Papertrey August Blog Hop Challenge

Phew. Just in time. A little bit of a rush here to partake in the challenge this month. It slipped my mind until last night. Lots going on as we wind down the summer holidays.   I ran up this little hostess gift up in a flash using some of my treasured Papertrey ink stash.  I love the inspirational photo above showing all the lovely fabrics.

All supplies used are  Papertrey ink except ribbon from my ever growing stash.   

Pincushions for Christmas Craft Fairs using Tilda Fabric

One of my favourite craft designers Melissa Phillips, owner of Lilybeans Paperie creates the most beautiful pincushions. I just adore her work. On a wet winters day a little sunshine lights up my day just by clicking on her blog.  Some of her work is sold at her etsy store here.

I was so enamored with Melissa's pincushions I  had to try and make one of my own  using some of my treasured stash of Tilda fabrics. The Tilda fabrics I used were Tilda Fruit Garden Berrie pink and Molly Pink.

My pincushions do not have as many of the delicate little extras that Melissa added to hers. Enjoying myself  I continued on and  made  forty of them  to sell at this years Christmas fund raising fairs. I am really pleased with how they turned out and hope the Christmas fair visitors will be too. As 100% per cent of the funds raised go to a very worthy charity I hope Melissa does not mind me pincushion lifting hers !

The following photos give a little tutorial on how I made mine.

I laid out a 5.5-inch strip of Tilda fabric( Tilda fabric is 55 -inch wide)  and added lace and ribbon. I sewed it as one piece and then cut it down to 5.5 -inch squares.  

I prepared the same amount of co-ordinating fabric squares.

Pinning right sides facing , added bobbin trimming in between. Then sewed around the outside with 1/2 inch seam allowance and left small opening for turning.

When turned right side out I  pressed each of them to get rid of the creases.

I filled with soft toy filling and sewed up the opening.

Added white felt roses.

and little labels embellished with scraps of Tilda patterned paper.

Lovely bundle of fun.

All packed and ready for fairs.

A Summer Crop

While it was a beautiful sunny day in Dublin today I didn't mind spending some of it indoors. I was attending a local monthly crop. Jackie Campbell, a very talented Irish scrapbook artist gave our group a tutorial on altered art. I made the above altered canvas with her guidance and following her original layout. I was pushed out of my comfort zone as  I mixed colours and painted with my fingers !  It was a thoroughly enjoyable day as we all crafted  with great concentration and happily went on our way with our completed pieces.  I'm delighted with mine. It will make a nice gift for my two little nieces home from the UK for their summer holidays.

I used some papers from the Tilda range - Flowergarden and Christmas House. I mixed acrylic paints to match the patterned papers and Jackie provided the stamps, die cuts, and wording from a range by Theresa Collins