Simple felt stuffed pumpkins for Halloween

Today I'm sharing another craft from my recent personal challenge to complete five batch prepped craft projects. This is my third craft - some simple stuffed felt pumpkins for Halloween. 

My pumpkins were made using a free pattern and tutorial from The Yellow Birdhouse - DIY Felt Pumpkins with Free Printable Pattern. It's a simple pattern, easy to follow, and there are plenty of ways that you could customise it. For example, I may re-visit it in the future using bolder colours and printing the pattern in different sizes. This website is filled with beautiful patterns, both free and for sale, and I'll definitely be looking for more ideas when I'm next sorting through my felt stash!

For all of my batched projects I wanted to use only materials that I already owned. So I've used green felt for the leaves instead of fabric, and I chose a thick gold thread for the decoration instead of brown twine. I was a little limited by the colours of the felt that I have remaining in my stash - I've made a few felt Halloween crafts over the years! However, along with plenty of grey and brown felt, I had just enough shades of orange felt to sew together a third pumpkin.

This project does require quite a lot of stuffing - not a problem for me as I have plenty saved from old pillows, but worth noting if you want to try this craft. The pumpkins were very quick to work up, and I love working with felt. The pieces are simply sewn together, the pumpkin is stuffed, then the stalk and leaf are attached with a glue gun. I really like the extra thread that is wrapped around the pumpkin and I think that my leftover Christmas gold cord works really well for a bit of sparkle.

Another craft complete, and another tiny bit of space made in my craft stash cupboard!

Simple Autumnal beaded bracelets

This Autumn I have challenged myself to work on five different craft projects, which I batch prepped back in August ready to work on when I had the chance. 

Welcome to the first completed craft project!

These Autumn themed stretch beaded bracelets are a really simple project that I had been putting off for a long time. Most of these basic coloured beads were purchased on our last trip to the US - which was nearly two years ago. I added them to my bead stash and just didn't get around to using them which was a real shame because in the end it took me just one evening to make this set of eight simple bracelets.

Here are the supplies which I gathered together to make the bracelets, along with some superglue for finishing. The beads that I bought were sold in long strings and mixed together, so I had to sort out the different shapes and colours, but luckily that didn't take too long. Then I went through my remaining bead stash and pulled out a selection of beads that were similar sizes and matched my Autumn colour scheme of red, orange, brown, green and gold.

For stringing bracelets I always use Stretch Magic 0.7mm which works perfectly. It's a clear plastic stretch cord which fits most smaller beads and is really easy to tie tightly. I've never had a problem with it breaking.

This project is about working through my stash, so I made an effort to prioritise smaller quantities of beads that I could use up. I didn't have much of a plan apart from that, other than picking beads that looked good together and trying to space the more decorative beads evenly, like the gorgeous gold rose beads. 

I also made a couple of 'filler' bracelets that use random combinations of smaller beads, a great way to use up the odd beads. 

To finish a stretch beaded bracelet you just need to tie a few tight knots in the elastic and then add a small blob of superglue. Cut away the loose ends, and the knot should be pretty much hidden by the beads. 

Eight bracelets felt like the perfect number - I love how they all overlap as you move around, and so it looks different every time you look at it. 

I'm really pleased with them and I'm so happy that these stashed beads are finally seeing the light of day. I'm planning to wear them a lot this Autumn!

If you liked these bracelets then you might also like my ocean themed stretch beaded bracelets which are very similar but using blues, greens, and pretty sea glass style beads. I still have plenty of beads left in my stash, so I'll soon be planning some more sets in different colour combinations!

My Autumn themed jigsaw puzzle wishlist

This post contains Amazon affiliate links

I've been struggling lately with browsing for jigsaw puzzles on Amazon. Firstly, many of the puzzles are from "alphabet soup" brands, complete with poorly translated descriptions stuffed with key words. Secondly lots of them look very much like AI generated images with colours that are too vibrant, fuzzy details and they just look a bit off. Now AI does have it's place in the modern world, but for me at the moment that's not in jigsaw puzzles, so I've tried to pick out puzzles from respected brands. They may be a little more expensive but I hope that they are likely to be better quality in terms of both image and construction.

Unfortunately I can't link images from Amazon, so I hope that my descriptions will be good enough to encourage you to take a closer look. If you are searching for some good quality Autumn themed jigsaw puzzles for some puzzling as the nights draw in, I hope that you enjoy looking through my selection!

Galison - Autumn in the Meadow - 1000 piece (affiliate link)

This 1000 piece jigsaw features an illustration of an overgrown footpath which passes through a vegetable patch filled with pumpkins and chickens towards a tiny cottage half hidden by floating autumnal flowers. The colours are gorgeous, and this one looks like it would be pleasantly tricky and very satisfying to put together.

Elena Essex - Sunset Valley - 1000 piece (affiliate link)

Perhaps not quite strictly Autumnal, but with a rich palette of reds and oranges this illustrated scene features rolling hills with colourful cottages nestled in between. This puzzle has plenty of interest and I think would not be too challenging once you had sorted out the different areas.

Galison - Nature in Autumn - 500 piece

I love a smaller puzzle that can be completed in an evening or two, and jigsaw features images of various flora and fauna which you might see while out and about in Autumn. There's a lot of detail in the pictures and a lovely selection of colours.

Cobble Hill - Country Diary: Autumn - 1000 piece (affiliate link)

This puzzle features illustrations from The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady and so it's a group of nostalgic paintings along with handwritten inscriptions. There is a huge amount of detail in the image and it seems realistic in the types of things that you might spot in Autumn. The colours are muted in style with the vintage design, and this would be a lovely relaxing puzzle to slot together.

Galison - Autumn in the Neighbourhood - 1000 piece (affiliate link)

Another Galison puzzle with gorgeous Autumn colours, this is a street scene featuring a row of terraced houses framed by trees in their autumnal colours and decorated with wreaths and pumpkins. The houses would be really fun to put together and the beautiful smudged leaves would be a great challenge!

Galison - Autumn at the City Market - 1000 piece (affiliate link)

This Autumn scene features a city skyline with a row of lovely coloured trees across the centre, with market stalls and yellow taxi cabs in the foreground. It's a great contrast between nature and the city, and there are plenty of details to spot with the intricate stalls and the passersby. 

The Autumn tag

I spotted this Autumn Tag over on Life as Kim and as it's been ages since I took part in one of these I thought I'd give it a go!

1. The smell of pumpkin guts OR rotting leaves?

I'm not sure that I like the smell of either to be honest, but I'd probably choose the leaves because I don't much enjoy scooping out pumpkin guts!

2. Sweet OR salty pumpkin seeds?

I've not had either but I think I'd prefer salty ones, I associate pumpkins with a savoury taste.

3. Store bought OR pumpkin patch pumpkins?

I've never been to a pumpkin patch, I think they started up around here when mine were getting a bit too old for them, and also I'm not organised enough to get to one in time. So we usually have a store bought one unless my Dad has given us one that he's grown!

4. Wool OR knit sweaters?

As a crafter I probably should know the difference, but I'm afraid I don't. But I'm thinking that knit sweaters are probably easier to wash so I would choose that!

5. Halloween party OR explore haunted places?

A Halloween party definitely. This year we having a very small one for the first time combined with trick or treating in my village. So I'll be putting up a few extra decorations and maybe springing for some themed tableware. 

6. Apple pie or pumpkin pie?

Apple pie definitely. I prefer pumpkin as a vegetable in a stew or soup. 

7. Still, silent nights OR rainy, windblown nights?

I love a rainy, windblown night or even a day, just as long as I don't have to go out anywhere!

8. Witches OR ghosts?

I think witches, ghosts are too unpredictable.

9. Raking leaves or climbing trees?

I hate raking leaves so definitely climbing trees for me!

10. Ouija boards OR ghost stories around a campfire?

Ghosts stories around a campfire, I wouldn't use an Ouija board. I remember a guide camp once when I took a book of horror stories and that was a very bad idea, I was terrified at night time. It was one of those Point Horror books which I loved to read at that age but not a good idea for when camping in the woods.

11. October OR November?

October because that's my birthday month! Also the weather can still be sunny and not too cold, I associate November with dark afternoons and rain.

12. Black cats OR owls?

I love a black cat.

13. Fireplace OR candle light?

I'm not sure that I could be bothered with a real fire, we do have a gas one but we've never used it so it's not connected at the moment. I do like to have candles though, especially now the children are older so I don't have to worry about them so much.

14. Monster movies OR their classic novels?

The classic novels, and I've read quite a few of them. We do watch some horror films and television shows and I like them, but there have been some that I've had to turn off halfway through because I just found them too disturbing. I thought It was a horrible film and I remember being freaked out by Jeepers Creepers a few years ago.

15. Carve OR paint pumpkins?

Always carve, at least then they can be composted. I'm not very good at carving them though, I just go with a very simple face and lots of jagged lines that are easy to cut!

Photo credit David Menidrey via Unsplash

Embroidered felt Autumn leaves

I'm busy looking for crafts to work my way through my felt stash, and I decided that as the weather is slowly beginning to turn somewhat autumnal that I would make some embroidered felt leaves for some Autumn decoration. This is also the first of my ten craft projects that I want to complete by the end of the year.

At first I was going to make something similar to my felt heart garland using smaller leaves, but I couldn't face all that cutting out, especially because leaves are so intricate! So I made some larger leaves to display in a bowl on the fireplace, and embellished them with embroidery and tiny beads. Each one measures about 10cm in height.

I was greatly inspired by a couple of designs that I found online. First were these gorgeous Felt Fall Leaf Ornaments with a digital pattern available to purchase on Etsy. Mine aren't nearly as beautiful as these, they are just perfect! Secondly these Embroidered Felt Oak Leaf Brooches from the brilliant Bugs and Fishes, which has a detailed tutorial and pattern for the oak leaves. For my leaf patterns I searched for leaf outlines and traced them from my computer screen. 

I did all the embroidery freehand so they aren't very neat or symmetrical, but I like to think that they have a rustic feel to them! I tried to use a mixture of colours in the felt and the embroidery thread and each one is backed with a piece of grey felt. I had a lot of fun making these and I really like having them out on display.