I started with a chain which was long enough to go around the the mug.

I then started a pattern of 3xDC in the third chain, SC, repeat until the end. This made cute little scallops:

At the end of the row I chained a couple and repeated the pattern of 3DC into the tops of each scallop.

This was after the second row:

I pretty much just kept on with this until it was long enough to cover my mug.

Close up you can see the pattern a little better…

I finished off by adding scallops to the bottom side as well ^_^

I folded the edges in and stitched them together at the top and bottom corners.

This way the whole thing just slips over the mug while leaving space for the handle. Super easy quick craft to do while watching a movie

That said now that I have my awesome warming mug of doom I don’t really need it anymore hahaha XD Very fun to make anyway, I’ll have to find another use for it! Maybe I’ll make it into a big scallopy hair bow 😀

I started out with the lid to test how the colours I was using would look.

I decided to cover the whole thing in roses. So first I used a semi transparent pink and green to roughly lay out where I wanted the roses to go.

Next I added a little brighter green to the mix at the base of the leaves.

And a brighter more opaque pink to the centers of the roses…

To make these roses I really didn’t use any fancy techniques. It’s basically a big spotch of pink with sprial lines to create the illusion of petals. I will show you how to do this in details when I film that nail polish tutorial you’ve all been waiting for ^_^

Start with the purple yarn and chain 5.

Join to the first stitch to form a circle. Chain 4.

Follow around the circle as if you were making a granny square, you should DC 3 times into 1 stitch, chain 2 then DC into the next stitch etc until you reach the beginning.

Join, chain 4 and start the next row. For proper instructions on how to make a granny circle click here.

Keep going though add 2 lots of 3xDC in each gap so this row is larger. For the next few rows I alternated between 2 and 1 lot of 3xDC in each gap to form a circle.

You will need to make it large enough so that you can comfortably sit your teapot on top with a couple of inches on each side.

Finished:

Next grab your green yarn and tie it to the middle.

Start making a chain and when it’s long enough to fold in half and push through one of the holes single crochet to the next group of double crochets. This part is quite free-style as it depends how big the holes in your crochet are etc.

But right side up it should look like this:

Continue doing this around and around until you’ve got one loop to go through every hole:

Right side up it looks like this:

I didn’t think it looked stable enough so I added a little stitching with a needle and thread.

So you’re done with the basic shape, now it’s all about decoration!

Now it’s time to add the flowers. The reason it’s important to use styrofoam flowers is in case you spill tea on them. Where as fabric flowers will get wet and eventually mold, styrofoam can just be wiped off.

I decided to use large pink flowers and smaller white flowers. I arranged them around the edge alternating between the colours. I used the wire stems to loop into the crochet piece then attach to flower opposite to make it sturdy.

I also stitched them lightly in place for peace of mind. Finished:

The bottom looked like this… quite ugly so I added a large circular piece of felt to the bottom and stitched it all together.

And there you have it… very spring-ish.

All you need is a tea pot! Looks like you found it at the bottom of your garden 😉

This is the first tutorial of many to come revolving around how to organise and host a tea party! Now you’ve got something to put the tea pot on, next time will be all about how to decorate the tea pot itself!

The cute package it came in:

The cute instructions:

What you need:

• 1 circle of yellow felt
• 1 smaller circle of brown felt
• 1 large and 1 small circle of cardboard
• 1 curved rectangle of yellow
• 1 pointy circular star thing for the whipped cream
• matching thread and needles
• 1 quarter circle of red felt
• 1 tear drop shape of white felt
• 1 larger tear drop shape of pink felt
• 2 small green tears shapes of green
• stuffing

Start by sewing the smaller side of the curved rectangle to the brown circle.

You’ll end up with something like this:

Stitch it closed around the seam:

Pop the small circle of cardboard here:

Now fill it with stuffing and put the large cardboard circle on top:

And the large circle of yellow felt:

Sew the whole thing shut.

Now let’s start the strawberry!

Using a needle and white thread stitch a seed pattern like this:

With red thread running stitch the top of the strawberry and gather it.

Now stitch the white tear to the pink tear with big white stitches like this:

And the go up both sides sewing it to the red:

Stuff it!

Then stitch up the hole 😀

Tadaaa! Strawberry slice!

Add the little leaves to the top:

Now time for cream! This is what the piece you need looks like, using your needle and thread sew straight through each point.

Add a tiny bit of stuffing…

And pull the whole thing shut.

Now stitch the pieces together and you have a pretty yummy looking pudding! Heehee I forgot to cut off one of the threads >_< Now you can attach it to a magnet (which is supplied) or a headband or an obnoxiously huge cute ring 😀

Super cute right? Thanks so much Tiff!

I decided on a light pink satin cover and ironed it flat. I then used hot glue around the edges of the diary to attach it:

Flattening the whole thing out I trimmed the extra fabric off.

And glued down the edges. I was careful not to glue any of the inside pockets shut in the process.

The outside:

That was a bit plain for me so I decided to add a band of colourful floral fabric that was a scrap from a dress I made ages ago. I ironed it out and folded the edges over.

Very carefully I glued it around the middle.

Cuter already right?

I carefully covered the clasp thingy too and then cut a small hole so it could still click closed. This is it pre-hole:

And post hole showing how it closes:

I was so caught up I kind of forgot to take photos of the next bit sorry! Basically I used the floral fabric to completely cover the inside including all of the pockets. I’m sure you can use your imagination ^_^ I then added lace around the outsides to hide all of the glued areas. So it ended up like this:

I realised I needed some cute paper to write on too! Luckily I had a bunch of supplies left over from a Cristina Re gift bag I was given when we had out tea party earlier in the year so I set to work.

I used an old page of diary to find the right size to fit my diary.

Then I carefully cut it all out.

Hole punch at the ready…

Taadaaa cute paper!

I needed new dividers as well so I used one to get the shape and cut them out of thing cardboard.

Lastly I added some black and white flocked paper and stickers as decoration.

I used the flocked paper on the back too.

And there you have it! Super cute new diary/planner/Filofax thingy all finished and ready to be used!

I’m really happy with the way it came out and it suits my personality perfectly.

I’ve been using it for a good few weeks now and it’s made life much easier 😀

I actually enjoy writing on such pretty paper too 😀

Do you guys use a paper planner or are you all iPhone/Blackberry junkies?