Easter Bunny Bunting Tutorial

This year, I wanted to add a little something to my collection of Easter decorations, and decided that some sort of bunting (for the kitchen) was the way to go.  I wasn’t sure whether to go for eggs or bunnies, but plumped for bunnies in the end (maybe I’ll do some egg bunting next year). 

I searched the internet for ages, looking for a bunny template (of which there are thousands) that was quite tall, but thin enough to fit on some strips of backing paper that I wanted to use.  In the end, I just made up my own (to fit my paper).  You could use my template, or find a different shape by doing a Google search.

So, here goes with the tutorial.....

Things you'll need:

• Bunny template pdf (printed on to thick paper or card)
• Pretty papers or card
• Tiny buttons
• Scissors
• Craft knife
• A pencil
• A length of ribbon (mine was about 2m long)
• Needle and thread (or glue)

What to do:

1.  Print out the template (on card, if you can) and cut it out.

2.  Draw around the template on the back of some pretty card (or thick paper).  Cut out the bunny shape.

3.  Cut out lots of bunnies, in different colours and patterns, until you have a nice little bunny family (I made 10).

4.  Stick on some buttons to make your bunnies’ eyes (maybe steer clear of red – I used some red buttons and these bunnies look a bit evil - see a few photos below).

5.  Using a craft knife, cut two parallel lines going down either side of the bunnies’ necks (this sounds a bit brutal, but the bunnies won’t feel a thing).  The lines should be about an inch apart, and slightly longer than the width of your ribbon (so that you’ll be able to thread the ribbon through the holes easily).

6.  Make a loop at each end of your ribbon.  I sewed mine, but I guess glue would do the trick just as well (and in a quarter of the time).

7.  Now comes the fun bit..... arrange your bunnies in a row, and thread them on to the ribbon.  Space them out evenly.

8.  Hang them up, using the little loops you made at either end, and..... tadaaaaaaa!!!  Bonnie bunny bunting, just in time for Easter!!!

  

What have you been crafting to decorate your house for Easter???

Carly

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My Friend the Postman

This week, I have a new best friend – the postman!  We check our mailbox excitedly every evening when we get back from work.  And we’re usually both disappointed.  But, over the last week, my pal has delivered me 3 exciting packages!!!

Inside package number 1 was Issue 13 of ‘Mollie Makes’. 

Look..... free buttons!!!  How cute are they?!  And how pretty is the colour?!  There’s lots of cuteness and prettiness inside the magazine too.  There are so, so, so many things that I need to add to my ‘dream shopping list’.  And there’s a lovely, colourful crocheted cushion tutorial.  I think I might give it a try, to enhance my new-found granny square skills.

Package number 2 contained Issue 11 of ‘Mollie’.  Don’t ask!  It took 3 months (and countless trying-to-stay-calm-and-not-write-any-naughty-words emails) for them to send me my first subscription issue.  And I haven’t received any of the magazines in the right order.....  It was really annoying!  But now I’ve got all the issues I’m due, and they’ve promised me a few ‘extra’ magazines after my subscription officially ends.  So, I’m happy now!

Issue 11 came with a cute kit for making a little Russian doll key ring.  And look at the little mice on the front cover.  Look at that teeny-tiny little knitted cardie!!!  I’d LOVE to make myself and little well-dressed mousie.  But I think it would all be way too fiddly for me.  Maybe one day???  This issue has inspired me to try out some embroidery.  There are instructions for making an embroidered cuckoo clock, and I’d LOVE it for my crafting room!

Package Number 3 was the most exciting one of all!  It contained a giveaway prize from the lovely and VERY generous Jules at The Awkward Niche.  THANK YOU JULES!!!  Look at all the goodies I won.....

         

A cute hedgehog embroidery kit (more prompting for me to get my embroidery on):

A sweet little blue heart:

A kitty key ring (look what he ate for dinner):

And the super-cute ‘Super Cute’ book:

Thanks, postie!!!  What will you bring for me this week, I wonder.....

And thanks again, Jules!!!  Hugs to you and all my lovely blogging friends,

Carly

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Happy Easter!

Hello, my fabulous friends!  I have been enjoying reading your Easter-themed posts SO much!  I’ve loved seeing your super bunny and chick makes, and all your yummy-looking Easter baking! 

I’m afraid I don’t have any Easter makes to show you in return.  While we were at my folks’ in the UK, I finished knitting myself a cowl (photos to come), and tried AGAIN to crochet (no photos in the pipeline yet).  And that was all the holiday crafting I did because, a few days before we left, I started getting a funny rattling noise in my chest and didn’t feel 100%.  So, I went to see the doctor as soon as we got back to Germany.  And I have pneumonia!  Luckily, I don’t need to be admitted to the hospital.  But the doctor has told me I HAVE to rest – as in DO NOTHING!!!  I don’t really know how to do ‘doing nothing’ – I’m normally doing at least 10 things at the same time!  But, I’m TRYING to be good.  I think the ONLY upside of being told to rest is that I have plenty of time to catch up on reading crafty blogs and listening to crafty podcasts.

As I can’t share any Easter MAKES with you, I thought I’d share some Easter BUYS....

I got these cuties from a fantastic shop called Hema.  It sells the cutest, most colourful housey things ever!  Do you have Hema in your part of the world?    

Here are my new thingies hanging on my Easter tree old bits of branch with their new pals.....

I went shopping for these (and did the branch-decorating) BEFORE I got sick.  I’m just writing that in case my mom’s reading and I get into trouble!  ;-)

Oh, and I have to show you the little Easter stamp set I found (also in Hema).....

Wishing you all a very happy (and chocolate-filled) Easter!!!


Looking forward to having a bit of extra time to 'hang out' over at your blogs.....

Carly

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Christmas is Coming!!!

I LOVE Christmas!!!  And I LOVE getting out all our decorations and ‘Christmasifying’ the house every year! 

I’d really like to be able to invite you all (my wonderful blogging pals) over for a glühwein and a mince pie, and show you around.  But, as that’s not possible, I thought I’d share a few of my bits and pieces of Christmas jolliness with you ‘virtually’ instead.....

Can you guess what my favourite colour is?

I hope all your Christmas preparations are going well, and that you’ve been watching plenty of Christmas movies!!!

Until next time.....

Carly

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Christmas Open House Party

I did it!!!  I survived the preparations for my Crafted by Carly Open House Party!!!  It went ahead on Thursday and, all in all, it was pretty successful.  I was a little bit disappointed that more people didn’t pop in to have a browse.  I decided to have it on a week-day-evening, as I thought people might be busier at weekends at this time of year.  Maybe I’ll try the weekend next time, and see if that makes a difference.  BUT, those who did stop by seemed to really enjoy the get-together.  The glühwein went down very well indeed (and the house still smells of it – mmmmmmm)!  I got lots of positive feedback from people about my things, and some suggestions about things I could add to my list of ‘things I make for selling purposes’, and I managed to sell quite a lot of my bits and bobs.  "THANK YOU!!!" to those of you who were here!!! 

Here are some photos of my makes for the event.....

There were lots of things for the grown-ups:

[Toiletry Bags]

[Carry-all Bags]

[Gadget Cases]

[Felt Flower Corsages]

[Purses]

And some things for the little ones:

[Little Girls' Bags]

[Kids' Aprons]

['Find-it' Games]

And, of course, some Christmassy thingies:

[Little Christmassy Houses]

[Stockings]

[I like how they looked all hanging up together!!!]

Here's how my dining room looked on the night of the party:

And what did I learn from my experience?

·         I was right to start setting up the day before (it took me AAAGES to get everything looking as I wanted it to look).

·         It was good to have someone there to help out with serving drinks and letting people in (S was my little helper on this occasion), so that I could be free to chat about my things and generally mingle with people.  S thought he should wear just his trousers and a bowtie for his job on the evening, but we decided against that idea.  Maybe next time???

·         I need to get better at talking about the things I make.  I like them (of course – or I wouldn’t make them), but find it really difficult to ‘sell’ them to other people.  Any tips there???

·         Perhaps the day/time I chose wasn’t ideal.  Next time, I’ll try a weekend.  Around this time of year, it’s hard to know when most people will be free (and have husbands/babysitters at home).  Tricky!!!

·         I think I should have sent out more invitations.  And I should have sent my advertising postcards out with them (as these show the kinds of things I make).  I’m going to have a think about other options for advertising future events too.  Again, does anyone have any good tips on that???

If you stopped by on Thursday, thank you SO much for being supportive.  I really appreciate the fact that you took the time to call in!!!  And thank you to all my super blogging pals for all your words of encouragement and advice.  I wish you could all have been here to share a glühwein too!!!

Until next time.....

Carly

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Christmas Tree Decoration Tutorial

I’ve been ridiculously busy over the past few weeks, preparing for a Christmas ‘Open House’ party I’m going to be hosting on December 1^st.  I’ve been making lots of all my ‘usual’ thingies – bags and pouches and corsages.  But, as it’s going to be a Christmassy do (with mulled wine and Christmassy nibbles, and carols, and my tree up VERY early indeed), I thought I should have a go at making some festive things to sell too.  Coming up with ideas for cute decorations has been lots of fun!  So far, I’ve made some little Christmassy houses and Christmas trees.  Tomorrow, I’m going to have a go at making some mini stockings and (possibly) some little birdies.

The Christmas trees were super-easy to make, and looked really cute when they were finished.  So, I thought I’d post a tutorial on how to make them.....

First, cut out 2 triangles of the fabric you want to use for the tree.  These could be as big or as small as you like (so I haven’t included a template).  Cut out one rectangle of the fabric you want to use for the tree trunk.  This should be twice as long as you want the trunk to be, as you are going to fold it in half before attaching it to the base of the tree.

Now fold the rectangular piece in half (right sides facing), and sew up the sides.

Turn the trunk piece right-sides-out.

Place the trunk piece on the right side of one of the triangular pieces, with the open end level with the base of the triangle.  Make sure it’s right in the middle.  Then pin it in place.

 

Now place the second triangular piece on top of the first (right sides facing).  Line up all the edges and pin in place.

Sew the pieces together, with a 1cm seam allowance.  Leave a small gap for turning your tree right-sides-out.

Now you can turn your tree right-sides out.  I used a chopstick to gently push out all the corners. 

   

Fill the tree with stuffing.  Again, I used my trusty chopstick – this time to poke the stuffing all the way into the corners of the tree.

When your tree is as firm as you’d like it to be, topstitch the little turning gap.  Then use a needle to attach some string or embroidery thread to the top of the tree, so that you can hang it up.  Now your tree’s finished - it’s as simple as that!

You could add some cute appliqué or buttons to your tree before sewing the pieces together, if you wanted it to have more detail.  Or you could make lots of them (as I did) in different Christmassy shades.  I think they’d look cute handing together somewhere!  These ones are to sell at my ‘Open House’ party, but I’m going to have to make some more – just for me!!!

I’m finding it hard to take decent photos at the moment (because it’s still dark when we leave for work in the mornings, and dark again by the time we get home).  But, when I get the chance, I’ll post some shots of other things I’ve been working on for the ‘Open House’.

Hope you’re all enjoying your Christmas crafting!

Carly

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