Embroidered Snowflakes Wreath Tutorial

Time for the final tutorial in my Year of Wreaths series: a sparkly snowflake wreath!

This one's a bit late (sorry!) but snowflakes are definitely for the whole of winter and not just Christmas, right?? I hope you'll agree it was worth the wait because I love how this final project turned out.

The wreath is decorated with navy blue yarn, metallic silver thread, sparkly beads and sequins, and five embroidered snowflakes.

You could also use the snowflake embroidery patterns to make felt snowflake brooches or ornaments, or to add some snowy charm to other sewing projects.

You'll find the free step by step snowflake wreath tutorial and the snowflake embroidery patterns over on The Village Haberdashery's blog.

Click here to buy the snowflake wreath kit, or follow the links in the tutorial to find all the individual supplies you'll need in The Village Haberdashery shop.

Click here to find all 12 wreath tutorials in the series.

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Kew Gardens in January: Bare Trees and Small Details

One of the best things I spent money on in 2015 (no, that's not a typo, bear with me...) was treating myself to a year's membership of Kew Gardens in London.

Towards the end of 2014 I'd started skipping my Nice Days Out, telling myself I was far too busy for proper days off and ending up ridiculously stressed as a result. So, I resolved to refocus my priorities, make sure I took days just to switch off and relax. I hoped being able to go to Kew on a semi-regular basis would help me achieve that, and it totally did!

I'd never actually been to Kew Gardens before I bought the membership, but I fell in love with it almost immediately and spent lots of wonderful and relaxing days there as the year went on.

I also took approximately a zillion photos, which (in my typical Slow Travel Blogger style) I've finally got round to editing and which I'll be sharing with you guys in occasional blog posts throughout this year.

Kew is a really beautiful, inspiring place to visit and it was a joy seeing it change through the seasons - I hope you'll enjoy seeing snippets of it in these photos, and maybe be tempted to visit it yourself (or even treat yourself to a whole year of visits like I did).

But enough of this preamble, on with the photos!

On a slightly gloomy January day I was completely delighted by the lush little pocket of green that is the Mediterranean Garden (complete with its own little temple).

I strolled around the lake, watching the ripples of the water and the resident birds (not just Canada geese, although there are a fair few of those to be found at Kew). 

 

I'd decided to save the famous Palm House for another visit, but even from the outside it's quite captivating...

... and it's guarded by a whole row of mythical beasts!

Instead of exploring the Palm House, I took a trip up into the trees - 18 metres above the ground, in fact, along the Treetop Walkway.

Even in January the views were pretty spectacular, and it felt really special being able to walk through the tree canopy.

In the winter you appreciate the structure of trees so much more, their bare "bones" making striking silhouettes against the sky. There are some truly magnificent trees at Kew, many of which have plaques at their base so you can read about the type of tree they are and their history in the gardens.

As well as the "architecture" of the gardens (and I'd definitely place those large trees in that category!), there are lots of smaller pleasures to be found at Kew in the winter.

The textures of lichen, and soft carpets of fallen leaves.

Flashes of colour shining out like a lighthouse in a sea of browns and wintry grey.

And, of course, snowdrops!

Lots more Kew pics coming soon...

How To Make Leafy Paper Snowflakes

Today I'm sharing a very special guest post: Jessica's leafy paper snowflake tutorial!

Jessica posts beautiful, colorful, nature-filled photos on Instagram as vanillalemoncake and started the inspiring hashtag #natureflatlays. Her pictures always make me smile when they pop up in my feed!

She shared a tutorial a few years ago for making these gorgeous leafy paper snowflakes and has kindly agreed that I can repost it here on my blog to share the leafy snowflakey goodness with you all (hurrah!).

 

I adore these snowflakes. They're a perfect blend of autumn and winter: a quirky alternative to a leaf garland, a leafy twist on the classic paper snowflake (you know I love those), and ideal decor for chilly autumn days or those early weeks of winter when the last few leaves are still hanging onto the trees.

 

To make a leafy paper snowflake, you will need:

- A square of paper (cut from a sheet of A4)
- Scissors
- A ruler
- And a pen or pencil

 

To make the snowflakes...

1. Fold the paper in half by bringing opposite corners of the square together. Run the ruler along every fold you make, to ensure crisp edges.

2. With the folded triangle facing you, as shown above, fold it in half again by taking the bottom right corner up to meet the top left corner.

 

3. You will now have two flaps of paper at top left (see above). Take the top flap and fold it down towards the bottom, so the corners meet.

4. Pick up the shape you've made, and fold the second flap down behind to meet the bottom corner. You now have your folded shape. 

5. Turn the triangle round so that the folded point is towards you, the two folded edges of the triangle either side, and the unfolded edges of paper away from you.

Draw a leaf outline onto the triangle - use the photos in this tutorial as a guide, or get inspired by your favourite leaves!

The stem should grow from the point (see the filled arrow drawn on the paper, below). The leaf edge MUST incorporate part of the folded edge each side (see the arrows, below) otherwise the snowflake will not work. Give your stem enough width to avoid it being too fragile.

When you cut, take care to not cut along the folded edges within your leaf design. 
 

6. Time to cut out the leaves! Hold the folds together firmly as you go, to ensure you cut all the layers identically. Cut along the leaf outline. Make sure you don't cut the parts that touch the folded edges.

7. Now very carefully unfold your leaf. Each leaf should be joined to its neighbours along that folded edge you left intact. Congratulations... you just made your first leafy paper snowflake!

 
Click here to visit vanillalemoncake on Instagram, see all of Jessica's lovely photos and meet Oliver the hamster!

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Christmassy Days Out

Isn't this warm weather weird? When I went to the Post Office to post the last of my Christmas orders I didn't even need to wear a coat! In late December!! Crazy.

Despite the lack of "proper" winter weather, I have been doing my best to enjoy the festive season with lots of Christmas-themed Nice Days Out...

The absolute highlight so far has been Christmas at Kew: a one mile illuminated trail through the gardens. I have to admit that (with an eye on my budget which, like most peoples, is a bit squeezed at this time of year) I ummed and aahed about buying a ticket to this as it looked a bit pricey and I wasn't sure if it would be worth the money but oh my goodness you guys it was so wonderful.

Look how amazing the Palm House looked all lit up!

 

There was so much loveliness to see along the trail...

 

 

... including a garden of fire...

 

... and fun installations like a choir of singing holly bushes (you can see a short video of them here, make sure you have your sound on!) and a fabulous colour-changing curtain of lights to walk through:

 

I had a huge grin on my face the whole way round, nearly cried with joy a couple of times and positively skipped home (where I proceeded to talk loudly about how awesome the evening was to anyone who would listen).

This year's Christmas at Kew trail runs until 2nd January, you'll find all the info here. In case you hadn't already guessed, I highly recommend it!

I've also visited a few of the big London Department stores Christmas departments, and took an after-dark walk down Oxford Street to enjoy all the bright and cheerful window displays.

Selfridges have a Zodiac theme this year:

 

 

 

I also rather enjoyed the woodland-themed windows at Accessorize (those owls!)...

 

... and the explosion of stars at Debenhams:

 

My fave windows so far this year though are probably those at Liberty (just off Regent Street) - they're absolutely jam-packed with beautifully arranged, lovely things.

Other festive outings have included a trip to the cinema to see Die Hard on the big screen (not exactly a traditional Christmas movie, but a very fun one all the same!) and a visit to the Geffrye Museum in East London.

The Geffrye is a fab (and free to visit) museum with 11 period rooms showing how the English have lived, from the 1600s to the present day. For their annual Christmas Past exhibition they decorate the rooms, showing how we've celebrated Christmas through the centuries. This was quite delightful! I also learned a lot about how our seasonal traditions have changed and evolved over time, which was rather fascinating. The Christmas displays at the Geffrye run to Jan 3rd, click here for all the info.

Finally, I'm planning a visit to Windsor Castle, which is currently decorated with a Regency-themed display to show "how the Prince Regent (the future George IV) celebrated Christmas at Windsor Castle in the early 19th century". Windsor is always worth a visit but it was especially wonderful to see it decorated for Christmas last year - I'm really looking forward to seeing this year's decorations!

You can enjoy a Regency Christmas at Windsor until Jan 5th, click here for all the info & a short video.

I'm taking a short break from blogging to spend time with family, etc, over Christmas but I'll be back soon! Best winter-y wishes to you all xxx

How To: Make a Starry Skies Brooch

Celebrate the beauty of the night sky with this felt brooch!

With the nights drawing in, it's so lovely walking home on a clear, chilly evening and looking up to see the sky full of stars. This starry skies brooch is easy to make and the silver star sequins will add a bit of sparkle to any outfit.

I made this brooch with supplies from docrafts, using felt and sequins left over from tutorials I'd designed for their magazine, Creativity. The tutorial didn't make it into the magazine, so I'm sharing it with you guys instead! Hurrah!

You will need:
- The templates provided at the bottom of this post.
- White and dark blue felt.
- Matching sewing thread.
- Silver star sequins, no larger than 10 mm across (I used the sequins from this embellishments pack). The smaller the sequins you use, the more stars you'll be able to add to your brooch.
- A brooch clasp.
- Sewing needle and pins.
- Sewing scissors and/or embroidery scissors.

To make the brooch: 

1. Use the templates provided to cut out all the felt pieces. Cut one moon and one sky edging from white felt and cut two ovals from dark blue felt. The ovals will become the sky and the back of the brooch. I recommend using embroidery scissors to cut out the white edging – the small sharp blades are perfect for cutting out detailed shapes.

2. Position the moon on one of the blue ovals, as pictured, and sew it in place with whip stitch and white thread.

3. Decorate the rest of the sky with silver star-shaped sequins, sewing each star in place with five stitches of white thread.

4. Turn over the second blue oval. Sew a brooch clasp to the back using a double thickness of matching blue thread.

5. Place the front and back of the brooch together, making a sandwich with the white felt piece between them. Make sure the two blue ovals line up with each other and that they’re neatly framed by the white felt.

6. Hold the pieces together firmly in one hand. Then sew around the ovals using running stitch and matching blue thread, sewing all three layers together.


Click here to view the template sheet, make sure you're viewing it full size then print it at 100%.

This tutorial is for personal use only: you can use it to stitch as many brooches as you want for yourself or as gifts, but please don't make any for sale. You may borrow the photo if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to the original source, and do not reproduce my entire post or share the pattern itself on your site. Thanks!

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