Needle Felted Robin Decoration

So, the needle felting continues. Last night I finished off this little chap that I designed myself and made from felting onto a polystyrene egg. I was going to add wire feet but David felt this was unnecessary and he is the bird expert after all!

 

Here are my two felted creatures getting to know each other before they adorn my tree next week. The polar bear looks quite concerned by the giant robin that's just entered his personal space!

Woodland Quilted Playmat

I don't get the sewing machine out as often as I'd like these days but I love using it to make baby gifts. Here's a woodland themed patchwork playmat I finished a few weeks ago...

I used thick wadding from Dunelm and wasn't totally convinced that I could maneuver it through my machine for quilting so I decided to secure the wadding the old-fashioned way and hand-stitched some crosses in some of the patchwork joins...

The ribbon pulls can be used to attach toys to for tummy-time or just to be played with by little fingers. Here's the whole piece...

Fillable Bauble Forest

I'm pretty sure I bought these fillable baubles from Hobbycraft in their Christmas clearance earlier this year but they don't seem to be doing them this time around. Jessica decided that we should fill these ones with pompoms. A great choice, I hope you'd agree. She really enjoyed making these.

Needle Felted Polar Bear (Kit)

I try not to post more than once a day (I've currently got four other posts waiting to be published this week) but I couldn't resist sharing this evening's creation straight away. This was another Hobbycraft clearance buy but the kits are only £3 full price and they include everything you need to get started with needle felting so they're a fabulous bargain. The kit include polystyrene shapes and wool roving to create a family of three polar bears but I've just made the one so far. I'll be honest, I'm not completely sold on the wooly hat, scarf and boots so I will probably try a naked bear next time and see how convincing he is! For now, however, here's a closer look at my first attempt...

Printed Pizza Slice Christmas Tree Cards

We made Christmas cards at Toddler group today and I loved the results! I'd put a few foam pizza bases aside to use for paint-printing. They turned out to be perfect for making Christmas trees. The children painted the foam pizza slices green using sponge brushes and then pressed them onto their cards to make a printed Christmas tree. Some children added baubles to their trees before printing while others did some finger painting straight onto their card to make the baubles afterwards. Either way they looked fab.

Needle Felting Baubles

I'm slowly picking up the pace with my Christmas preparations. The shopping's nearly all done, the important food and wine are ordered so it must be time to start thinking about some new tree decorations. My favourite baubles to make are created using needle felting. Here's the one I made this evening...

I use styrofoam balls as the core of my bauble and fuse the wool roving onto the ball using a very scary multi-barbed needle. I find the process very therapeutic and I love the results. Now that I'm back in the swing I'm nearly ready to tackle the polar bear felting kit that I picked up from Hobbycraft at some point. Keep your eyes peeled! 

Mermaid Ragdoll

Having finished the laborious task of making our Christmas cards this morning, I ventured into the unknown this afternoon and made my first ragdoll. The pattern came from my mother-in-law's copy of Jane Bull's Crafty Dolls. It was really straightforward to follow and was fabulously easy for a beginner like me. I sewed the tail and the doll by machine inside out and stuffed the two pieces separately before sewing them together and adding all the details by hand. I can't wait to give her to Jess in the morning and find out what she's going to be called!

Baker Ross Stitching Decorations

A crafter's Christmas is a marathon not a sprint. We're trying to pace ourselves and mostly crack on with cards at the moment but there's always lots to do and I never manage to complete everything on my list. These are a prime example. I bought them last year but never actually got around to doing them so I have prioritised this year. It's a Baker Ross kit and I thoroughly enjoyed doing it, although I must be honest I'm not sure that they are worth their full price of £5 for the six.

We painted the wooden decorations with acrylics first (excuse Jessica's choice of lurid pink please!) and then tackled the cross-stitch with full skeins of embroidery thread. They look lovely and are something a bit different for the tree this year.

Robin and Baubles - more Christmas drawings

Another two gorgeous Christmas drawings created by Jessica for our Christmas cards this year. She did ask me to draw the outer shape for the robin but she has done absolutely everything else herself. I think they're pretty awesome.

An Afternoon with my Glue Gun

I wiled away Jessica's nursery hours today with a glue gun in my hand preparing some very simple drawings for the little ones at Toddler Group to colour with chalks next week. It was less fun than it looks but Jeremy Vine and Steve Wright kept me company and I'm sure the children will love using the chalks on Monday ;)

Cards from Drawings

Jessica drew (lady) Rudolph and a Christmas Tree for me so that we could make them into Christmas cards. I scanned and reduced the images then printed them out multiple times. We mounted the images on red paper and stuck them on our card blanks. I love these so much that I'm not sure we'll be doing anything else this year now. Aren't they beautiful?!

Snowmen Cards

Next up are Jessica's snowladies (they have eyelashes). I love that she had to give them each a kiss on their cheeks!

Christmas Cards Started

The Christmas card production has begun this week in the Bradnum household. It's a long and slow process but we have started! First up this year we made craft tape Christmas Trees...