How to: Make a Needle Felted and Embroidered Heart - A DIY Tutorial

 

 

 



So, you have a bit of fiber and want to make a quick something?  Go grab yourself some felting needles or a Clover Felting tool, a Clover felting mat or piece of  thick foam, a heart shaped cookie cutter, some embroidery floss and an embroidery needle, and let's get started!

 

 

1.  Place your heart cookie cutter onto your Clover Felting Mat, or a block of  thick foam.

 

2.  Place some fiber into your cookie cutter. 

 

3.  Using your Clover Needle Felting Tool begin to pounce gently at the fiber, being careful not to hit your felting tool on your cookie cutter.  And be extra cautious to keep your fingers out of the way of the felting tool!  Let me tell ya, that thing hurts!!!! It has lots of little barbs on the needle and is very, very sharp! OUCH.......

 

4. Continue pouncing and punching (don't get aggressive now.....haha!) your fiber with your needle felting tool, flipping it over and pouncing both sides until the fibers have felted together nicely.

 

5.  Now make a second heart.  

 

6.  Enjoy the stress relief that all of that jabbing and punching is freeing you of! 

 

7.  Free hand embroider a design onto one or both of your hearts.  I only did one side because I wanted to add a pin back on the back side so that it could be worn or added to a bag, scarf or whatever.  But if I were going to make an ornament or something out of it, I might have chosen to embroider both sides.  I just embroidered a few little leaves, a vine and embroidered French knots to represent flowers.  Do whatever you wish! It's yours to play with and have fun with!

 

 

 

8.  Place the two hearts together.  I took a single felting needle to kind of felt the two hearts together, a bit.....being careful to not jab my felting needle into my embroidered design(s). 

 

9.  Sew the two hearts together using a blanket stitch or whatever stitch you would like to use. 

 

10.  Sew a pin back to the backside of the heart if you want to make it into a brooch or an embellishment that you can pin onto a scarf, hat, bag or whatever!  

 

You can also add beads, buttons, ribbon or whatever other little embellishments that you wish to incorporate into your design. 

 

Just have fun and enjoy being creative!!

 

Happy needle felting!

 





Knit Stuff Owl Toy A Handmade Gift Idea

Cute owls..... they are everywhere! On bedding, purses, clothes, socks and so much more! And it is no wonder! They are adorable!  So, while I was over on Ralvery I saw the cutest little hand knit owl pattern.   Wouldn't it be cute to knit up several of these and attach them to a knit I-cord for an owl banner for the baby nursery!  Or as an owl ornament!  Cute, cute cute!!!  And they don't take very much yarn or very much time at all. A very thrifty gift that is sure to be loved by a wee one on your gift list!

Instead of using felt for eyes, as the pattern suggested, I just hand crocheted a circle and added cute buttons to the center. Make sure to use safety eyes if the owl will be used by a child. 

Want to make a knit stuffed owl for someone on your list? You can get the knit owl pattern for FREE!   Many thanks to Jenna Krupar for sharing her pattern! You will need to sign up for Ravelry first to access the pattern.  It's free to join Ravelry and there are lots and lots of free patterns there and many that can be purchased too.  You should check it out!

Have you made any handmade toy gifts this season? I would love to see if you want to share!

Happy knitting!

Decoupaged and Glittered Eggs Egg Art and a DIY How To Tutorial

Glittered Easter Eggs

Better late than never I suppose! I was really pushing it this year to get the childrens keepsake Easter eggs decorated in time for Easter!  It is a family tradition each year that I make some sort of keepsake eggs for them. The children look forward to them and each year they bring out their past years eggs to display. Each year I gift them a new Easter egg to add to their collection.  Eggs from the past years have included hand sequinned eggs and also hand painted eggs.   This year I opted for a quick way to decorate the eggs since I was so pressed for time.

Here is a DIY egg decorating tutorial for decorating your own eggs and a list of supplies that I used, but use your imagination and choose what you like!  

Large Wooden Ostrich Eggs with Flat Bottom
Folk Art Acrylic Paint
Martha Stewart Glitter Paint
Jolee's Butterfly Stickers
Collage Pauge Matte Finish
E6000 Glue
Recollections Adhesive Faux Pearls Flat Back
Crystal Clear Glitter
Krylon Glitter Blast Sealer
Sandpaper
Foam Sponge Brush

 Shabby Cottage Style Easter Eggs



Sand the eggs with sandpaper to ensure a smooth painting surface.  Paint the eggs using a foam sponge brush applying a couple of coats of the Folk Art acrylic paint until complete coverage has been achieved.   Allow paint to dry between coats and sand slightly between coats for a smooth surface.  Next I painted surface with the Martha Stewart Glitter Paint to add a bit of glittered shimmer. Allow to dry thoroughly.  

Keepsakes Easter Eggs

If your stickers have any mounting tape adhesive on the back remove them so that your stickers will lie flat on the eggs. Apply a small amount of Collage Pauge to the eggs wherever you would like to place the Jolee's stickers and also apply a small amount of Collage Pauge to the back of the sticker and apply the sticker to the egg.  Press the sticker firmly onto the egg. This may take a while to get the sticker to adhere.  Once adhered to the egg, apply several coats Collage Pauge over the stickers allowing to dry between coats.  

Shabby Cottage Style Pastel Easter Eggs

During the final coat of the Collage Pauge  and while the egg is still wet with the decoupage medium sprinkle the crystal clear gitter over the egg covering the entire surface.  Be careful in handling the egg taking care to not remove the glitter during handling.  If some does get removed allow the egg to dry and reapply more decoupage glue and more glitter on the places that have lost the glitter through handling.  Allow to dry overnight.  Seal with several coats of Krylon Glitter Blast Sealer, allowing to dry between coats.

Egg Art 

If you wish to add the Recollection Faux Pearls add a dab of the E6000 clear glue to the back of the faux flat back pearls and press firmly in a pattern of your choice.  Allow to dry. The faux pearls already have a sticky back but the E6000 glue should hold the faux pearls more securely. It's strong stuff!!

Decoupaged Easter Eggs

Enjoy your decorated eggs! Great for collecting or Easter gift giving! And a sweet little keepsakes for the children!

Easter Crafts

 

Did YOU do any Easter crafts this year? I would love for you to share!!

 

 

*Always follow manufacturers safety directions for their products! Be safe!

 

 

 

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