Quick and Easy Halloween Pennant Banner

I LOVE Halloween! I love it so much that I usually put up my indoor Halloween decorations in August. I figure I spend so much time making and getting them out for display I might as well enjoy them for a while! Here is my first Halloween project of the season, a quick, inexpensive yet very festive Halloween pennant banner.

One of my favorite places for inexpensive holiday decorations is the Dollar Tree and this year it hasn’t disappointed! I found several items including a wood yard sign, a tinsel spider web and these felt stickers.

To make this banner you will need:

Felt stickers

Felt sheets in black, purple, yellow, green and orange

Ribbon

Black embroidery thread and needle

Scissors

Pen

Optional-hole punch

I started by making a paper template of my flag and them making one a bit larger for the black background. Cut smaller flags from purple, yellow, green and orange felt and larger flags from the black felt.

Then stitch colored flags to the center of a black flag and attach a sticker to the center. I used a small hole punch to make a hole in the corner of my flags but you could also make a small snip with your scissors. Run the ribbon through and done!

Cute and simple felt Halloween banner for under $5. 

Thanks for checking out my banner and be sure to check back for more Halloween themed crafts.

Oh Mr. Rabbit...

I have been in a bit of a felt frenzy lately and I love it! Today, I wanted to share my latest art piece which is a tribute to the amazing Mary Blair. Here is my version of her White Rabbit from the book Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland. It is such a beautifully illustrated book I highly recommend it for children or Disney fans such as myself.

This is a 5"x 7" Knoppang IKEA frame with a matted area of 4"x 6".  The image is made entirely of felt (no glue) and hand stitched with DMC embroidery floss. It was all hand cut and sewn by myself.  I took several in process pictures so as you scroll down you can see it all take shape. The first picture of the tiny black felt piece in my hand is to give you an idea of the size of some of the pieces I was working with.  I believe that was the nose, before I trimmed it!

 

Thank you for looking at my latest felt art! If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them or contact me on Instagram or Twitter.

Winnie the Pooh Felt Art

Lots of projects going on lately, but I am particularly excited about having finished this little guy; the always adorable Winnie the Pooh!

This is another one of my felt art pieces measuring 9.5x7.5 inches. It is made entirely of felt and embroidery thread, no glue is used at all and I stitch and cut everything by hand. We are big Disney fans, as in we go there about once a week, and one of my favorite attractions is The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. (That ride along with The Haunted Mansion made me decide to pursue a degree in scenic design and become the artist that I am today) If you have rode the ride it as many times as I have, you may have noticed as you go into Owl’s house there are pictures all around. Off the lower right is the cutest picture of Winnie the Pooh and that is what I wanted to recreate in felt.

I love that picture! My awesome husband was quick with the camera and able to snag a picture of it so I could show you just how cute it is. Originally, I was going to just paint said picture but then I stumbled upon an oval frame in a thrift store. While it’s not the prettiest frame it had a certain charm to it and I knew right away what I would use it for. Here are a few in-process pictures so you can see how it took shape.

 I also remembered to photograph the back before I framed it. I usually get so wrapped up in finishing it I forget but the back really shows how much work went into a piece. 

I have been asked if my felt art is for sale, unfortunately if an image is copyrighted/trademarked it is illegal to sell fan art based on it with out permission. Someday I hope to be part of Disney's fine art program so that I can share my love of felt art. Thanks for checking out my art work and remember if you are at the Magic Kingdom check out the Winnie the Pooh ride, fun for all ages with or without kids!

How to Clean a Self Healing Cutting Mat

Today I wanted to share a great tip I found on the Olfa cutting site on keeping your self healing cutting mat clean and in good working order. 

When you cut lots of fabric or particularly fuzzy materials you may start to notice a fuzzy residue left behind on your mat. These fibers can get in the mat and affect your quality of cutting. To clean it use an art gum eraser to remove the fibers. The erasers can be found at craft or art supply stores and they really work! Here is a before picture of my cutting mat the white lines are embedded fibers. I even tried scrubbing it with a microfiber cloth first before using the gum eraser.

As you can see I've been using my mat quite a while. When I'm not cutting I sometimes use it on my desk to just protect my work surface hence the dab of red paint on it! Here is the eraser and the same area after I went over it.

Success! The eraser feels a bit tacky but it doesn’t leave behind any residue or eraser bits like a pencil eraser. If you look closely in the picture you can see where the bits actually stick to the eraser. Just wipe it off and continue working until you have gone over the whole mat. I will say my hand was a bit cramped by the time I was done but it was so worth it. I've had this mat about eight years and I thought I was finally going to have to replace it but after scrubbing it with the eraser I'm getting nice clean cuts again. No more taking two and three passes with my rotary cutter!

A big Thank you to Olfa for the tips and I hope you enjoyed my before and after pictures to show it really does work! 

Easy Pillow Cover

I am back as promised with my easy to make pillow cover. Here it is all finished and I promise it's easy to do!

I started with a pillow I found on clearance at Tuesday Morning. It was a great price because the fabric was picked, which was fine by me since I just wanted the pillow form and zipper.

Since my pillow has a cover already, I am using it as my pattern and also removing and reusing the zipper. First, remove the pillow form then using your seam ripper remove the zipper. Now measure the old cover to determine what size fabric pieces you need. Mine measures 17”, so I trimmed my skunk embroidery to size and cut my back piece of fabric. I like to taper the edges of my pillows in a bit so the corners don’t get super pointy. On the open edges, I mark in ½” on the corner then taper it to the edge (about four inches). I marked that line then did the other side, then cut along those lines. I do this to all four corners.

Now iron the zipper. Mine was kind of coiled back, so I carefully ironed getting close to the teeth. If it’s not flat the needled can’t get close enough when you sew and the zipper will show. See how it uncurled as I pressed it.

I then eyeballed laying the zipper in the center of my fabric. Once placed I measured in 2½ inches from the edge and marked this on both the fabric and zipper for front and back pieces. 

To make sewing this zipper extra easy (no pins!) I am going to glue it. I read this tip on Pinterest and I am happy to say it works and it works well! I used a purple glue stick to attach the zipper. Just dab the glue along the edge of the fabric and press the zipper to it lining up the marks. Once adhered I used my iron to really set it. Then I did the same to the other side.

Now it’s time to sew. With the zipper, open and using an invisible zipper foot I stitched as close to the zipper pull as I could get then I did the other side.

 

 

Now to finish up the zipper side, mark where the stitching line would continue to the edge. Sew from the edge to about ½” past where your zipper stitches ended. Do the same for the other end. Notice the overlap.

Now open zipper about half way and lay fabric right sides together and stitch the other three sides. For the corners, some people clip and then poke them out I however don’t like this. I have accidentally poked through the fabric this way so instead I fold along one seam then the other making a corner and then flip. 

Crisp corners without worrying about holes!

Now turn and insert the pillow form and zip closed, done! Just look at that invisible zipper! It doesn’t matter what color the zipper is if sewn properly it won’t be seen. Only the pull tab is visible. Also, you can always paint the pull tab with nail polish if you do want a specific color. Isn’t this animal print so cute! I bought it at Joann’s a while back, I think it turned out perfect for my pillow. 

Hope you enjoy my easy pillow cover tutorial! As always comments and questions are always welcome! Check out my previous posting for information on the skunk embroidery by Alyssa Thomas at Penguin and Fish.

New Favorite Craft Book

Lately I have been in a hand stitching mood. Not just a wanting to sew anything mood but one of those moods where I want to also be able to finish it quickly kind of moods. I was looking through my patterns and craft books trying to decide on a project when I found my copy of  Alyssa Thomas's book Sew & Stitch Embroidery. 

I had that aha moment that this is what I was looking for! I’ve had this book for a while I just haven’t gotten around to trying any of the patterns yet, now was the time. As you can tell from the cover her designs are absolutely adorable! There are so many different animal patterns I can't get over how much cuteness is packed into this book! Here is the first embroidery I tried, it’s a guinea pig.

I love his little toes! Aside from the designs being super cute they are also quick and easy to stitch out, perfect for a beginner. The instructions are clear and easy to follow so I know you will be sewing in no time. That said I have been sewing for years and still love these patterns because I can actually complete a super cute hand embroidered project in an evening. The book also has instructions for making various home decor items and accessories out of your finished embroideries, which is great because then you can show off your handiwork! Here is the link to her website where you can purchase a copy http://penguinandfish.com/sewandstitchembroidery

Lately this book been my go to for fun and whimsical projects. Just last night I finished this little guy.

It’s going to be a pillow cover. The skunk was from her book and I just added some flowers to fill out my pillow shape.

That’s all for today, hope you enjoy the book review and be sure to check back. Next time I will be doing a tutorial on how I make my pillow cover!

Orange Bird Dress

I am a huge Disney fan! I love all things Disney and that includes Disney attire. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a this Orange Bird necklace and bracelet set!

Just look at that cute Orange Bird face!!

I LOVED it but knew that if I bought it I would have to make a dress to wear with it, so last week I did just that. I made myself an Orange Bird themed dress! I used Butterick pattern B4443, and originally was making style F. I wanted a dress with a vintage flair, but not so extreme that my husband would feel uncomfortable being with me and wearing jeans and a polo shirt. This pattern fit the bill.

I prefer sleeves but when I went to attach them to the bodice they were small and sort of stuck out. Knowing that, I planned on wearing a green sweater with the dress I thought the perky sleeves would just make my sweater look lumpy, so I opted for the sleeveless style in C but with a modified belt. I wanted a wider belt with a perky double bow. Having made bow ties in the past, I was familiar with bow making, so I just guessed about the size I wanted and whipped up a quick belt.

After I finished the dress I made one of my signature felties to adorn the skirt. It just gives it that extra bit of Disney flair! Happy Orange Bird!

Here is the finished dress on my mannequin Helena! Does anyone else name their sewing accessories?

 

Taadaa!

 And with the sweater for the full effect.

What do you think? Next time I'm wearing it to the Magic Kingdom!