Hexy-Holly Wreath

With the school Christmas fair, a trip on the Santa express steam train, present-buying and pudding making it's definitely Christmas time in our house now. Sitting down at the end of the day with some sewing has been a nice escape from the lists, timetables and deadlines for a little while.
The last few evenings have been spent finishing my experimental hexy-holly wreath that I posted about previously. Once all of the leaves were hand-sewn in place, using some red fabric scraps and iron-on adhesive (fusible web), I added some little circular red berries in between each pair of leaves.

I stabilised the wreath by putting some neutral lining fabric behind it before machine-stitching a grey outline in one continuous go around the edges and down the centre of each leaf and around each berry. Afterwards I trimmed away the stabilising fabric on the back close to the stitching so that it didn't restrict the top fabric when stretched over an embroidery hoop to finish it.

The last job then was to fit it into an 8 inch hoop to display it. When the wreath was centrally fitted with the fabric securely fitted in the hoop, I cut away the excess fabric from around the edge leaving approximately 1/2 inch of fabric over. This leftover fabric around the edge was then brushed with pva craft glue, folded over and stuck to the inside of the hoop. Easy.

I really enjoy testing out ideas and experimenting as I go, usually even if something doesn't work out it still often triggers an idea for an alternative method or design during the process. On the whole I think this worked out fairly well. Maybe next time I'll try stitching the outline in black and doubling it up to make it stand out more and possibly look at adding groups of three smaller berries instead of just one.

Red and white gift wrapping

 

 

 

This week's Christmas Challenge 2014 deals with gift wrapping and tags. I don't think I've ever had Christmas presents all wrapped up so early in the season but it feels great to get started on the wrapping.

Using Triplits Die Set 15PK - Tags in combination with Framelits Die Set 6PK - Leaves, Holly & Berry, some white glittery wrapping paper and a red and white gingham ribbon I wrapped three presents for my sister-in-law. Essentially all three gifts are decorated the same way but with slight differences; especially when it comes to the design of the tags.

 

 

This tag was cut a little shorter by partially diecutting it with the scallopped rectangle from Triplits Die Set 15PK - Tags. 

I kept this tag very simple but layering two tags from Triplits Die Set 15PK - Tags and then stamping the text.

The larger of the gifts was decorated with a larger set of holly leaves and I also wanted the holly berries to be a little larger than on the other two packages. This led me to use one of the circles from the Thinlits Die Set 9PK - Winter Borders & Rosette set to create the berries. For the tag I layered two tags on top of one another and diecut a heart using a die from Thinlits Die Set 6PK - I Heart This in the top tag.

I hope you feel inspired to start wrapping this year's Christmas presents yourself - I can only recommend getting a jump start on this job :o)


Supply list:

Sizzix Big Shot Starter Kit (Powder Blue & Teal)
Sizzix Accessory - Magnetic Platform for Wafer-Thin Dies
Triplits Die Set 15PK - Tags
Framelits Die Set 6PK - Leaves, Holly & Berry
Thinlits Die Set 9PK - Winter Borders & Rosette

Thinlits Die Set 6PK - I Heart This

Stamps (Lawn Fawn & Papertrey Ink)

Ink: VersaMark, Simon Says Stamp

Cardstock

Patterned Paper (Prima Marketing)

White gelpen

Ribbon

Wrapping paper

 

---o---

 

I denne uge drejer Christmas Challenge 2014 sig om gaveindpakning, og jeg tror ikke, at jeg tidligere har været i gang med gaveindpakningen så tidligt, men det føles godt.

 

Jeg har kombineret Triplits Die Set 15PK - Tags med Framelits Die Set 6PK - Leaves, Holly & Berry samt glimmergavepapir og rødternet bånd ved indpakningen af tre gaver til min svigerinde. Overordnet set er pakkerne ens, men der er små forskelle især hvad angår gavemærkaterne.

 

Den første tag har jeg skåret lidt kortere ved delvist at udstanse bunden af de to forskellige tags med en anden die fra Triplits Die Set 15PK - Tags.

 

Den anden tag er holdt helt enkel ved blot at lave en sandwich af to tags i forskellige farver og derefter stemple teksten direkte på taggen.

 

På den store pakke har jeg brugt et sæt større kristtjørnsblade, og jeg ville sikre mig, at bærrene også var lidt større, så derfor brugte jeg en af cirklerne fra Thinlits Die Set 9PK - Winter Borders & Rosette til at udstanse kristtjørnens bær. Taggen består af to forskellige tags lagt ovenpå hinanden. I den øverste har jeg udstanset det lille hjerte fra Thinlits Die Set 6PK - I Heart This, hvilket betyder, at der kommer en lille fin detalje frem.

 

Jeg håber, at du er blevet inspireret til selv at komme i gang med gaveindpakningen - jeg kan kun anbefale det, for det skal jo gøres ;o)

 

Ingredienser: 

Sizzix Big Shot Starter Kit (Powder Blue & Teal)
Sizzix Accessory - Magnetic Platform for Wafer-Thin Dies
Triplits Die Set 15PK - Tags
Framelits Die Set 6PK - Leaves, Holly & Berry
Thinlits Die Set 9PK - Winter Borders & Rosette

Thinlits Die Set 6PK - I Heart This

Stempler (Lawn Fawn & Papertrey Ink)

Sværte: VersaMark, Simon Says Stamp

Karton

Mønstret papir (Prima Marketing)

Hvid gelpen

Bånd

Gavepapir