Christmas Decorations (Part 1)

I've been digging out my Christmas decorations from last year and realised I never did a post about them. So, before I show you the ones I have made this year, I thought I'd show you last year's ones. 2010 was the first year I had a Christmas tree in my house. I was very excited and had grand plans to decorate it with only homemade decorations. Unfortunately my eight foot tree was a bit of a challenge but I did manage to make some felt hearts:

Felt stars:

And felt Christmas trees:


I can't remember where I got the idea of this type of decoration....I think it might have been from the Hobbycraft website! (Ooooh yes - I've just checked, the inspiration for the idea was here.) I took the idea to the extreme and made loads of little hand sewn ornaments.


I spent some lovely afternoons last November sitting on the sofa making these when I really should have been being more productive. I remember having great fun choosing different buttons especially the tiny little ones.


I even managed to get some little mitten buttons which you can just about see in this picture:

In the end I didn't have enough decorations so I supplemented these with plain white baubles from John Lewis. It was all very tasteful - and I always swore I was going to have a tacky brightly coloured tree when I got my own!!

I haven't put the tree up this year yet but will post some pictures when I do. I'm not feeling that festive yet and I feel so much less organised this time around. The tree was definitely up by this time last year because I had some people round for a Christmas do on the first weekend of December! Last year I was so efficient I even screen printed my own cards and wrapping paper!! I can't find any pictures of the cards but here is an example of the wrapping paper:


I'm not doing anything that ambitious this year! Although I am making lots of presents so I'd better get to work!! Will be back in a few days to show you the decorations I've made this year and hopefully a fully decorated tree (fingers crossed).

Hope you are all getting into the festive spirit a little more than me! xxx

Creating a buzzzzz!

Just a quick post today - I thought I'd show some pictures of a softie I made recently as a gift.


He's been received now so I don't have to hide him any longer!



I was thinking of making some more to pop in my folksy shop. What do you think?



I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Dotty xx

Say CHEESE!!

I do like a bit of cheese. Well, more than a bit actually, often a lot! And on everything.... But I'm trying to cut down so had to feed my addiction another way. A few months ago I decided that I simply MUST make a pin cushion that looked like a block of cheese. Once I had the idea in my head I couldn't rest until my creation was complete and ta-da:


Oh dear....not good, not good at all! Not really how I envisioned it! I showed it to my mum, who said, and I quote: "Ooooh that's nice, love the colours. Erm, what is it?" What is it? WHAT IS IT???!!! It doesn't even look like cheese when I put it on a plate with crackers and grapes.

At that point I had to admit that it didn't really look like a piece of cheese at all. It was too curvy. But I couldn't rest until I had my perfect felty piece of cheese, there must be a way to make it work, I couldn't embark on anything else until it was done! (Hmmm....maybe I am a bit stubborn and should learn to admit defeat...)

Some head scratching, felt snipping, bondawebbing and blanket stitching later I thought I might have cracked it:

What do you think? Much better I think (hope?!) you'll agree. Almost good enough to eat!

Although I have no idea what to do with the original....a similar thing happened on my quest for giant liquorice allsorts but I think that is a story for another day!

Dotty xx

Exciting Times

Its been over a week since my last post - eeeek! I've had a bit of a tough week with very little crafting but some exciting things have been happening in my absence.

Firstly, thanks for all the lovely comments on the Disco Fish I featured in my last post. I had some great comments and emails and a couple have people have asked if I sell them or sell a kit to make them. I don't sell them at the moment but I'm currently thinking about prices and whether to make them into kits or not. I'll keep you posted! Thanks for all your support guys :-)


The lovely Patti from It's a Wonderful... was so taken with the fish that she featured them on her fab blog. And look at the little bubbles she added to my pic - such a cute idea. Thanks Patti :-)

Buoyed by every ones comments on the fish I decided to submit a picture of them to the One Pretty Thing flickr pool. If you don't read this blog then you MUST check it out - it is basically a roundup of all the craftiness going on in the blogosphere - loads of tutorials, advice, party ideas, giveaways....everything you could want really. It is one of my favourite blogs so imagine my excitement when I saw this post - my disco fish are featured - I am so proud. Thanks Rachel :-)

As if all this wasn't enough I got an email yesterday from Alex (full name Aleximo Croissant!) telling me that my strawberries had been featured in a strawberry based posting on the FolksyFinds blog. If you want to check out all the other lovely strawberries featured then take a look here. Thanks Alex :-)

I'm so excited I might burst!! And its motivated me to get back to my machine so hopefully I'll have some new goodies to show you soon....

Dotty xx

Disco Fish!

These are some softies I've been working on recently. I call them disco fish - partly because of the bright colours and partly because I think they look like they are grooving away :-)

The blue one is supposed to be a puffer fish and I just made the others up. Haven't decided what to do with them yet - considering making a mobile and I might put some in my shop. For now they are just hanging from my mirror - chilling and looking cool!

Dotty xx

Shameless plug....

I've bitten the bullet, taken the bull by the horns, jumped in the deep end and.....um......other similar phrases. I've opened up my own little shop on folksy. Yay - how exciting!

Its got these:

And these:

And these:

And these:

And these:

(For those of you who don't know, folksy is similar to etsy but is based in the UK and prices are in UK pounds.)

I opened the shop a couple of weeks ago but have now finally got round to stocking it properly. I'm really pleased because a few of people have added it to their favourite shops already. I think the first couple of sales must be the hardest because at that stage there is no feedback on you to reassure buyers.

If you'd like to take a look round then click here or on the folksy button on the right hand side. I'd love it if you would. No pressure to buy anything of course, but any feedback would be gratefully received. Any views on the pictures, descriptions and, in particular, the prices, would be very useful. I promise not to be offended! Its so hard to decide what to charge. I started off by looking at other peoples products to see what they charged but that confused me even more!

I've also been thinking about setting up an etsy shop but can't decide whether to or not. I think more people would see the products if I did but I'm not sure if its worth it with the current exchange rate. I think I'll see how things go on folksy - can't wait until I make a sale!!

Hope you are having all having a lovely bank holiday weekend. I'm off to some gardens and a craft fair tomorrow so hoping to come back brimming with inspiration :o)

Dotty xx

Miaaooowww!

Here's sock cat relaxing in front of the TV after a hard day's prowling.

I made this as a present for a friend a week or so ago and since then I've had the theme tune from Top Cat running through my head (although obviously with the words Top Cat replaced with Sock Cat)! I really need to sort my brain out....

Dotty xx

Other People's Projects Post #2

Time for another look at something I've made using a free pattern or tutorial donated by a generous blogger. This project comes from Alice at the fab blog futuregirl. She has some great free tutorials and three free pattern downloads. I chose to make this one but I am also planning to make the other two - a seahorse and a set of four supercute sea creatures.

The pattern is really well written and easy to follow. So may I present my very own Sigmund the Octopus:

I love him sooo much. He's so cute and he fits in the palm of my hand - much more delicate than most of the things I usually make. He currently nestles in one of the plants on my windowsill and gives me a little shock every morning when I open the curtains. I used a really bright piece of felt which I had been saving for something special - you can't really tell from the picture but he is so luminous he practically glows in the dark!

There is also a flickr group with photos for other people who'd used the patterns. I'm going to upload mine too. You should definitely check it out - particularly for the Christmas tree with 99 octopuses on!

I think I'm going to make the sea creatures next and make them into a mobile. Thanks for the fab downloads Alice :o)

Dottyxx

New Monsters and Advice Needed

I know that you've all been worrying that things have gone a bit quiet on the monster front of late! Well fear not chums, I have been quietly working away and am now ready to present my latest monster creation. Well I think I'm ready. I can't decide actually.




I keep looking at them and I can't decide if they are finished.




I quite like their simplicity.



But maybe they need further embellishment. I just don't know. What do you think?

Dotty xx

PS. Anyone pointing out that they are in fact Octopuses (Octopi?) rather than monsters will not be popular!!!

Folksy Shop & New Creations

A few people have asked me if I've ever thought about selling my creations. My parents have also suggested it but I think they may have different reasons - their house is overrun with my various projects! I have been wondering about it. I spend ages on etsy and folksy looking at all the beautiful things people have made. Its quite intimidating and makes me think that the things I've made can't even compete! There are so many talented people out there. After umming and erring about it I have decided to throw caution to the wind and open a folksy shop - just to see what happens....after all there's nothing to lose!

I haven't had much time to put much in my shop yet. I'll put a link up when I've had time to upload some more items. In the meantime, here are some pics of some plush strawberries I've made which are in the shop. I'm addicted to making these - they are so fun to make.

I'm of to take some pics of some more things to upload to my shop. If anyone reading this has an etsy or folksy shop I'd be interested in any tips you have - please leave me comments!

Dotty xx

PS. There is still one place left to pay it forward if you want me to send you something lovely and handmade.

Other People's Projects Post: Number 1

When I first stopped working and got back into crafts I started reading lots of other people's crafty blogs (some of these blogs are listed in my sidebar although I do need to update it bacause I keep finding more and more fab blogs). There is so much great stuff out there and people are so generous with their ideas, many of them offering free tutorials and patterns. I've learnt a lot from following these tutorials and made some lovely things. I thought it might be worth sharing some of them here so this is my first........drumroll please.........Other People's Project Post!! I may have to start calling it OPPP for short - it takes too long to type!

First up a fab tutorial to make mushrooms and toadstools from a lovely blog called The Little House by the Sea.

The tutorial is great, really easy to follow. And look what I made:

I skipped the part with the embroidery on the stalks because I wanted to make mine more simplistic (and more importantly my emboidery is rubbish!) but you should have a look at the emboidered ones. So beautiful! I also had to alter mine slightly because the white felt I used was a bit too cheap and got all stretched when I turned the caps the right way round - easily fixed by adding an extra ring of white felt and I'm actually quite happy with the effect.

There is also a flikr group with photos for other people who'd used the patterns. I've just uploaded mine too.

This is another mushroom I made using the pattern. Its almost exactly the same but I put the stitching on the outside of the cap and used an old cotton reel to stabilise it.

Next time I'm going to have a go at the embroidery on the stalk.

Dotty xx

More monster action...

Before I stop going on about monsters I just thought I'd show you a cute little family I made. These are my latest monsters and I think they are probably also my favourites.

Mum:

Kids:

And a group shot:

I need to come up with a name for this monster family but I haven't managed to think of anything appropriate yet. Still thinking! Suspiciously one of the kids has arms and the others don't - I decided to see what they'd look like with arms but I think I prefer them without!

I'm working on some more monsters at the moment - I've got a new idea for a shape and also I want to have a go with some different fabrics (pinstripe monster anyone?). I'll post some pics when I've made some progress.

In the meantime I'll be posting about some of the other things I've been making. I'm also thinking of doing a regular(ish) post on some of the stuff I've made using other peoples patterns and tutorials - there's so much inspiration out there and using other peoples ideas has taught me loads.

I hope you all have a lovely Easter break

Dotty xx

PS. If you get monster withdrawal symptoms then head over to Wilkie's site, Turnip Creations. There are some really great monsters and aliens on there, check it out.

Aaaarrrggghhh! They're everywhere!

The monsters seem to be taking over the garden.

Hiding in the pots...

With the logs....

In the plants...

Out on the grass...

Climbing trees......

Even openly frolicking in the primroses....

I've managed to cage the two headed beast.....

but I'm going to need some help with the others. HELP ME!!

Dotty xx

Conquering the Sewing Machine

The best part of making the sock monsters was giving them a face and adding embellishments, this is what gave them their personality. I decided to learn how to use my Mum's sewing machine and got very excited about how much time I would save on the basic sewing - more time to spend embellishing and embroidering! More time to spend sewing buttons and ribbons! Yay!

Full of enthusiasm I dragged my mum's machine to the kitchen table, declaring to my parents that I was going to teach myself to use it. Surely it couldn't be that complicated. I looked at the machine. It looked at me. I looked at the instructions. Hmmmm. This looks confusing. Bobbins....feed dogs.....zipper feet.....what??! No, I must be able to do this - when I was young I had a cute little kid's sewing machine which my Grandma taught me to do patchwork on. Somehow it didn't seem so complicated then.

Back to the instructions. The problem was that these seemed to assume a certain degree of knowledge which I didn't really have. I puzzled over the instructions. I had a mini tantrum. Then I went to fetch my mum! Mum is hardly an expert on these things (she only bought the machine to take up trousers which are always too long for her) but I thought she might know more than me.

Between us we managed to get the machine threaded, break and fix the bobbin case and FINALLY do some basic stitches. Some of this started to seem familiar again. I stopped sulking. Maybe my plan would work after all. Ooooh, those funny decorative stitches were pretty cool. I could use that when I was making faces for my monsters.... Hurrah! Excitement regained I spent some time practicing the different stitches, experimenting with different stitch lengths and widths and had a go at sewing a curve - wobbly!

I pretty soon got bored with practising and wanted to have a go at actually making something. I grabbed some felt, sketched a quick pattern and got started. Ta-da! My first machine sewn monster:

Ok, I know he isn't too great but not bad for a first attempt? I sort of forgot that if I sewed on the line of my patten then when I turned it the right way out it would be a bit smaller than planned! I also didn't have any suitable lavender coloured thread to stitch up the stuffing hole so I ended up having to do a kind of decorative stitch all the way round the outside. I know, I know it basically made the machine stitching pointless and it turned out a bit messy! Ho-hum. All good practice anyway!

Undeterred I decided to make another felt monster. I liked the basic pattern but he needed to be bigger. I also decided to make him double sided - different colours and expressions on each side. I did this partly because I thought it would be cool but mainly because I didn't have enough felt to do all of the body in one colour!! Take two:

Yay, that's better. Still not perfect but a great improvement. Plus I added dots. I love dots :o)

I was starting to enjoy myself now! I raced to the shops to get more felt with lots more ideas for things to make.

A week or so later I was getting pretty proficient with the machine and had made a few different things but I did go back to this design and make one more monster for my friend Vicky who had inspired me to start crafting again a few weeks earlier. This is her monster:

Bright enough for ya? Hmmm, maybe I did get a bit over exited in that felt shop! Still loving those dots though.

I will post more photos of the things I have made next time. I've got to get back to the machine now....

Bye

Dotty xx