Craft

Christmas Crafts

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Once again our church elves have been busy making ornaments and decorations for the seniors in our local residence.  Here are a few of the ones I did as examples to inspire my handy and talented helpers.  I apologize for the darkness of the photos.

Snowy-Xmas-tree-on-car-in-a-bottle.jpg

Our version of a snow globe thanks to Pinterest.

Angel from a paper role

Here is an angel from a cardboard tube, some tulle and tinsel.

Santa from a paper role

Santa Clause has a cherry nose and a fluffy white beard.  He is also made from a cardboard tube, some felt and glitter.

I made these examples but our eager elves go above and beyond.  It is always a surprise how much a person can do with some glue and scissors.  It gives our seniors so much pleasure and we spend an enjoyable afternoon crafting.

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Chess Pillow for My Grandson

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chess game pattern

My grandson’s most recent passion is chess.  He reads about it, plays it on the computer and will challenge anyone nearby to play.  I decided that I would make him something chess-related for his birthday so I designed this pattern for Spoonflower.  I changed the grey scale for his favourite colours of blue and green.

Chess pillow blue and white side

One side is blue and white.

.Chess pillow green and white side

The flip-side is green and white.

Harvest Tea Invitation and Envelope

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At our church we host a tea for the ladies of the church and their friends twice a year (Spring and Autumn).  We all have lost loved ones, family or friends and these teas give us a chance to spend a pleasant afternoon being served tea and special baking treats and sharing our experiences.  We set small folding tables up that seat four and decorate them with seasonal decorations.  We use real china cups and saucers and share a short meditation and encouraging words.  We all enjoy our tea and conversation.  This is the invitation and envelope that I made for our next event.

Harvest Tea invitation and envelope

Invitation to Tea

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Our church is having a special tea in two weeks time.   Here is an example of one of the invitations and envelopes I made for the event.

Invitation and envelope for Butterfly Tea

Our teas are an opportunity for women to gather, share their experiences and offer each other support.  It is also a time when the women of our church and their neighbours to be treated to some special elegant attention and consideration.  It is our chance to show them God’s love by serving them with tea, refreshments and listening hearts.

Designing Patterns

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Designing Patterns for Fabric

For the last three years or so I have been using a new outlet for my creativity – designing patterns for fabric on Spoonflower, a company that prints personal designs on fabric which the designer may use to make projects for themselves or offer for sale.  Here are some  of  the  patterns I have created.

 

shamrocks and daisies

Shamrocks and Daisies

planted garden edit

Planted Garden

Helmets and Collumns

Helmets and Columns

Rooter Row

Rooster Row

These are the rather raw originals.  Photoshop is a handy tool to clean up erasures and join lines.  Some of my designs I have printed and made into scarves, runners and pillows.  It is wonderful to see my creations transformed into fabric that I can use.  The company also sets design challenges each week that designers may enter.  The designs are voted on and the most popular creation result in a prize for the contributing artist. I have enjoyed these challenges and making things from the fabric that I can wear or give as gifts.  If you love drawing and like a challenge start making patterns for fabric on Spoonflower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Valentine’s Day Crafts

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Here are some of the crafts we were making in our group at our church for the seniors living at the local nursing home:

puffy yarn hearts.jpg

Puffy yarn hearts – made by winding yarn over a cardboard shape.

Heart shape 3D

3D heart shape – putting 4 heart-shaped cutouts together.

Woven yarn heart

Woven yarn heart – like the sewing cards we did as children.Roses and lace brooches #2

Rose and lace brooches – rolled felt roses on lace with safety pin backing.

I think the seniors will be well pleased with their Valentines!

Sunflower Pillow for Christmas

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Sunflower croppedFirst step: I took a photo of one of our sunflowers in the garden this summer.

my sunflower pattern

Second step:  Using Photo shop, I manipulated my photo into first a negative black and white picture and then I uploaded into Spoonflower.com and changed the colours.  I then ordered my pattern to be printed onto Spoonflower’s Linen Cotton Canvas Ultra material in a half-drop repeat pattern.  I ordered a “fat quarter” which is 27″ by 18″.  It was just enough to make one pillow which I sewed and stuffed.  This is the result:

Sunflower cushion

Sunflower Sofa cushion from a photo by Dan McKibbon.

I made two of these pillows in slightly different colours for Christmas gifts for two households.  I plan to make them the matching pillows for gifts in the New Year.