artist illustrator of all thing magical and creative

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

How To Make A kids Felt Pirate Animal crafted Rabbit

How to make a cute little pirate rabbit door stop/bookend or creative birthday present.

I now have a shop on zazzle http://www.zazzle.com.au/busyspider*

I find that with having a little boy that there are not always as many cute things to buy for them as there are for girls, although it is much better than it used to be. So i got my needle and thread out and made this cute little pirates mate.

It is very easy to make all you need is:

Felt fabric - I got mine from Lincraft out of the remenents box. This is an off cut box of leftover fabrics and they are much cheaper so make sure you take a look there before you go anywhere els. I used a grey colour for the body, black for the eye patch, red for the mouth and brown for the treasure chest.
Stuffing - got an old cushion you do not use, well reuse the stuffing or you can buy new from Lincraft.
Gold trim - this can be found in Lincraft also in the trims & lace section
Grey & Black thread and a sowing needle with scissors
A stone to give it weight or you can use a sand bag or wheat grains
Skull fabric or anything with a pirate theme for the head scarf

Step one

Cut out a basic shape of the rabbits head & body from the grey felt. You will need to cut out two of everything when making a 3D charter. You will be stitching them together later but first i find it easier to embroder the detail onto the face. Cut a small eye patch out of the black felt and stitch on. Cut and stitch the red mouth add teeth detail with thread. Stitch nose and eye.

Step two

Stitch and sow all the edges, stuffing as you go. I find it easier to start with the head and work my way round to ears making sure the ears are tucked into the head when stitched because it looks neater. I use a double over stitch rather than a single stitch because its stronger.

Remember to stuff the base/bum with a weight (sand bag, stone or wheat). This will enable the little pirate to sit up unaided and makes a great door stop too or bookend.

Step three

Add The Detail

The head scarf is just a small bit of fabric folded into a rectangle and stitched at the back. I also desided to embroider a small skull onto the rabbits chest.

And not to forget the little felt treasure chest. This is a simple box design in a rectangle shape. Cut out six sides, top & bottom are the same shape. Two sides and front/back. Stitch them together leaving the top till last. Only stitch one side of the lid to the rectangle otherwise it won't open. Add the darker stripe detail and catch to the lid.

Fill the box with the gold trim to create pirate gold.

And now you have a new ship mate to join the crew.

Here are a few other ship mate friends I created in the same way.

hula girl rabbit & one eye cap-tin bag puss

Have fun with your new creations xxx

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

craft fair Jewellery display made from recycled card/paper

Earring Jewellery Display.

Iv done two stalls now selling my handmade crafts and jewellery and both times it has amazed me how i ran out of tabletop space so i wanted to make a display for the earrings i sell which would save space and that cost very little money. I wanted something that would catch peoples eye but be functional at the same time so this is what i came up with.

List of materials you will need to make this:

Card board - I got mine from a cardboard box, beer boxes are good or breakfast boxes
coloured paper - I used scraps from magazines, newspapers or you can buy craft paper
scissors and craft knife for the intracate bits
glue and sticky tape, I use PVA
A box for the base - I used old packaging
A weight for the base - I used a small bag of sand

Step one

Mark out slots onto a A4 sheet of card. These are for the earrings to dangle from so make sure you leave enough space in-between them for the earring to dangle its full length.

cut out with a craft knife

I used diffrent sized gaps for the slots so i can hang different lengths of earrings from my display. If you want to display stud earrings you will need small holes instead.

Step two

Now for some decoration, this is where you can use different craft paper, bits from magazines or hand paint/stencil if you are feeling artistic.

If you have some stamps you can use these to decorate too

I made a garden scene at the bottom which leads up to a sky scene at the top. Stick down all images with PVA glue.

Step three

Nearly finished. Iv started to add a border of carboard flowers.Add the cut out flower shapes all the way around the edge, then add a cut out cloud to the top, the heart adds intrest and is also a good place for the price of your earrings to go. I also made small holes in the cloud so i could display stud earrings too.

Step four

Get some sand put it in a sealable bag and tape it into the box which is your base. Turn the box over then glue & tape your A4 earring display to your box.