Covered Material Letters

Well, I know it's not papercraft but I wanted to share this with you anyway!  It was recently my niece's birthday and I covered some wooden letters for her in materials to match her bedspread, that spell out her name - MIA.  I have also done the same for my son Thomas and Mia's sister Layla, in the past (I will share photos another time).  So here is a step by step of how I did it.......

1.Gather supplies:

• Wooden letters
• Materials and threads for decorating
• Visafix
• Wadding
• Liquid Craft glue
• Needles for sewing
• Material Marker

2. Iron visafix onto back of materials and cut out 2 of each letter (one for the front and one for back).  Each letter will need to be cut approx 1cm wider all the way around to allow for overhang.

 

3. Using a material marker, draw design onto letters and stitich as desired.  (be sure to remove the visfix backing first as it will be much easier to stitch).

4.  Using liquid craft glue, attach wadding to front of wooden letters.

5.  Remove visafix backing from unstitched material letter cutouts and iron directly onto the wooden letters.  You may need to put some cuts in order to wrap edges over neatly (don't worry if it is a little messy, you will cover this later with a material edge).

 

6.  Lightly iron stitched material letters onto the wadded wooden letter faces (do not press too hard or you will flatten out the wadding too much), and cut edges to wrap around (again do not worry if this is a little messy as you will cover with material edging soon). 

 

 

7.  Cut long strips of material wide enough to iron edges in so that it ends up the witdth of your letter edges.

8.  Visafix material strips around the edge of your covered letters and stitch in place.  I used basic cotton to stitch the backs and to add effect, I used 6 strands of embroidery thread to stitch the fronts....DONE!!!!

 

When it comes to gifts, I believe it is the whole package...right down to the card and wrapping!  SO I simply removed the handles of a plain cream gift bag and threaded this beautiful bow instead to attach the simple yet stylishly co-ordinated gift tag. 

So here's how the letters looked in Mia's room...she LOVED them!

Oh So Blessed!

Well, I wanted to take this opportunity to share a little bit of me......so often we get so busy, we forget to just stop and be and to really appreciate the special things in our lives!!!  It is also rare that we can share real stories of miracles...so here is mine.....

On the 31st August 2004, God blessed my husband and I with our beautiful son Thomas.  I was told I may never have children but miraculoulsy...I did!  Sadly since then, I have been unable to have any more and it appears I never will.  I share this because I strongly believe such an awsome miracle should not go untold.  Whilst I believe that every child is a miracle, I praise God for blessing us beyond what we deserve with such a precious gift!!!!

So here's a layout I did about the two most precious boys in my life, using two of my beautiful papers:

 

 Dandelion Haze

 Silver Ripple

Thomas has deep blue eyes, big dimples and the cheekiest grin, he loves to laugh and play games and he tells me often that he "loves me and that I am the best mum in the whole world"....I am so BLESSED!!!!!

 

Whilst the layout is very simple, it really reflects my style.  Using a clean colour palette black, silver and off white, I have used basic shapes and hand stitching to accent the page.  As corny as it sounds, the dandelions remind me of fireworks, which is exactly what Justin and Thomas are to me...the ones who add "sparkle" to my life!

And like I've said before...I love stitching on card!  You can't really see in this photo, but I used metalic thread to hand stitch these dandelions down the edge of the page...very cute!

Knitted Lanterns

I love lamps and beautiful light shades, they can add such a fantastic ambiance to any room.  So I thought I would show you a project I found on Knitting Daily recently.  Unfortunately I can't knit, however I just loved these Chinese lantern lamp shades...just gorgeous!

 

  

 

Who knows, one day I might actually take the time to learn to knit, just so I can make one of these beautiful shades.....

Creating with Scraps

Well here's one for all you papercrafters who just can't part with your "scraps".  I'm always buying beautiful papers and when I have completed my designated project, I just can't throw out the leftovers...cause it might just be the one piece that I need to finish another card etc.   So one day I thought, why don't I make my "scraps" the project!!!  I LOVE stitching (machine and hand) on paper!  And after seeing some gorgeous cards on the internet one day (I can't for the life of me remember where I saw them...sorry!), I was inspired.........   

So here's what I came up with.  This was the perfect project for using those tiny little beautifully patterned pieces of paper, that had probably been sitting in my "stash" forever and a day...I hope you like!

 

 

  

 

Normally I am one that likes things to be symetrical and "perfect".  However, I think the fact that the stitching isn't perfect gives these cards real character...and I like it!

  

  

So how did I do it.... 

Base Card 14.5x14.5cm

White Card 10x10cm

 

  

And I simply...

1. Drew basic shapes onto the white card (using pencil, which I later rubbed out - you may be able to see the pencil lines above)

2. Put patterned pieces in sections and then roughly stitched around the outline using my sewing machine.  

3. Pulled the cotton through to the back and stuck these straight onto the front of the cards.

You could personalise the cards by adding little greetings to the front or simply leave them blank so you can use them for any occasion.