by VioletLeBeaux | Oct 28, 2010 | Craft
I felt really silly when I realized this felt kit that Retro Jet Girl bought me was a tree… for the week before I actually made it and read the instructions I thought it was a mushroom XD Epic fail on my part!
So basically this set was for a tree key holder thingy. It’s a lanyard which has a keyring on the end of it and your keys pull up inside of it and are hidden. Very cute!
Again this is not a tutorial I came up with, I was just following instructions ^_^
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What I used:
- 1 Square dark green felt
- 1 Square light green felt
- 1 Square red felt
- 1 Larger rectangle brown felt
- Needle, thread, scissors
- Leather rope for the lanyard part
- Random beads
- Key ring
So the first step was to cut out all of the pieces. This is exactly what you need:
First thing to do is sew 3 red circles on to the green part of the tree. I used brown thread like this to represent the stalks:
Next I stitched on the beads and a couple of contrasting leaves. I repeated all of this on both of the green tree pieces.
Lastly I stitched on some stars with light yellow thread and added some sparkle for the apples ^_^
Next thing was to stitch on the little faces to the brown stem of the tree. I love how everything in Japan blushes XD |
This is how your pieces should look at this point:
Sew the green bits to the brown using a running stitch…
Now it’s time to put it all together. Tie the rope to the metal ring and knot the ends together so it’s secure and you can hand it around your neck.
Sandwich it between the two tree parts like this:
Now using a blanket stitch go around the outside and sew them together. Don’t sew together the bottoms of the brown part, the keys need to go through there! I blanket stitched them separately. I also made sure to leave room for the strings to slide through the top.
And this is how it ended up:
So intensely cute right?? I don’t wear lanyards usually so I tied mine to the inside of my handbag, it’s long enough that I can unlock my door without detaching it from my bag so I will never lose my keys ever again 😀 Very awesome for someone forgetful like me!!
by VioletLeBeaux | Oct 20, 2010 | Craft, Storage/Utility-Tutorials, Tutorial
A mini tutorial today on another way to display necklaces. I’m on a cleaning kick at the moment so I’m trying to be more organised. I found a bunch of necklace displays at a bead store which was closing down for $1 but they were quite ugly. So this is what I did with them. You could easily make your own out of cardboard.
What you need:
- Plastic jewelery stands, or cardboard to make your own.
- Pretty paper or fabric. I am using some rose scented draw liners I found at a junk store.
- Glue gun
- Lace/trim
- Scissors
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Unfortunately some of my photos didn’t turn out well as the plastic displays were clear and the camera had trouble focusing on them.To give you an idea of what my jewelery stand looks like I’ve outlined it in pink here:
To make your own, just cut that shape out of cardboard. Mine has a stand that folds back but depending on where you’re going to be putting it, that might be unnecessary. |
Cut a section of the paper or fabric out which is big enough to cover the display completely and fold around the sides to the edges are hidden.
Use your glue gun to stick the base to the back of the paper.
Roll it forward and stick the top down as well. My stand was slightly curved so getting the paper lined up was a little hard. Make sure it’s perfect before you glue.
Cut the excess paper around the sides off so there is only a few inches of overhang.
Now fold the extra around the sides and carefully glue in place.
Repeat on the other side like this:
When you get to the curved bits just snip the paper ever few centimeters so you can fold it around the curve.
Glue this in place too…
This is how the other side looks:
I repeated this on all 4 of the ones I had:
Now it’s time to add some decoration. I didn’t want anything that would take away from the jewelery so I chose a fine white lace. You could also use ribbon or anything else glue-able.
I added the lace around the edges using a small amount of glue and that’s it ^_^ A nice simple craft which can be done in a few minutes.
Once I finish my cupboard re-organisation then you can see them all in action 😀
by VioletLeBeaux | Oct 11, 2010 | Craft, Other-Tutorials, Tutorial
Oh my gosh these little felt crafts are getting around aren’t they? The lovely Retro Jet Girl was out shopping a little while ago, found some and sent me a care package! Now I have 3 more of these little guys to show you 😀 Thank you so much Retro Jet Girl! I’ll show you all the lovely care package items she sent me tomorrow in snapshots!
Obviously again I can’t take any credit for making this tutorial because I was just following their instructions. Full credit goes to the original company but I took photos while I was making it because I thought you might find it interesting anyway ^_^ You can find most of the materials around the house and you can easily substitute anything you like.
I find crafts like these really relaxing to do while watching a movie or unwinding before bed time.
So the first one I made was the cupcake!
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Cute packaging as per usual though it doesn’t really look like any cupcake I’ve ever eaten XD
What you need:
- Small brown circle of felt
- Strip of brown felt
- Needle and thread
- Stuffing
- Large white circle of felt
- 4 rounded triangles of yellow felt for icing
- Seed beads
- 2 small circles of cardboard
- 1 large circle of cardboard
I started with the brown pieces and blanket stitched them together to form a tube…
Like this:
Next I took both small cardboard circles and 1/2 of the stuffing and sandwiched together. I shoved it into the tube and left it for later.
I took the yellow triangles and stacked them. I then sewed down the center from top to bottom.
… and flared them out. The instructions said I should leave like this but the felt kept springing back into place so I needed to stitch the sides together.
Last for this part I added a pearl on top.
I deviated from the instructions because this seemed easier. To make the top of the cupcake I took the icing and stitched to the middle of the white circle.
Then I randomly stitched beads around like sprinkles.
Flipping it over I used a running stitch around the outside.
I filled it with stuffing and the large cardboard piece…
And pulled the thread tight so it would form a kind of ball.
Taadaa…
Last thing to be done was stitching the top of the cupcake to the base. Tie everything off and you’re done 😀
I am getting quite the collection of these little guys! I am thinking that I should make some kind of gigantic monster cake hair band with them 😀 |
They are originally meant to be magnets but what would you guys use them for?
by VioletLeBeaux | Oct 8, 2010 | Craft, Other-Tutorials, Tutorial
A while ago you might remember that I was given some *awesome* handmade yarn from the lovely Vintage Grrl and I made it into fingerless gloves. Well I still had half a ball left over from that so I needed to think of a little project that would be cute but not require much yarn… and so a mug warmer was born ^_^
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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 😀 |
by VioletLeBeaux | Sep 29, 2010 | Beauty, Craft, Storage/Utility-Tutorials, Tutorial
Today is all about cute storage. So many tutorials lately 😀
I have a lot of bottles in my bathroom, lots of hair spray, make up remover and things like that which are staples that I re-buy when they’re empty. Unfortunately the manufacturers that make all of those products didn’t bother consulting with each other on the designs so none of them match… how inconsiderate of them ;P
So how did I make my bathroom all pretty and matchy?
Slip covers. Very very easy to do and a very pretty result.
What you need:
- Whatever bottle you’re going to cover
- Felt or fabric
- Needle and thread
- Magnets or elastic
So you begin with something like this…
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Get your fabric together, I am using pink felt with while polka dot tulle over the top.
Measure around the outside of your bottle. You will need to cut a rectangle of felt which is exactly the right height and width to wrap around the bottle.
After cutting this out you can decorate it. I am just adding a spotty overlay but you can do pretty much anything. I’m going to make some more which have embroidery and other fun things.
Fold the edges around and sew in place.
Now if you have a metal bottle you can simply add some magnets around the side to keep it in place on the bottle. Super easy.
If your bottle is plastic then all you need to do is form a tube with the felt and add a little bit of elastic which joins the sides together, now you should be able to slip the cover on and off easily. |
And you end up with something like this…
Took about 5 minutes to make and they look much prettier all in a row in the bathroom.
Yay for quick craft!
by VioletLeBeaux | Sep 27, 2010 | Craft, Other-Tutorials, Tutorial
A while ago I showed you how to make a cute flowery stand for your teapot.
Today I will show you how I decorated my actual teapot ^_^ Before I moved here none of my friends ever drank tea so there was really no need for me to have one. Here in Melbourne though, everyone drinks tea so it’s a must have when friends visit! I didn’t have much money to spend on anything fancy so I bought this one for $2 from a junk store. Since then, James’ Mum was lovely enough to donate me some teapot fun money and I’ve got my eye on one from the store we visited in the Dandenongs as soon as I can go back!
What you need:
- Teapot
- Paint brush
- Nail polish
Really you could use any kind of glossy paint as long as it’s water proof. I decided to use nail polish because that’s pretty much all I had at the time. Before you all ask… yes polish has yucky chemicals in it but because it’s not actually touching anything I am ingesting there isn’t a problem there. Yes I have also washed it several times since painting it and it’s not worse for wear. Hand washing obviously, it’s not dish washer safe.
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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 ^_^ |
I added some more light pink around the edges to give the roses more depth.
Then I used a red polish to carefully add in some definition to the petals. I also used a dark green polish to add a vein to each leaf. Getting cuter right?
Lastly I used a thin white polish do the same thing as the dark red, this creates highlights which defines the leaves even more and makes them look more realistic.
Aaaaaaan we’re done 😀
Ok so it’s not Royal Doulon but pretty good for $2 right? ^_^
What do you guys think?
Next in this series will be about the mechanics of holding a teaparty!
