Gingerbread Lady Tags / Ornaments

I made a few of these to attach to gifts in place of Christmas tags. I thought they could double as an extra tree ornament gift. The photos taken are of the two gingerbread ladies I made, one red and one green. I also made a few gingerbread men tags/ornaments in the same colours however I didn't get a chance to photograph those before they were given away.

For the pattern I used gingerbread cookie cutters. It was ridiculously easy to make these, I found some festive fabric, blanket stitch with yarn, stuffed and added a hoop for hanging. They turned out really cute, its just too bad my photography skill are lacking so you can't see just how cute they are. Sorry about that but I was in a hurry... next time I will try harder to get a better picture for you.

Poinsettia Hair Clip & Holly Hairpin

I wanted to make something a bit different, something christmassy and fun and this is what I came up with. This poinsettia hair clip is something festive I am thinking of wearing Christmas day. It is quite a sizeable hairpiece that will look great with my hair pinned up.

I found the design for this doing a google search and made it using iron beads hot glued to a hair clip. There are a number a different types of iron beads you can use including perler, hama and pyssla. The beads are laid out in designs of your choice and ironed together. Its quite a relaxing craft and the results are very satisfying.

Alternatively if I decide on a more subtle look I may instead wear this holly hairpin. Its made in the same way as the poinsettia hair clip and the design was again found doing a google search. Both look super sweet so I guess I'll see which one I feel like wearing on the day.

Hanging Mobile

This is another experiment with printing onto fabric. The pattern is actually for a Paper Hanging Mobile, however I thought they would look great as fabric figures and I just love the way these little woodland figures turned out.

I couldn't decide if I wanted to make these figures into the mobile they were intended for or to keep them individual so I added the loops to give me the option of both. I also thought they would make cute ornaments for the Christmas tree.

This is yet another Fantastic Toys pattern by Timothy Haugen. Although this exact pattern seems to be no longer available there is a similar Hanging Mobile pattern available as part of the Gnome Toys Freebies, a set of five paper toys, available HERE FREE.

Christmas Tree

With the first of December comes the tradition of getting out the holiday decorations and putting up the Christmas Tree. But in a hot Australian summer, Christmas and its decorations are not always so traditional. But I wanted to make something simple, sweet and christmassy and this is what I came up with.

This was made with a simple tree design and hand-sewn together with a festively patterned print fabric. I didn't have any ric rac trim ribbon but I wanted to create the look of it, so I sewed on standard silk ribbon in a way to mimic ric rac which turned out not too badly. To finish I sewed on coloured beads for the baubles.

Pink Paper Fawn

A simple paper craft that I could not resist making, this adorable little woodland fawn with its wild mushrooms was just too cute that I had to make it more then once. I printed a second copy at a reduced size ending up with a mama and baby fawn set that is just so sweet.

I also experimented with printing onto fabric which was pretty tricky to sew as the paper pattern tabs became my seam allowance, but not all sides had tabs and hand-sewing so close to the fabric edge without fraying it was very difficult. However I managed to figure out how to sew it and I think it turned out really well in the end.

This Pink Paper Fawn is another FREE pattern created by Timothy Haugen at Fantastic Toys, available HERE. I just love the patterns available from Fantastic Toys and have a few more that I will hopefully have ready to post soon.

Celtic Interlace Knot Medallion Necklace

I loved the idea of this necklace and found it a fun project. Making this with my Knitting Nancy reminded my of when I was little and would use those plastic spool knitters to create long lengths of knitted cord that I did nothing with... At least here I got to create something beautiful and wearable.

For this necklace you will need a spool knitter, only 2 pegs are used so if you have a 4 peg knitter like I do you can use THIS tutorial as I did. You also need yarn, lots of yarn. I just used a black wool I had on hand but you can buy something fancy or glittery as described in the projects tutorial. The tutorial also uses the same knitted cord as your actual necklace but I preferred to use a chain that attached to the knitted medallion by jump rings.

This is a free tutorial and pattern available HERE from Lion Brand Yarn Company, the PDF download for this is located under the Pattern Details tab. This necklace was created by Noreen Crone-Findlay who has a number of other tutorials and projects on her blog.

A Primitive Faerie

When I discovered this unique little creature I had to make it. With its big ears, slender wings and pointy nose, this faery is unlike any other you will find at the bottom of the garden but still manages to be at home on a bookshelf.

Made of simple cotton fabric, hand-sewn, with yellow safety eyes and painted pink accents this is one of my favourite makes, and when I have time I hope to make more of these.

A pattern and tutorial for this beautiful faery is available HERE. It is a FREE pattern by Jennifer Carson at The Dragon Charmer where she also has a number of other free patters available.

Gnomie Paper Doll

I not only enjoy sewing but crafts of all kinds and I have a large collection of paper crafts that I have yet to get around to for one reason or another, a big reason being the printer ink I would go through to create them all. But when I found this pretty little gnome girl I couldn't help but print her out.

My photography skill may not be the best but you can still see how charming this little paper doll is, with her hats and dresses any little girl would love to play with this gnome doll. Alternatively you could set her up in an outfit of your choice and use her as part of your christmas/easter/birthday/other decorations.

This Gnomie Paper Doll is just one part of a set of five Gnome Toys Freebies available HERE. This FREE set is created by Timothy Haugen at Fantastic Toys who has a number of paper craft sets available for free as well as for sale.

Teddy Bear

This cute little teddy bear is one of several I made as gifts for my family a few years back. Originally I had planed to make dolls for the girls and bears for the boys, but as I stated in my previous post I was not the happiest with how my doll turned out. This was nothing to do with the actual pattern but with my own skills or lack thereof.

Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the other teddies I made, only this little one. To make these bears I actually printed the pattern at a reduced size and hand-sewed, which took a while to finish as I made a few of these.

About half the bears were made similar to this bear using old denim jeans for the main body and nose with different coloured fabrics for the details, in this case an old striped shirt was used. The other half were made from flannel for the main body and nose, again with different coloured fabrics for the details. All were given button eyes and a lovely new home, all but this one that sits on my bookshelf.

I was quite pleased with this pattern and how these bears turned, hence the multiple bears made. To make a teddy for yourself or someone you love the pattern and tutorial is available HERE FREE from Joy at How Joyful Blog.

Cloth Doll

A few years back I began sewing gifts for my family and although this doll is one of the first things I made I never did make another like her. She spends her days sittings on my bookshelf as I decided I didn't quite think her good enough to gift.

She was hand-sewn, along with her dress with a ribbon tie belt, and her facial features have a sewn outline that is filled in with paint.

There were a few things about this doll that I didn't like, the head closure was one thing and her eyes are another. I just think her looking up looks a bit funny.

Overall though she is not bad and the pattern was simple enough and best of all free. If your interested you can get this pattern HERE. It's a FREE pattern from Beth at By Hook, By Hand and there are also patterns for several items of clothing to make for this doll which is a bonus. Patterns are found on the left sidebar about halfway down under the heading Prairie Flower Cloth Dolls.