Richmond, Virginia.  When we get off the highway in Richmond, there are 5 or 6 stoplights to go through before we reach her dorm; and at every stoplight, there is a different rough-looking man, holding a cardboard sign that says something like "Hungry, please help".  If we happen to be near the front of the line at the stoplight, the man walks slowly past our car, looking right at us, holding his sign prominently.  I've always looked straight ahead, ignoring them as much as possible, and feeling very uncomfortable.

But not any more!!  I've decided to do something for them.  Apparently, the standard thing to do is to wave a dollar out your car window, and the man will come over and get it (I saw that happen this week). 

When I got home, I pulled out the cash box that I haven't touched since I stopped doing craft shows a couple of years ago, and lookie what I found:

MONEY MONEY MONEY!!!!!! 
Those are all the one-dollar bills I had for making change in my craft booth.  I had no idea I had so much money sitting around--it looks like about $100 in ones.

So here's my plan:  I want to give each person I encounter $2, plus a snack (they must get hungry and thirsty standing there for hours on end); I will bag it up like this:

I'm thinking of adding a hand-made card like the one next to the baggie; but I'm not sure what to write on it.  "Have a nice day"?  "Don't worry be happy"?  Hmmm.  I don't want to sound like a dork, or worse, insensitive or condescending.  What would you write on the card?  Help me out with your comment, below.  Thanks.