Prancing Deer Cushion

Die used: Prancing Deer

I've been using the Prancing Deer die recently for a project that I can't blog about just yet but I really love this die and so have carried on using it to make something that I can post about! It's such a classic, stylish deer shape and perfect for some Christmas crafting - I have a plan to make some paper and card deer bunting nearer to the festive season with one in the chain sporting a mini red pompom on it's nose. For now though I've been using it to make an appliqué patch to embellish a cushion cover.

Applying a piece of iron-on adhesive (fusible web) that is slightly larger overall than the deer to the reverse of the appliqué fabric

and then positioning the adhesive-backed area over the cutting area of the die and cutting with a Big Shot

results in one perfectly cut out deer.

I cut out a simple cushion front and peeled off the backing paper from the die-cut deer and pressed it in place in the bottom right-hand corner of the cushion front. Then, with a scrap of fabric pinned behind the deer to support the patch, I sewed an outline all around the inside edge of the deer sewing twice around the body but just once over the antlers (just carrying on past them on the second circuit).

It is quite an ornate shape but a perfectly stitched outline isn't required just one that will hold it in place securely, a sketchy outline looks really effective especially over the antlers.

Once the appliqué was done it was just a case of sewing an envelope back onto the cushion front and turning it the right way out. Voila!

I think this die is going to see a lot of use over the next 2-3 months.

Happy sewing!

Felt Ice Cream Keychain and Brooch

Hello there! I’m Anna from Café Creativo and I am so excited to share this project with you today!

This week I am bringing you a project that will help use the fabric and felt scraps ;)

I made these jewels textiles. I thought it would be lovely to share a tutorial to make a small last minute gift for this summer.

 

 

I die-cut the bits and pieces using the new seasonal dies from Echo Park collection.

I chose ice cream to make a Keychain and some hearts to make a Brooch.

 

 

 

Make a textile brooch using leftover fabric and felt, it’s so perfect for a summer t-shirt!

 

Here’s how you do it:

Cut out one medium heart from felt, one small heart from your fabric.

Pin and sew the two hearts together.

Glue or sew on the back a strip of fabric and a piece of lace.

Add a button, a rhinestone and a decorated pin.

If you want to make a brooch sew a brooch bar onto the back. If you are making a keychain add the ribbon loop and keyring at the top and add a second heart on the back.

Blanket stitch around the edge of the heart with a contrasting thread colour.

Your brooch or keychain is finished!

 

 

Happy Summer! ♥

 

Brooch - Items used:
Sizzix Big Shot Plus Machine Only (White & Gray) (660020)
Sizzix Bigz Die - Heart Trio (660452)

Other: scraps of fabric, scrap of felt, lace, button, rhinestone, pin, brooch bar, sewing machine, thread.

 
Keychain - Items used:
Sizzix Big Shot Plus Machine Only (White & Gray) (660020)
Sizzix Bigz Die - Ice Cream Cone & Scoops #2 (660453)

Other: scraps of fabric, felt, piece of thin ribbon, keyring, pom pon, pom pon yarn, pom pon trim, lace, sewing machine, thread.

 

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Per le amiche italiane! :)

 

Ciao, sono Anna di Café Creativo e sono felice di condividere anche oggi un nuovo progetto!

Questa settimana vi mostro un progetto che contribuirà all'utilizzo degli avanzi di stoffa e feltro, che si accumulano sempre.

Ho realizzato, infatti, dei bijoux tessili, molto simpatici ed adatti all'estate, che si possono realizzare con pochi materiali, anche in vacanza ;) Ho pensato, quindi, che sarebbe stato carino condividere un piccolo tutorial...

Ho tagliato i vari pezzi utilizzando le nuove fustelle della collezione Echo Park. Tra tutte le bellissime forme delle fustelle Bigz, oggi ho scelto il gelato per fare un portachiavi - grigri e i cuoricini per fare una spilla. Ma ci sono anche deliziose cupcake, farfalle e persino una macchina fotografica!!! Da collezionarle tutte! :D

Un progetto facile è quello della spilla, che è perfetta per ravvivare una semplice t-shirt estiva!

 

Ecco come si fa:

L'elenco materiali è in fondo ;)

Tagliare un cuore medio dal feltro, un cuore piccolo dal tessuto prescelto.

Spillare e cucire i due cuori insieme.

Incollare o cucire sul retro una striscia di tessuto e un pezzo di pizzo.

Aggiungere un bottoncino, uno strass e uno spillo decorato.

Se si vuole fare una spilla cucire sul retro un base per spilla. Se si si preferisce fare un portachiavi aggiungere il nastro e l'anello portachiavi in alto e posizionare un secondo cuore sul retro.

Eseguire poi un punto festone intorno al bordo del cuore con un filo di colore in contrasto.

Ecco fatto, la vostra spilla (o portachiavi) è pronta!

 

Buon Ferragosto! ♥

 

Spilla - Materiali:
Sizzix Big Shot Plus Machine Only (White & Gray) (660020)
Sizzix Bigz Die - Heart Trio (660452)

Altro: ritagli di stoffa, ritagli di feltro, pizzo, bottone, strass, spillo decorato, base per spilla, macchina da cucire, filo.

 
Portachiavi - IMateriali:
Sizzix Big Shot Plus Machine Only (White & Gray) (660020)
Sizzix Bigz Die - Ice Cream Cone & Scoops #2 (660453)

Altro: ritagli di stoffa, feltro, nastro, portachiavi, pom pon, lana pom pon, passamaneria pom pon, pizzo, macchina da cucire, filo.

A vintage bounting for Summer Time

Hi everyone! How is going your summer ? Great and creative ? Of course mine is full of free time to enjoy with my Sizzix dies and  trying a new project. Today I come with a Summer Bounting , although I could say this one finally  looks like a Christmas project in July, lol.

Well, I wanted to sew some decorations for home or even our caravan, and here it is. I love bounting and I used some Sizzix Dies.

This is a very easy protect.

Supplies :

98" bias ( mine is bought)

98" pom poms ribbon

Fabric for your letters

Fabric printed  for your banner  and fabric backing

Double side fusible web 

Thread for applique

Banners&Hearts Die

Fresh Blossoms Alphabet Dies

Big Shot Plus 

First you must to iron  your fusible web as instructions are said for yours on the wrong side of the fabric.  Cut out each letter with the alphabet dies

Them cut out ten banners top, and back ( 10 each one ) I cut out the hearts too for using in other opportunity.

Press your letters on the printed banner and sew around  with straight stitches mating the same color thread.

Now you have all the letters sewn.

Lay the backing fabric wrong side together and sew around too with the same color thread you used. 

Finally add the pom poms and bias. I sew all together at the same time. 

And you have do it !!!

   

I have to say I love inside my caravan  giving some vintage style as I like. 

Now , it matches with the cute vintage caravan kitchen cloth I showed before.

 I am enjoying it in my patio   too   and getting  a summer decoration  with the Vintage Dresden Table Topper  and my Easter basket  . Just go there  if you want to see the tutorials.

Hope you are having fantastic holidays!

Have a good weekend!

See you in two weeks with something new!

Love

Mercedes

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¡Hola a todo el mundo! ¿ Qué tal está  yendo el verano? ¿ Está siendo estupendo y creativo? El mío desde luego y sobre todo disfrutando con los troqueles de Sizzix y probando cosas nuevas.

Hoy os traigo un banderín de verano aunque bien podría decir que se trata de un proyecto de navidad en julio, por los colores , ¿ verdad ?

Hacía tiempo que quería una de estas decoraciones para casa o incluso para nuestra caravana y aquí está por fin. ¡Me encantan los banderines y además he usado los troqueles así que objetivo cubierto!

Este proyecto muy fácil de hacer lleva los siguientes materiales:

2.50 m de bies ( el mío es comprado)

2.50 m de cinta de pom pom

Tela para las letras

Tela estampada para cada banderín y otra lisa para la trasera de cada uno.

Entretela termo adhesiva de doble cara  para aplicar las letras.

Hilo para la aplicación del color de la tela de cada una de ellas.

 Banners&Hearts Die

Fresh Blossoms Alphabet Dies

Big Shot Plus 

Lo primero es  planchar el termo adhesivo por el revés como indiquen las instrucciones. Cortar cada letra con la Big Shot y los troqueles.

Luego cortar cada banderín  y sus traseras ( 10 de cada uno).

He aprovechado también para dejar unos corazones cortados que ya usaré en otra ocasión. 

Planchar las letras centradas sobre el top del banderín y coser con puntada recta alrededor. Mirando las fotos te haces una idea.

Coloca debajo la trasera del banderín , revés con revés y cose alrededor también con el mismo hilo y clase de puntada.

Finalmente añade  el bies y el pompón , cosidos a la misma vez ¡ Y ya lo tienes!

Tengo que decir que me encanta dentro de la caravana y que le da el estilo vintage que yo quería.

Además hace  juego conel tapete vintage de caravana que os enseñé no hace mucho.

También va genial  en el patio dando una decoración veraniega y vintage junto con el tapete dresden y la cesta que hice en Pascua y que ahora tengo de macetero.

Espero que estés teniendo unas estupendas vacaciones.

Que pases un buen fin de semana y nos vemos en quince días.

Cariños

Mercedes

Father's day - super hero, superstar

As promised another blog for Father's day - and it's quick as well, glasses case and a phone cover -

 

All you need is a tie or too - now I raided my husbands ties - but I did ask - take a hint that if you use his best tie he isn't really going to like what you've made with it.

If you love him dearly but he embarrasses you so much - then make sure that the tie you choose, from his wardrobe, charity shop or store, is really outlandish and choose crazy colours for the lettering!

One word - the tie does need to be quite wide because we are going it make a glasses case, or a phone cover.

I used the Bigz™ XL Alphabet Die - Word Play by Tim Holtz® -657837 http://www.sizzix.co.uk/product/657837/sizzix-bigz-xl-alphabet-die-word-play

 with my Big Shot™ Plus 660020 http://www.sizzix.co.uk/product/660020/sizzix-big-shot-plus-machine-only-white-gray

or you can use the BigShot™ 660200http://www.sizzix.co.uk/product/660200/sizzix-big-shot-machine-only-white-gray
For alternative items I also used Bigz™ Die Stars 656339 http://www.sizzix.co.uk/product/656339/sizzix-bigz-die-stars
and Bigz™ Die Heartfelt by Tim Holtz -660233 http://www.sizzix.co.uk/product/660233/sizzix-bigz-die-heartfelt
 

You will also need a small amount of fusible web (Heat and Bond, Bondaweb or similar) and a similar small amount of fabric for the letters.
Fuse the web to the wrong side of the fabric for the lettering and cut out the letters that you need - for the first glasses case I'm using  1 each of s u p h o, and 2 each of e and r.

For the glasses case - I measured the glasses 15cm and added a couple of cm for ease and then doubled it - so I cut the tie to 40cm long. 

As I am going to stitch letters onto the right side I undid the stitching on the back of the tie, and opened it out flat. (Now I forgot to take a photo with the tie open so we are looking at my next tie)

Arrange the letters within the length you need for the glasses and then fuse them in place and stitch them -



The back of the tie is re-stitched and the narrow hem is turned in and stitched -

Next fold the tie so that the 'case' is the right length, and pin the layers together -

 and stitch the layers together.

Add a button and a ribbon loop to complete the case -

this one is because everyone knows that if you take off, or put on your glasses you can become a superhero!!
Which then led me to think of a super star -

and then I thought of a cover for a phone  - the tie needs to be cut to about 30cm for this and because it is smaller the word had to be shorter - so -

Hope you like these and are tempted to make one or two, and maybe keep one yourself!
Have fun, enjoy the weekend.
Angela

 

Another Triangles Cushion!

Die used: Triangles, Isosceles & Right 4 1/2in H Assembled

Having set myself an ongoing homework assignment a week or two back to practice different quilting styles and experiment with colour and print combining, I began another cushion practice-piece using my (new and still very exciting!) Big Shot Plus. It's great to be able to flip through some dies and choose one without too much planning and get straight on with it safe in the knowledge that everything will fit together perfectly!

This time the plan was to experiment with and gain a better understanding of low volume fabrics and not always play safe with white and cream/beige. I wanted a row of focal print isosceles triangles running across the centre and so with that as the starting point I used the isosceles and right die to cut 4 triangles from different prints. Next was a dig through my stash and scrap box for some low volume fabrics to cut 8 half isosceles to sew on either side.

Once they were joined in a row I cut the rest of the half isosceles, stitched them together in pairs to give rectangles and played about with a few layouts. I almost went for this one

but settled on this arrangement instead.

Once it was all together it became clear that not all of the low volume fabric was low enough and some of the focal fabrics not strong enough, resulting in the full isosceles triangles blending in more than I'd hoped. It's been a good lesson to learn though and I love the piecing design - it would look really great as a table runner. I've tried bringing the full isosceles triangles out more with the quilting and hopefully adding some bright pieced binding will bring it to life more.

We'll see in next week!

Personalized Canvas Tote Bag with Big Shot Plus

Hello to all you lovely and beautifully talented Sizzix fans! I am so thrilled share my project with you today!

In my opinion, one can never have too many purses and bags. And I think most women are this way ;) A tote or stylish reusable grocery bag is a great gift for a female of any age. I'm sharing an idea pretty simple to give a personal touch to the canvas bag...

 

 

This tote is embellished with machine sewn felt leaves:

 

 

Make this personalized bag using this step-by-step guide:

 

Items used:

Sizzix Big Shot Plus Starter Kit (White & Gray) (660515)

canvas tote

floral fabric

scraps of felt

sewing machine

 

 

- Using the Big Shot Plus Starter Kit and the Bigz die, die-cut two branches with leaves from felt.

- Cut a piece of floral fabric slightly smaller of bag and zigzag-stitch border - this prevents the fabric from fraying.

- Layer and sew the branches. Sew together above the front bag.

 

This is my second bag, that I customized with a handmade felt brooch.

 

I created the brooch with some flowers die-cut with Big Shot Plus Starter Kit and the Bigz die.

 

 

2^nd Bag- Items used:

Sizzix Big Shot Plus Starter Kit (White & Gray) (660515)

canvas tote

brooch pin

floral fabric

scraps of felt

pom pom yarn

sequin

needle and thread

hot glue gun

 

A stylish accessory and a beautiful gift for any girl friend, mum, aunt or daughter... I love the possibilities of making the plain canvas tote your own, especially since the materials are super budget friendly ;)

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed today's inspiration.

Anna

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Per le amiche italiane! :)

Ciao a tutti! Eccomi pronta a condividere il mio progetto Sizzix di oggi!

Secondo me, le borse non sono mai troppe! E credo che la pensi così la maggior parte di voi ;) Per questo motivo una borsa o una shopping bag riutilizzabile è un bel regalo per “ragazze” di qualsiasi età.

Eccovi quindi un paio d'idee piuttosto semplici per dare un tocco personale ad una semplice shopper.

Nelle foto in alto, osservate la prima borsa, che ho abbellito con un po' di stoffa ed un'applicazione di foglie di feltro. In fondo trovate le spiegazioni passo-passo.

Come vedete dalle foto ho abbellito anche una seconda shopper: per questa mi è bastato personalizzarla con una spilla di feltro. Ho creato la spilla con alcuni fiori tagliati con il nuovo Big Shot Plus Starter Kit e la fustella Bigz inclusa.

E' facile quindi creare un simpatico accessorio alla moda, un regalo per amiche, mamme, zie, figlie...

 

Eccovi il tutorial step-by-step:

1^a Borsa - materiali:

Sizzix Big Shot Plus Starter Kit (White & Gray) (660515)

borsa shopper di tela

tessuto floreale

ritagli di feltro

macchina da cucire

- Utilizzando il Big Shot Plus Starter Kit con la fustella Bigz inclusa, ritagliare due ramoscelli dal feltro.

- Tagliare un pezzo di tessuto floreale leggermente più piccolo della borsa e cucire il bordo a zigzag per impedire al tessuto di sfilacciare.

- Sovrapporre e cucire i rami nell'angolo in basso. Cucire quindi tutto il pezzo sopra il fronte della borsa.

 

2^a Borsa - materiali:

Sizzix Big Shot Plus Starter Kit (White & Gray) (660515)

borsa shopper di tela

base per spilla

tessuto floreale

ritagli di feltro

lana pom pon

paillette

ago e filo

colla a caldo

 

Grazie per la visita. Spero abbiate apprezzato il mio tutorial di oggi.

Anna

Simple Circle Strings

My son, Aidan and I have had lots of fun this week making super-easy circle strings to decorate the house and tree with this Christmas. Aidan has been fascinated by the Big Shot for a while and so was delighted to get the chance to help me use it. At 7 he's too young to operate it without adult supervision but he was more than happy to just be in charge of handle turning whilst I handled the die and dealt with the fabric.

We used the Circles, 3/4in die to cut all of our circles and used 6 different coloured felts in total (as selected by Aidan).

Once we had a sufficiently large pile of felt circles they were then fed them under the presser foot of the sewing machine one at a time, sewing straight down the centre. The next circle was fed under just as the last stitch was made on the previous one so that they were chain pieced together.

I can't remember where I first saw the idea for these but I expect it was somewhere on Pinterest. They are so quick and easy to make and really effective, we made an 8ft or so string in little over half an hour from start to finish.

They make a great simple decoration and could even be used as a trimming to tie around gifts too. We might try a different shape and colours next time, little hexagons would look good. Aidan is hooked on making them and so by the start of December I'm expecting the inside our house to be webbed.

Advent Calendar part

This is my first ever blog post for Sizzix, it's about an advent calendar project and I'm a bit worried that posting a Christmas-related project in October is a risky move, I know it's still a long way off so please keep reading! The head start is only to ensure that there's plenty of calm making time before the hectic Christmas season with all of its other commitments starts up in a month or two.

The first stage is the background that the pockets will be sewn onto.

I used the Half-Square Triangles, 4 1/2in Finished Square die to cut 48 white triangles (approximately half a yard) and 48 red printed ones to arrange in diagonal stripes to look like candy-cane stripes.

I used a selection of 6 red printed fabrics, 8 of each different print works out perfectly (approximately a third of a fat quarter for each print) but I just chopped away with my Big Shot as the mood took me (it's easy to carried away) so have more of some than others. Also, a fabric that has a print with a clear 'right way up' like the deer one can't be folded over for cutting but needs to be laid the right way up on the die with the diagonal line dividing the triangles on the die running in the same direction as the pieced stripes will. Otherwise some of the triangles will be cut the wrong way round (I *might* have some leftover wrong-way-round triangles lurking on my cutting table).

Next each red triangle was sewn to a white one, pressed and then laid out in a 6 squares by 8 squares rectangle.

After much tinkering with the layout they were finally sewn into 2 x 2 blocks and then into rows before being joined fully (finished size approximately 24" x 32").

It was so quick to make and I'm so pleased with the result that I think a festive cushion in the same candy stripe pattern may have to be added to my to-do list for later.

Next up is the Square, 4in Finished die and Lollipop Shadow Numbers to make the pockets - which I'll post about next time.