Paper & needle crafts among other handmade things

The needlecase above was a Christmas gift to a very talented friend of many who is also a crafter.

When I was looking at ways I could embellish this needlecase I thought it might be a good idea to cut motifs from patterned fabric or felt and to use them as appliqués and I must say I'm so pleased with the results. In my felt drawer I found a sheet of patterned felt with pretty flowers that I thought would be just perfect. All I had to do was choose and cut a few flowers of different sizes and colours and handsew them in place.

These pretty flowers make lovely appliqués

In the last few days I've also managed to finish a few projects I've been working on in the evenings.

Remember my knitted log cabin blanket? It's finished and already in use. It's not very big, just big enough to cover my legs when sitting in front of the computer without it getting caught by the chair castors.

When this picture was taken I hadn't yet thought of an edging for it but then I was inspired by this one from Angie author of Le Monde de Sucrette. I liked its simplicity and the little loops in the corners of her hexagons.

Now, my log cabin blanket is truly finished.

Another finished project is the above wrap for my mum. It's her birthday next month and I thought I'd maker her a wrap to wear to church, there'll be a pin to go with it and I'll show you that when it's done.

I also made 5 more miniature crochet handbags as part of a standing order. I always enjoy making these

I've been meaning to show you my new address book for a while but for one reason or another I kept forgetting.

I ran out of space in my old address book and needed a new one: I wanted to be able to add pages as and when necessary so I decided to make my own and I'm very happy with the end result.

Listed below are the supplies I used:

2 Bind-It-All 6"x6" brown covers
Bind-It-All 6"x6" white pages
2 binder rings
Decoupage enamel
PVA glue
Set of clear journaling stamps (stitched journaling panels by Maryan Wise)
Alphabet stamps
Ink pads
Old books (the ones I used were about gardening and butterflies)

I started with the covers and for the background I used a couple of pages taken from second-hand books. These were glued to the hard covers after brushing them with a mixture of PVA glue and water, this mixture shouldn't be too thick or too runny. I used the inside of a lid, squirted some PVA glue and then added the water a few drops at a time and mixed well, keep on adding water until you have the right consistency. Apply this mixture all over the side of the cover you'll be working on, position the page on the cover making sure it's straight and check there are no air bubbles. Brush the background paper with some more of the glue mixture and put aside to dry.

As you'll be working in layers, the trick is to take it easy and not try to do too many layers at once. Always allow enough time for one layer to dry completely before moving one to the next. Also, make sure you do not apply too much glue as it will make the paper warp which won't look nice.

While waiting for the glue to dry choose and cut the images you want to use and see how they work together. Try different layouts until you're happy.

Before moving on to the next layer, carefully trim the background paper to remove any excess. Then brush some more glue mixture on it and place your chosen images, go over them with the brush dipped in the glue and again put aside to dry.

You can overlap images if you want but don't forget to let the previous layer to dry completely before moving on to the next. I decorated both sides of my front and back covers but you can only do the outside of these if you want.

When you've finished embellishing the covers it's time to seal them. This gives them a nice glossy finish and makes them more durable. I used decoupage enamel, it's very easy to apply and the results are great. Again you need to work in stages, apply your 1st coat of enamel and put aside to dry and the same for consecutive coats. The enamel I used dries fairly quickly so I didn't have to wait long in between coats.

Front cover

Inside of front cover

Back cover

Inside of back cover

My next step was to work on the pages. I bought a set of clear journaling stamps and used the stamp press you see below. What this does it, because there are small rubber rings in each corner that create some height, it allows you to position the stamps over the page and when you're happy you just press down to stamp. Also by using this stamp press I could stamp each page with my chosen 4 stamps in one single go which saved me a lot of time. At this stage you can also punch the covers and the pages.

With the covers and the pages finished it was then time to start filling in all those names, phone numbers and addresses, sort them alphabetically and stamp the corresponding letter on the top right corner of the page.

As you can see from the photos I'm using 2 binder rings to keep everything in place. As an after thought I made a crochet band for my address book because I want to keep it closed in my bag so the pages don't get damaged.

The covers and pages can be bought in different sizes allowing you to adapt this idea to your needs. Instead of an address book you might want to make a travelling journal, your own recipe book, a photo album, a diary, etc. and as decoupage material you can use old maps, letters, stamps, photos, leftover bits of wrapping paper, dried leaves or flowers, whatever your imagination dictates really.

The covers, the pages and the decoupage enamel were all bought online from Cutting Edge Crafts while the set of journaling stamps were bought on eBay. I can't remember the name of the seller but you can see a photo of the stamps here.

 

Hello and welcome to my 1st tutorial this year, hope you like it.

I made the pincushion below as a gift for an Internet friend from across the pond, I'd already made her a needle case so I thought a pincushion would come in handy too.

The material used is felt either acrylic or with a 30% wool content and all shapes were cut with the Sizzix dies listed below:

Originals Flower Layers #3 (Smallest flower x 1)
Originals Circles #2 (Smallest circle x 1)
Bigz Flower (x 2)
Bigz Clear Square Scallop (x2)

To start with I cut the shapes you see in the picture below:

Then I cut a piece of felt larger than the biggest flower shape to start making the appliqué.

The flower appliqué was done in layers with one of the blanket stitches on the sewing machine. You can also do this by hand if you want.

With the 1st layer done I moved on to do the 2nd one as described above. The 3rd and 4th layers were done simultaneously and I used a zig-zag stitch to go around the red circle. Next I carefully cut along the outside of the flower as shown below.

I placed this appliqué on 1 of the felt scallop squares and sewed it in place with a few stitches.

Then I placed this over the other scallop square, aligned and sewed it all around leaving a gap for filling. After filling the pincushion I sewed the gap and here it is, all done and ready to be used.

 

 

I can't believe another year has just flown by and as we enter 2011 I want to say a hertfelt Thank You to all of you who follow this blog.

I just had a quick look at the stats page and the numbers are incredible: over 3700 visitors last month, some 7200 pageviews, 88 posts written, 24 subscribers, not to mention the lovely and encouraging comments many of you left me. So once again, Thank You and please know that I really appreciate it.

I have a few tutorials lined up so please come back and have a look.

Moving on now, it's time for another Time capsule and as usual you'll find the links to some of my past projects below the mosaic of pictures.

 

Another use for granny squares

How to make shower gloves

Crochet hexagons and no-sew joining