How to make a kanzashi flower...

I bought Making Magazine for the first time back when it released it's September edition...I couldn't resist all the Japanese styled crafts...it's not often I drool over a pincushion but they well and truly had me hooked! Less than an hour after sitting down with a cuppa to read I moved onto trying their Kanzashi flower tutorial. They suggested using them as a brooch but I had them in mind for a decoration to form part of my nieces birthday present. Once I started I just couldn't stop!

I tried with different fabrics, I found stiffer fabric worked best for me as it held it's shape well. I think they're so pretty, I want to try to make a garland from them next!

Here's how I made it...

What you need:

Fabric (I used 100% cotton in these photos)

Scissors

Measuring tape

Iron

Pins

Needle and thread

Glue

Button (optional)

1. Cut out 5 squares 12cm x 12cm

2. Take one square and fold into a triangle (right side facing outwards). Press with the iron.

3&4. With the folded edge facing you bring the right and left outside corners up to the top corner and press the edges.

5&6. Turn the diamond over and bring the outside edges into the centre.

7. Fold in half and hold in place with a pin.

8. Trim the end with the raw edges.

9. Repeat with the remaining squares of fabric.

10&11. Feed the thread onto the needle, and thread each petal onto the thread (make sure they're facing the same way!) and tie both ends of the thread together.

12. Next ease each petal into your desired shape.

13. Sew the petals together on both the top and bottom side of the flower. Trim the thread.

14. Next cut a circle of fabric and glue to the behind of the flower (not pictured). Next decorate the centre of the flower, for this one I simply glued a little circle of the fabric but a button would look sweet!

You will get different effects depending on the type of fabric you use, how many petals you have and how you decorate it. Here's the first one I made...

The things you could do with these are endless, They'd make cute hair accessories or brooches, or additions to handmade bags or home accessories...I made two which I added to a cushion...but more on that in a different post!

Have any of you read Making magazine? I've struggled to get hold of it and am thinking about taking out a subscription...the craft ideas were so contemporary and beautiful.

Have a great day!

Guest Post - Creating Laura

I'm really excited today to introduce you to the lovely Laura of Creating Laura. Her blog is full of really sweet craft ideas, I was sure you would love her blog so I invited her over to share one of her projects with us! Take it away Laura...

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Hi There!

I’m Laura, a professional figure skater and a crafty blogger over at Creating Laura. I’m so excited to be guest blogging here today!

I got really into knitting and crafting about 3 years ago, and the more things I made, the more things I wanted to make.  Pretty soon it turned into a way of life for me, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

One of my favorite activities is cutting up old t-shirts and redesigning them.  The last time I did that, I was left with loads of purple t-shirt scraps that were too pretty to throw away.  I kept them in my craft drawer all summer until I finally came up with the perfect use for them: a hair accessory!

Materials:

Scraps from an old t-shirt

A hair tie

A pom pom maker

Scissors

Glue (optional)

Directions:

1.  Cut the t-shirt scraps into several strips that are as long as possible.  Then take each strip and roll it up like a yoga mat.

2.  Wrap the strips around a 2 inch (5 cm) pom pom maker.  As you do this, be sure to wrap the strips according to the instructions on your pom pom maker just like you would if you were making a regular pom pom.

3.  Continue making a pom pom by cutting the left string, tying a half knot at the bottom, and cutting along the top of the pom pom maker.

4.  You should now have a sparse looking pom pom.  Don’t worry.  It’ll look way better when you’re done with it.

5.  Flip the pom pom over and place a hair tie on the half knot that you tied in step 3.

6.  Tie another half knot over the hair tie to secure it to the pom pom.  If you’re nervous that it won’t stay tied, you can add a dab of glue to the knot to make it more permanent.

7.  Your hair accessory should now look like the picture below.

8.  Unwrap one of the little rolls and hold it so it’s flat.

9.  Fold the top edge out.

10.  Let it roll back up again with the edge still folded out.  Repeat that process on every little roll.

Your hair accessory will now be finished and ready to wear.

I hope you’ve found this tutorial helpful, and I’d love to see a photo of your creation if you decide to make one of these for yourself!

Happy creating!

xoxo

Laura

DIY oversized clutch bag

So I'm continuing with the bag theme this week by sharing this little (actually quite big) clutch bag I made last week. A friend of mine who is crazy talented and creative was moving (just after giving birth to a beautiful baby girl literally one week earlier) and was freeing up some space by giving away a huge load of fabric scraps - needless to say I was more than happy to take it off her hands - thanks Erin! It took me about five hours to organise the scraps of fabric but my mind was in creative overdrive as I was sifting through all the cute fabric. A lot of it is just small swatches so I'm thinking I might just get round to making that patchwork quilt I've been planning ever since getting my sewing machine!

But lets get back to this bag. I have a real thing for yellow at the moment...maybe it's because I'm trying to make up for the lack of sun in my life.

I've been seeing these fold over clutches popping up on Pinterest for ages so I finally decided it was time to make one. I normally get annoyed with how impractical clutches are but I can fit everything I need with ease into this...mobile phone, wallet, keys, make up...even my camera (I only have a little one) can fit!

Let's get to it!

1. Cut out two 30 x 22cm pieces of the base fabric (yellow) and two 30 x 15cm pieces of the top fabric (patterned). Pin one base fabric and one top fabric together along the longest side, right sides facing. Sew together. Repeat for the other pieces of fabric.

2. Cut out two pieces of lining to match the size of the sewn together fabric. Place one piece of lining with the fabric rights sides facing. Pin the lining to the top fabric and sew together. Repeat for the other fabric and press all seams.

3. You should have two pieces of fabric that look like the photo above. A quick pause from sewing while we tackle the snaps. Mark the middle of the lining fabric about 1.5 - 2" from the top, fit the base of the heavy duty snap to the lining using the manufacturers instructions (just make sure that the bottom of the snap is showing on the wrong side of the fabric!). You can fit the top half of the snap at this stage but I wanted to make sure they lined up so I fitted it once the bag was sewn together!

4. Next pin the two pieces of fabric together, right sides facing. Sew together around the edges leaving a 7 - 10cm gap along the bottom edge of the lining. Next pull the fabric through this gap so that the right sides face out. Close the gap at the lining with a slipstitch. Press the edges.

5. Fold the lining inside the bag and press the seam joining the fabric to the top fabric to ensure a nice clean edge.

6. Mark on the outside of the bag where the top side of the snap needs to be fitted. Fit according to manufacturer instructions.

Note: if you want to hide the snap then you can fit the top side of the snap in the same way you did the base in step 3, Just fit it to the lining but make sure when you pin the two sides of the bag together that the snap parts match up!

Also, if you want to cover your snap with fabric as I did then it's really easy! Simply add a little fabric glue to the top of the snap and adhere to the fabric, easing out any creases. Cut any excess fabric leaving about a 1/2cm edge. Glue the excess fabric to the back of the part and leave to dry for a few minutes before continuing with fitting it to the bag.

And then all you need to do is fill it with your lovely things, fold over the top half of the bag and show off your newest handmade treasure :)

Can you tell I had some time to kill on Photoshop? (well it was more procrastinating to avoid the washing up waiting for me in the kitchen...and, yes, adding hearts is about the extent of my creativity when it comes to editing photos!)

Happy Tuesday!

DIY shoe makeover...

I often read about how important it is to decide on how much of your personal life you are going to share when blogging.

I have a feeling the before-photo of these shoes should probably have stayed in my private life.

I would just like to state publicly that I do wash my feet. Very regularly :) However my love of going barefoot whenever possible and my inexplicable skill of choosing inappropriate shoes on a rainy day have led to this...let's not hold back now...pretty disgusting outcome!

So here is how I prettied them up!

1) Firstly use the original insoles as templates to sketch out the new soles on the fabric. Cut out and adhere to the soles of the shoes with the strong glue.

2) Next use the craft knife (or stanley knife) to make small cuts along the side of the shoe (mine were about 1.5cm long).

3) Thread the ribbon through the slits, making sure both ends come out at the front of the shoe (that step probably didn't need to be explained!). I found 1m of ribbon for each shoe worked out perfectly.

4) Double knot the ribbon before tying the bow. Then trim the bow ends!

I haven't treated the ends of the ribbon but if you find it frays then holding a lit match close to the edge (briefly) seals it.

I love my new shoes! Here is probably where I shouldn't admit that on their first outing outdoors I got them soaked in the rain - at least all the decoration is replaceable!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway to be in with a chance of winning $40 to spend on any beautiful piece of jewellery by Coral & Stone!

D.I.Y. felt bow...

So remember in my last post I mentioned about my crafting plans for my Sunday afternoon...it ended up being more about picking apart a skirt and dreaming up what to do with the material while getting completely engrossed in the rugby! But I did have a crafty Tuesday (I love working part-time!) using said material and also sewing up a peg bag...more to come in the next week or so on these. For now I thought I would continue sharing the hair accessories I made for my niece for Christmas...if you haven't seen the previous posts then here's how to make a trio of felt flowers and a double lace hairband. Today I'm talking bows. I loved bows and frills as a little girl...rejected them as a teen (my ribbons were firmly glued to my ripped up flares)...and am now totally back on the bow band wagon - just maybe not in pink.

So here's a really easy way to make a cute felt bow...

All you need are:

Felt

Scissors

Strong glue (or needle and thread)

1. Firstly cut out a piece of felt which thins in the middle and edges (see photo below but think comedy moustache).

2) Fold the ends into the middle and glue.

3) Next cut the ends of your bow by cutting out a wide 'U' shape.

4) Glue this to the middle of your bow (it doesn't matter what side)

5) Then finally wrap a thin piece of felt around the middle and glue at the back.

And voila! a pretty bow to use however you desire. I glued mine to hair clips...let me know what you do with yours :)

How to make: a double lace headband

I didn't get round to posting this earlier in the week so here's a little read for your Sunday. I mentioned in a previous post that I made my niece a collection of pretty hair accessories for Christmas. To be honest when I made this lace head band, I really wanted to be making it for myself! Since it was made to fit a two year old's head I couldn't even model the final outcome with the excuse of 'it's for the good of the blog'. Making my own version is definitely on my to do list for 2013. I found the lace I used a bit of a pain because it frayed SO easily, which was the main reason I ended up wrapping an additional piece of lace around the join to try to reduce the amount of fraying as much as possible. But it did also result in a much tidier finish!

On another note, I had a go at making a step by step photo guide...let me know what you think of the tutorial!

The measurements I've given allow for a 2cm overlap of lace and elastic on each side to create a headband that is 1cm smaller than the measured head width. If the lace you choose doesn't fray as easily then a smaller seam would be fine, so just adjust as needed.

I hope you all have a lovely, lazy Sunday. After Church I'm planning a day of crafting and rugby (watching not playing - come on England!)...hopefully I'll be able to share my crafting ventures with you later this week.

Happy Sunday!

Flowers and lace and all sorts of 'pretties'...

I have four gorgeous nephews and a beautiful niece. We got to spend Christmas with them this year which was so much fun as they were all old enough to get excited about it - albeit with varying degrees of understanding as to why they were excited! I love shopping around for toys for the boys but Seren is probably always going to get beautiful dresses and all things girly from us...little girls clothes are just too cute! She loves to dress up in necklaces and pretty hair grips - she calls them her 'pretties'. So for Christmas I made her a collection of 'pretties' - I think they were a success as she insisted on wearing them all at once :)

I trawled Pinterest looking for inspiration and stumbled across this pretty flower grip on dot coms for mums. I didn't actually use the tutorial but it inspired me to make the trio of flowers hair clip that I'm going to share with you today. I'm sorry for the poor quality of a lot of the photos, I completed and wrapped all of these in one wintry day and there wasn't much natural light going! But enough with the chat, let's get down and crafty...

To get started...

You only need embroidery thread for this, I just got a little over excited and put some additional thread in the  photo - although you may decide you want to sew everything together instead of using glue - I just trust glue's longevity over my sewing ability :)

1) First up take the felt that you are using for the flowers and cut out 6 small circles. Then snip into each circle to create a rough flower shape.

2) Next take two of these shapes and lay one on top of the other. Hold securely and thread the embroidery thread through in a cross shape, tying a knot at the back to secure. Repeat to make the other two flowers.

3) Next cut out 2 leaves from the green felt and a small square from the felt used for the flowers. First glue the two leaves to the square and then glue each flower onto the square, layering on top of the leaves. Trim the excess felt.

4) Cut out a small piece of felt in the shape of the hair clip and glue to the clip. Finally glue the base of the flowers to the felt on the clip. Leave to dry.

And then all you have to do is restrain yourself from making one in every colour :)

Have a great weekend!

Jewellery gift ideas part 5 - ribbon wrapped comb

Unique jewellery is such a lovely gift and it's even more meaningful when you have put the time and effort into making it yourself. I love making and receiving handmade gifts, so I thought I would put together a mini series which will hopefully inspire you to whip out your jewellery stash and get creating!

The beauty of each of these ideas is that they are so versatile - you could either make them just as I suggest or simply use each of the tutorials as a springboard to that perfect gift.

Already made: Vintage inspired pearl and ribbon necklace, beaded pendant necklace, woven earrings, teardrop necklace
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You can never have too many pretty things to put in your hair. This ribbon wrapped comb is so versatile, and if you get bored with the colours you could just unwrap it and do it again in different colours!

1) Simply take your selection of ribbon and wrap around the comb a few times to secure and conceal the end. Continue to wrap around the comb in whatever pattern you fancy :) I laid the narrower piece of ribbon on top of the larger one and then wrapped them round together.

2) When you've finished, feed the ribbon back under itself and tie a knot, cut the excess ribbon.

This has got to be the quickest idea so far, so there is no excuse not to try it! This is it for this week but I'll be putting up the final three ideas next week.

Have a great weekend!

Peacock hair accessory...

I have had these peacock feathers for 7 years. I have known what I wanted to do with them for, say, 5 years. Well last week I finally got round to doing what I had been planning....it took me all of about 30 minutes.

I don't always understand myself.

I have a thing about fascinators - they ever so slightly freak. me. out. I'm talking about the ones that stick a half mile out of your head and cause everyone around you to duck out it's way.

It's just not natural.

Even if I changed my mind, I'm married to the one person I know who fears them even more than me. So I think it's safe to say that I'm not likely to be found wearing one any time soon! It does leave me feeling a little bit boring though when it comes to doing my hair for special events ( by this I mean weddings...those red carpet moments are just in my head). So I finally decided to get around to making something pretty with my long-ignored peacock feathers.

I considered adding beads to the base of the feathers but I decided that less was more on this occasion. But this could be adapted in so many ways - so let your creativity flow! Here goes...

1) Trim each of the peacock feathers, following the shape of the outer coloured rim.

2) My feathers were a bit ratty just from being old, most gaps can be eased out by gently easing feathers together. But one of mine had a stubborn split in the middle. One way to easily fix this is to cut a tiny piece of fabric and glue to the back of the feather to hold it's shape.

3) Next roughly cut out an oval piece of fabric. Glue the feathers onto the fabric, overlapping the feathers slightly.

4) Trim the fabric so that it is hidden under the feathers.

5) Line the rim of the comb with glue and affix to the back of the fabric. Leave to dry.

Tip: Before wearing, I spray the feathers with a spritz of hair spray to protect their shape.

p.s. I promise I haven't decided that hyphens should replace a 'space' but when adding font to the photos in Google Plus, it wouldn't recognise my space bar (despite me hitting it very hard multiple times -oops)...has anyone else found this? If so, do you know how to fix it?

Happy Monday!