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Happy February everyone! I’m celebrating it with some new stock on the etsy.com store! I’ve been a busy little bee in my time off, and have a whole bunch of newbies online for your purchasing pleasure. Remember, you’d throw more money at a lesser quality product walking through the mall…why not plan ahead and support hand-made crafts, created with love and care. Your support goes directly to the creator (me), who in turn supports independent suppliers and crafters. A whole lotta love going on there! Hey, and these would be perfect for your lady friend come Valentine’s Day (you have to be quick though, as postage times are a little out of my control).
I’ve been pottering away on the crafting front and have placed the below new pinwheel cards on the etsy store. I’m really pleased with them. I hope you will too.
Valentine’s for the boys:
…and for the love of your life!
Well, Adventures in Paprika has taken a break this week due to not being able to coordinate with the Old Lady, so instead my creativity was channelled elsewhere into a collection of bookmarks! These bookmarks are intended for some lovely readers of a book a day…, as we’ll be having a competition to win them, although we’re not quite sure for what as yet…maybe for ‘comment of the week’.
So, finally finished first editions of a couple of decoration ideas. I’ve got some pics here, but please remember – these are first drafts! They’re not great, but I enjoyed the therapy of making them. I want to make more bunting but have retired the idea for the moment…they take a fair amount of time if you’re making them by hand, but with a sewing machine it’d be way easier, so I might resume that course of action when we’re back in Australia. The poms I’m very pleased with. Even though it’s a first try it turned out okay…although next time I’ll make sure the paper is facing the right direction or use tissue paper that is coloured on both sides. They’re relatively easy to make, you can make them any size and you could probably turn them into garlands or something similar if you wanted, so I reckon these are a go-er. I’ve also decided that I might give pinwheels a go! They’d be great on the table in a vase! So, need to locate some 1/8 or 1/4 in dowel rods, which thus far has posed a challenge.
How to Make Fabric Bunting
1. Create a triangle template – mine was 10cm across the top and 20cm between the middle of the base and the tip of the triangle – this is quite small but a good ratio to use. 2. Fold your fabric in half and pin the template on. 3. Following the template cut the triangles out of your fabric. 3. Each flag is made up of two pieces of fabric. If you want the stitching exposed place the fabric triangles back to back so that the up-side is showing. 4. Using a contrasting thread and a blanket stitch begin sewing from one of the base corners, making your way around the point and back to the opposite base corner. There’s no real need to stitch over the base as it will be hidden under the ribbon. 5. Repeat for all flags. 6. Take the ribbon that you’ll use to join the flags together and fold it in half. I would recommend ironing the ribbon on a low heat to ensure it stays folded. 7. Leaving a minimum of about 20cms of ribbon at each end (for tying) pin the flags along the ribbon between the folds. You can choose to leave a gap between flags – I left a 5cm gap between each – or have them meeting. 8. Begin stitching a regular stitch from the edge of the ribbon all the way along the bottom of the fold, ensuring that the flags are being caught by the stitches. 8. When all of that is done, hang your bunting!
How to Make Tissue Paper Poms
1. Take about 8-10 layers (I used 10) of tissue paper and cut them into a square. 2. Start at one end and fold the layers in a concertina fashion. 3. Use some wire or thread to tie the centre of the tissue. If you use thread, as I have, make sure you don’t crinkle or bunch the centre, just tie it loosely so that the paper is held together. 4. Trim the ends of the tissue paper. I chose a curve shape but a point can also look good. I also like a deep cut, so start a good inch or so from the edge of the paper – I think this gives the illusion of there being more paper than there actually is. 5. This is the hard part. Being gentle carefully pull the layers apart, pulling away from the centre in order to form the rounded shape. Remember that tissue paper is pretty delicate and liable to tear, which is just a tragedy if you’ve come this far! 6. Attach a length of ribbon, string or what-have- you to the centre wire or string and hang! You might need to do some fluffing to even out the layers around the pom.
