Pinaddicts Pinterest Challenge- Wedding card embroidery

As my readers will know we had a wedding to attend on Saturday, it was James' cousin (who I have met only once about 4 years ago)! I like to make a small keepsake for wedding day's but wanted to try something a little different this time around, they are both well off so it was hard to think of what to do in such a short space of time, and I don't know either of their styles, so I decided to make a card with a little bit of a difference.

This is probably the nearest thing I had pinned for this project, even though it's not really alike:

Via

Here is the card I made:

I had a scrap of the backing fabric (admittedly an old pair of shorts) cut around with pinking shears, then using embroidery thread sewed their names and their wedding date. The 2 hearts are made from felt, I used cotton thread to slowly thread each bead on (typically the beads were too small to pass through the needle)! Then sewed these onto to the backing fabric. Admittedly it was done in a bit of a rush, and that's why I only have the one rushed photo too! The morning of the wedding I cut the white piece of card and glued that on to the card and the fabric onto that-I used fabric glue for this bit so that it wouldn't show through- hopefully it was dry by the time they opened it ;)

To join in or check out the other entries head over to simplyoutnumbered :)

Hand Sewn Heart- Wedding gift

Feeling much perkier today, first midwife appointment went well and she seems lovely too, although a bit weird/awkward having the male medical student in there too although not entirely sure why I felt that it was weird. Thank goodness for Tesco's too, I think I have eaten my weight in Sensation crisps today...whoops, I am already thinking of making another trip to get some more as they are on offer...perhaps I am just making up for lost time from not eating much the last two weeks (that's what I will keep telling myself anyway)!

Anyway, a while back I posted about a friend wanting a wedding heart made for a netball friend. I made it just about on time but forgot/felt to rubbish to post about it, so here it is...

I cut 2 white hearts and 2 Hessian hearts

Sew one white heart and one Hessian heart together and do the same again

Sew a small heart to the centre of your large front heart,  use embroidery thread to write/sew .

 Sew together the two hearts, back to front, sew the ribbon at the top at this point too, making sure it will poke out once turned out. Turn out and stuff, sew the opening (a lot easier said than done, I always seem to leave the opening too small and end up making more repair work for myself)!

Bride and Groom, & wedding date. 

The final result!

It took me forever to do and I only charged a fiver for it...I really need to get better at selling my things, I always feel bad asking for money when it's for someone you know though! I hope the the new happy couple liked it, I know my friend who bought it was happy with it well she seemed to be anyway!

Sorry this looks such a messy post, had loads of trouble with photos jumping around, and text going in the wrong places, I think it's all in the right order now!!

Ready in the nick of time for advent: A Handsewn advent calendar

I have FINALLY finished my Advent Calendar that I have been making on and off for months and months.

I am terrible when doing crafts as I always start something else before finishing the first thing, but alas I got there with a day to spare!

I bought some Hessian fabric and felt multi-packs off separate sellers on eBay a while ago. I like Christmas decorations etc. to be traditional colours so I chose red, green, and white felt. Cut 23 6x6cm squares and one 9x7cm rectangle for the '24' pocket.

I made sure each square had details in each of the 3 colours, combining hand cut numbers and shapes with hand sewn numbers and shapes. This is very time consuming but a great little project to do when the little one has a nap.

I then messed around with the positioning of the pockets on the Hessian fabric and decided to go for the numbers all messed up rather than in order as that is part of the fun isn't it :)
Hand sewed all the pockets in position (again very lengthy process)!

Before the bells and blanket stitch

I bought some mini 'jingle bells' off eBay too, these are great sewn onto the pockets, and the jingles help with chocolate thieves! I like the added sparkle they give too without being over the top.
I then used red wool to blanket stitch around the outside (this was my first attempt at blanket stitch so it isn't perfect).

Close up of pockets

All I need to do now is thread some nice ribbon or twine through the top and find somewhere big enough and high enough to hang it...that might be the hardest part!

I'm very pleased with the outcome as it's my first effort at hand sewing something so large and looking forward to using it year after year after all the hours and days work that has gone into making it!

Finished Advent Calendar