I just wanted to post a quick clarification of yesterday’s post for creating a bird Christmas ornament with sequins.
I printed the pattern out so that the body of the bird is approximately four and a half inches long:

If you want to adjust the size of the pattern, use the “print screen” button on your keyboard.  Open up your photo editing software (The Gimp is totally free and available online) and open up a new project or page.  Hit “Ctrl” “V” at the same time – that should paste the pattern into the document.  You can then adjust the size from …read more

Hand-made Christmas ornaments make charming little gifts – perfect for tucking into gift baskets or hanging on a package for a friend.  I try and create at least one hand-made Christmas ornament for my tree every year – this year, it’s a little felt bird:

This year, I’m using felt and Bettsi McCombs’ lovely “Folk Bird” pattern to make my ornaments.   I sewed three sequins onto each wing (using my free tutorial from last week) and sewed each seam using blanket stitch.  The eyes are the same beads I used to sew the sequins on.
In one evening I sewed the complete …read more

I’ve created an all-new free tutorial for you – with lots of sparkle and glitz for Christmas!
 
Sequins are a great way to add some extra sparkle to your hand-sewn Christmas ornaments – and they’re really easy to sew on too.
I’ve created a step-by-step guide for hand-sewing sequins for you – but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see how I’m using them in my finished project
image: © C Findlay-Harder

 I’ve been going through my archives to find my favorite Christmas craft patterns from last year for my lovely readers
As always, these are my own original patterns & designs and are not to be copied or reposted elsewhere without my permission.
Here are two more fun embroidered patterns – the first is a machine-embroidered gift card holder.  It’s a great way to play around with different stitches on your sewing machine, and make a cute Christmas gift for someone special!

 This one is for my hand-embroidery fans!  It’s a crazy quilt Christmas card that I created using little pieces of …read more

Yes, I know that Halloween was just here, but I like to get an early start on my Christmas crafting!
I love making Christmas ornaments, and I ended up creating quite a few original Christmas ornament patterns last year.
Here are some of my favorite Christmas ornament tutorials and how-tos from last year.  As always, these are my own original patterns and are not to be copied or reposted elsewhere without my permission.
Dog paw-print ornament (part one and part two):

 Machine-embroidered Christmas tree ornament:

 Russian punch-needle or Igolochkoy ornament (part one, part two and part three):

 Yo-yo Christmas tree ornament:

 Happy Christmas crafting!
all images: © C …read more

I finally got the paw-print ornament done… but I ended up using a different fabric than I started out with
Here’s how it turned out:

I used my embroidery machine to write my dog’s name & “Christmas 2007″ with plain white thread.   I trimmed around the edges and then used a decorative zig-zag stitch to sew the fabric to a piece of white felt as a backing.  The hanger loop is just some 1/2″ decorative ribbon I had handy   I thought it still looked a little plain, so I raided my button jar and used three glittery snowflake …read more

I share my life with three mischievous dogs who I love dearly   I like have ornaments on the tree that remind me of my pets and so I created this project.
If you’re not comfortable using paint on your dog’s paws, just use a small paint brush and paint your own version of pawprints.  If you are going to print using paint & your dog, make sure your paint is non-toxic.  You’ll be scrubbing it off right away, but why take the risk!  Non-toxic paint will have a seal of approval from the ASTM on it somewhere.
Just a reminder …read more

I finally had a chance to sit down this afternoon and finish the embroidery on my latest project, an igolochkoy (Russian punch needle embroidery) Christmas tree ornament:

I used plain cotton DMC floss for the berries, outline of the leaves & the border. The pale green leaves are silk floss that I picked up in a little silk shop in Vancouver. The cream floss is an ombre “Waterlilies” floss by Caron.
I didn’t use a pattern for this project, I just drew right on the fabric – iron on transfers would work great though too! I can definitely tell …read more

Oops.
I just left a very pretty Christmas wreath that I made out of yo-yos & ribbon at a local craft store.
Without taking a photo to share with you all!
It’s a demo for a class I’m teaching in December & I will get it back…  I just should have remembered before I left the store today
I do have another Christmasy yo-yo project though:

It’s a quick & easy 15 minute ornament.  I’ve strung 5 small (1″ across) yo-yos together, with a bead in between each yo-yo.   I made a little decorative picot on the bottom with 4 beads stitched into …read more