I’ve got a small ETSY shop update for you today folks. New in the Wild Wood Flower shop are a small smattering of these lovely brooches.
I wear them with most everything (except my pajamas).
It’s large enough to be a statement but not so large you look like you’ve got something growing on your shoulder. And they’re bright! Not snowy and grey like our weather!
I also have the extreme pleasure of officially announcing the side project Justin and I have been working on. We have opened an ETSY store together called…. The Mustachery. There you can find…wait for it… Mustaches!! We’ll both be working from our respective creative fields to bring you anything we make with a mustache on it. There are currently only a few items up but we’re working on making more.
Get yours before they’re gone!
Today is the big day! Two of you have won some sweet Valentine’s goodies!
Winner #1 who will win this prize package
and the brooch made by me for you
is
Amanda!! Congratulations!!
And winner #2 of this prize package
And one of the handmade heart brooches is
Nadine!! Congratulations!
It’s so fun giving things away! Winners, email me addresses at wildwoodflwr (at) gmail and these will be out to you asap!
And don’t forget to try my tutorial on the Hearts Brooch or look at the links from my Valentine’s Crafts Round-Up.
(A note on how I counted comments. If you were the first to comment, that made you #1 for the drawing, if you were the 2nd to comment that made you #2, etc. I did reply to a few comments but those were not counted for the contest numbers.)
Thank you everybody for participating! Stick around, I definitely plan on doing more give aways throughout the year.
This is a tutorial for a Valentine’s Hearts Pin. I made these for my Valentine’s Give Away and thought you might like to make one for yourself (in case you don’t win. But you might!). I think this is just about the cutest thing and it would make a sweet gift to somebody.
After Valentine’s has passed, you will be able to find a permanent link to this tutorial in my Patterns & Tutorials tab at the top of the page. And, as always, if you’d like to view any of these photos in a larger size, simply click on them!
Supplies:
Red felt
White felt
Pink fleece**
Red sewing thread
Small red beads (I believe mine are slightly larger than seed beads)
Sewing needle
Scissors
Pin back
Step 1: Cut one large heart from red felt. Cut 1 medium size heart from pink fleece. Just make sure it’s smaller than the read heart so they both will show up nicely. Cut 2 small hearts from white felt. I freehanded mine in that old school way. Fold your felt in half and cut a half-heart shape. Unfold and trim up around it to make it look how you want.
Step 2. Thread needle with a long length of red sewing thread. You can use embroidery thread here but I like the strength of the sewing thread. Knot both ends together so you have 2 strands of thread to sew with.
On one of the small white hearts, embroider “I love you!” or some other sweet sentiment.
Step 3. Match up the two white hearts with the embroidery facing out. Blanket stitch the two hearts together.
What you’re doing here is simply covering up the back of the embroidery so that your pin looks nice and neat when finished. For a good explanation and instruction for blanket stitch, look here.
Also, be sure you have enough thread on your needle, or you will run out quickly. Like I did… blanket stitch really eats up the thread.
Step 4. Now you’re going to assemble all the pieces for the final sewing. Place the pink heart on top of the red heart and line them up so they look nice and neat.
On one side, it’s up to you, tuck the white heart between the pink and red. Make sure you have it set how you want before you start sewing!
Step 5. With one strand of sewing thread, we’re going to begin sewing all this together. Start by coming up through the pink heart only. (A note on the photo below. Because my embroidery was a little low on the white heart, I had to go ahead and tack down the white heart to the red heart. Otherwise, there would not have been enough of the white heart sewn down on this step to hold it in place well.)
This will hide your knot! Place a bead on the needle and sew down through all layers near where you brought your needle up.
You’ve sewn on your first bead! Bring the needle back up a short distance away from your first bead and repeat the process.
Continue this all the way around until you’ve gotten back to the beginning. Make sure your beads are equidistance apart or else your pin will look a little… off.
Step 6. If you started your sewing at the same place I did, Congratulations! You will be able to go into this next step without needing to knot off and start a new thread. Park your needle somewhere safe for now.
From the red felt, cut a small piece that is the same width as your pin back and slightly longer (aka seam allowance).
Step 7. Place this piece of felt near the top of your red heart and with your needle and thread, sew along the top of the rectangle. The best way I know how to do this is by pushing your needle in far enough so that it is going through at least 1 layer of felt but not all the way through. Then angle the needle up and bring it back out thereby sewing the rectangle to the red heart.
Continue this along the top edge and knot off. Repeat the process along the bottom edge and that’s it!
Step 8. Unhinge your pin back and slide it in the rectangle you just sewed down.
Step 9. Pin on your hearts and enjoy Valentine’s Day!
**A note on the pink fleece: You could use pink felt or something else here. I used the pink fleece because it was what I had in the right color. I tried making one of these with the colors reversed, i.e. the large heart was pink and the small heart was red. But I didn’t like it as well. The pink fleece is softer and cushier and allows the red beads to nestle in and look as if they are set in the fleece. Whereas on the red felt, the beads just look as if they had been stuck there. It’s ultimately your decision but I really like the look of the fleece and beads. Informed decision and all that.
A huge thank you to Justin for being patient with me and helping out. He let me use his fancy pants camera and even fixed the settings so that we could have nice, clear photos. Even though these were all taken at 10 o’clock at night on the kitchen table.
Valentine’s Hearts Tutorial by Haley Brock is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Are you ready for Valentine’s Day? I’m not. I never am. I’m horrible at planning ahead. If you’re still looking for some last minute crafts to do, or …any crafts at all to do, then take a gander at these.
Tired of your gifted flowers dying so quickly? Try making PomPom flowers together. They look so pretty and stylish.
If you’ve got a paper punch, a trip to Goodwill for an old book is all you need to make a Valentine’s Heart Wreath.
I’ve posted this one before, but it couldn’t hurt to be repeated. LucyKate Crafts has a great tutorial on making a felt love letter envelope.
Or if you have more time and don’t care for all the sweetness of most Valentine’s crafts, try this Knit Heart from Knitty. Or this tattoo knit heart from Jujube & Lolo.
And if you really want to go all out with your decorating, try a Crochet Heart Garland!
Hope you have a great weekend! Be sweet to somebody.
I haven’t been knitting a whole lot lately. No real reason why. I’ve just had a lot of ideas of things to make and do and few of them have involved knitting.
I have been doing a lot of work with felt and other general crafty-type things. For example, I saw this tutorial on Craftzine about turning a dowel rod and a candlestick into a pretty, convenient ribbon holder. I have a lot of ribbon. I’m not sure why. I rarely use it. But I do. And so far it has been laying in my crafting toolbox taking up loads of much needed space. So I set out on a mission to find appropriate candlesticks. And couldn’t find any. But I did have the bottom to a terra cotta pot. So with a little paint, some hot glue, and a piece of dowel, I made my own.
Ta da! Now ribbon is up out of the way and I can see what I have on hand when I need to use it.
Since confessing to you that I joined the Plush You Olympic Challenge, I embarked on making my own first-ever plush. And I did. And it’s pretty cute. You may have noticed it as the new blog header and my new ETSY button to the right.
It’s not bad for a first try. There are definitely some things I would do differently and some things of which I am proud. Like his little smirk. How cute is that?
I’ve also been working on a big update for my shop. It’s not ready yet but here’s a little sneak peek at what’s coming.
Some very pretty felt brooches. And for a not very pretty brooch, mosey on over to CraftFail for my recent tale of woe. And don’t forget to sign up for my Valentine’s contest if you haven’t already!
Valentine’s is nearly upon us. And in that theme, I am having a give away! All you need to do is leave a comment here about what you love and/or hate about Valentine’s.
Do you love the gushy, mushiness of it? Do you hate the commercialism that insists we have to buy something? Do you love just being thought of on a special day? Let me know!
Personally, I like the reminder to take a day out of your time and let the people you love know how much you care. I’m not one for buying all the hearts covered things (well…except for this give away). But I try to send a note or make some cupcakes or something special.
On Monday, February 8th, I will pick 2, count ‘em, 2 random winners. What will you win?
Both prizes are a little collection of Valentine’s themed goodies and will include a little handmade something from me.
Prize package #1 (click photo for a larger view)
Includes: a floral patterned clipboard, an owl embroidered tea towel, an owl gift bag, a heart shaped candle votive (with candle), and a wee box of chocolates. And of course, something handmade by me.
Prize package #2 (click photo for a larger view)
Includes: Owl tea towel, heart shaped candle votive, frog gift bag, hearts-themed socks, and an aqua blue photo frame. And, of course, the handmade item.
You have until Sunday (2/7/10) night to enter the contest! Good luck!
And if you want to make one of these sweet little Valentine’s brooches for yourself, I have a tutorial written up.
In three photos.
And now, back to work.
When I started college I also started wearing house shoes. Or slippers. Whatever you want to call them. They’re warm, cozy, and make a quick trip to the bathroom easier since you don’t have to bother putting your shoes back on.
But once I graduated college and left its sheltered walls for the real world, the slippers habit (and a few others, like my need for a bathrobe) stayed. Ever since, when I get home in the evenings, the first thing I do is take my shoes off and put my slippers on. And every time one pair wears out, I buy the exact same pair again. They’re black, they’re furry, and they’re comfortable.
Since my current pair were really starting to show wear (the lining was falling apart and they always look dirty. No matter how often they’re washed), I started looking for a new pair. You would think finding warm house slippers in January wouldn’t be a problem. Most places are either sold out or only have sizes for people who have much much smaller feet than I do.
You can imagine my dilemma when I couldn’t find the black, furry house shoes. Normally I am not adverse to change. Things change all the time and I’ve always considered myself to be an easy-going, go-with-the-flow sort of person. But when I couldn’t find my house shoes at the usual locales, I panicked. Oh, some places had them. But I haven’t worn a size 5 since about the third grade. It was a troubling problem. These slippers were comfort. They were familiar. They were a constant through nearly 8 years of constant change. I’ve had them through 2 dorms, 4 years of college, living in 3 states, countless jobs, break-ups, late nights with my girls, marriage, moving, grad school, death, love, life. Out of all the things that change so quickly in my life, having those warm, cozy slippers were one thing I could always count on.
But then, at Target, on sale, mixed in with the socks, I found….these.
And I haven’t stopped giggling since.
What black house shoes? Love is fickle. And I’m in love.
This week’s round-up of crafty links is inspired by embroidery. Because I can’t seem to get enough of it lately. Last weekend, I made this adorable squirrel sampler from Andrea Zuill’s free patterns.
Adorable right? I used my complete knowledge of embroidery stitches on this one. Pulled out all the stops. There’s back stitch, stem stitch, french knots, running stitch, satin stitch, and chain stitch. Ok. So I don’t actually know a lot of stitches. But look at this cool thing I made!
Also, please forgive my overuse of the 1960s filter from Paint Shop Pro. I love it dearly and put it on every photo that I can. I am not ashamed.
I hung the sampler in a wooden embroidery hoop for a couple reasons. 1. It was what I had on hand and thus free. And 2. I think it’s rather charming that way.
Since it’s hung next to the Dramatic Squirrel photo of Justin’s, our living room is starting to look decidedly…squirrelly.
And on to the link love!
There is of course, Andrea Zuill’s adorable patterns that I mentioned above. I’ve got several more planned to make as soon as I get some better transfer paper.
Speaking of transfer paper, I plan to buy this from Sublime Stitching. The transfer paper I have is chalky and rubs off after about 5 seconds. I found myself having to go back over the design with pencil before it was completely gone. I love Sublime Stitching so much. I have this book. And 4 or 5 of the pattern sheets.
I don’t remember how I stumbled upon this one but I’m sure glad I did. Free vintage transfers. How awesome are these?! They’re kitsch and perfect.
This post over at Craft details how to use leftover bits of yarn for embroidery.
The Mr. X Stitch store on ETSY has some original and unique designs for cross-stitch and embroidery. I love the “Leave Britney Alone” pattern!
Another great ETSY shop is Revi Devi. I’ve linked to the embroidery section (holy cow, how cute are those patterns?!) but you should really take a look at the rest of the shop. It’s cute over load.
Have a great weekend and happy stitching!
How high’s the water, mama?
Two feet high and risin’
How high’s the water, papa?
Two feet high and risin’
We can make it to the road in a homemade boat
That’s the only thing we got left that’ll float
It’s already over all the wheat and the oats,
Two feet high and risin’
How high’s the water, mama?
Three feet high and risin’
How high’s the water, papa?
Three feet high and risin’
Well, the hives are gone,
I’ve lost my bees
The chickens are sleepin’
In the willow trees
Cow’s in water up past her knees,
Three feet high and risin’
How high’s the water, mama?
Four feet high and risin’
How high’s the water, papa?
Four feet high and risin’
Hey, come look through the window pane,
The bus is comin’, gonna take us to the train
Looks like we’ll be blessed with a little more rain,
4 feet high and risin’
How high’s the water, mama?
Five feet high and risin’
How high’s the water, papa?
Five feet high and risin’
Well, the rails are washed out north of town
We gotta head for higher ground
We can’t come back till the water comes down,
Five feet high and risin’
Well, it’s five feet high and risin’
(song lyrics by Johnny Cash. Photos by me on a very cold, blustery lunch break.)
