August & September in Pictures: Colourful Threads, a Happy Cat and a Tricky Selfie

Time to look back at some of the stuff I got up to in August and September!

My August involved colourful threads (shout out to Instagram genius Sara Tasker of Me & Orla and her put-your-phone-in-your-teeth-and-take-a-photo-with-the-timer photo technique - a bit awkward, but you can't argue with the results!)...

 

... and more muted ones, as I started to dream about Autumn.

I bought lots of books (it's awesome living in a town with a bookshop again, but not so great for my bank balance)...

... ooohed over some rather fabulous scaffolding...

and went on a photo walk organised by Instagramers Bristol (super fun!).

I blogged about the books I've been reading and finally had an excuse to share this deliciously yellow pic from the spring (the Boston Tea Party breakfast was just as delicious as that yellow looks!)...

... revealed August's slightly over-the-top wreath design for A Year of Wreaths (ice cream! and sparkles! and hearts! and emojis! oh my!)...

... and hung out with this fella, who was very happy to finally be exploring his new garden after weeks of stress, travel, and being kept indoors because of my parents cross-country move (just look at his little face!).

September started with a messy desk, as I worked on some projects for the Village Haberdashery.

I totally fell in love with the colours of these cards & envelopes from their shop, while working on some paper crafting projects. Aren't they just dreamy?

I shared some of the very many photos I took of the gorgeous branch of VV Rouleaux that opened recently in Bath (so much colour, oh my goodness)...

 

... blogged about a very fancy, very exciting trip to Bristol...

... and bought a whole bunch of nostalgic stamps for my letters.

I laughed myself silly trying to take photos of myself modelling the owl mask from my latest tutorial - it turns out it's very difficult taking selfies when you can't see your phone cos you're not wearing your glasses!

Oh, and - as if one themed Instagram account wasn't enough - I decided to start a new Instagram account for sharing the photos I take on my day trips to (wonderful) Bristol: Bristol My Beating Heart (and yes, I am very proud of that pun, thank you).

 

For more colourful, crafty updates you can find me on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.     

How to: Ribbon Scrap Card

This week I'm sharing three ideas for making handmade cards!

First up: a stripey card decorated with ribbons...

I don't know about you guys but I often end up with small bits of ribbon and ricrac leftover from my crafty projects and it feels wasteful to just throw them away. Now you can save up those crafty leftovers and make something from them :)

I used lots of shades of blue for my card. You can stick to one colour like I have, or use a range of colours (e.g. reds, oranges & yellows, or pinks & purples), mix and match a few colours or use a whole rainbow of different colours. Make the most of the scraps in your stash!

To make a ribbon card you will need:

- a piece of paper, a ruler, scissors & a pencil
- assorted ribbons, ric rac and other trims in your chosen colours (minimum length: 3.5 inches)
- a matching shade of sewing thread (I used a pale blue)
- white card or a card blank (I used a piece of A5 card, folded in half)
- white felt
- double sided sticky tape
- a needle, pins, sewing scissors


1. Draw a paper template measuring 3 x 4 inches. If you're using a different card size to me, draw a rectangle in the size you need. Cut out the template.

2. Use the template to cut out a piece of white felt. This will be the "base" you'll sew the ribbons to.

3. Choose the ribbons you want to use, trimming the pieces if necessary so they're all slightly wider than the narrowest side of the felt rectangle. Arrange the ribbons on the felt so they're roughly evenly spaced and you have a nice mix of colours. If you're using lots of different colours, you could arrange them in colour order to create a rainbow effect!

4. Pin the ribbons onto the felt. Then use small running stitches to sew each length of ribbon to the felt, removing the pins as you secure each ribbon. I used about 7 or 8 stitches per ribbon.

5. Turn the felt over, and trim the ribbon ends so they're flush with the edge of the felt.

 

The front of the felt should now look something like this:

6. Turn the felt over again and stick lengths of double-sided tape along each edge. Press the tape down firmly so it sticks securely to the felt. You could also use craft glue to stick the felt in place but make sure you test it first with scrap pieces of felt and card to ensure that the felt sticks properly and that the card isn't distorted by the glue.

7. Place the felt on your blank card so you can see where it's going to look best. Then peel off the paper from all the pieces of tape, and carefully stick the felt in position. Press the felt down onto the card and you're done!

If you prefer a slightly messier / less geometric look, here's a similar card I made years ago - a few roughly cut pieces of ribbon sewn onto (and overhanging) a scrap of white fabric, then glued onto a blank white card. Simple but effective :)

Please note: this tutorial is for non-commercial use only. You may borrow one or two photos if you want to blog about my projects but remember to credit me and link back to the original source, and do not reproduce entire tutorials on your site. Thanks!

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Blue, Blue, Blue and More Blue

This week I've been working on a project involving lots of blues.

I've been choosing blue ribbons...

... cutting & sewing with blue felt, and pinning things with pins from that lovely blue tin...

... and shopping for blue threads (and more ribbons).

Even my relaxing- evening-knitting is blue at the moment!

Lots of Crafty Goodness in my Shop!

Pssst - I've added a whole bunch of stuff over in the Craft Supplies section of my shop...

There are wheels of rainbow pins in leaf, heart and flower designs:

Bundles of colourful ribbons I'm clearing out from my craft stash, including lots of pretty polkadot ribbon:

Some fun sheets of printed felt - in camouflage & zebra prints:

And remember when I was making all those felt buttons back in March...?

Well, I've finally got them photographed & added to my shop, hurrah!

There's also one last set of "not quite perfect" giant buttons (and lots of "perfect" giant buttons too)...

 ... and a whole bunch of other "destash" listings, including buttons, hat elastic and grip seal bags (which are super useful for packaging or for storing small supplies or pattern pieces).

And remember, there are still lots of handmade goodies available in my SALE section... sale prices start from just £1. Click here to see the full range of treats in stock.

Happy Colour

It's been such a grey, dark day today but luckily even though it's grey outside it's always bright and colourful in my studio - especially when I'm packing up bundles of felt squares.

These are some of the ribbons I'm using at the moment to tie the bundles together...

... such cheerful colours! I have a particular fondness for that vivid turquoise (yum).

Wrapped!

Happy Christmas, everyone! See you in a few days xx

A Secret Something

A quick snap of the supplies for something ribbon-y I've been working on this week!

Rainbow Ribbon

Check out the yummy, colourful ribbons that arrived yesterday!

I'll mostly be using them to tie the colour-themed felt bundles I sell in my shops, but they'll be a useful addition to my supplies stash too.

It was quite hard to resist the urge to buy a reel of every colour available, but I was strong :)

Guest Post: Ribbon Hairband Tutorial

Thanks to lots of my lovely blog readers, I've got lots of fun guest posts scheduled for the upcoming weeks - hurrah :)

(I still owe a few people an email, but hopefully I will have got back to everyone by the end of the weekend - please bear with me!)

First up: a fab no-sew hairband tutorial, from Emma McCann who originally designed it for the Brighton Craft Guerilla blog.
Emma says.... "I'm a freelance illustrator, but a crazy-keen crafter, too. I'll try my hand at anything, but I particularly love screenprinting, knitting, crochet, embroidery, sewing and baking. I try to blog as often as I can about illustration, crafting, eating large amounts of tea and cake and many other random things! For just over a year, two friends and I have been running Brighton Craft Guerrilla which is part of the larger Craft Guerrilla group. We use the Brighton Craft Guerrilla blog to document our crafty shenanigans and post up anything interesting we find on our travels."

Hello all. This is a really easy-peasy guide to making your own bow that you can add to a hairband for instant glamour, or attach to a clip or a pin to give any outfit a little bit of va-va-voom. What makes it so easy is there are no real measurements involved, other than you need about 1.5m of ribbon, and no sewing. All you need is:

- 1.5m-ish of ribbon. I used a 22mm wide grosgrain ribbon, which I think works better than normal, silky ribbon as it is stiffer and has more weight to it.
- Scissors.
- Glue. I use Guterman HT2 Textile Glue. This stuff is a real craft-box staple as, not only is it super-strong, it will stick absolutely anything. I use it for gluing clip frames onto purses and it's just fab.
- A hairband of your choice. The selection at Claire's Accessories is pretty wide and has the bonus of being inexpensive.

What You Do:

Step 1: Decide how many loops you would like to your bow. I went for four, with an extra piece to wrap around the middle. Cut your ribbon - as many loops as you want, plus one extra – into strips, each one slightly smaller than the one before it; check out my photo:

Step 2: Glue the ends of each strip, bar the smallest, together so you have a collection of gradually decreasing loops.

Step 3: Squish the centre of each loop into itself and secure with a blob of glue on the inside.

Step 4: Layer your squashed loops up on top of each other with largest at the bottom up to smallest on the top, and secure together with a dab of glue between the flat area of each one. It's best to leave it to dry for 15 minutes or so before you continue.

Step 5: After you've let the glue dry for a bit, take your remaining piece of ribbon and glue it at a right angle to the bow on the bottom side of the largest loop.

Step 6: Wrap the ribbon around the centre of the bow once. Then grab your hairband and position the bow on top. Now wrap the ribbon around both the bow and the hairband. This will create a slight loop on the bottom which is what makes your bow so flexible in its style. You may not need the whole length of the ribbon, but wrap it around at least twice to make it nice and secure.

Step 7: Cut the end of the ribbon off at an angle to prevent fraying, and glue to the underside of the bow.

Step 8: Ta-da! A fabulous hairband. Leave it to dry for about half an hour (or over night would be ideal, just to be on the safe side) and away you go.

You'll see that looping the ribbon around the band means it's not fixed to it in any way, so you can move it up and down the band as you wish for different looks, or slide it off completely and attach to a pin for a fantastic brooch that would look amazing pinned at the neck of a buttoned cardi. Experiment with different ribbon thicknesses and lengths and the number of loops for whole new looks.
Go out and impress!

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You can follow Emma's adventures in illustration and crafting over on her blog, Illustration, The Universe and Everything
 
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