How to Make a Giant Felt Strawberry

I previously posted a felt project that I’m working on. It’s a special gift and I hope it works out.

I had quite a few people ask me how I made the felt strawberry shown in the post. The ones I’m currently making are more or less real strawberry sizes, but for this tutorial, I will show you how to make big strawberries!

You will need:

• 1 large piece of red felt

• 1 medium piece of green felt

• Embroidery needle

• 2-3 skeins red and green embroidery floss (you may need more for extra large strawberries)

• 1 skein mint or yellow embroidery floss (you can also use red, black or cream floss)

• A generous amount of toy/pillow stuffing

How to Make the Felt Strawberries

Start off with a large piece of red felt (the bigger your piece of felt, the bigger your strawberry will be). Next, you need to cut out a shape like this:

Now take your green felt and cut out a shape like this:

Cut out the pieces and set the green piece aside. Take your mint/yellow embroidery floss and thread it through the needle.  Sew on the achenes (these are the seed-looking things on the outer part of strawberries)  in a random pattern.

Fold over the red felt, so the inside is facing out. Sew along the seam, leaving the top open.

Sew a running stitch along the top edge of the strawberry, making sure to only use one thread (you’ll have to pull it taut in a moment). Do not tie it off, just leave it loose with the needle still attached.

Stuff the strawberry until you get a desired plumpness and pull the thread taut. You should stuff it until you’re still able to pull the top parts shut.

Place your green cutout on top and secure it with a blanket stitch.

There you go!  A simple giant felt strawberry!

If you would like me to show off your felt creations, please send me a message here.

 

 

Origami Sakura to Celebrate Spring

If you are living in Canada like me, chances are you feel like Spring will never ever arrive, but I still have hope for Mother Nature!

In Japan, hanami (cheery blossom viewing) season  will soon begin and I still miss it very much. In an attempt to make our home feel a little more like hanami, I decided to make a bunch of mini origami sakura from small origami paper and my stash of Japanese washi/chiyogami.

If you would like to make these adorable origami sakura for a fun Spring craft, check out the diagram below, or check out the Origami Club animated instructions here: http://en.origami-club.com/flowers/sakura2/anime-sakura/index.html

You can arrange these sakura blossoms on cards, canvases, hang them up, dress up mirrors/windows, create jewelry -anything you can think of!

Check back soon to see what I did with my mini sakura origami.  I hope you love it!

How to Make Envelopes from Heart Shapes

I love all kinds of crafts. Normally, I love to try intricate and difficult craft projects, but most days, I just feel like making something quick and easy.

For those of you wanting to recycle magazines or scraps of paper, here’s a sweet and easy envelope that you can make out of a heart shape.

You will need:

• Scrap paper (magazines, newspapers, gift wrapping…)

• Scissors

• Pen

• Double-sided tape or glue stick

 

How to Make It

Start with your piece of paper. Any size will work, but just remember that the bigger your piece, the bigger the envelope.

Fold the paper in half lengthwise.

Draw half a heart shape from the folded edge (the folded edge should be the middle of the heart). Cut it out.

Open it up.

Flip it upside down and fold in the sides (about one quarter in).

Fold the bottom end up (about one third). Secure the sides with double-sided tape or glue.

Fold the top third down.

There you are, quick and easy envelopes with a cute sweetheart design when the envelope is opened up.

Make them from excess wrapping paper to match gifts, use up interesting pamphlets, flyers and magazines or decorate some plain scrap paper for a more personal touch.

Holiday Decorations for Under $5 – Hanging Yarn Wreaths

My Christmas budget is quite small this year, so I decided to get creative for home decorations. I looked around the house to see what kind of materials I had on hand and managed to gather a few empty cardboard boxes and old yarn. This is what I ended up making:

All I did was secure a thin bamboo stick with some thumb tacks and placed the wreaths on it. This makes them easy to move around until I’m happy with the way it looks.

Each hanging wreath was cut out of an empty cardboard box and then covered with yarn. All I did was secure the end of the yarn with a knot and wrapped the wreath until it was tightly covered.

These lovely little bells are from my old Christmas decoration stash, so I decided to use them in this arrangement instead. I only looped them on the top of the wreath so that I have the option to take them off or swap decorations without fuss.

Here is a closeup of the lettering. The word ‘Noel’ is also cut out from an empty tissue box, then wrapped up with yarn. They may look a bit imperfect, but it’s my handwriting, so I think it looks more authentic *^_^*

If you have any fun holiday decorations that you would like to share, please send me a message or comment below!  You can also get more ideas from my Pinterest page!

 

Simple Gift Box Decorations – Sophisticated “Goodie Bags”

Here are a few small boxes that I decorated as “goodie bags” for my Birthday (yes, I still enjoy giving goodie bags and I think I always will).

The plain kraft paper boxes are approximately 10cm x 10cm x 5.5cm and only cost $1 each.

I tied them up with plain string and added a mini card made from Japanese paper.

I adore these boxes because they were cheap, helped me use up craft string that I already had at home and scraps of my favourite type of paper. Afterwards, the boxes can be reused in the same way or decorated with a collage, paints or even gold leaf.

They are simple and have a soft nature theme, which is exactly what I love.

How to Make Simple Origami Bunting

Bunting has become one of the prime decorations for pretty much any occasion these days. You can buy a wide variety of sizes, styles and colours but the cost can quickly add up over the course of a year. To save a little cash, recycle materials from home and work on a fun creative craft, why not try origami bunting instead?

These mini origami bunting pieces measure approximately 3.5cm x 4cm. They’re great for any small decorations or craft project.

It’s easy to make them, so grab some square pieces of paper and have fun with them!

Start with an even square.

Turn it on the side.

Fold it in half to make a triangle. Make sure to crease it well.

Open it up again.

Fold in the two bottom ends to the middle crease.

Flip it over.

Fold down the top point.