Poison Ivy Key Chain + Necklace + Hairband

Lately I have been playing around with iron beads, creating a lot of different makes from designs I have found online but also coming up with a few designs of my own. Something that is a mixture of the two is this is gift set I made for a special little someone who is a fan of the DC Superhero Girls, I had also previously made her a Poison Ivy & Wonder Woman topsy turvy doll seen here.

For this set I used a square peg board and iron beads, also known as perler, hama and pyssla beads. The first piece is a key chain of Poison Ivy that I actually designed myself. She is small, about 6.5 cm tall, which is a cute size for a keyring. Once she was designed and ironed together I added a jump ring and a cord that I made myself from a waxed green cord, cord ends, smaller jump rings and a lobster clasp.

This necklace was inspired by the flower that is seen on Poison Ivy's belt. The centre flower is from a design I found online, however the vine / leaves were designed by me as I wanted a more statement necklace rather then a plain flower necklace. After the pieces were ironed I connected them with jump rings and then made the chain from a silk green cord, cord ends, smaller jump rings, a lobster clasp and added a few chain links to make the necklace size adjustable if needed.

This last piece, also a flower, was yet another design I found online, however I did have to design the green leaf part myself. After ironing this was hot glued to a plain black head band that I bought from ebay, I actually bought a few of these very cheap. Overall I was very pleased with how this Poison Ivy gift set turned out, I especially liked the necklace which is definitely a statement piece.

Sailboat with bonus Sea Star #2

It has been a while since I have posted about my sailboats, the first can be seen here. This is yet another gifted make, and as with the first was intended as more of an ornamental decorative piece but if it got played with some then that's good too. It's always nice to know my gifted makes are being enjoyed. This green version also has its matching sea star or starfish, just as I made for my first blue sailboat.

This sailboat and sea star was made in exactly the same way as my first, only with green materials instead of the blues. I again used two skewers, measured and cut, to create the mast and boom and stitched the sails onto these. The sails and and small flag are made from two pieces of material sewn together, turned inside out, ladder stitched shut, then ironed so as too be strong and sturdy. The body of the boat, along with the sea star, is stitched together, turned then stuffed before being ladder stitched closed, with the boat being stitched closed around the mast.

I used the same pattern to make this sailboat as I used to make my first and found it easier the second time around as I now had an idea of how to make this. The first time I made this there were no instructions with this pattern and I had to figure out for myself what materials to use, such as the skewers for the mast, and how to make it work. The full standing size of this sailboat is somewhere around 12 inches and along with its sea star is makes a lovely gift set.

Faery Rag Doll #6 Gnome doll + desktop wallpaper

A new addition to my faery rag doll collection, and another gifted make, is this Gnome doll. Although you may have seen this gnome already in my blogs banner along side my faery rag doll, this is the first blog post about him and as this particular gnome was given away I do feel I need to make another to keep my own faery doll company.

Using the same basic pattern as my faery rag doll, I altered it only slightly to make his shorts and top look as opposed to the faeries all in one dress / body, and also altered the faeries leg pattern to create the gnomes boots. Lastly I excluded the faerie wings and instead made a pattern for the tradition gnome cap.

As with my other faery rag dolls, this gnome doll has black safety eyes, blanked stitched hair and large embroidered ears. The red cap was made separately and was easily removable however I decide to stitch it to the head as this gnome was gifted to a wee child and I didn't want the cap to end up lost.

I so love these little dolls and actually made this last image into a desktop wallpaper sized 1366x768, to download click on the picture and "Save Image As" to save to your computer or alternatively you can select "Set As Desktop Background". Let me know if your having any problems with this or if any other size is preferred.

Sailor Moon Crystal Wallpapers set18 - Shitennou

Originally the Shitennou were the four generals and bodyguards of Prince Endymion. But that was long ago in a past life. Reborn in the present, these four Shitennou have been possessed by the negative energy of the Dark Kingdom, turning them against their former Prince to serve the evil Queen Beryl.

These Sailor Moon Crystal wallpapers feature the four Shitennou, Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite and Kunzite. To download click on the picture of the wallpaper you want and "Save Image As" to save to your computer or alternatively you can select "Set As Desktop Background". Please let me know if your having any problems with these. Hope you enjoy.

Harry Potter Golden Snitch Bookmark & Hedwig + Hogwarts Letter Key Chain & Harry's Trunk Box

This is a Harry Potter gift set that I made for a little Harry Potter fan, my nephew. I used iron beads to create these, which is always a fun craft for me. This set includes a golden snitch bookmark, two key chains, one of Hedwig and the other a Hogwarts letter, and lastly a box made to resemble Harry's school trunk.

Although there are many designs for a golden snitch online, I made this golden snitch by combining a couple of these designs to create a look I liked. Using a square 29x29 peg board, the finished design was ironed pretty well flat on both sides to make it as thin as possible so the finished snitch could be comfortably used as a bookmark, with the finished size being about 13.5 cm tall.

These two key chains were made directly from patterns I found online and seemed to me to be the perfect designs for key chains. The snowy owl and the letter, aka Hedwig and the Hogwarts school letter, are very iconic to Harry Potter and were a must to include in this set. The actual key chain part is also handmade by me using yellow rope, jewellery endings, jump rings and a lobster clasp.

Harry's trunk was a bit trickier to make. After searching online for a Harry Potter themed box of some sort and finding nothing, I finally decided to design one myself and this is the end result. I first looked online for some reference pictures to get an idea of how it should look before I began. Then starting with a blank 29x29 peg board I mapped out the base of the box and worked my way from there.

The process of designing this box was easier then I thought it would be, with the interlocking side pieces being the only real tricky part of the design process. Once I had the box shape I wanted and had determine the lid size, I then added the colours, the orange bands, and designed the extra pieces, those in yellow.

The yellow pieces added to the finished box were the two handles either side of the trunk, the Hogwarts crest design to sit on the lid and the lock to sit on the front of the trunk. I also added a magnet closure which, along with these added yellow pieces, were hot glued to the finished box to create the trunk. The finished trunk size is about 5 cm tall, 12 cm long and 7 cm wide.

I was so pleased with how these turned out and so too was my nephew. I was especially happy with how Harry's trunk turned out having designed the whole thing from scratch. I ran out of so many colours making these but it was a lot of fun and I plan on making more Harry Potter / Fantastic Beasts themed items as soon as I can get more iron beads.

Sailor Moon Crystal Wallpapers set17 - Venus & Kunzite

Long ago the Guardian of Love and Beauty fell in love with the Knight of Purity and Affection. Tragically these lovers were torn apart, only to be reunited in the future as enemies. The most heartbreaking thing about this couple is that unlike her fellow scouts, Sailor Venus remembers her past life and her past love shared with Kunzite. Despite her feelings she still stands against her former love to protect Sailor Moon.

These Sailor Moon Crystal wallpapers feature the couple Minako Aino and Kunzite (as seen in the first two wallpapers) and the alter ego Sailor Venus again with Kunzite (as seen in the last two wallpapers). To download click on the picture of the wallpaper you want and "Save Image As" to save to your computer or alternatively you can select "Set As Desktop Background". Please let me know if your having any problems with these. Hope you enjoy.

Topsy Turvy Doll mini - Doll & Sailor Saturn

This is a smaller version of my topsy turvy dolls, seen here. I am making a few of these smaller dolls as gifts. My other topsy turvy dolls measured about 14 inches from head to head and about 16 inches from head to hem making them an ideal size for young hands to hold, hug, carry and play. These smaller dolls are made as decorative art doll pieces, this one in particular is made for my mum.

These smaller topsy turvy dolls are made following the face templates that originally came with this pattern, that is the traditional happy / sad faces of a flip doll. Unlike my other, original sized, upside down dolls where I copied the faces to match that of the characters I was creating. For these simpler faces I embroidered black for the eyebrows, black and white for the eyes, a pale tan colour for the nose.

Depending on the facial expression, different eyebrow shapes are used to help convey a happy or sad look, as seem in the pictures, as well as different lip colours, either a red for happy lips or pink for sad lips. Also, as with the other original sized topsy turvy dolls, these smaller flip dolls also have the embroidered definition on their hands.

As this red headed doll was made for my mum, I gave her a hair colour that matched my mums. Her hair was stitched on in the same ways I stitched the hair onto the original sized topsy turvy dolls. Starting first with a layer of yarn to cover the head so that if there are gaps in the second layer no bald head will show through. The second layer of yarn to be stitched on is done so to create the hair length and loops.

This black haired topsy turvy doll has her stitched in the exact same way, with both being finished with a fringe as both my mum and Sailor Saturn have fringes. As just mentioned, this black haired doll is based on Sailor Saturn as she is the sailor soldier who coincides with my mums birthday. However this is more of a simplified representation of Sailor Saturn using only her black hair colour and purple fuku colour.

These smaller topsy turvy dolls are an ideal size for display as an art doll measuring about 8.5 inches from head to head and about 9.5 inches from head to hem as the skirt hangs a little lower to fully cover the doll under it. As with all my sewn projects, this was completely hand-sew, including the hair and dress. I am so very pleased with how beautiful this smaller flip doll turned out.