I am using the paper that came on a bunch of flowers I was given. Very pretty and very durable since one side is covered in waxy-ness.Because it’s all wrinkled I decided to iron it. This is important otherwise your photos will have crinkles all over it! If you are ironing paper you should always use the lowest setting.

Get your large piece of cardboard and cut it to be around 1 inch shorter on each side than your paper.

Now fold one side of the paper over the edge of the cardboard and start gluing/taping it in place.

When you get to the corner fold it neatly on an angle.

Continue on all of the sides until you’re finished.

You get something like this…

Make two of them! The reason you should make two is so you can have one flat on the ground and one propped up at a right angle behind the item you’re photographing. This way when you take your photo you will have a nice consistent back drop no matter what angle you choose.

Now you just need to test it out 😀 Taadaa!

If you have any questions you would like answered just pop them in the comments and I’ll do my best to help 🙂

It will end up like this:

What you need:

• 3 circles of felt, light brown, dark brown and pink
• 1 semi circle of felt, red
• 1 rectangle of red/brown felt
• Green felt for the top of the strawberry
• Matching thread
• Stuffing
• 2 circles of cardboard the same size you want the base of your tart to be.

Start with the squishy pink inside. Get your thread and using a running stitch go around the outside of the circle a couple of mm from the edge. Don’t tie it off.

Pull the thread so it all crimps up.

Shove stuffing inside.

Add one of your cardboard pieces on top.

Pull tight as you can so it looks like this… Then tie it off and put it to the side.

Now let’s make the chocolate shell thingy. Get your two brown circles and thread.

Sew them in the same way as the pink part.

Put the other cardboard circle in the middle to act as a base.

Pull the thread tight so it comes up around the cardboard like this and tie it off.

Put the pink thingy inside. You can glue it if you want or stitch in place.

Now get your redish brown rectangle.

Roll it into a tube.

Using a dark brown thread you should tie it at one end and then spiral down to the other. Tie it off and hide the ends inside.

Strawberry time!

Stitch little white lines in the pattern shown below…

Fold the felt in half and then sew from the point to the top using a blanket stitch.

Flip it inside out.

Stuff that strawberry!

Running stitch around the top and pull it tight to close it off.

Cut out a little green leaf part and stitch it on top. I personally think the strawberry looks a little skinny and sickly so if I was to make it again I would probably go with 3/4 of a circle instead of 1/2 of one. Also I think I would use a different shape for the leaves so they sit down in a cuter way.

Stick it all together either with glue or thread and you’re finished.

This little yummy treat can be added to a different base depending on what you want it to be in the end. The pack included a magnet but I’m thinking I might want to put it on a hair accessory ^_^

Using your string of pearls press in over half way to create a nice round dent.

Like this:

If you’re doing it with a loose pearl/bead then use a piece of thread to fish it out of the mold like this:

Now cook your mold according to the packet instructions.

Using the mold you’ve just created start making pearls. Do this by taking a large chunk of some Fimo/Sculpey pressing it into the mold, pulling it out and slicing it off the round part with a sharp knife. It will take some practice before you get the technique down ^_^

Now cook your pearls and let them cool. It doesn’t matter what colour you made them because it’s time to paint!

Lay your pearls out on paper or something you don’t mind getting polish on. Paint them white.

It will most likely take you a few coats of white if you started with a dark colour. You can see I was experimenting with a few other pearls shapes below too ^_^

This is roughly what you want to end up with:

Now lets turn them into pearls!

This takes a few coats too. Make sure you let them dry completely before each new coat or they will never dry properly!

Peel them off the paper and you will end up with something like this:

If you made them with a dark colour you might want to paint the bottoms too but it might effect how well they stick for deco projects.

So they are not perfect and they aren’t as good as store bought ones buuuuut they are perfect space fillers in deco projects and once they are surrounded by other jewels you will never tell the difference ^_^

So yay for tutorials again! Let me know if any of you diy your own flatback pearls, I’d love to see how they turn out!

It is a bow pin that came off a mini top hat by Baby the Stars Shine Bright with little dangly crocheted strawberries. These strawberries are a reoccurring theme among several Lolita brands and you can easily make cherries with the same pattern.

I wanted to make my own crochet or knitted pattern to make lots of these because they are so cute! But here’s the thing… there are lots of you crafty people out there who can’t knit or crochet so I set about finding the easiest way in the universe to make them that didn’t involve anything fancy or complicated that even the most un-crafty person could do… let me know if I succeeded 😀

What you need:

• Green yarn
• Red yarn
• Needle and thread (in red for the strawberry and in white for the seeds)
• Scissors

Cut 6 long pieces of the red yarn, the length I used was as long as my arm span but I had lots left over so you could use less. Also I am using 8 ply yarn which is why I need 6 pieces, if you are using something thicker then you might only need 3.

Tie the pieces together at the end with a knot.

Now plait the yarn and when you get to the end tie it in another knot. If you don’t know how to plait check here. You get something like this:

Do the same this with the green yarn but this time use only 3 strands not 6.

I am going to use white thread in these next parts so you can see what I’m doing but you should use red so it matches the yarn. Also ignore all the paint on my hands, I took these photos while I was waiting for another tutorial project to dry, I can’t wait to show you which one!

So anyway thread your needle. Take one end of the red plait you made and curl it around on itself. hold it in place with a stitch like this:

This is the bottom of your strawberry! Now keep following the spiral you started and stitch in place.

Put it on the edge of your thumb to shape it more into a rounded bottom. Also you can cut the loose ends off around 1cm from the knot to make it easier to see.

This is it from the outside:

And this is it from the inside so you can see my stitching

Continue with the spiral pattern for several more rows, it should follow the rough shape of your thumb ^_^ In the photo below I’ve added white lines so show you where each row of the plait is.

See how it fits perfectly on my thumb? Maybe I’ll start a new trend… thumb warmers coming soon to a store near you!

When you think you’ve done enough rotations (I did 7) you should pull your thread tight like a drawstring so it closes the hole at the top slightly.

Cut the rest of the plait off leaving a tail of around 20cm or so.

Grab the end of the plait along with any left over scraps of yarn have.

Scrunch it into a ball.

And stuff that ball inside the strawberry, this is what’s going to act as the stuffing.

Now use your thread to pull the gap completely closed ^_^

Tie it off and you have a big fat strawberry ball!

Now let’s make a stalk!

Grab your green plait and tie it to the top of your strawberry.

Cut it off at however long you want the stalk to be and tie in a knot to stop it coming undone.

With the rest of the green plait sew it next to the first knot like this:

Make the plait form a loop and stitch the top in place… this will form a leaf 😀

Continue making leaves around the whole top of the strawberry and stitching them in place like this:

When you reach the beginning again, twist the plait once more around the stem to hide the knots and any loose ends. Stitch in place.

Cut off any extra plait and hide the end under one of the leaves. Stitch it securely so it doesn’t unravel.

Now add little white stitches all over the strawberry for seeds ^_^

And you’re finished! Yes it may have taken a little more effort than a seasoned knitter or crochet..er(?!) might have taken but you don’t have to learn a whole new skill just for one tiny accessory!

Add some ribbon and some lace and you’re well on the way to a cute accessory 😀

What do you guys think? Let me know if any of you make a yarn strawberry too!