The Billy Lids

Dress up a tiny canvas tote with clusters of floral and leaf beads.

This teensy bag is perfect for little treasures.

What You’ll Need:

• Thread
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Beading needle
• Mini canvas tote bag
• Beads in flower and leaf shapes
• Assorted seed and other small beads

Instructions:

1. Cut an 18-inch length of thread. Thread the needle and knot one end of the thread.

2. From the inside of the bag, push the needle through one side, centred approximately 1 1/2 inches from the top. Thread on a flower bead and a seed bead. Push the needle back through the flower bead and the bag. Continue attaching bead flowers until you like the look. Sew on single seed beads and leaf beads as desired. Knot the thread on the inside of the bag.

3. Sew bead trims to the tote bag handle in the same manner.

Posted by Toni at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

Transform an old pair of jeans into a cute purse that’s perfect for a phone or an iPod.

Instructions

1. Cut the pockets out of a pair of jeans.

2. Embellish with ribbon, buttons, and pre-made accessories.

3. Hot-glue around the edges, leaving about 1 cm of space at the top for the handle.

4. Attach ribbon or braided denim as the handle; hot-glue into place.

Posted by Toni at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

Create a bouquet of cute little flower pincushions for gifts or fund-raisers.

What You Need: Materials for oval pincushion

• 9 X 11” piece pink print
• 9 X 11” piece fusible interfacing
• 3-1/2 X 1-1/2” oval craft paper box

What You Need: Materials for round pincushion

• 10” square green print
• 10” square fusible interfacing
• 2-3/4 X 3” round craft paper box

What You Need: For both pincushions

• Off-white or cream acrylic paint
• 2 — 2 X 10” pieces decorative paper
• 2 each of 1/4 X 4” and 1/4 X 10” pieces black-and white check ribbon
• 2 — 1-3/8 X 10” pieces green 1-1/2”-wide rickrack
• Fine-grit sandpaper
• Bookbinding glue
• Tacky glue
• Small sponge brush
• Paste wax: light brown
• Polyester fibrefill
• Fine crafts sand
• Heavy-duty sewing thread

Download the Pattern

Cut Your Fabrics: For pincushion tops

1. Lay fusible interfacing, paper side up, over oval and circle patterns.

2. Use a pencil to trace each pattern.

3. Cut out interfacing shapes roughly 1/4” outside traced lines.

4. Following manufacturer’s instructions, press oval and round interfacing shapes onto backs of designated fabrics; let cool.

5. Cut out fabric shapes on drawn lines and peel off paper backings.

How to Make It

1. Set aside oval box lid for another use. Paint outside of box with two coats of acrylic paint; allow drying time after each application. Use fine-grit sandpaper to sand box until some of original craft paper box colour is visible through paint.

2. Measure around outside of box for circumference. Using pinking shears, cut a strip of decorative paper 1/2 wide by circumference, plus 1/4” for overlap.

3. Centre and glue 10”-long ribbon over paper strip. Adhere strip around lower edge of box, 1/4” from bottom, using bookbinding glue.

4. Cover outside of box lightly with light brown paste wax; let dry. Buff box with soft cloth.

5. Run a thin line of tacky glue around inside top edge of box. Press 1-3/8 X 10” green rickrack in place on inside of box.

6. Using heavy-duty thread and a running stitch, sew around pink print interfaced oval 1/4” from outer edge (see Oval Pattern). Gently pull thread tails to gather oval until diameter is about 3”.

7. Fill oval halfway with crafts sand. Stuff fibrefill into opening until full. Whipstitch opening closed.

8. Stuff fibrefill into painted box bottom. Mould sand and fibrefill-stuffed oval to fit inside top of box. Run a line of tacky glue around inside of box below rickrack edge; fit stuffed oval into box.

9. Tie a 4”-long piece of ribbon with a loose overhand knot. Glue atop ribbon strip.

10. Repeat steps 1 through 8 to make a second pincushion, using box and green print fabric circle.

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Dress up an ordinary photo album with the help of a little felt and ribbon.

What You Need:

• 4-x-6 photo album

• 2 sheets of different coloured felt

• Ribbon

• Scissors

• Glue

Instructions:

1. Lay the album on the felt. Trace, leaving about a 1/2 inch on the outside. You'll need 2 pieces.

2. Wrap the felt around the album, just like you are wrapping a package. Use glue where needed.

3. Cut a small 2-inch strip to cover the binding. Attach using glue.

4. Cut a letter out of strips of ribbon; glue to the album.

Posted by Toni at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

Dress up the walls in your room with these easy-to-make ornaments.

What You Need:

• 2 sheets of felt per letter

• White embroidery thread

• Needle (we use a kid-friendly tapestry needle)

• Buttons

• Ribbon

• Batting

Instructions: 1. Print large letters off of your computer. Then trace onto the felt. Cut out the letters.

1. Add buttons to the front of the letter (optional).

2. Holding the two layers together, do a whip-stitch around the letter.

3. Add batting to the letters as you go along (make sure the batting is stuffed into the letter tightly).

4. Stitch or glue a small ribbon to the back of the letter for easy hanging.

Posted by Toni at 6:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

From his bushy beard to his songbird friend, this Santa Claus pillow is a wonderful holiday project that's a snap to make.

What You Need

• Wool felt: 1/2 yard of 35-inch-wide teal blue, 12-x-18-inch piece of red, 12-x-18-inch piece of antique white, and scraps of rose, light blue, light peach, and gold
• 1/2 yard of fusible web
• Ecru quilting thread
• Embroidery needle
• Embroidery floss: red, dark brown, and blue
• Four small black seed beads (for eyes)
• 14-x-14-inch pillow form or polyester fibrefill

Download Pattern

How to Make It

1. Preshrink the wool felt before cutting out the pattern pieces. To preshrink the felt, wet the felt under warm water until it's completely soaked; run it on the spin cycle in your washing machine to remove excess water. Because the felt colors may bleed, do not wash or dry different-colour pieces together. Tumble-dry the felt on medium-high. Results may vary. As much as 4 inches may be lost in shrinkage. If the finished pillow becomes soiled, dry-cleaning is recommended.

2. Cut two 14-x-14-inch squares from teal for the pillow front and back.

3. Lay the fusible web, paper side up, over the pattern in the Pattern Pack and trace the pieces onto the paper with a pencil. Cut the pieces slightly outside the traced lines.

4. Place the paper pieces onto the felt before fusing to make maximum use of the felt. Fuse the pieces to the felt with an iron for 5 to 10 seconds.

5. Cut out the pieces along the traced lines.

6. Remove the paper backing as you assemble the design on the pillow front.

7. Fuse the pieces to the pillow front.

Appliqué the Design

Blind-stitch-appliqué the edges of all felt appliqués using ecru quilting thread. When working blind stitches, pull the thread tight so it "disappears" into the felt; use small stitches, working just into the edges of the appliqués. Separate the six-strand embroidery floss and use three strands for all embroidery. Backstitch Santa's nose with dark brown floss and the bird's tail with blue. Sew black-bead eyes in place.

Assemble the Pillow

With wrong sides together, pin the pillow front to the pillow back. Blanket-stitch around three sides using three strands of red embroidery floss. Insert the pillow form and then pin and blanket-stitch the opening closed.

Posted by Toni at 6:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

Make a custom tree topper by inserting narrow sticks into a Styrofoam ball. Spray-paint with the colour of your choice. When dry, spray with spray adhesive and sprinkle with glitter.

Tip: The topper will be most secure if one of the sticks is left long (about 18 inches) so that it can be wired to the tree trunk.

Posted by Toni at 6:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |