The Creative Family Manifesto

The idea for this came about after reading The Creative Family Manifesto by Amanda Blake Soule*. Tom’s Mum gave me a copy of this for Christmas a few years ago, and after Littlest One was born I finally started dipping into it when I got 5 minutes here and there. It is the most wonderful book, and I wish I had started reading it sooner! If you want to live a more creative life and encourage your children to get involved at every opportunity, then I would highly recommend it.

Soule encourages you to use simple things around you to encourage creativity as a family. I love the part where she talks about imaginary friends, as Little One has an imaginary camel and he comes everywhere with us! He really is like a part of the family now, as is Camel’s friend Elephant and Elephant’s friend, Oscar the dog. Soule also emphasises the joy of sharing the tradition of handmade things, which is obviously something that is really important to me too.

Writing our own family manifesto

We are about to embark on our home education journey, as Little One will soon be 4 and would be going to school in September. It seemed like the right time to write our manifesto with this in mind, but also with everything that’s going on with Covid 19 too. It is a very surreal situation isn’t it? We are social distancing now, and it has actually been really good to think about what should be on our manifesto as we’re going to be spending much more time at home! It might be something that you can do with your family too as a positive activity to complete together. It doesn’t have to be framed if you don’t want to – even just jotting down your list of statements is a good place to start.

I used my personal manifesto as a starting point, as there were a few things that I thought would be good for our family manifesto. There were others I wanted to add to encourage things for our children and for ourselves. This is the list that I wrote, which contains 14 statements:

• Stay curious
• Go outisde
• Explore
• Make a mess – tidy up later
• Try again
• Learn from your mistakes
• Notice the little things
• Create together
• Make music
• Collect things
• Play
• Read every day
• Always be kind
• Love your community

This list covers things that we want for all of us as a family – things we want to encourage, and the ways in which we try to live our lives. I don’t see creativity as a separate ‘thing’ that we do, it’s in everything that we do. At the moment, Little One  frequently says that she can’t do things, so we’re always encouraging her to try again. We try to create things together when we can, whether that’s music, craft or something else. We read every day, and we emphasise the importance of being kind.

I wondered about changing the phrase ‘collect things’ as it reminded me of the phrase ‘collect moments, not things’. In the end, I decided that this is actually what I want it to say! Collections are great – leaves, stamps, feathers, colour charts – all of these things can inspire us in so many ways. It isn’t so much about having physical things for me, it’s about how we take inspiration from them. So I left that bit in!

Making your own creative family manifesto: materials

To make a family manifesto to be displayed like ours, you’ll need a few basic materials:

A big sheet of good quality card (we used an A1 size piece of card that I bought from our local art shop)

A set of watercolour paints and brushes

Some coloured paper

Stamps and an ink pad

A pencil

Scissors

Double-sided sticky tape or glue

A frame to display it in

Step 1

Take your large piece of card and set up the watercolours. Then get each member of your family to paint something on it! We went abstract and painted whatever popped into our heads. Littlest One even joined in too, and you can see where he painted with his hands in the corner. I think he was just 10 months when we did this, so it’s something that all ages can join in with. Leave it to dry completely.

Step 2

Now take your stamps and ink pad, and stamp out each of the creative statements onto coloured paper. I used a different colour for each statement, and chose 7 colours of paper for the 14 statements. When the ink has dried, carefully cut around each one in a rectangular shape.

Step 3

Remove the packaging from your frame. Take out the mount, but don’t discard it as you’ll need to use it in the next step!

Step 4

Once the watercolours have dried, place the mount on top and draw around it with a pencil. Then carefully cut it out, so that you have the right size to fit in your frame. If you prefer, you can use the mount to display – just do whatever works for you and adjust the size of the painted card accordingly.

Step 5

Position the creative statements on top of the painted card and work out where you’d like them to be. Stick them in place with double-sided sticky tape or some glue.

Step 6

The last thing to do is to put it in your frame, secure the back and then display. We have hung ours in the hallway, as we wanted to be able to see it frequently. Little One asks about it every time she goes up or down the stairs, which is great!

The beautiful pennant hanging above our manifesto is by HouseofHooray on Etsy*. The Pride of the North hoop is designed and stitched by me as an exclusive for For the Love of the North, an amazing shop which supports creatives from the North East of England. You can purchase one here! The pink pineapple embroidery was stitched by me, and you can read about that on my blog here.

Share your manifesto!

I would really love to see your manifesto if you make one – let me know in the comments below, or tag me on social media @hellohoorayblog. I hope this project brings you joy, especially during this really tough period. Stay safe, and wash your hands!

Please note that links marked (*) are affiliate links.

The post Our creative family manifesto appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

When I say ‘simple’, this first set wasn’t actually as simple as I’d hoped in the long run! Although I really loved making them and how they turned out, I found them quite time consuming to make. I used mini rubber stamps to stamp the text and cut out numbers from scrapbook paper for each card, which looks lovely but took time. I used to make them month by month, and often found myself making them last minute to be able to take the monthly milestone picture! So when Littlest One arrived, I knew that I wanted to make a set for him too, but they needed to be a bit easier to make so that I could try to make more of them in advance. I looked through my paper supplies and realised that Project Life baby milestone cards would be the answer – the cards are lovely quality with cute designs, but there is still scope to personalise them. Yay! 

In this tutorial, I’m making the 4 month card because I had made the first 3 already without taking any photos! I have just included the cards for monthly milestones here, but there are some suggestions for other cards to include at the end of the post. Do let me know any other ideas you have in the comments!

Materials

12 Project Life cards – I’ve used the 4×6″ cards 

Coloured papers in a variety of colours

White paper

Double-sided tape (or glue if you prefer)

Fine pen

Scissors

Craft knife and cutting mat

Number templates (click to download)

Step 1

Choose which Project Life cards you would like to use for each month and match a coloured paper for the numbers. I decided to use a contrasting colour for the numbers on each card, but you can coordinate however you like – you could use the same colour for the numbers on all of the cards, for example.

step 2

Cut out the number templates and trace around them onto the coloured paper with a pencil. Carefully cut them out, using the craft knife for any tricky bits in the middle of the numbers.

step 3

Take the white paper and a fine pen and write the words ‘Today I am’. Cut out a rectangle around the words – I did this freehand but you could measure it if you prefer. Repeat with the words ‘months old’. Position the number(s) and text on the Project Life card and then stick in place with double-sided tape or glue.

step 4

Repeat with the remaining numbers and cards that you have chosen. 

I’m so pleased with how these cards turned out – they were much simpler than my first attempt! And this time around I’ve made the cards ahead of time which is great.

Additional Project Life baby milestone cards ideas

These milestone cards can be personalised to fit your baby, and because the cards are ready-printed, you can make them so easily and quickly as your baby learns new things! Here are a few more ideas:

Today I…

Smiled for the first time

Learnt how to roll over

Sat up on my own

Slept in my own room for the first time

Got my first tooth

Ate some solid food

Started crawling 

Took my first steps

Said my first word

I really love that these cards can be made and personalised to suit your baby. It’s a lovely way to document their progress and to make something that is really personal to them and to you. You could use the reverse of the cards to make notes about what they love to do on the back, just as a special way to keep a record of the little milestones and everyday things too.

Show me your project life baby milestone cards!

If you make these cards for your little one, I would absolutely LOVE to see them! You can tag me @hellohoorayblog on Instagram, or find me on Facebook or Twitter if you prefer.

If you want to find out more about Project Life, see my posts from the archives about getting started and Project Life storage too. You can also visit the Project Life website for an overview of available products.

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The work we had done in the house was to have some super ceiling-height shelves built in our living room. I’m all about the storage right now, and these are perfect for what we need! I’ve had a little desk built in as well which means that my computer could come downstairs, which is really handy. All of my craft supplies (except for the fabric stash) are downstairs as well, which is so much easier than having to go upstairs every time I have forgotten something else. A perfect solution to not having a craft room I think! We are still organising everything (we have a LOT of books/music/stuff) so I haven’t actually taken any finished photos yet, except for one of my rainbow-organised craft books that you can see above. It was a lot of fun sorting them like this!

I haven’t really done that much crafting recently, but I have made Christmas cakes this year using the recipe that my Mum used to make. Can’t wait to try it! I was a bit late with getting the recipe up in time for this year, but I’ll be taking photos to schedule it for 2016. I marzipanned and iced it last weekend, which involved a lot of checking that the marzipan was ok haha!

In other news, I was so excited to see that Pip Lincolne (author of the amazing book Craft for the Soul) has read my review of her book and left me the most gorgeous comment! It really made my day! For those of you wanting to buy the book, it will be released in the UK next year – or if you can’t wait then you can read my review and find out how I got mine…

And finally, I have left my biggest news until the end…I am pregnant! We are absolutely delighted and can’t wait for Baby to arrive in the spring! So, when I first decided to extend my blog holiday I had a lot of morning sickness (which is such a ridiculous name, as it isn’t just restricted to mornings!) and was super tired. With that and everything happening at home, not forgetting a sudden and unexpected move to a new team in my day job, my crafting an blogging just had to give way for a while. I totally underestimated how tiring it would be, and even now that I’m well into my second trimester I still find myself falling asleep early in the evenings (or during the afternoon on my days off!). But I’m pleased to say that everything is going really well and I’m just SO excited about starting our family.

In terms of blogging, my posts will probably be more infrequent, although I am very keen to keep up with my blogging whenever I can. I know that life is about to change completely and so we’ll just have to see what happens! Hats off to all those blogger mums who manage to keep things going – I’m not sure if I’ll have the energy or time for that! But thank you to you all for sticking with me I still intend to blog about the things I make and do so that hasn’t changed. We’ve already decided that we don’t want to share photos of our little one online, so this won’t be turning into a baby blog – there are plenty of other excellent blogs like that already so I’ll leave it to the pros. I’ll try and put together a few more posts before Christmas, so there will be more to see here than there has been of late…thanks for your patience, friends!

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I chose the same fabric to match my machine cover, but I needed it to be a bit stronger to be able to take the weight of the machine. I used some white cotton drill, which you can pick up fairly cheaply in many places. The amount of fabric needed really depends on your machine, but a metre should be plenty.

You will need:

1 metre of white cotton drill

1 metre each of two different colourful fabrics (you may have enough with 1 metre, but I made bias binding from the solid colour, which always uses more than you think!)

A rotary cutter and cutting mat

Matching thread

Pins

An iron

A bias binding maker (I used a 2.5cm / 1″ maker)

Step 1

Lay out your cotton drill and place your machine in the middle, so that you can bring the fabric up around the sides of your machine. Work out how deep and how wide the bag needs to be and then cut a rectangular shape to size – for my Janome 525S this worked out at two 75 x 54cm pieces. Then I cut out a 10 x 10cm square from each of the bottom corners. These pieces will form the lining of the bag.

Step 2

To make the outer bag pieces, I laid some of the solid colour over the bottom of the lining, so that it covered where I had cut out the squares and about another 12cm or so (to allow for seam allowance) up what will be the side of the bag.

Once you have cut this piece, lay out the lining and the solid colour to be able to work out how big to cut your patterned fabric (allowing a centimetre or two for seam allowance, and then pin them together. You can see the selvedge here on my fabric, so I stitched just outside of it so that it wouldn’t show when pressed open.

Step 3

Press open the seam allowance and iron the outer and lining pieces. Place them together and pin before quilting them to make them really secure.

I stitched between alternate kits shapes on this fabric, like I did with my sewing machine cover. This took quite a while with both pieces, but it’s really effective and will help the bag to be nice and strong. You’ll notice that I only quilted up to the solid fabric, and I think this looks really great, if I say so myself!

Step 4

The next step is to make this into a bag! Place the pieces right sides together, and pin along the sides and bottom. Don’t do anything with the cut out squares yet, but stitch along the other edges with a 1.5cm seam. Trim the excess and press to one side. Then you need to fold each corner so that the short, unstitched sides meet like this:

Pin these short sides together, checking on the insides that the lines of the outer fabrics match up (I forgot to do this, despite thinking about it, so I do have a wonky corner!). I found it helpful to pin the seam allowance to one side too, so that when I stitched along the edge (again, with a 1.5cm allowance), it tucked in the right way.

Step 5

Make your bias binding and then attach it to the top of the bag. I matched my binding to the solid colour of the bottom of the bag, and used matching thread too.

Step 6

The last thing to do is to make the handles. You could use some webbing here if you like, but I wanted my handles to match the patterned fabric as I love it so much! I cut out two pieces of cotton drill that measured 75 x 3.5cm, and then cut out two pieces of patterned fabric that were big enough to wrap around the drill (I just did this by eye rather than measuring).

Fold the patterned fabric around the drill and press it so that it’s all nice and flat. Pin it together and stitch to secure. I folded so that my seams ran down the middle of the drill, and then I stitched either side of them. Fold over the short ends and stitch them too.

Position the handles and stitch them in place. I did this with a rectangle around the edges of the handles, and then a cross in the middle. The cross is key to this, as it makes them really strong. It looks like there is lots of stitching here, but those handles aren’t going anywhere!

Ta-dah! That’s it Your new sewing machine bag is ready to use and take wherever you want to go. No more wondering where the pedal has got to – it’s in the bag!

This is such a spacious bag that even if you didn’t want to use it to put a sewing machine in, it would make a super beach bag!

Have you got any sewing projects planned this weekend? Happy sewing!

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This week, the schedule has been released and so we all have the difficult decision to make about which session to go to. They all look amazing, so it will be hard to choose – just when I think I’ve chosen, I think ‘ah, but I would love to hear about that too’ and I have to start all over again! The keynote speaker this year is Grace Bonney, founder of Design*Sponge and the title of her keynote is ‘The Power of Fear: how to embrace what scares you and use it to grow your personal and professional life’. How brilliant does that sound?!

I’ve ordered myself some more business cards from Moo and will be swapping those like mad on the day! One of the main things I’m looking forward to (other than listening to amazing speakers, obviously!) is meeting other bloggers and hopefully starting new projects with many of them. Networking is really important and it’s going to be great to meet people face to face. I will also be pitching to Thomson on the day and took part in the webinar on Wednesday evening with Kat Molesworth and Christian Torres (head of the Brand & Creative team at Thomson), which was really interesting and inspiring! I hadn’t really thought about pitching to them before Monday of this week, but it’s a fantastic opportunity to travel and blog for Thomson, so I really hope that my pitch stands out! Fingers crossed

There is a Pinterest group board for all attendees, and people have been uploading links to their sites and introducing themselves in advance of the event. This is such a great idea as it gets people talking before next week, and we can try to spot each other when we’re there! There’s also a lot happening on Facebook and Instagram, so if you’re still undecided about getting a ticket just head over and check it out. I think they’re in single figures now so you’d better be quick! I’ll be posting photos throughout the day on Instagram (follow me @hellohoorayblog) so if you can’t make it you can see more there or use #Blogtacular to follow the action…Can’t wait!

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It was my Mum’s birthday in April, and I made her this top. It’s my favourite top to make and wear – cool and comfy for summer and the only really tricky-ish bit is the neck binding. I got the fabric in the sale ages ago and it was nice to finally make it!

I also made her a caramel cake for her birthday cake, and I haven’t got around to sharing the recipe yet – but I will! It’s from the Clandestine Cake Club book, which is brilliant. I want to make everything out of that book!

Our dear friend Hannah got married earlier this month, and I stitched this sampler from Hoopla! magazine. It has been ages since I did any hand embroidery like this, and I had forgotten just how much I love it! I painted the hoop a lovely turquoise colour and it worked really well with the design. Hannah and her husband went off on honeymoon straight away, so I hope the last bits of disappearing pen had actually gone by the time they opened it! If you want to download the template, you can get it here from Bakercourt (designed by Stacey Siddons).

I also have to share the wonderful cake that Hannah made – if you’ve been following my blog a while then you might know that a Hannah made our wedding cake. Well, this is the same Hannah! She’s so incredibly talented. Just look at those flowers!

This month I have found some lovely things in the blog world.

How gorgeous is this outfit by Lucky Lucille? I love everything about it, and the styling of the photos is just gorgeous. I know I used the word ‘gorgeous’ a lot there, but it really is!

So is this floral DIY for your bike – makes me really want a bike! A pink vintage style one, obviously…

My lovely crafty friend Dizzy Miss James was featured on Beak Up Crafts this month – yay! Her story is really inspiring, so well worth a read.

I have also found some cool new things via Instagram this month. Stylusboy (aka Steve Jones) commented on one of my photos and so I checked out his music on his website. It’s great! It’s billed as ‘handmade indie folk music’, and that’s a good summing up I reckon. It turns out that he’s supported lots of great people on tour, and I’ll definitely be adding some of his music to our ever-growing collection. Have a listen here!

Have you heard about Caboodle Magazine? I also found this through Instagram, and the first edition was released this month. It’s a super mix of craft, fashion, food, vintage…lovely, lovely stuff. It’s also produced in my home town of York! Really hope that the team can keep going after such a great start – looking forward to seeing how the project develops. I’ll be reviewing it properly on my blog for you soon!

The Blogtacular speakers were announced this month – even more excited now! Check them out here. You can also listen to Kat Molesworth’s podcast for A Playful Day here – it’s all about creativity in blogging. Fab!

What new discoveries have you made this month? Share them by leaving a comment below! Hope you’ve had a great April

The post Bits & Bobs: April 2015 appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

The first special I bought was the photography special. I am really keen to improve my photography skills (which has been well-documented on my blog) and as I don’t really know much about the technical side of things I thought this would be helpful in terms of doing a bit more than just ‘point and shoot’! There are loads of really helpful tips in here and this special is great for giving ideas about new ways of taking photos. I love the idea of making your own camera! There’s also a really great section on food photography, which is notoriously very difficult.

The interviews with various people who do this for a living are really informative and inspiring. It definitely makes me want to get out there with my camera! This is where I really saw Project Life for the first time, and it was one of the reasons I decided to get started with that. I’m really glad I did![/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”7365,7366,7367,7368″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1429176774500{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]

DIY Fashion is up next – I love the Liberty print dress on the front cover (made by Lisa Comfort of Sew Over It, who also guest-edits here) and will definitely have to make one out of that fabric at some point! This special is divided into four different fashion trends: vintage, quirky, bohemian and retro, with different projects and features in each one. Whilst I don’t necessarily stick to one of these trends, each one has inspiring elements which you could adapt into your own style. So you could take the fabric painting technique used in the flamingo t-shirt, and make your own retro style print.

The embellishing tips are really useful here too – I’ve got some ideas in my head for projects and I’ve never really done anything like that before. It’s a good excuse to go and buy some supplies! So even if you’re not going to make the exact projects from this special, you’ll certainly be inspired to go and create your own wardrobe.[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”7357,7360,7358,7359″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1429177451187{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]

The Blogging special has been really helpful in so many ways for my blog, so whether you’re new to blogging or you’ve been doing it a while now, I’m sure there’s something in it for you. The interview with Elsie Larson from A Beautiful Mess is super interesting to read, as she talks about perceptions of blogging as a career and is really honest about the pros and cons of that. Great to read all about it from someone I really admire. The feature on Blogtacular made me even more excited about getting a ticket for this year – woo hoo! Can’t wait to make new connections and learn so much in June.

I guess that’s one of the main things I took from this special – there’s always more to learn. Since buying this I’ve tried to put some of the things I’ve learnt into practice, and I’ve also been signing up for online classes and events like Blogtacular. In a sphere that’s constantly changing with so many people blogging now, it’s important to be yourself and get yourself noticed as much as possible. This special will certainly point you in the right direction! I believe I am right in saying that all physical copies of this have now sold out (on account of it being really popular!) but you can still download it for Apple or Android through the newsstand (or Android equivalent).[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”7361,7362,7363,7364″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1429178510451{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]

Next up is Sewing, which features another of my favourites Tilly Walnes from Tilly and the Buttons (as well as a bit more from Lisa Comfort – yay!). How gorgeous is the patchwork dress on the front?! Like the DIY Fashion special, this is really inspiring, even if you don’t make the projects as you see them. There’s a lot of repurposing and reusing, and it’s great to think about things that are in your wardrobe that can be reworked into something new.

If you’re new to sewing, there are loads of handy tips about sewing machines and techniques. I just love looking at different fabrics and there are plenty to lust over in this edition! Will definitely be trying to track down some of them…[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”7369,7372,7370,7371″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1429175183628{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]

I’ve saved this one until last as it’s my favourite (even though they are all lovely!). It is divided into several main sections that cover Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest, with an extra (brief) section for things like Google+. For those of you who are completely new to any of these social media, there’s a handy bit at the start of each section to explain how they work and what the different functions do. Lots of people will know this already, but it’s great if you don’t know your likes from your pokes on Facebook, for example! Even though I know a bit about social media already, I have learnt so much more from this special. Who knew that Pinterest has an analytics function?! I didn’t, but will definitely be trying it out soon! It also made me have a little spring clean of my boards, so do check out my Pinterest boards if you’re on it.

Another thing that I love about this special is that they have included some suggestions of people to follow on each of the social media too – the feature on Emily Quinton of Makelight is really interesting and I’ve been a fan of hers for a while now so it was good to find out more about how she’s grown her audience. I found the section about Twitter to be really useful too. It’s my least favourite of the social media by far, but I know it’s one of those things that I’ve just got to do! Hopefully the ideas here will prompt me into being a bit more proactive on my Twitter account.

[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”7379,7382,7380,7381″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1429178784523{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]”So are there any downsides?”, I hear you ask…well, these specials are a bit more pricey than the usual magazines at £7.99 (the Blogging special was £9.99 but it is slightly bigger). I didn’t get the Christmas one last year because I actually had lots of the projects featured in it in craft books that I already have and it seemed like a waste of money really. So if you’re thinking of getting them you might want to flick through it first. If you’re an avid Mollie Makes reader and have been reading for some time, you may also recognise some of the projects from previous issues (e.g. the fabric camera strap in the Photography special was in a back issue a couple of years ago or so) – and the interview with Zoe Pearson in the Social Media special was in issue 51 of the main magazine only last month. It must be difficult to get the balance between reusing content that takes AGES to write and shoot, and keeping regulars happy. I really enjoyed reading the rest of the magazine so it didn’t bother me too much, but I wouldn’t want to see too many features reused in such a short space of time too often.

If you’re a blogger or a small business person looking to improve your blog or photography, or you want to get the most out of social media then you should definitely grab a copy of these specials! The sewing one is beautiful too – I was really inspired by some of the projects and especially by the prints and styling of the photos. Fab!

Have you bought any of these specials? What did you think?

***This is not a sponsored post – I am genuinely a huge Mollie Makes fan!***[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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You will need

A selection of Liberty fabric squares – I used these 5″ squares and cut them into 4 pieces

Some lining fabric (I used white cotton)

White cotton thread

An iron

1 metre of ribbon

Needle and pins

Sharp scissors

Step 1

Arrange your fabric pieces to decide on the best layout, splitting your squares into two piles – one for the front and the other for the back. I decided to sew horizontal rows first, and stitched the first two squares with roughly half a centimetre seam allowance.

Open the squares and then stitch the next square along, again with a half a centimetre seam allowance. Repeat with the rest of the squares in the row, and then press the seams open.

Step 2

Stitch the rows together, still using a half a centimetre seam allowance.

Don’t worry if all the seams don’t line up – this just adds to the feel of the scrappy patchwork!

Step 3

Repeat the first two steps to make the back piece. Then use a ruler and a rotary cutter to neaten the edges.

Step 4

Place the patchwork pieces right sides together and pin along the bottom edge. Take the top edge and fold over once, using your ribbon as a guide as to how deep the gap will need to be – this worked out at just under half a square using this size of scraps. Then I cut 1.5cm along the seam I had sewn at the bottom of the first square and folded it in (see below). This is to make sure that the openings for the ribbon don’t meet when the side seams are stitched. Press and then fold under the top seam.

Step 5

Next, pin and stitch the side seams, starting at the top of the top hem and working around the corners that have been pressed out.

Step 6

Now to make the lining. Take your lining fabric and fold it in half, and place it on top of the inside out patchwork bag. Pin where the lining will need to be stitched, using the hems of the patchwork bag as a guide. Press over the top hems (a couple of centimetres is enough) and then stitch the side seams of the lining.

Step 7

Turn the patchwork bag the right way out (you could press it here if it isn’t laying flat). Trim the seams of the lining bag and then place it in position inside the patchwork bag. Make sure that the pressed hem of the lining covers the folded hem of the patchwork bag, but leaving enough room for the ribbon to pass through the gap. Take your time getting this in the right position, and then stitch.

Don’t worry if you miss out any bits – you can always catch them by hand afterwards.

Step 7

Thread your ribbon through the gap at the top of the bag – you can put a safety pin at one end to help you pull it through more easily. Make sure that it hasn’t twisted at any point and then hand stitch it to join it securely.

Ta-dah! I’ve put a few of my sewing bits and bobs in here already

The post Liberty patchwork drawstring bag appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

I matched the guitar colours with Kona cottons (it’s always good to have a reason to get the colour card out!), and it goes with Kona Jamaica (blue), Persimmon (orange), Lipstick (red), Pear (green) and Corn Yellow. I decided to use a dark blue binding to match (this was pre-made).

To make this quilt, you can follow my instructions from my first quilt (click here). I cut 7″ squares, but only used a 5 x 5 pattern to make a square quilt this time. It made sense to do that really, especially as I jut used solids for the patchwork. At first I modelled the layout on my first quilt, but I thought that the colours wanted to be a bit more random than that (although Tom has since pointed out to me that it can’t be random if I planned it…!). So this is the randomly-planned layout:

I’ll definitely be using this layout again – I’ve got one of each colour in each row, which is quite satisfying! I stitched the squares together, and then layered up the quilt. After my first two attempts at quilting, I used a different wadding this time – I went for two layers of Simply Cotton (pre-washed before quilting). It’s so much easier to quilt with, and I’m much happier with it overall so will definitely be using this and nothing else in future! Here’s the back – I kept the quilting simple by quilting in the ditch, which means that the pattern still shows through nicely:

I really must learn from my issues with binding though – after my first two quilts, I told myself that I must stitch the front on the machine and then hand stitch the back. Did I do this? Nope! So a few bits are a little untidy…let this be my reminder for the next one!

The post Another patchwork baby quilt appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

The Craft Cotton Co. very kindly sent me a lovely fabric bundle to be able to make this bag, and I chose these super blue vintage fabrics to make it. I like the contrast of the ditsy floral pocket with the bolder print for the bag, and there are so many possibilities to make it your own!

You can find the step-by-step tutorial here if you’d like to make your own  I’m the first blogger to be published there, but stay tuned for more exciting projects from other bloggers coming soon!

The post Foldaway shopping bag tutorial appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

It was actually really good to take stock of everything and sort things out – even though I did make a huge mess before I could get everything organised! I had various thoughts beforehand about how to carry out the inventory. This included having a notebook with everything written down in it, so the name of the fabric and the amount that I have, along with the type of fabric too. However, I don’t know about you, but whilst I can remember what some things are called or which collection they are from, I certainly can’t remember them all. Many bits of fabric I have are from years ago (before I was a dedicated crafter), so there was no real chance of me remembering. But then I had a cunning plan: what would be most helpful would be to have a photo inventory! That way, I can have it with me on my phone and then I can browse through it when I’m trying to match things and make decisions for projects. Bingo!

So I found all my boxes and bags of fabric and laid them out on the spare bed. I sorted into three piles: plains, patterns, and a pile of fabric that is already earmarked for a project. Most of this pile is things that I’ve got to make into clothes – I decided not to take individual photos of these so that I don’t end up accidentally using them for another project by mistake! I laid out a huge piece of white card as a background for the photos. White is best for anything like this, especially as I’ll be using the photos to match up fabric for projects. Starting with my fat quarter selection (which I keep in my vintage suitcase) I took photos of my fabric. Most of these photos have a maximum of 4 fabrics in them, and I tried to group some that went well together, for example the Christmassy ones. There are a few exceptions – like the photo below which shows the selection of fabrics that I used to make the quilted record mats (which you can see here). In my suitcase I also have a few metre pieces that can be used for baby quilt backings or other small projects, so I grouped these together too.[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”7033,7035,7036,7053″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1425053180382{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]Next, I moved on to the other piles of large pieces of fabric. For the plains I stacked a few together to be able to get more in the photo. I’ll see how this works out when I actually use my inventory – I might have to take individual ones to get a better sense of the colours. Some of these fabrics are categorised by collection, just because they go together really well and it makes sense to know that they are by the same designer.[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”7048,7049,7050,7051″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1425051340672{padding-top: 30px !important;}”]

Once I had taken all of my photos, I decided to organise them in my photo stream. By having them on here, they will be easily accessible and I can also add comments to each of the photos – this includes the length, or any details about the colour or fabric, which will come in handy! I just gave a rough measurement for most of the pieces, but you could be more precise and measure everything if you wish. Our internet decided to play up at this point, so I had a right old faff trying to get them from my computer and into the stream, but eventually they made it! I edited them a little just to get the colours right and brighten them lighting a bit, and I also square cropped them so that they fit nicely on the album overview screen. You can see how I’m using the comments section to add details in this next photo:[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1425051357108{padding-top: 30px !important;}”]

In addition to creating my inventory, I also made sure that my fabric stash was a bit more sorted. Not having a dedicated craft space means that this is really important – especially now that we have had to find a new home for lots of things that used to live in the old garage. So I organised my boxes a little better, keeping those fabrics for projects in mind in one box, with prints and plains in another and everything else that didn’t really have a home in my final box. I’m hoping that by being a little more organised, I can stop the spread of the stash…at least for a little while anyway! :-)[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1425051368764{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]

How do you organise your fabric?[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Out of the other things that I roughly sketched, this little fox was my favourite. I wanted to do something a little different for the actual feature, because I know that foxes are everywhere right now! But every time I opened my sketchbook, there he was, and I just had to make him. The making principles for the fox brooch are the same as the bird, although there is a little less embroidery on the fox in terms of different stitches. I kept the border of this brooch a little simpler, but you could do a scalloped edge like I did on my bird brooch if you prefer.

Materials

Felt Fox Brooch templates – click to download

A brooch back and a small piece of plasticard

You’ll also need a needle, possibly a pin or two, as well as some sharp scissors.

The felt I used for this brooch is from Wool Felt Company in orange and turquoise.

The threads I used are: Anchor 433 (blue), Anchor 333 (orange), DMC 712 (cream) and black thread too. Just make sure that you match your thread and your felt, whatever you make on your brooch!

Get stitching!

For the most part you’ll need to follow my tutorial on the Craftseller blog, but here are a few additional tips to help you with this design, relating to stitching the fox on to the front felt piece:

• You’ll need to position the body over the tail piece, and then neatly stitch them on to the circle of felt (the bird felt piece doesn’t have to be neat as it gets covered up!). Once they are secure, stitch the head on.

• Stitch the nose on using black thread and satin stitch, then stitch the cheeks (do foxes have cheeks?! You know what I mean, anyway!) using the same stitch but with cream thread. Outline this first as shown on the bird brooch tutorial.

• I stitched the eyes last, using some small French knots.

• Once the fox is stitched, follow step 6 of my bird brooch tutorial to finish it, and then it will be ready to wear!

This is my little bird brooch – be sure to let me know if have a go at making this, the fox, or your own version of a felt brooch! Share them with me via Facebook, Twitter or tag me @hellohoorayblog on Instagram. I’d really love to see what you make!

The post Felt brooches appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

The magazine has a 2-page spread with an interview where I’m quizzed about all things craft-related, and I also designed a copyright free tutorial that appears on the Craftseller blog. I wanted to design something that people could adapt with their own designs too, so I came up with an embroidered felt brooch with a little bird on it. What do you think?!

You can find the full tutorial on the Craftseller blog – just click on the link above! And don’t forget that you can use the basic principles from this tutorial to design any brooch you fancy, so just adapt it to whatever design you like. As a little bonus project, I’ll be sharing a new design on my blog over the next week, so keep a look-out for that!

The post My first solo magazine feature appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Before you get started and gather your materials, measure how big your drawers are (!!) and think about what sort of size you want the inserts to be. This will help you to work out how much fabric you’ll need for your own template. To work out the size, draw out a square or rectangle the size that you want the bottom of the insert to be (mine was 26cm x 26cm). Then think about how deep you want it to be (mine was 8cm) and add that on to each of the 4 sides, with an extra centimetre for a seam allowance on each side too. So, I cut out a 44cm x 44cm square, and then cut an 8cm square out of each corner to create the template, like this:

So once you have worked out how much fabric you need, you can gather your other materials. You will need:

Two pieces of contrasting fabric, plus extra to make binding (or buy pre-made binding if you prefer)

A piece of thin wadding/batting, the same size as your piece of fabric

Matching cotton

Your sewing machine

Needle and pins

Sharp scissors

Step 1

Cut out an inner piece and an outer piece of fabric from your selection using the template you made, and do the same with the wadding. Place the wadding on the wrong side of the outer piece and then pin the sides of the 8cm square you cut out together. Stitch along each of the 4 edges with a 1cm allowance.

Once stitched, turn it the right way out.

Step 2

Place the lining fabric (right side up) inside the insert, and pin each corner to fit. You might need to make a few little adjustments here, so increase the seam allowance if you need to. Once you have stitched the corners, pin the lining to the insert and then stitch along the top to secure it.

Step 3

Measure the circumference of your insert and then make the binding to the right length (or cut the binding you bought to length). Position it over the top, pinning as you go, and then stitch along the bottom edge.

Step 4

To help the insert stand up a little more, I hand stitched a few small stitches on the top of each corner. It’s really effective, actually – yay!

Ta-dah! Ready to place in a drawer to get things organised. I’m keeping my socks in these (I do have more than one pair – I wanted to show you what they look like in my drawer, although it isn’t the best photo I’ve ever taken…)

What have you been doing to get organised for 2015?

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So I had a little think (and a cup of tea to help) and decided that a loop type thing with velcro would be great to keep it all together. I’ve designed it so that the loop is a little wider than the ear pieces, so it should cover and protect them when they are wrapped around the edge. Yay! I had these lovely fabrics in my stash – the geometric print is from the Helen’s Garden collection by Tamara Kate for Michael Miller (not sure if it’s still available) and the plain is a Moda solid colour, but it has been in my stash for ages and I can’t remember the shade! Anyway, you can use any contrasting fabric that you like for this project, and you don’t need a lot either which is great. I made this in a couple of hours, and that included stopping to take photos, so you’ll be able to make it in no time! Adapt for any phone that you have too, and leave out the headphone loop if you’d rather

You will need:

A fat quarter of two different cotton fabrics (although you actually use much less than this, so raid your stash!)

A 21 x 21cm piece thin cotton wadding

Some bias binding (I used fabric to match the lining and made my own, but you could use a third fabric for this if you like)

Thread to match your fabrics

Sewing machine

Fabric scissors

A pencil

An iron

About 5cm velcro

Pins and needle

Step 1

Cut a 21 x 21cm piece of lining and outer fabrics. Put the outer to one side for now and then fold the lining in half. Place your phone on the fabric, about half a centimetre from the folded edge, and draw around it lightly with a pencil.

Step 2

Pin a little away from the line you have just drawn, and then stitch along the bottom and up the open side – remember to leave the top open! You can stitch along the line here, but no need to stitch along the folded edge. Once cut, trim the seam allowance to half a centimetre.

Step 3

Next, if you want to include one, start making the headphone loop (or skip to step 8 if you don’t want to!). Cut out a 12.5 x 21 cm piece of your outer fabric, fold it half with right sides together and press. Then stitch along three edges as shown, with a seam allowance of half a centimetre. Trim this to 3mm once stitched and then turn out and press again.

Step 4

Place the 21 x 21cm square of outer fabric face down on your surface, with the wadding on top. Place your phone inside the lining and then put it on top in the position it needs to be in. Fold over the wadding and outer fabric in order to work out where the loop needs to go.

Step 5

Place the loop on top of the fabric – I put mine towards the bottom, but you can put it where you like really. Then, position your headphones so that the ear pieces are in the middle, and wrap the wire around the phone. Adjust the loop to get it in the right place – the fabric size is generous, so trim off any excess if you need to.

Step 6

Pin the loop in position at one end once you are happy, remove the headphones and then stitch together. Remember to only stitch one end of the loop!

Step 7

Measure and attach the velcro pieces – remember that you don’t want to stitch the other end of the loop to the rest of the cover.

Step 8

Next, fold the fabric right sides together, and if you’ve sewn on a loop make sure that the stitches face upwards. Place the phone and lining inside and work out where it will sit in the cover – you may find it helpful to draw lines where you need to stitch, especially for the curved edges. Pin down the long edge, remove the phone and then stitch. Trim the seam allowance to half a centimetre and cut notches out of the curved edge, before turning right side out. Press to remove creases.

Step 9

Push the phone and lining into the case, and then remove the phone. If you need to make your own bias binding, do it now! Then attach the binding to the top of the cover. I did this by hand because it was just a bit too small and fiddly to do on my machine, so I tried to keep the stitches as small as I could.

Ta-dah! I’m so glad that I designed this headphone loop – no more tangles! And I can put my phone in the cover whilst I listen to my choons… What should I listen to first?!

The post DIY iPhone cover appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Why did I choose this machine?

I did a LOT of research before settling on this one. I wanted a machine that was a bit more advanced than a basic machine, but I didn’t want to get one that was too fancy. My budget was £200-300, so that ruled out a lot anyway, but there was also the fact that I love doing embroidery by hand so there was no point in getting one that could do that if I wasn’t going to use it! But I did want to find one that could do buttonholes and freehand embroidery using a darning foot (this is sold separately – see later section of my review!). This machine does have consistently good reviews (at least it did when I was looking into it) and it is also used on The Great British Sewing Bee. I paid £249 for this machine and it was worth every penny.

What do you get?

The machine comes with a plastic cover and machine plug. It has accessory storage underneath the extension table and comes with the following bits and bobs:

Presser foot

Overedge foot

Zipper foot

Blind hemming foot

Buttonhole foot

Automatic buttonhole foot

Spare needles

Bobbins (I think I got 5, but I bought some extras so not sure now!)

Small and large spool holders and an additional spool pin

Quilting guide

Seam ripper

Tools for care (screwdriver/lint brush/felt cushion)

The machine comes with a 2-year warranty, which can be registered online.

Basic functions

This machine is perfect if you’ve had some experience of sewing already, or you’re a beginner who is determined to have this as a long-term hobby. It’s so easy to use! The instructions are clear for the basic functions of the machine, although I did have to read one or two things a few times (but that could just be me!). It does come with a needle threader but I must admit that this is one of the features that I have not yet tried out, as I usually just thread it myself. However, my friend Daria has the same machine and she says that it is super easy to use and she uses it all the time! The machine is a top loader so it is very easy to load and you can see when you’re running out of thread. I didn’t have this on my last machine, so found myself sewing with no thread rather frequently – argh!

You can see the stitching guides on the cover here too – these are really helpful! I made a sample of the basic stitches for your here too – a bit wobbly, but you’ll get the idea. They cover pretty much everything I need so that’s useful.

One thing that I did find quite awkward was the reverse stitch button. It didn’t seem to work at first, and given that I had spent a lot of money on it I didn’t want to be too firm with it. But I realised that it actually moves down part of the way without doing anything, but you have to press more firmly to push it right down for it to work. It isn’t a problem once you know this, but the instructions don’t point it out and I thought that the function was broken, when it was fine all along! So that was a bit embarrassing after I sent it back…at least I can pass this bit of important information on to you now

Utility stitches

In addition to the basic stitches, you can also do overcasting (which is like overlocking, but without the need for an overlocker), blind hems and insert a zip. The machine comes with the right feet to do all of these things too (the invisible zip foot is sold separately – see the ‘extras’ section), and it is really handy to be able to do overcasting when making clothes for a neater, more professional finish. I used all of these functions when I made Tom’s trousers and after a couple of practice attempts on some fabric scraps (which is always advisable) I was able to do them no problem. The zip foot is easy to sew with, but you just need to make sure you have things the right way around! I found the instructions to be clear here, which is good.

Another stitch that comes under this heading is buttonhole stitch, and (thankfully!) this machine does automatic buttonholes. When I made the waistcoats for our wedding I did them all manually so this function is amazing to me! All you have to do is pop the button in the end of the buttonhole foot and place your fabric in the right place and the machine will do the rest. Great stuff! But make sure you practice on some scraps first to get the hang of this, as you wouldn’t want to ruin a garment by getting it wrong. You also need to remember that when stitching the second side of the buttonhole, you need to keep an eye on when to stop as the machine doesn’t stop automatically at the end like some machines do!

This is my practice attempt the first time I used it – you can see that it produces lovely buttonholes! Then you just need to rip them open with a seam ripper (provided). You just need to remember that when stitching the second side of the buttonhole, you need to keep an eye on when to stop as the machine doesn’t stop automatically at the end

I have since made another waistcoat for Tom – click here if you want to see how that turned out. Some of the stitches that I am yet to try out include the straight and zigzag stretch stitches and the button sewing stitch. I haven’t really made anything with stretch fabric yet, but I’ll update this when I do! I also stitch buttons on by hand, and will probably continue to do so.

Decorative stitches

The instructions cover several stitches which they refer to as ‘decorative stitches’, which include decorative satin and stretch stiches, smocking, quilting, pin and shell tucking, fagoting, patchwork and applique. The only one of these that I have tried out is quilting using the quilting guide, and this is very easy to do. If you’re new to quilting then it’s really good to have a guide as you go along – to try this out I made a fabric cover for my machine using the guide, and it meant that the quilting was evenly spaced. Click here to see the tutorial to make a cover.

Extras

I bought a few extra things for my machine that have come in handy (to varying degrees). If you want to have different feet for this machine, each one costs about £15, so you’ll need to bear this in mind. I chose to get an invisible zip foot and a darning foot for freehand embroidery. The zip foot is really easy to use, but I would suggest a practice run first. It does come with its own instructions in the packet, and they are easy to follow.

The darning foot is a bit more tricky to use, to be honest! This is definitely something that will need lots of practice. It was also a little bit awkward to set up the first time, but I think it will be easier next time. I made this when I was playing around with this foot, and it’s something that I’d love to master.

I also bought a bias tape foot for attaching bias binding to quilts. However, there is obviously a knack for this foot and I don’t have it – I cannot get it to work at all! I’m going to try to persevere with it, but you may find it easier to use your standard foot for binding and stitch the back of your binding by hand.

Ok, I think that’s about it! Oh, I did read about this little computer keyboard hoover on Tilly and the Buttons a while back, and it is really useful for cleaning out the machine. I should also say that I recommended this machine to a couple of my friends, and they love it too. I hope that you have found this review helpful! And no matter which machine you choose, happy sewing

***Please note that this is not a sponsored post – I bought this with my own money and wanted to give you a genuine review of this Janome machine.***

Post updated 14th August 2016.

The post Sewing machine review: Janome Sewist 525S appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

You’ll need about half a metre to cover these files, which I got from Paperchase. Over the years, I have learnt that you get what you pay for with magazine files, and I was always forever buying those cardboard ones that break after a little while. These are super sturdy and much wider than normal ones, so you can fit more in too! They are £7 each but are worth the investment, I promise.

You will need

A magazine file (or as many as you need)

Half a metre of fabric to cover each one (pre-washed and ironed)

Some A3 card

Pencil

Sharp scissors

Mod Podge and a paintbrush (I just used the matt one, but use whatever you have)

Step 1

Make a template of your magazine file by drawing around it on the card – you just need to draw around one side and half of the back (the deepest bit) and then measure the bottom and front (the shortest bit) as a separate piece (see below). I added a couple of centimetres around the edges of the side template to allow for overlap, except for along the bit where it is half of the back. This edge will be placed along a fold of the fabric when you cut out.

Step 2

Place the larger template with the deepest edge along the folded edge of your fabric. Cut it out carefully, and then repeat with the rectangular template (which does not need to be cut on a fold). Then open out the larger piece of fabric, face down, and position the file on top.

Step 3

Once in position, spread some Mod Podge on one side of the file – you need a fairly thin layer but enough to make it stick. Pull the fabric over and smooth out any creases. Repeat with the other sides. If there’s a hole in the side (for pulling the file off the shelf) you can either cover it up as I did with mine, or cut a hole in the fabric if you prefer. I covered it for easiness!

Step 4

Next, carefully spread a little Mod Podge on the inside of the edges, and fold over the fabric and stick down. You’ll need to snip the fabric a little for neatness.

Step 5

Now stick down the edges at the bottom, and then cover the rest of the area with Mod Podge.

Step 6

Take the rectangular piece of fabric and place it carefully along the edge, and then smooth it down. Then repeat with the front section and neaten the edges inside too.

Ta-dah! You’ll have to let the file dry before you can use it – you don’t want all your magazines to stick to the insides!

Now I can tidy my magazines away in style! And when I have a craft room one day, they will go in there perfectly Until then, I’ll be storing these in our study. The great thing about this project is that you can cover these to suit different rooms and styles. Yay!

The post Fabric covered magazine files appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

So the first thing I made were these record placemats for my lovely sister and brother in law. They got married last year too, and had a record-themed occasion (Ant is seriously into his records – what he doesn’t know about dance music isn’t worth knowing!). I originally found this project in issue 41 of Mollie Makes magazine, which came out way back in June, and had them in mind since then.

I wanted to match the middles of mats to the colour scheme that Naomi and Ant had at their wedding, which was teal and purple, but I just couldn’t find the right thing that I had in my head! I found this selection of fabrics in John Lewis – most of them are from the Glow collection by Amy Butler, and they compliment each other really well. 30cm of each one was more than enough to make these and to have a bit left over for my ever-growing fabric stash!

The next project I made was a perpetual ‘paper’ chain for Helen – when I saw them I immediately knew that she would like them. I found it in a wonderful book called ‘Stitch the Halls‘ by What Delilah Did, and then they printed it in Mollie Makes too! But it’s such a lovely book that I’d highly recommend investing in it for next year, and I’m so pleased that I have the other projects to work on as well.

These chains are definitely a labour of love, but are really lovely! I had never used waste canvas before (and actually bought the wrong thing at first – get the right stuff here). The ESTs (Estimated Stitch Times) given in the book are quite accurate, although it did take me ages to stitch the stags, and it took me about 20 minutes to remove the waste canvas.

[vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”6488,6484,6485,6483″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1417803771710{padding-top: 30px !important;}”]Plasticard is a new material to me (I got mine on eBay) but it’s really great for strengthening felt and I’ll definitely be using it in future projects. I got a pack of seconds with a few scratches on and this made it cheaper – no-one will tell when it’s sewn in!

I’m so pleased with how they turned out! I also made a fabric envelope to keep them in. In case you’re wondering how long the chain is, I made 12 links in 6 different colours and they fit nicely above a door frame with a small piece of ribbon at each end. It’s the kind of gift that you could add a couple of links to every year, which would be great!

My final make this year was our Christmas cards – I had the photos for this printed out for so long but it took me ages to get around to making them and we didn’t get them in the post until the 19th December. Oops! Tom took this photo in Keswick last year and we knew it would make a lovely card. I made them size A7 with mini envelopes to match (if you’d like to make some envelopes and cards this size, click here for my tutorial from last year).

What did you make for presents this year? Were you lucky enough to receive a handmade present? I received some wonderful craft books, so look out for more projects in 2015!

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