Love Defined

(cross posted with The Blanket Stitch)

Hello! For today's post I have been busy making a wonderful heart decoration that was picked up from a craft shop, and I have been umming and ahhing over what to do with it ever since. Its actually taking me a fair while to get it made, due to not really knowing what I wanted. 

 

 When I made my 'Imagine' canvas a few weeks ago I loved the colour of the paint so much that I ended up painting the heart while I was at it, however, from there I didn't know what I wanted to do, so it had been left untouched, until now.

I was also making something for Fathers Day, and when I finished that I decided to keep going and finally finished the heart! 

 

 I started with a smaller heart I had painted that I knew I wanted to attached to the main heart. Using a Paris stamp and Victorian Velvet Distress Ink, I created this look on the smaller heart.

On the larger heart I stamped, again using Victorian Velvet Distress Ink, a sheet music background.

  

Using some pink wire, I added this to heart, and wound it round the stick.

    

For the centre of the piece, I used some cream paper, stamped quite haphazardly with Old Paper Distress Ink and edged with Vintage Photo to give it an old look. I then rolled the top and the bottom to make it look like an old scroll. Then, using a Tim Holtz stamp I stamped the centre of the scroll, using black archival ink.

 

Underneath the scroll I have placed a tag shaped piece of card, with a floral pattern.

  

To the right hand side of the scroll I have added a small silk/fabric flower.

  

This was really simple to make in the end, and I left it with this as I feared if I added anymore it would become to fussy. 

  

The final outcome... ...What do you think? 
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Working with felt is one of the easiest ways to create gorgeous pieces to scatter around your home, and something that is super easy to get children or beginners to try out!

Takes these hearts we've been making, they are easy to make and look gorgeous hung around the home.

All you need:
Felt
Thread
Buttons (to decorate)
Stuffing

How to make a felt heart:
1. Cut out 2 identical shaped hearts out of the felt you are using (you can use the same colour or two different colours - it is entirely up to you!)

2. Line them up together, and using blanket stitch, stitch around the outside of the heart, binding both sides together.

3. Leave a small gap towards the end of stitching, and stuff heart with a small amount of stuffing to pad it out.

4. Finish stitching and close up the hole.

5. Decorate the front of the heart however you wish.

6. Attach some thread to the top of the heart.

Let me know if you try this, it really is a great, fun way to make cute little bits to decorate your home!
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When I saw an idea for a product in a magazine (I think it was 'Sew' but I can't be certain...) I decided to give it a go and see how I did with my own variation.

As usual I plowed in head first, not really thinking too much about how I would do it, and sort of had to develop it further as I went along, and despite taking the best part of the afternoon I couldn't really fault the way it turned out!

I started by cutting out some squares in felt to the desired size. I decided my wallhanging would contain three squares, all centred around a pink theme, yet all different in colour, yet corresponding with each other.

For each square I cut out two squares, the one that I would sew on to and one to use as backing to hide all the horrible stitching that you would be able to see.

I decided 'Home Sweet Home' was a good slogan for all a wall hanging and quickly decided that I would have the image of a house, a heart and flower, to represent nice things about the home.

So I got to work...

I started by sewing a border on each one, so I knew what area I could work within, and I then got to work cutting out the house, heart and flower to fit.

I stitched each one to their square, using blanket stitch, and also using threads which correspond to the colour theme of the piece.

I then set to work sewing "Home Sweet Home" in freehand.


Next I attached the ribbons to the help it 'hang' and threaded in some buttons to make it look pretty.


Last of all, I attached the backs, to hide all the ugly stitching, and sewed them to the front, using blanket stitch.


Although the whole thing from start to finish was very easy, it was time consuming, but I overall I am very pleased with the end result!
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Happy Saturday Crafters!

Today I wanted to share with you a project that was very personal to me and one I was very pleased with the way it turned out. I hope you enjoy it...

When I set out to make this cushion I didn't even have an idea in my head (which is what generally happens with my most favourite pieces), I just knew I wanted to make something for my best friend, I wanted to incorporate elements of her personality into it, and I wanted it to be totally her style.

So I took a blank piece of fabric, I closed my eyes and I thought about what I wanted it to represent to her. At the time I was making it she was facing an important decision about where she wanted to be, and from there, it came easily.

(Stay tuned later for a step by step guide of how I made this cushion)

The "Live. Laugh. Love" is a phrase we are all very familiar with these days, its everywhere, on everything, and I think for a lot of us, it does mean a lot. It's all we really want and need out of life. For someone with a hard choice, its nice to be reminded of that.

The heart shape idea obviously came from the idea of love, what girl in this world doesn't want to be loved!

I found this cute ribbon, which I put over the corner of the cushion, emphasising what the cushion was trying to portray.

The idea for the plane, came from her love of travel. She's a free spirit, she's travelled, she's lived abroad, she loves embracing different cultures and seeing new places.

This cushion was surprisingly easy to make, although the main part was long winded to stitch, I really enjoyed it, and I think its always nice when you're excited about making something beautiful for someone who is special to you.

How I made the "Live. Laugh. Love" Cushion:

1. Cut out two pieces of fabric the desired size of your cushion.

2. Cut out a smaller square that will fit on your cushion. This will be the centre point to your cushion, and will be where your stitching will take place.

3. Next, using either a stencil, pre-cut letters or free hand, cut the words Live, Laugh, Love out of fabric. You can use either all the same fabric, or different fabrics like I did.

4. Next cut out the plane shape and the heart shape.

5. Pin words & images to the fabric.

6. Blanket Stitch words in place.

7. Blanket Stitch images in place.

8. Stitch the vapour trail from the plane, through the heart and up the material.

9. Cut out a piece of wadding the same size as the centre piece, and place this under the centre piece and stitch it to the main fabric of the cushion. This will raise it up and bring it out of the cushion.

10. Stitch the two main parts of the cushion together, back to back, and turn through.

11. Now here you have two options, if you've made your cushion with the idea of putting another cushion filler inside it, you will need to add a zip. I, however, made my cushion with the intention of just stuffing it. I stuffed it until it was quite padded and then stitched it up.

12. Voila!

I hope you enjoyed this blog post, let me know what you think in the comments!

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