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!

Review - Rolife miniature kit - Elsa's Tailoring

I received this miniature kit in exchange for a review

Last week I shared an in progress look at the Rolife miniature kit Elsa's Tailoring, and this week I am delighted to share a full review of the completed kit! Elsa's Tailoring is graded with a five star difficulty level, meaning that it is one of the more complex kits available from Rolife. It takes around 8-10 hours to complete, but because it is assembled in small sections you can work on it in short or longer crafting sessions.

The kit contains everything that you need, apart from two AAA batteries. There is no painting and no glue required, as all pieces are adhered using small double sided sticky tape. A display box is available to purchase to keep your creation dust free, and detailed instructions are included.

This is what you receive in the box. As a more advanced kit, I noticed that the wooden pieces are thinner. This makes them a little more delicate when putting them together, but it also means that the overall impression of the finished build becomes more detailed and lifelike. 

Most of the work involves building is all the tiny bits and pieces that are put together to form the complete sewing shop. It's a combination of wooden pieces which are slotted together, cardboard pieces to press out and stick together, stickers, fabric and ribbon pieces to cut to size and some clear plastic windows.

There is a light in the shop which has some simple wiring to a battery box which is hidden in the bottom of the dresser and accessed from the back. 

I found the assembly instructions very clear and easy to follow. The assembly is broken down into lots of small sections, and each part is identified using labelled wooden sheets or stickered plastic bags. I had no problems working out which piece to use, and no missing pieces. 

Some of the assembly in this kit is a little more complicated than the simpler kits that I've worked on. For example this kit has a lot of fabric pieces which need to be cut to size. The size is given in the instructions, and in some cases I found it easier to create a cardboard template which I could use to cut the fabric. It's important to be accurate because the pieces need to fit together exactly.

Although no glue is needed to assemble the kit, I did use some of my own glue. Sometimes just to make sure that pieces were stuck firmly together, sometimes because I just found it easier as the little strips of tape can be a little fiddly. The tape was however excellent for sticking together any fabric pieces, for example the display dress on the stand which has ribbon around the base. The included tweezers were also very helpful, especially for the final positioning of pieces.

I love all the tiny details in the kit. I think that my favourite accessory is the ribbon holder display with miniature rolls of ribbon. I also love the little sewing machine and tiny scissors. Some elements are put together yourself, like the rolls of ribbon and the bundles of fabric, others are provided readymade, like the scissors and the necklace. The gold accent pieces really make the kit sparkle.

I loved completing this kit. Like all the Rolife kits, it's a really relaxing activity that you can work on whenever you have a few moments to sit down at it, and when complete it looks great on display.

If you are interested in trying a Rolife kit for yourself, you can receive a 10% discount on the Rolife website by using my code Jennifer10.

Some simple felt crafts for Christmas

I love crafting with felt at Christmas. Felt is so versatile - it comes in a huge range of colours, you can cut it easily into all sorts of simple shapes without needing to worry about hemming it, you can sew it or even just glue it easily, and the soft texture feels really cosy.

I've shared lots of festive felt crafts on my blog over the last few years - here are some of my favourites.

My Embroidered felt Christmas bunting is once again hanging up over our mantlepiece like it does every year. It's just large triangles of felt with a simple border using the sewing machine. Then I alternated embroidered stars and snowflakes. This was a lot easier to do than it looks - I used an outline drawn on tissue paper which I sewed through and then removed, it worked really well! 

This year I made a really simple felt Christmas garland using some leftover felt pieces. All you need to do is to cut out some simple shapes from the felt and then sew them together using a sewing machine. It's a bit fiddly at first but sews up quickly and the garland is perfect for hanging on the Christmas tree or around the house.

My Felt star Christmas ornaments were made to use up some scraps of felt in different colours that I had leftover in my felt box. I tried to pick colours that went well together, even if they weren't all traditional Christmas colours. The colours remind me of the Three Kings and their gifts! They are finished with a contrasting button. I display them in a bowl on the sideboard, but they can also be made into hanging decorations with some simple coloured thread.

This Cross stitch snowflake felt bunting is a way of displaying the tiny snowflake cross stitch patterns that I designed - you can find them here free simple snowflake cross stitch patterns. You can use odd scraps of Aida fabric to sew the snowflakes, then turn them into bunting with some felt circle frames and ribbon. They would also make lovely hanging ornaments. 

Another stash busting project is this Felt Christmas tree and bauble bunting. Not just to use up scraps of felt but also ric rac, ribbon, beads and sequins. They have a small amount of padding and are double sided so they can be hung across a window.

Finally, my favourite Christmas felt craft is these Felt Christmas stocking decorations. They are nostalgic for me for two reasons - firstly because I remember my Mum making them when I was little and secondly because they were the very first Christmas decoration that I made when I was decorating my own home. It was so long ago that I didn't even had a craft stash - I had to go out and buy the felt and beads specially for the project!

They are designed to hold a small bar of funsize chocolate and to be hung on the tree as an alternative to the chocolate foil ornaments that you can buy. When my children were little they used them as mini stockings for their favourite teddies!

I hope that you have fun crafting this Christmas!

Felt anchor keyrings with an ocean theme

I've been a bit quiet with the crafty posts recently, but I've still been crafting away busily in the background! I am making a determined effort this year to work through some of my fabric and felt stash, and as we have a Disney cruise coming up I've been thinking of ways that I can use my stash to create some Disney cruise themed crafts. 

I decided to make a dent in my felt stash and make some simple anchor themed felt keyrings. I already had the keyring rings and some sea themed charms leftover from previous projects, and I picked up the gorgeous marine themed ribbon on my holiday craft shopping spree last year. It works perfectly for this project because the designs are vertical!

The keyrings were very simple to make. I created an anchor paper pattern using Google image search for a simple anchor design and modifying it to fit what I wanted. I made sure that the top of the anchor was wide enough to fit the ribbon, then I cut out two anchor shapes for each keyring. I chose pastel shades because I have plenty in my stash and they co-ordinated well with the ribbon.

I sewed the two halves together, adding stuffing into the bottom as I went along as it was quite fiddly to do it afterwards. The ribbon is sewed in firmly along the top, with the keyring and charm already in place. As a final touch I added a contrasting button to the front.

I'm planning on using these along with some drawstring bags to present the gifts for my Fish Extender exchange.

Homemade felt Easter bunting

One of my resolutions this year was to try and make a bit of a dent in my craft stash. In particular I have lots of felt and fabric, as well as drawers full of crafty bits and pieces like ribbon and buttons. I love crafting for the different seasons and celebrations, so I decided to make some felt Easter bunting to hang over the fireplace, inspired by my Halloween felt bunting.

I used the same cardboard template to cut out six flags in a variety of different pastel colours. I decided that three of the flags would have decorated Easter eggs and the other three would have a sheep, a chicken and a bunny.

For the different pictures I just searched online for line drawings of the shapes that I wanted, altering them a little to suit how I wanted them to look. I traced the designs from my computer screen onto some plain paper which I used to make templates for cutting out the felt pieces.

Once I had my six different designs planned out I went through my stash for embellishments that would fit. I used a lot of buttons for this bunting, and also various scraps of ribbon in shorter lengths which I had been hoarding. To sew the various parts together I turned to my collection of embroidery threads and cottons.

The bunting is strung together with a length of coloured thread - it was in a Christmas themed pack but I think it fits the bunting flags well! I used a needle to thread it through the flags so they can be easily positioned in case I hang the bunting in a different place in the future. I keep a small command hook on either side of the mantlepiece that I use to attach any decorations.

I'm really pleased with my seasonal bunting! I know that Easter isn't for a little while yet but it has inspired me to get out our small collection of Easter decorations too,and my fireplace makes me smile every time I see it.

Felt star Christmas hanging ornaments with buttons and beads

Lately I've been attempting to work my way through some of the crafty bits and pieces that I have in my stash. I've been challenging myself to craft with what I have rather than buying new, and I've also found that sorting through my various stashes has been a great way to kickstart my creativity. 

One of my recent makes has been these felt hanging ornaments. Measuring about 6cm in diameter, these circular decorations are made using contrasting felt star shapes and buttons and filled with a small amount of stuffing. I worked using felt from a limited palette of green, red, purple, pink and mustard (the colour scheme being determined by what I had available!). They are finished with a coloured central button and some small seed beads. I bought the beads when I made some mini felt Christmas stockings for our first Christmas tree together - nearly twenty years ago!

When the felt ornaments were complete I thought of a few ways to display them. I was originally thinking about placing them loose in a basket or bowl by the fireplace, or hanging them from some ribbon to display as bunting. But in the end I decided to turn them into hanging ornaments.

Luckily I had some lovely thick gold thread in my stash, so I used it to make the hanging loops. They can be hung from the tree, or else I might look for some mini suction hooks to hang them across the window. I really love the (perhaps unusual) colour combination and I really enjoyed sewing these ornaments together. Working with felt is so satisfying!

Two different wooden painted signs

A few weeks ago I was in The Works and found myself tempted by the Christmas crafts. I bought a few plain wooden decorations which I thought would be fun to decorate, and also a couple of wooden hanging signs. I think they were buy one get one free at the time, and as Mia was with me I said that we could each make our own sign. Here's what we started with:

I was planning a Christmas theme, but Mia decided that she wanted to make a sign for her bedroom door. She takes great pride in her bedroom - she keeps it beautifully clean and tidy and she loves spending her birthday and Christmas money on accessories like fairy lights and fluffy cushions. She searched for some colour schemes and chose the colours that she wanted, mixed up the paints and set to work. I helped her out with the lettering - we chose a font in Word and typed out what she wanted before I copied it as I could using some metallic pens. It says 'Welcome to the cosy den'. 

She added large star sequins and glitter, and I think that it looks amazing! It's hanging on her bedroom door along with some other accessories and it makes me smile every time I go past.

For my sign I went with the Christmas theme. We all spent a mealtime together coming up with various words that I could use. I wanted words with a Christmas theme that weren't religious or too cheesy, and I liked having a rhyme. We came up with 'stars twinkle bells jingle'. I used simple green and red for the background and gold for the lettering. Then I used star sequins for the star words and a couple of small bells glued on next to 'jingle' - I knew that saving them from all those Lindt reindeer over the years would be worth it one day!

I really like how we both started with the same sign and came up with such different interpretations!