Nice Things: A Guest Post, A Decision & Some Visitors

There's been some nice stuff happening here lately. Lots of sunshine (yay!), some icecream (yum!) and a few Nice Days Out that I can't wait to blog about and share with you guys - just gotta get those photos edited first (yawn).

Here's some other good stuff from the past couple of weeks...

... I wrote a guest post over at Oh My! Handmade Goodness all about my Nice Days Out - about how enjoyable they've been and how going on them has taught me the importance of scheduling some relaxation and exploration into my working weeks, no matter how long my To Do list might be.

 

... I'm "quoted" in this month's issue of Craftseller magazine, in an article about Social Media. I say "quoted" because the advice credited to me in the piece isn't actually something I said! Ah well, it's nice to have a mention anyway :)

 

 

 

... and I decided to delete most of my Pinterest boards. This doesn't immediately sound like it fits under the heading of "nice things" but after months of thinking that I "should" be using Pinterest but knowing in my heart that it was making me feel overwhelmed and stressed and a bit sad, it feels very nice to have finally made the decision to step back from it and spend my time and energy on things that suit me better.

I'll still be Pinning stuff like tutorials and guest posts from my blog (so if you follow my projects there you can continue to do so) and updating my Nice Day Out boards (mapping the places I've been, because I love being able to do that!) but not much else.

Finally (last but by no means least in the niceness stakes) I've had a couple of lovely visitors...

... a pretty butterfly who landed on the sunny window next to me when I was working on a blog post...

... and a sweet deer who brightened up two Mondays in a row by paying us a visit!

Guest Bloggers Wanted!

UPDATE: my guest post series has now finished. 

I've decided to start a new series here on my blog - guest posts! There's usually at least day a week when I don't have anything to blog about (or when I just haven't had the time to write a post) and it would be wonderful to use that space to share some crafty goodness from lots of lovely bloggers.

What I'm looking for:

I'd especially love to share crafty tutorials, project ideas, patterns and tips, but I'm also interested in things like...

- blogging or crafty-business tips and how-tos
- craft-themed stories / personal experiences (e.g. do you own a handmade item with special meaning? have you recently revamped your crafting studio? have you started a local craft group or worked on a special project that you'd like to share?)
- crafty event & workshop reviews (e.g. is there an amazing crafty event near you like a market or fair that you'd like to write about? are you taking a class or workshop you'd like to review?)

- crafty book reviews and recommendations (e.g. your five favourite craft books)

I'm also open to other suggestions! :)

Please note: I would prefer to share fresh content, so please don't submit a piece you've already published on your blog, etc (though if you're sharing a tutorial for something you've made and blogged about previously but which you've not written a tutorial for before, that's fine!)

What you get from me:

Guest posting is a great way to introduce yourself to a new audience! I'll link to your website/shop/blog etc in the guest post itself and as well as promoting the post when it's live (linking to it from Twitter & Facebook) I'll give you a shout-out on my Facebook & Twitter pages when you've submitted your post.

I'll also send you a discount code for a free small ad on my blog, which gets you an ad on my sidebar for 30 days and inclusion in my Meet My Sponsors post for the month your ad is live. The discount code will be valid for 6 months so you can choose when to run the ad. You can read more info about my ads and blog traffic here.

Interested? Please get in touch and I'll get back to asap you with more info. 

Guest Post: DIY Seasonal Switch Plates

With Christmas just around the corner, here's one another festive guest post for you! Today's post comes from Alex Cobbe, aka Hydrangea Girl...

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My name is Alex and I'm addicted to all things design. I also have a fascination and passion for crafting, cooking, kitties, and anything quirky, unusual, or out of the ordinary.

I love Christmas and that warm fuzzy feeling that goes along with it. I love decorating for the holidays, and what made me come up with the idea for these decorated switch plates was that there aren't many Christmas decorations that you can apply directly to existing parts of your home. There are many hanging decorations, and decorations to drape across things, but nothing that would add a certain 'je ne sais quoi' to that big bare patch on your wall that just has a light switch. Does that make sense? In my head it does. So anyways, on to my tutorial!

What you'll need: a cereal box or supermarket pizza box (thin cardboard works best), paint in a range of colors, PVA glue, glittery things of your choice like snowflakes or stars, scissors, paint brush, a black pen, pencil, and a ruler.

Step 1: decide on a template for your seasonal switch plates. I designed a silhouette inspired a little by Russian architecture. I drew my template on a folded piece of paper - when I cut out the design and opened it, it was a perfectly symmetrical template. I also cut out a square the size of my light switches. To make sure the templates fit each switch snugly, I fitted and trimmed the inside square with a pair of scissors (scalpel or exacto knife) where necessary.

Step 2: with your pencil, draw a Christmassy scene. I went with a different design for each switch plate, but there's no harm in doing the same pattern en masse.

Step 3: once you're happy with your design, paint it in. I began with the gold background, which I needed to build up with two layers of paint. Once the gold was dry, I went ahead and painted the remainder of the scene.

Step 4: When your paint has dried, use a black pen (or fine marker) and draw an outline around your design to really make it pop!

Step 5: attack every boring light switch in your home.

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You can check out lots of other crafty tutorials over on Alex's blog, Hydrangea Girl, her dust cover project is especially fun and would be a lovely way to add a personal touch to a book you're giving as a Christmas gift.

Fancy some more free crafty ideas? Subscribe to my newsletter for a monthly free pattern and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more free projects.

Guest Post: Felt Winter Scene Tutorial

Time for another festive guest post! Today's project is a tutorial for a winter scene made from felt, fabric and an embroidery hoop, designed by Melissa of Little Pink House.

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Hi! My name is Melissa Crowe, and I blog as "Checkout Girl", sharing my felt-applique work, along with bits and pieces about my life as an artist, teacher, and home-schooling mom. I sell my felty wares at Little Pink House on Etsy.

To make this cheer-inducing winter scene, you will need:

1. 1 9-inch wooden embroidery hoop
2. a piece of cotton or linen about 12" square
3. wool felt (or craft felt) in white, pink, brown, red, yellow, green, and turquoise (or the colors of your choice)
4. coordinating thread colors
5. embroidery floss in brown and turquoise
6. sharp scissors
7. pinking sheers
8. glue
9. a few straight pins

Stretch your background fabric (I've used this polka-dotted robin's egg blue cotton for a clever snow effect, but you can use whatever you like!) on your hoop, tightening and pulling gently until you achieve a nice, tight, drum-like effect.

Print and cut the templates and pin to appropriate felt colors (or trace around the template for teensy bits). Cut all your pieces, and arrange tree, house, roof, and snow bank without pinning in order to determine the appropriate position for tree and house.

Pin the tree and the house, and attach with a small, neat running stitch.

Pin the snow bank in place, overlapping the bottom of the tree and the house, and attach with a small, neat running stitch.

Attach the roof top with a running stitch. Use a small whipstitch to attach the rooftop snow at the top left corner.

Attach the window in the center of the house with a whipstitch. Position the wreath base at the bottom of the roof, slightly overlapping the house, and attach with a small whipstitch at the outer edge only.

Using two small stitches for each, attach the leaves to the wreath base, lining up the inner edge of each leaf with the inner edge of the base. You can tuck each successive leaf between the wreath-base edge and the previous leaf's edge.

Attach the tree snow to the left branch of the tree with a small whipstitch.

Position all three pieces of the snowman's body to the left of the tree, getting them just how you like them. Pin and attach each segment with a running stitch. (I also attached each segment to the other with a couple of whipstitches, to ensure a tight connection.)

Insert the side piece of the scarf into the space between the snowman's head and his middle, and attach with a few stitches. Then position the neck piece and attach with a running stitch all around the edge.

Attach the eyes and buttons with a small "x" of black thread in the middle of each. (Though I've used felt, tiny black buttons would work very nicely here, too!)

Using brown embroidery floss (all strands), make arms with two side-by-side rows of backstitches. The position of the arms is totally up to you! At the end of each arm, attach a mitten, using a running stitch.

Use a sharp pencil to mark "let it snow" (or any winter greeting you like) on the banner, and trace the letters with a small, neat backstitch in turquoise floss (two or three strands).

Use a running stitch to attach the banner to the snow bank.

Use a doubled strand of black thread or floss and a backstitch to outline the window and create a t-shaped crosspiece inside the window.

The hard part is over! Now to neaten the back, trim away some of the excess fabric, and run a bead of glue (almost any kind you have will do) around the inner hoop. Now fold the fabric down all the way around the hoop, pressing with your thumbs and fingers until the glue takes hold of the fabric.

Let the glue dry, and trim around the hoop, using your pinking shears, until you end up with a neat, close edge. (I haven't photographed this step, but you can see it in the "Pink House" tutorial if you want to.)

Tah Dah! Let this little man welcome your holiday guests this year!

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Visit Melissa's blog for more tutorials and to see more of her gorgeous felt designs.

Fancy some more free crafty ideas? Subscribe to my newsletter for a monthly free pattern and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more free projects.

Guest Post: DIY Christmas Cracker Tutorial

There's a bit of a festive theme developing this week! Today I'm sharing a crafty guest post: a tutorial from Rebecca on making your own Christmas crackers!

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Rebecca says.... "I'm a 32-yr-old American living in the UK with my British husband. I moved two years ago and absolutely love it here. I love crafting, but I've discovered keeping a whole house running takes a lot of my time, so I wind up pouring my creativity into cooking and baking instead. I keep a blog where I talk about whatever strikes my fancy - travelling, cooking,baking, shopping, day-to-day activities, etc. I help to run an Etsy shop for a friend of mine (Phoenix Funds) , and I can be found on twitter at @annaonthemoon."

When Tim and I were in Austria, we bought several bags of Mozart Kugel that we wanted to share with our family. I hung onto them until Christmas, and I was planning on using leftover gauze bags from our wedding to put a few pieces in and tie them onto packages as decorations. I was browsing Craftster one day when I stumbled on this post about making your own crackers, and I thought that would be a really fun way of distributing the candy.

Authentic crackers go bang! when you pull on them, and some airlines even consider them explosive. I wanted mine to snap, and I wanted to include the traditional paper hat and silly joke (or “motto” as it gets called). So I hunted online. If you are in the US, you can get your supplies from a site called Old English Cracker. If you’re in the UK, you can do what I did and order your pieces off Amazon or go directly to the seller on Amazon, Fred Aldous. I spent about £7 for 24 snappers, 12 hats, and 48 “mottos” including shipping. Next year, I’ll only need to order snappers and hats!

After you order your inside bits, and know what kind of “prize” you want (If I was in the US, I might look at Oriental Trading Co. for some inexpensive prizes), you need to start collecting your tubes. For each cracker, you will need either 1 empty kitchen roll (US: paper towel) tube or 2 empty toilet paper tubes. Depending on the size of your household and how quickly you use those products, you might have to start collecting early! You will use one tube as the middle, and cut the other tube in half to be the sides. If you are using a kitchen roll tube, cut it in half, and then cut one side in half again. If you are using a combination of TP tubes and kitchen roll tubes, check to make sure they are the same width. If not, make sure you use all 3 pieces of kitchen roll tube on the same cracker.

Other supplies include: curling ribbon, tape, and wrapping paper.

You’ll need a piece of wrapping paper that easily wraps around the three tubes plus leave some extra on either end. Our pieces were just big enough, so when I make them next year, I’m going to add a little extra to the sides.

Lay your wrapping paper print side down, with the large tube in the middle and a small tube on either side. Take your snapper and put it inside the tubes, making sure it’s not sticking out on either end, and secure it with tape to the inside of each small tube. The one pictured has the snapper taped down flat, but I also taped some in diagonally, and those seemed to snap better. At this point, put the hat and motto in the middle section (it’s a lot easier at this stage).

Next, roll the wrapping paper around the tube, securing with tape on the middle piece. You shouldn’t need tape on the side pieces, and I think it works a lot easier to leave those tape free for now.

This next step might take some practise. Cut a length of the curling ribbon and pinch together the wrapping paper between one small roll and the middle roll, being careful not to tear the paper. Wrap the ribbon around the pinched area and tie it as tight as you can (again, without ripping. Told you, it might take some practise)

Now pick up the cracker, with the pinched side down and insert your candy/prize through the other end. If it falls out the other side, you didn’t tie the ribbon tight enough. Repeat pinching and tying on the other side of your cracker.

The very last step is tucking the stray wrapping paper around the ends (if there is any) and curling the ribbon ties. At this point, you might also want to straighten the wrapping paper around the sides and tape it down.

The whole family loved them, and my SIL told me they looked like professional store-bought crackers! Can’t wait to make them again this year!

Fancy some more crafty goodness? Subscribe to my newsletter for a monthly free pattern and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more free projects.

Guest Post: Fabric Frog Tutorial

Today's guest post comes from Trixi of Coloured Buttons. Trixi lives in Sidney, Australia, and has been teaching craft and sewing to kids for the past 19 years. She loves swimming in the ocean, collecting shells and sea glass (and a million other things), hand quilting, beading, wandering through flea markets, designing sewing projects for kids and exploring the amazing range of craft blogs on the internet.

If you're wondering who this little fellow is...well, I call him "Froggy" (for obvious reasons)...he comes from way back in the days of "the Golden Oldies" (here & here) when I first started my sewing classes for kids.

Froggy popped into my mind again when my son Saul, who lives in Hong Kong and recently moved to a village house, e-mailed some photos of this tiny tiny little frog he found hopping around his backyard:
I guess these frogs grow a fair bit...Saul tells me that between the all-night croaking parties of the frogs, and the wailing of lone dogs he's not exactly getting all his beauty sleep...so now I've got my own little frog jumping around the garden...and I'm introducing him in this mini-tutorial.

Here is the template for Froggy.

Some brief pointers:

1) Trace around the template...sew leaving a gap for turning...it should look something like this:


2) Now trim...and turn right side out.

3) Fill Froggy with about one and a half cups of rice...pin the gap closed...and sew.

4) Remember...Froggy needs to be sewn with a small running stitch or back stitch so that the rice doesn't "leak" out.

5) In classes I only make Froggy with my "experienced sewers" as his curves can be a bit tricky to sew, especially around the little webbed fingers...so if you're making this with your kids and want to simplify his curves you can round out his hands as shown by the dotted line in the template.

6) The girls in my classes love to dress Froggy up..tutu-like skirts from lace, beaded bracelets, little knitted scarves, necklaces, bows/ribbons, etc...as you can see, Froggy usually ends up as a girl...my Froggy, however, is a boy...and here's one last photo of him lounging around the garden and taking in the winter sun:


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Visit Trixi's blog Coloured Buttons for lots of other cute tutorials and project ideas, including this adorable tiny travelling dolls house.

Subscribe to my newsletter for a monthly free pattern and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more free projects.

Guest Post: Recycled Felt Corsage Tutorial

Today's guest post comes from Christine, who last year took on the huge project of trying a new craft every week for a year and sharing her creations on her blog: 52 Crafts in 52 Weeks. Today she's sharing a tutorial for a corsage made from bits of a felted woollen jumper (sweater) she had leftover from her toy making week.

I had quite a bit of wool left over from making Mr.Rabbit so in the spirit of spending less and recycling I thought I’d use some of it this week. And I’ve written a little tutorial for you so you can make one too.

1 ) Cut out six circles from your felted wool (or whatever fabric you have to hand). I used a teacup as the template.

2 ) Thread a needle with a piece of strong white thread and tie a knot in the end.

3 ) Fold one of the circles in half and half again.

4 ) Then fold each flap out on to itself. Hard to explain this in words so have a look at the photos but leave a comment here if you need more explanation.

5 ) Pull the needle and thread through all the folds.
6 ) Then fold the next circle. And sew through that too.

7 ) Keep going until you’ve sewn together all six.

8 ) Secure it all with a few stitches until you’re happy with how it looks.

9 ) Attach a brooch bar or safety pin on to the back and you’re all done.

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You can check out all 52 weeks of Christine's crafty year over on her blog.

Subscribe to my newsletter for a monthly free pattern and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more free projects.

Guest Post: Felt Owl Crafternoon

Today's guest post is by Laura from Betula`Loo, about the fun crafternoon she & some friends had using my felt owl tutorial. Laura says... "I love to make things with paper and fabric. I write a blog and I have a small Etsy shop. As well as craft projects I like to share travel, running & triathlon experiences on my blog."


I have long wanted to host a “Crafternoon” and finally got around to organizing one this autumn. Laura’s stuffed owl project was perfect for our crafting get together – I love anything involving felt and Amy loves anything with owls so this was a great combination. I loved this owl pattern when I first saw it and having a Crafternoon was a great reason to sew one!

We quickly got to work cutting out the paper patterns and picking out which colours of felt to use. This turned out to be the most difficult part! We had lots of colours to choose from and so many combinations were going to look good!


Cutting and sewing the owls took us an evening, including a break for tea and cake. We had wanted to sew the owl brooches too but ran out of time so I sent the girls home with bits of felt and thread so they could sew them at home. (Who doesn’t love leaving a party with a treat bag?) I made my small owl based on the colours of two big owls, as though this is their baby.


The owls all turned out really cute and colourful. Some of us named ours (meet Gertie and Howard) and Lauren added a ribbon hanger to hers so she can hang it in her nursery!


If you’d like to make your own stuffed owl or owl brooch both tutorials can be found on this blog. If you sew your own try taping the pattern pieces to the felt before you cut them out – it’s a lot less fiddly then trying to hold them in place! And then use a little white glue to hold tiny pieces – the ones too small to pin – in place as you sew.

Thanks for the great patterns Laura! They were easy to follow and the owls turned out absolutely adorable.

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Check out Laura's Etsy shop and blog, and visit my free tutorials page for lots of fun projects if you fancy holding a crafternoon of your own.