Archive for the category “Christmas Crafts”

27 Nov 2018

Christmas Fayre time again!

Hello Blogiverse!

Can you believe we are nearly in December already, and it’s Christmas Fayre season?

I’m going to be at Portesbery School’s Christmas Fayre next Sunday 2nd December from 12pm – 3pm. Do come along if you are local, it’s a lovely event and there are loads of fun activities for children, plus a superb raffle and tombola for big kids 😉

Portesbery School’s Christmas Fayre 2018

See directions to Portesbery School here…

Here are some of my Christmassy creations! I really enjoyed making these hoops using upcycled pieces, including denim, ribbons, jute twine and buttons. The little Stop signs are recycled from my children’s long-abandoned train set!

New upcycled Christmas hoops

And it wouldn’t be a ShabbyShe stall without my classic favourites – all made from repurposed juice pouches!

Bags and pencil cases made from Capri Sun packs

My Capri Sun upcycles

Posted in Christmas Crafts, Home Decor, Homemade gifts, Upcycled or Repurposed and tagged applique, bags, Capri Sun, Christmas, christmas crafts, craft fair, craft fayre, DIY, embroidery, Etsy, fabric, gifts, handmade, home decor, homemade, lunchbox, recycled, Repurposed, Sewing & Fabric, stationery, Upcycled, xmas | Leave a comment

22 Nov 2015

6 Comments

Blogiversary!

Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I have neglected my beloved blog since August! I had the urge to write today, logged on and find that it is 3 years to the day that I started this little project. I love coincidences like that 🙂

My only excuses are the usual: 1) work and family life taking over (happy with family doing that, but as for work…!) and 2) I’ve been busy with craft fairs and my Etsy shop.

Let me show you my latest upcycled makes, on a Christmas theme …

burlap hoop with rustic heart design

This embroidery hoop art is made using hessian (burlap) and scrap fabric, which I’ve upcycled from curtain fabric samples. I used free machine embroidery to applique the hearts to the hessian and make the strings. I love the cute rustic look of this piece, ideal for lovers of shabby chic decor.

embroidery hoop art using upcycled fabric

This green spotty fabric is the perfect backdrop for my cute birdcage hoop. Again, I sketched the birdcage design using the sewing machine without a presser foot. It’s quite hair-raising when you first try it, but I’m addicted to this technique now! The flower is a piece of scrap ribbon and a little bead, and a bead also makes the upcycled fabric bird’s eye!

Here are my most Christmassy designs, which I’m hoping will attract someone’s eye at my forthcoming craft fair next weekend (details here) or on my Etsy shop.

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To make these Christmas themed hoops, I used both free machine and hand embroidery and some felt. I love using felt as it’s such a versatile fabric and of course non-fraying.

So that’s what I’ve been up to, how about you? Promise I will be back soon, I’ve missed this! x

Posted in Christmas Crafts, Home Decor, Homemade gifts, Upcycled or Repurposed and tagged Advent, applique, Christmas, christmas crafts, DIY, diy teacher gift, Easy crafts, embroidered pictures, embroidery hoop, Etsy, felt craft, flowers, gifts, handmade, home decor, homemade, hoop art, rainy day fun, recycled, Repurposed, scrap fabric buster, Sewing & Fabric, Upcycled, xmas, yuletide

26 Dec 2013

2 Comments

Christmas Heart Garland: Felt craft

Christmas garland of felt hearts

This pretty garland in Christmas colours is a quick and easy decoration I made for this year’s festive season. It is so simple that even the most reluctant sewer could cobble it together in no time!

Here’s the How to…

1. Simply take two felt rectangles in contrasting colours – I used red and green to give it a Christmassy feel – then fold and sew your first piece along the longest edge to join it. (I used my sewing machine for speed, but you just do a quick running stitch by hand).

Step 1: Fold a felt rectangle lengthways and sew along the long edge to join

2. Next, you need to cut a straight line along the other long side (not the side you just sewed) – so you now effectively have two rectangles joined on one side only.

3. Now, open the newly cut edge and fold the felt around through 180 degrees, and sew this edge together.

A cut heart – by folding and stitching the fabric back on itself a heart shape is created.

4. You now have a sort of heart shaped tube – all you need do to create the hearts now is to cut this folded & stitched felt tube at 1.5cm (or 1″) intervals.

Red and green felt heart pieces, ready to be strung together.

5.Follow the steps above for your other felt piece and you have two colours of hearts which you can attach to eachother to make a garland.

I used a needle and thread and simply strung them vertically, but you could fabric-glue them side by side to make a horizontal garland just as easily.

To retain their perfect heart shape I recommend fabric-gluing them to stiffen the heart shape as there is movement in my design, but I quite enjoy the imperfection so am leaving mine as is!

What do you think? x

Posted in Christmas Crafts and tagged Advent, cheap craft ideas, Christmas, gifts, homemade, rainy day fun, Sewing & Fabric

30 Nov 2013

2 Comments

Adventures in Advent Calendars

Re-recycled Advent House, ready for some Advent Adventures!

Time to wheel out our huge advent calendar again (recycling in action!) It’s lovely creating new Christmas season traditions when you have a family of your own, and this one will continue as long as the kids want to do it! Last year if you remember I tried giving them little Advent Activities to enjoy instead of gifts, sweets & stickers (see https://shabbyshe.wordpress.com/2012/12/01/advent-season-already/) – it was a massive hit with them and my son actually asked if we could do the same again this December!

It’s such a nice alternative to those chocolate calendars which have them baying for more sweets at breakfast time! Plus whoever heard of an Advent calendar having 25 doors – it should be 24, right?

For this Advent season, I’ve used my heart shape cutter to make little hearts and written an activity or event on each one.

Paper hearts for the Advent Activities

This requires careful consultation with my diary to make sure I don’t plan something we’re doing something else. Now they are both in school, we can include some school activities such as Christmas parties which makes life easier!

I then folded up the hearts and wrote the date, all ready to stick in the little numbered windows. Easy as pie!

What are you doing for Advent this year?