crochet cushion cover

my second cushion is one big granny square. it was inspired by this lovely cushion cover on etsy.

mine is in yellow, orange and white, with the same pattern but a different colour order on each side.

christmas crafting continued...

continuing my intention to have done some xmas crafting in time for xmas, i've made a few little button xmas trees.

like the button snowmen, they are made from my grandma's buttons. i've added the stars on top and the ribbon is from my stash of crafty creatives bits and pieces.

button snowmen

i haven't posted for a while (to say the least) but i have been crafting! i have made several bracelets, some for myself, and some as presents. i gave my sister a bracelet made with haematite barrel beads and a zuni bear fetish charm as a birthday present and she thought i had bought it, which i think is a good sign as it must have seemed worth paying for!

i started looking at xmas ideas back in september when it was stupidly early and there seemed loads of time to make lots of stuff... but what with one thing and another and starting a new job in october, by the time xmas came around i hadn't finished one thing i could put on my tree. so clearly i needed to start earlier this year!

i love the button xmas decorations made by the happy button and wanted to have a go at making my own. i have a stash of buttons that belonged to my grandma and i have been waiting for a long time to find the right project to use them with.

these cute little fellows will hang on my xmas tree for many years to come.

next up: little button xmas trees!

crafty creatives box 14

i was looking forward to the arrival of the latest crafty creatives box, and it arrived on wednesday. it is my favourite box so far! the theme is western and the box contains a multitude of goodies as well as two kits! i got stuck into the kits straight away and have finished both already!

the main kit is a dreamcatcher. it was meant to include feathers but these are cruelty-free feathers and still en route from the US, so will turn up with the next box instead. i'm vegetarian so i'm happy to wait for the feathers but couldn't wait to make the dreamcatcher!

i used the metal ring, suedette lace and embroidery thread from the kit, following the instructions, and i added a few beads and a butterfly charm that i already had. i will put the beads and second string of suedette that came with the kit to good use on another occasion! i also decorated the ring with sky blue and shiny pink embroidery thread from my collection and the maroon thread from the cross-stitch kit in box 12. i wanted it to have a tactile quality and i think the fluffiness of the thread and the tufts helps with that.

i had several attempts at getting the web to look right - it took me a bit of practice! i also kept forgetting to thread the beads on and had to start again! i finished the web off with a knot secured with gs hypo cement to help it hold. 

i really enjoyed making this and i'm really pleased with how it turned out!

the extra kit is a rope basket - just rope, wool thread and a needle! i used embroidery thread rather than the wool and i think it turned out ok!

at first i kept forgetting which way i was tying the knots and had to undo a few bits, but i was alright when i got into the rhythm of it. once it was in shape i went back over it a few times pulling the knots tighter, starting at the beginning and working towards the end, before tying it off at the top. this means it is tied quite tightly now which i think will help it hold in position.

it is quite a cute dinky basket - now i need to work out what to put in it!

french beaded flower hair clip

last time i said i'd have a go at making a hair clip based on the french beaded flower in the crafty creatives birthday box - and here it is!

i used the pretty pink bead mix that came with the cc birthday box. this time i made a slightly smaller flower; the petals each have five beads in the middle, and two loops of beads around. i layered five petals on top of another five petals, and the stamen is made from twisting five groups of seven beads on one piece of wire. 

as i needed to to attach the flower to the clip, instead of twisting the wires from the petals and stamen together to make a stem as before, i twisted the first wire into a circle, and then twisted each one onto and around the circle, so that the flower sat on a ring of twisted wire. this was very fiddly!

i sewed a small circle of felt (also from the cc birthday box!) onto the second hair clip that came with the cc glamour box kit. i sewed another circle the same size onto the back of the flower, threading through the wire and beads to fix it as securely as possible. then i sewed two pieces of felt together using blanket stitch, to attach the clip to the flower.

what do you think? i was really pleased with how it turned out and and will be wearing it!

i really enjoyed making these flowers, and so i made a fourth one! this time i used some of the black beads left over from making the vintage style hair slip:

these black beads are a little bigger than the blue and pink ones that came with the kit, so i used three beads in the centre of the petals, and two loops around. i twisted groups of four beads together for the stamens. i made this one flat again so that it could be made into a similar hair clip as above.

i did manage to tear myself away from making beaded flowers long enough to have a stab at making the felt flower!

the method of creating the flower shape is simple but really effective. i did have a bit of trouble with this though, and i must be a bad workman, because i'm going to blame the glue! i used an all purpose glue that said it can be used with felt, but i found that the felt didn't want to stick together, and absorbed a lot of glue, so it ended up very hard! i stuck another bit of felt (this time i used double-sided sticky tape!) to the bottom of the flower to hide the really hard gluey bits! i don't think it will hold for long!

if i make another one of these (and if haven't acquired a glue gun before i do!) i think i'll try stitching it together rather than gluing it to see how that turns out.

anyway, here is the finished felt flower looking rather soft-focussed and pretty hanging out with some of my plants!

birthday balloon!

and i just had to share this picture of someone who was very pleased to find that there was a balloon in the Crafty Creatives birthday box...

flowers made from beads!

i've skipped ahead to the Crafty Creatives box 13 - the birthday box! this has five kits to make which is very exciting! the first one i've tried is the french beaded flower. i liked it so much i've made two, one from each of the colour beads i got in the kit. here's the first:

i kept pretty much to the instructions with this one, which as usual were very clear about what to do! it did turn out a little bigger than intended, but that's what happens when the instructions say start with 8 beads and you think 'well, that bead is very small, so i'll stick another one on, and maybe a few more for luck'!

i decided to experiment with the next one and made it a bit fancier!

i made the outer petals with seven beads in the middle, and three loops around, and i used the top two of those seven middle beads to separate the loops and encourage them into a pointier petal shape. on top of those there are three smaller petals, these have five beads in the middle and two loops round. i made the stamens slightly differently by twisting three groups of five beads on to two strands of wire.

these flowers are fun to make and my next project is already under way, as i'm going to try combining this kit with the beaded hair clip from box 11 and make a beaded flower hair clip... watch this space!

i will also try to stop making beaded flowers and make one of the other four flower kits!