Crafty Christmas Day 5: Twinkly Lights Jar

What you'll need:

• jars ~ any shape or size will do
• Glass paints 
• Glitter & PVA glue*optional*
• lights

1. The first step is to write whatever words or pattern you want on the jar. ( I wrote 'Merry Christmas' and 'Let It Snow' then added snowflakes on one and holly on the other)
2. If you want glitter, you will need to paint the glue where you want it, then sprinkle the glitter on.
3. Now you just need to let it dry and then, if you want to wash the jar, you will need to follow the instructions on your glass pens to bake it.
4. All there is left to do now is add the lights and Ta Da! You have a perfect table topper!!

Hope you enjoyed this quick and easy tutorial, tune in tomorrow for another great Christmas Idea!!

Crafty Christmas Day 4: Bead Bauble

What you'll need:
4 pieces of craft/flower wire
beads
thread
bell *optional*

Method:

1. the first step is to make 2 of your pieces of wire into circles.
2. You then need to put beads right round each piece, leaving a small part at the end for folding
3. Place the hoops inside each other, and bend the ends of each wire inwards. Hook the end loops together.
4. Use the last two pieces of wire to wrap around the top and bottom of the loops, to secure them together.
5. If you are adding a bell you will need to tie that on now, in the middle. 
6. Now use the thread to make a hook for hanging.

Hope you enjoyed this quick and easy tutorial, tune in tomorrow for another great Christmas Idea!!

Crafty Countdown Day 3: Bookmark Friends

These are really easy to make and perfect for customising either for yourself, a friend or family member!

What you'll need:
felt of various colours (depending on what you choose to make)
Scissors
needle & thread

1. The first step is to decide what you want to make out of your felt. It'll need to be something with a point on it, because you will be cutting from the corners of your felt
2. You then basically need to cut out 2 pieces of the felt, and sew it nearly all the way round, leaving a section at the bottom (pointy part) to put in the book.

Here are some ideas:

Layered Heart

Monster

Ice Cream Heart

Hope you enjoyed this quick and easy tutorial, tune in tomorrow for another great Christmas Idea!!

Crafty Christmas Day 2: Heart Pud Tree Decoration

What you'll need;

• Scissors
• Needle & Thread
• Felt in Brown, green and white
• 3 red buttons
• ribbon
• Card
• Toy stuffing

             *For this tutorial you will only need to use running stitch*

1. The first step is to draw a heart shape on the card and cut it out. You then want to pin the card to the brown card and cut out 2 heart shapes.
2.  Now on the heart template, you need to draw some dribbley lines for the cream. once you've cut them out you need to discard the bottom part of the heart and pin the card to the white felt, and cut the shape out.
3. Thirdly you need to draw and cut out 2 holly leaf shapes on the green felt. (Or you can draw a template like before.)
4. Next sew one of the white dribble pieces on the each of the brown hearts.
5. Sew on the 2 holly leaves to one piece of the white dribbles, and then sew the 3 red buttons on as berries beneath the holly.
6. Now it's finally time to sew the whole thing together. Pin the two brown hearts together, and slip the red ribbon in at the top (pinning it into place). Sew nearly all the way round but leave a gap for stuffing
7. Now stuff! When you feel the heart is full enough, sew the hole closed, and Ta Da!! You have your Heart Pudding!!

Hope you enjoyed this quick and easy tutorial, tune in tomorrow for another great Christmas Idea!!

Crafty Christmas Day 1: Hand-made Mini Stocking

So today we are making these Mini Stockings. This is a really easy tutorial, perfect for beginners. The only difficulty I had was getting round the toes on the sewing machine but I think that's mainly because we have a temperamental machine (and I'm not great at controlling it!!)  

What you will need:

The template provided on the website or here

2 different fabrics

scissors 

Needle & thread/ sewing machine

Things to decorate *optional*

1. So the first step is to cut out the template . You need two stocking shapes out of each of the two different fabrics. You need to make sure all the toes are going in the right direction, so to do that make sure the fabric has the wrong sides together before you cut it.

2. You then need to lay them like this...

...and sew the seam at the join.

3. Then you want to pair up each side together,(lining to lining and outside to outside) pin and sew      around, leaving a gap for turning to right way


4. You then want to cut notches around the toe of the outside fabric, so that there isn't so much bulk when turned the right way.

And then on the lining you will need to cut near to the seam to reduce bulk when turned the right way

(When doing both of these steps be careful not to cut the thread)

5. Now it's time to turn it the right side out (Don't put the lining inside yet). Ladder stitch the opening closed 

6. Then put the lining inside the outside fabric. You may need to shake it around a little to make sure the lining is completely in there. 

7. You then want to turn over the top. I ladder stitched it down, just so that it wouldn't move but that's up to you. 

8. You can now decorate it as much as you like. I must say it was very hard to sew the buttons on once the whole thing was sewn together, so I think next time I will sew the buttons on first! 

*My aim whilst making this was to take pictures as I went along, but as usual I got so into and forgot, so most of these photos are actually from http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/ . *

Hope you enjoyed this quick and easy tutorial, tune in tomorrow for another great Christmas Idea!! 

Crafty Christmas Countdown

This year, for advent I have decided to do a Crafty Countdown! Everyday until Christmas I'll be giving you some quick and easy ideas for gifts or decorations. I hope this will inspire you to be a little crafty this Christmas!!

Sneaky peek of homemade Christmas Presents

So,  as you all know it is coming up to Christmas,  and if you know me you will know that I always like to start making my Christmas presents early. This year I couldn't find a lot on Pinterest to help me out, and my brain wasn't being as creative as last year,  but I did find a few ideas and today I'm going to give you a sneaky peek of them...

DIY old jeans backpack

 Welcome to my craft blog!  I started this because I love sewing and crafting, and thought I'd share my ideas with the world!

So the latest thing I've made is this backpack made out of old jeans. I got the idea off a blog called I Wear A Bow and thought it'd be nice, because I've been looking to make a bag to put my ballet stuff in but I don't have any big pieces of fabric, so when I saw this I thought 'Why not!?'. 

It didn't take me very long to do because I'm quite a fast sewer. I did it all by hand whilst sitting in the garden in the sun, but of course you can do it on a machine.  I also left off the flap because I liked it without. 

 I like the fact it has pockets front and back, and is quite big. You could put a lining in it if you don't like the pocket bits showing, but for now I think I'm going to keep mine as it is.  

I hope you enjoyed this! Let me know what you thought, and feel free to tell me of your cool inventions! Bye x