Lots of Fabulous Felt Bundles!

One of my big projects this week has been turning a pile of wool blend felt squares into some lovely colour-themed felt packs.

The felt delivery arrived on Monday, I sorted them into colour order on Tuesday, wrapped them all up neatly with ribbon on Thursday, then got them photographed and in my shop yesterday - hurrah!

The Soft Pastels pack includes 12 pretty pale and pastel shades:

Then there's Pinks & Purples...

... Blues & Greens...

... and Fire Tones (thus named because Reds, Oranges, Yellows, & Peach/Coral Pinks was just too much of a mouthful!).

If you want a wider mix of colours, you can choose from the Bright Rainbow...

... and the Bold Rainbow, which has much deeper, richer tones though I'm not sure I've fully captured the difference between these packs in these photos! I think I may need to take a photo of the two rainbow packs together for really clear comparison. *Adds that to the To Do list*

I've also put together a pack of squares inspired by the British coast, which I'm calling Coastal Walk:

Then the last pack is Useful Neutrals, which is currently only 10 squares (unlike the other packs which all have 12) because my stockist is out of stock of white and ivory felt and I'm planning on adding those to this bundle as soon as I can get hold of some.

As well as the felt bundles, I've also added a few new crafty supplies to the shop this week. It's been a fun challenge working out the best ways to photograph everything!

There are lots of different buttons...

 

 

... some lovely metallic pencils...

... and vanishing fabric marker pens. I use one of these pens regularly in my projects, especially when I'm working with felt and want a guide line for something like a cute smiley face. If I mention an "air-erasable pen" in a tutorial, this is the kind of pen I mean! Some pens in this style only write well on fabric but this felt-tip-style pen is great for fabric and felt, I highly recommend it.

I've also added some gorgeous 15mm wide rainbow ribbon to the shop - the 6mm ribbon was proving so popular I thought I'd get some of this in, too. I'm now selling both ribbons by the metre or in 10 metre reels.

Finally, one of the other tasks I ticked off this week was buying some packaging to use when posting my shop orders. I bought envelopes, etc, of course, but I also stocked up on pretty stripey paper bags. They're so lovely I've popped some in the shop. They're available in blue or sunny yellow, and I'm selling them in bundles ranging from 10 to 100 bags.

As I've mentioned before, my shop is currently set up just to accept orders within the UK because of the effect COVID-19 is having on the post. However, if you're based elsewhere and are happy to wait for your order to arrive, please do get in touch and I can give you a quote for postage and sort the payment out via Paypal.

New Craft Supplies in My Shop!

As I mentioned last week, I've re-opened my craft supplies shop and am busy stocking it with lots of colourful, crafty goodness.

I've been busy photographing, measuring, and listing a whole bunch of lovely new things. Wanna see?

There are felt rainbows (and pick-you-own-colour felt squares), rainbow ribbons, pretty rainbows of pins, and bargain rainbow embroidery thread bundles. So much lovely colour!

I've also got some fab ribbon that's printed to look like a measuring tape, some black elastic for mask-making, cover buttons and a super-useful button covering tool (perfect for making felt buttons), and some GORGEOUS shimmery two-tone buttons.

Then there's embroidery scissors (so useful for cutting out small felt pieces!), lovely wooden cotton reels, big card bobbins for organising your yarns and ribbons, and some white elastic.

I've also bought some cute and colourful stickers. These are great for crafty projects, gift wrapping, journalling and scrapbooking, and for sticking on your snail mail.

There are cute woodland animal stickers (I've been sticking these on my shop parcels lately, I love them!), rainbow star, dot, and heart sticker sheets, and lots of colourful dots. I think the dots would be wonderful for creating bullet-pointed lists in your journal or diary!

I've also got colourful retro vinyl stickers featuring rainbows and unicorns and other fun stuff, and I've got some bargain books of mini stickers: cute kitties and happy stars.

Pen-wise, I've listed some fun colour-changing pens and a pair of metallic markers (I love a good metallic marker!). Then I've got giant wooden pegs (because why not? Oversized stuff is so joyful!) and packs of gorgeous glitter card (sooooooo shiny).

If you'd rather have tiny pegs than giant ones, don't worry - I've got you covered. I'm also selling a fab pack of luggage tags (I just adore those bright colours), a useful pack of coloured card, and some flower press kits.

I'm particularly excited to be stocking the flower presses as I feel like they're just the kind of relaxing, nature-loving craft we all need right now! I've got three sizes in stock, ranging from a mini press to the biggest flower press I have ever seen in my LIFE (seriously, it is HUGE). The boards are blank for you to decorate with paint, decoupage, stickers, etc, so one of these kits is basically two crafty projects in one. 

Click here to visit my shop and see everything that's in stock!

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!

Enjoyed this free tutorial? Buy me a "coffee" and help support my blog!


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: