When I first picked up my iPod classic and saw the easily scratchable back I knew one thing immediately - I needed a case!

Cases these days tend to be fairly plain for iPod's (and not to mention very expensive for what they are!) so I decided to design my own.

That's when I decided on the sleeve design. Easy to use, durable, washable and keeps your iPod clean and safe, and most importantly...unscratched! They are made from soft material and padded inside for extra protection.

All you need to do is pop your iPod inside the sleeve and let the sleeve do the rest! You can even squeeze your headphones in too!

These are great as presents or even just for yourself.

Check out our full range of cases in our Folksy Store.

*These cases will fit the following iPod's: Classic, Touch and also the iPhone.
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This, I think, is a great idea for a small present for relatives, and particularly great for children to make for parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. And best of all, they are so simple to make!

All you need to do is cut your aida to the required size, and decide on which colour threads you want to use.

Then all you need to do is stitch their name into the aida, for children you can just draw on the aida so they have a simple guideline to follow.

Tip: Its also nice to do a little border around the edge too.

When finished back onto some felt to hide any messy backs and loose threads.


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Ever heard of a Bridal bib? No, neither had we, but apparently they are right up there in requests that are coming from blushing brides.

So, what do they do?

The idea of a bridal bib is to cover up the brides dress while she eats, it stops any spillages dropping on to the dress and therefore no stains!

So when our good friend asked if we would design her something to that effect it was a first for us. We had a look around at possible ideas and got to work on making something beautiful and unique, just like the stunning bride-to-be.

We decided to make it in an apron format, to give the greatest coverage for the dress. We wanted it to be practical yet beautiful, so while the beautiful dress is covered the bride still looked and felt amazing.

We widened the top edge to fit in with the style of the dress, which was an off the shoulder design, meaning that a large portion of the top of the dress was covered.

We didn't want the bib/apron to detract too much from the dress underneath, and we also didn't want it to appear to 'busy'. We chose simple detailing using colours from the theme of the wedding - Lilac & Sage.

Here is some further detailing on the bottom of the bib/apron.

In the bottom corner we stitched a small cross stitch to personalise it. It says the names of the bride and groom and then the date of the wedding.

This is how it is to be tied at the back.

Our 'Handmade by Blanket Stitch' ribbon inside.



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If you're looking for another craft to keep the children entertained through the summer holidays how about egg cosy's?

Egg cosy's are a cute way to keep your boiled eggs warm in their egg cups, and children (and Adults) can customise their egg cosy however they like, making this a fun craft for the whole family.

First work out roughly the size you will need your felt to cover the egg and top of the egg cup.

Next you will need to cut out two half moon shapes out of felt in relation to the above.

Decide on how you would like to decorate your egg cosy. I have just decorated the front, but you can decorate both sides if you wish. You can use felt, buttons, material...literally anything you want! This is a craft you really can be creative with!

When you've decorated your egg cosy, its time to sew it together.

Sew, using blanket stitch, around the top of your egg cosy, leaving the bottom open, so you can pop it over your egg!

We'd love to see your creations!
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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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Just a quick on today... you may or may not know (depending on whether you follow me on Twitter or not (I am FizziPop25 FYI) ) that I have a teenie tiny baby kitten. 

She's four months old now and we've had her for almost 2 months already, she's the light of our lives and keeps us constantly on our toes. 

While busily crafting for Blanket Stitch the other day, she was determined to get involved, pulling bits of thread, climbing through the material, attacking felt, climbing in our draw unit and trying to get her nose (and paws) in some paint. If she can get involved, she will! 

So, I thought, what can I do to make her leave us alone to craft in peace?

So I made her a toy mouse...to go along with the other 40,000 mice that are littered around the house!

It was so easy to make, and the little toad is now always wandering around the house with her little pink mouse in her mouth (thats when she's not creating havoc or sleeping).

1. Decide on the size mouse you want to make, nothing to small and fiddly.

2. Cut out a shape (double it up so you only have to sew one side) out of the colour of felt you wish.

3. Cut out some felt for the tail and choose a different colour for the ears.

4. Using thread sew in some eyes and then attach the ears.

5. Using blanket stitch, sew the top together, almost all the way to the end, just leaving enough of a gap to stuff it.

6. Using some thread sew in a nose on the front.

7. Using a child safe stuffing (like you would get for Teddy Bears).

8. Sew up the end, sewing in the tail as you go.

So there you go, in eight easy steps you can make a cute toy for your pet!

Do you have any pets you have made toys for? Leave me comments about what pets you have, what toys they love and maybe I can feature them all in a blog post at a later date!

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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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Not my usual form of craft I must say, but when my friend mentioned about buying a cupcake class from Groupon I couldn't say no - who could! An afternoon of sugary goodness and cupcakes to bring home! Lush!

I took the class with my friend at Sweet and Floral Sugarcraft School in Enfield.

First things first, we separated our fondant into different shaped balls, following a chart, for the things we were going to make.

Next we learn how to colour our fondant, not using the usual shop bought liquid colours (this makes the icing too watery and difficult to work with) but gel colours. We were taught how to add the colour and work it through. We then got on with colouring each of our balls of icing.

The first thing we started doing was the bow cupcake. When I looked at this I thought 'eeeek' how am I ever going to be able to do it, but I think you'll agree it worked out pretty well! We were talked through everything step by step and although I felt too heavy handed, it worked out ok! And I thought the colours looked cute together too!

Next it was on to making roses, this is what I was scared about! Knowing that when it comes to delicate work I often feel very heavy handed I was concerned if I would be able to be delicate enough to do well. Well, I don't know what happened, because how the hell did I produce two amazing looking roses. It must have been a total fluke!

And last but not least, we made doves, using little cutters.

Then we piped the buttercream onto two of the cakes, two different ways, and competed our cakes.

I honestly thought I would struggle more than I did, and was pleasantly surprised with the results!

Below is how my friends cupcakes turned out too!

It was a brilliant day and you totally need to check out Sweet and Floral Sugarcraft School for more information on different classes!
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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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When we were asked by a great friend of ours if it would be possible for us to help her make some vintage bunting for her forthcoming wedding, we were so excited to help!

First things first, we discussed with the bride just what kind of bunting she was looking for, looked through various patterns and ideas and eventually settled on something she was comfortable with and what she envisioned for her big day.

This wasn't an ordinary commission however, with the bride knowing exactly what she wanted and being one of us artsy types, she was going to join in with the making with us. So we set aside a day, and the bunting making began.

We set up our sewing machines, in the presence of a true sewing machine great, and 1960s Singer. Thats right folks, not only were we making vintage bunting, we were making it on a vintage machine, it could not have been more appropriate if we had tried.

So, we got to work!

First we agreed on the size of the flag, and each got working on cutting out the material. We had a huge amount of vintage style material to work from.

After cutting out the triangles it was on to stitching them together. The bride had opted for double sided bunting, so we would need to stitch two triangles together (inside out) and then fold them in the right way, they would then need to be ironed flat and sewn onto the binding to make a gorgeous string of vintage bunting.

So all that needed doing now was ironing and sewing onto the binding.

Stay tuned for part 2. Coming soon.

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After being invited to a dear friends in late November, we were treated to mulled apple juice (which was delicious!!) Mince Pies and the most delicious gingerbread I think I have ever tasted! Our main purpose there was a workshop to teach us all how to make beautiful gifts using Servietten Technique, a technique in which you use a serviette/napkin/tissue to decorate a variety of objects.

The technique is simple… Choose your object, ensure you’re using the correct glue (for anything other than fabric use Decopatch glue which can be bought from Hobby Craft). Cut out the size or area of a serviette you wish to use, you can use the whole thing (see coaster above) or just individual parts (see Candle below). Then peel all the layers so you only have the top layer (this is very important!!!). Cover the area which you section of serviette will cover, with a light smattering of glue, then allow to dry. When the area is dry, cover the image on top with glue, start at the inside and work your way to the outer edge, being ever so gentle so as not to tear the serviette – this seals the image. Allow to dry!

If making a coaster, like above, use a kitchen/bathroom tile. These are great, fun & inexpensive to give as gifts, and are really effective I think you’ll agree! If doing this, ensure you varnish (2-3 coats) with a clear, polyurethane varnish to really seal the image and protect it from the heat. Also glue felt to the back to produce a really gorgeous, long lasting coaster.

With the candles all you need to do is put a very light amount of glue on the candle where your image will sit, and then leave it for a while to dry. Then all you need to do next is to put a very light layer of glue, working from the centre of the image out (being gentle so as not to tear the image) and this will seal it.

TOP TIP: Why not make a coaster set as a gift. You could use a larger tile as a teapot stand, and decorate four coasters the same to make a matching set.

Below is a photo of a set I made my grandparents for Christmas, I think you'll agree they'll look awesome.

**All this work is with great thanks to my good friend Laura, who taught me this wonderful craft, and everything I know, I know because of her! Thanks Laura! **
Check out Laura's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ArtbyLaura

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