My Projects from Mollie Makes Feathered Friends

Mollie Makes: Feathered Friends is published today in the UK, hurrah!

As you've probably guessed from the title, all the projects in the book are bird-themed. There are 20 projects, covering a mix of different crafts - sewing, knitting, crochet, paper-crafting, etc.

I was delighted to be asked to contribute a couple of felt-y projects to the book. Those of you with super memories might remember me working on a colourful secret project last summer... well, I was working on my projects for this book :)

The finished book is lovely, and includes designs by loads of designers & crafters I really admire, including Clare Youngs, Eline Pellinkhof, Mollie Johanson, Kirsty Elson, and Emily Peacock. I'm thrilled to find my work in such great company!

Wanna see my projects in the book?

There's a trio of "3D Felt Flying Parrots" to hang on your wall - I think the parrots would also look great sewn onto things like cushions.

And there's a "Felt Applique Cockerel Cosy", with a trio of matching coasters - inspired by the traditional Polish craft of paper cutting. (Again, if you didn't want to make a coffee cosy and coasters you could use the motifs to decorate lots of other things!). 

I'm so pleased with how both these projects turned out (I hope you guys like them too!).

As well as the tutorials in the book (which all have step by step instructions and photos) there are also a couple of sections with ideas and inspiration for other birdie projects and though the templates in the book need enlarging it also includes info on where you can get the full size versions to download and print which I think is a great idea.

Each designer is also introduced with a photo and a bit of info about them, so you can check out their website or blog and discover even more crafty goodness. Look! It's me! :)

Mollie Makes: Feathered Friends is published by Collins & Brown, and is available from Love Crafts, Amazon UK and lots of other bookshops. (The US edition is due to be published later this summer).

And guess what, Collins & Brown have offered me a copy to giveaway to one lucky reader! Woohoo! Check back here tomorrow for the giveaway post...

[P.S. Just to let you know, the Amazon links in this post are affiliate links]

Designing, Sewing, Writing, Photographing, Knitting, Packing, Posting, Tidying, Planning...

... these are a few of the things I've been doing so far this week! All the while enjoying the sunny weather and the company of this furry fella who has spent about 90% of the time asleep next to me on the sofa or snoozing at my feet.

I've been making something brightly coloured...

... and something autumnal...

... unfortunately I can't show you the finished designs for ages (sorry) but the colours themselves are rather yummy, aren't they?

I've also finished knitting a swatch for a possible new project but I've not yet had the time to actually measure it to see if the yarn is right for what I want to knit.

And I've been sorting out lots of orders of things people have been buying in my summer sale. The sale continues until midnight 7th June, so you've got a few days left to grab a bargain....enter the code MEGASALE during the checkout process to get 40% off any order from my main shop or my Etsy shop.

Remember, the code will even work on things in my clearance sale section so there are some great bargains to be had, including this felt camera brooch (the last one in stock), marked down to £7.50 - so it's just £4.50 if you use the discount code...

... and this set of 4 rosettes for tea lovers, currently just £15 for the set, they're reduced to £9 if you use the discount code, so that's just £2.25 for each brooch! Woohoo! :)

You can find my clearance sale section HERE. 

8 Free Butterfly Tutorials / Crafty Ideas

I'm working on some craft tutorials at the moment but I can't show you any of them yet, so instead here are some fun summer-y projects from my blog archive (all with a butterfly theme) and some suggestions for possible variations.

1. Make a felt butterfly mobile. This would also look great made from card and if you used stiff card you could double the size of the butterflies (or enlarge them even further) to create a really big mobile

2. Use paper butterflies to add some extra prettiness to plants you're giving as a gift. Iinstead of using my butterfly template, you could use pictures of real butterflies or buy a butterfly stamp from a craft store, stamp it onto your chosen paper and then cut round it.

3. Decorate parcels with butterflies and paper doilies. Lots of small butterfly shapes (maybe cut out with a butterfly craft punch?) would also look great scattered over a parcel (glue them on with a glue stick or attach them with a small piece of double-sided sticky tape), and you could cut more small
butterflies to add to tags. For a sparkly look, try decorating one of the butterfly shapes with glitter!

4. Make a butterfly curtain. The butterflies and doilies would also make a lovely summery-y garland if strung horizontally. If you cut your butterflies from white card, you and/or your kids could have lots of fun painting the butterflies in bright colours before using them to make the curtain - and double-sized butterflies would be even more fun to paint.

5. Make felt butterfly brooches decorated with embroidery, sequins or mini buttons. These would also make sweet headbands or ornaments. If you're giving one of the brooches as a gift, pin it to a square of plain felt and use washi tape to attach the square to a blank card... then write a message like "Happy Birthday!" underneath the butterfly.

6. Have a butterfly-themed tea party, with butterfly cake/sandwich toppers and butterfly napkin rings. I used plain card for my butterflies, but you could use pretty patterned paper, or stamped or printed pictures of butterflies.

7. Use doilies and pretty patterned paper to make butterfly cards. These are a great way to use up pieces of pretty gift wrap that are too small to use for actual gift-wrapping. Colourful pages from magazines (like pictures of flowers) would also look great. Or you could shrink the butterfly template to make small butterfly shapes, and stick several butterflies on one card instead of the one large shape pictured.

8. Or make simple felt butterfly brooches decorated with buttons - this tutorial also includes a variation that uses felt circles instead of buttons. You could also use this simpler butterfly shape when making some of the other butterfly projects in this list, as it's a lot quicker and easier to cut out!

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

Visit my shop to buy my printable PDF sewing patterns:

Mega Summer Sale - 40% Off!

I'm having a special sale to celebrate it being my birthday this month...

You can get a massive 40% off any purchase from my Big Cartel shop or from my Etsy shop with the discount code MEGASALE 

The discount excludes shipping, but includes everything else in my shop (even things which are already marked as on sale!). The offer runs until midnight 7th June.

In my main shop you'll find felt flower brooches...

... other felt brooches...

... flower headbands and fun animal masks...

... signed copies of my book, Super-Cute Felt and a whole bunch of craft supplies...

 ... and digital sewing patterns, too!

Just enter the code MEGASALE during the checkout process to claim your discount :)