A Fabulous Giveaway

I happened upon voleurdebijoux's blog and found this fabulous giveaway. She is hosting the giveaway for her friend Maggie of DiamondDollsCouture (Etsy).

This is what she's giving away -



To find out how to enter, visit her blog here - click here

And here's what I've been working on lately...my very own felt donut:

It was quite easy and fun to make...watch out for more flavors soon!!!!

Craft Swap

I have been reading craft blogs and forums lately and really wanted to join one of those craft swaps they talk about so much. I decided to try to organize one locally here in the Philippines. I posted in my multiply account to find out if there is any interest out there. As long as I get a minimum of 3 people, the craft swap is good to go.

Its a rainy day out and it makes me want to lay down and stay in bed. I do have a lot to work on though. We'll see how that goes!

I am wondering if I should create a new multiply account for  my felt products. I have been selling handmade accessories online at multiply for a couple of years now under the earthlyjewels.multiply.com website. Once in a while, I do add other craft products I make other than jewelry.

With this new craft interest, that being felt creations,  I am trying to decide whether I should combine it with my accessories & jewelry line. The nice thing about using the Earthly Jewels website would be that it already has its network of customers already set up. Although, I am looking against combining because I do prefer having a cohesive shop where everything being sold in it would be made from felt. It leaves more of an imprint on the mind if the the shop is consistent and interrelated.

So, what would be a good name? I wanted to keep Earthly Jewels somehow in it. Or maybe Earthly Jewels could be the overall brand. I was thinking of Earthly Jewels, "Felt Creations". It does, however, seem like such a common name.

I'll be working on a few items for the rest of the week. I have already drawn up patterns, traced the pieces onto several felt colors I have and cut them out. Next step is the stitching. I plan to draw up a few more patterns and trace them onto felt before I start stitching. Since it gets very hot in our apartment at home towards late afternoon, I usually go out and stay in a coffee shop nearby to my husband's work. I'll be bringing these felt pieces that I have cut out and stitch them there. Its easy enough to carry the pieces with me along with the embroidery thread I'll be using for the stitching.

One of the patterns that I cut out is my Earthbound Alien, Myew Kyu. Here's what they look like when finished:

 

 Working on the other colors now. I definitely need to buy more of those beautiful buttons for their eyes!

The other design i am working for the opening of the felt creations shop are the owls. I think owls are pretty cute with their big round eyes.

I haven't decided what the final product will be...if it should be for a keychain, an ornament or bag charm. It will be easy enough to customize it depending on what the customer wants.

I have a list of other stuff to work on like cupcakes, mushrooms, animal friends etc etc. I just don't know which ones to do first. I should have a few more before launching the shop. Hopefully I will have that done by the first week of September. Good luck to me :-)

It was a rainy day today. I was supposed to continue organizing and cleaning the house today but the cool breeze and heavy clouds made me want to curl up on the sofa and relax. And so I did. Part of relaxing, though, was starting a new project that I have been wanting to begin for the past couple of days now, the Scotty Plush.

I found this free pattern online from allsorts.typepad.com. (click here for the pattern). This dog pattern seemed easy enough to do and I was excited to give it a try. After surfing for more pictures of scotty stuffies, I found a flickr group with pictures of cute little doggies! My mind was made up, I needed one of these cuties!

I figured today would be a perfect day to start. I printed the pattern on an 8 x 10 sheet, cut it out and traced it onto a piece of cardboard. I find that when you copy patterns onto cardboard, it becomes much easier to trace the pattern onto the material you will be using. 

For this project, I tried it out with a violet piece of felt. Here it is after tracing the pattern onto the felt. I usually keep all the scrap pieces after cutting and put it all together in a plastic bin. One can always find good use for scrap pieces such as these.

I hand sewed the pieces using a blanket stitch.

 

I initially started sewing the two body pieces together and totally forgot about the head gusset piece. So, i had to pull out the stitches and start over. Here it is corrected:

It is best to start out with the head part so you can put the stuffing in before it is closed off. Its hard to stuff the ear parts when the legs are already sewn together.

Around noon time, I decided to go for a walk and buy something to cook for my lunch. It was still gloomy outside. So, when I saw this bush of yellow flowers gone wild on the way to the store, it brought a smile to my face. It was quite a contrast from the dreary weather.

 

After a nice walk and lunch, I finished up the dog plush by stuffing it and closing it up. I still have to put eyes on her and give her a collar. But, I don't have any nice buttons or ribbons on hand. That will give me a good excuse to visit the craft store tomorrow. Here she is:

I enjoyed making this little plush toy and I'm sure to make more. I think this would be great Christmas gifts for kids or for giveaways in birthday parties. I think it would also be a hit in bazaars. A kind of "Adopt a Pet" kind of thing. 

Many thanks Ms. Jenny Harris for your generosity in sharing your wonderful Softie Scotty Dog Pattern! I can't wait to make a whole dog litter!

First order of business....organizing! I've been doing crafts almost all my life, from beads to sewing to painting and so much more to mention. Because I've been doing this for so long, I have accumulated so much crafting stuff. The time has come to finally organize everything. I need to go through all my things and hopefully purge some of the stuff that I don't need anymore. This definitely is not an easy task! I feel I can always do something with anything and thus, my collection of junk keeps growing!

I'm determined to have a gorgeous craft space like some of the inspirational craft rooms I saw here on flicker. Espcially Ms. Lindsay Maine's from beautiful craftspace (her blog), pictured below:

 

I like the plastic containers she has on the shelf. That would work for my beads. That blue container of buttons is nice too!

Here's another beautiful Craft room by Ms. Nicole Balch (her blog):

 

Absolutely gorgeous! I hope one day I can finally organize my own craft space. My hubby and I are planning to move to a bigger apartment sometime in the next couple of months and we are in the process of searching for a place. Hopefully we can get a place with a spare room that I can make into a craft space. For now, my goal is to organize the stuff I have, purge the things I don't use or need and start packing for our move to a new apartment.

Its definitely going to be a challenge, with all this junk:

 

Wish me luck!

Starting a Craft Blog

Here I am finally starting my own blog. I love looking through other people's blogs and always wanted to start my own. I just didn't know what exactly I would write about...well, I guess I'll just have to see what inspiration will come to me....

As for this first blog...just a warm hello!!!