Christmas Crafts

Hello everyone,

I thought it's about time I shared some crafty Christmas projects with you!
Truth to be told, there aren't that many Christmassy projects this year, just a few. But let me share at least a little something with you.

So I made a tree skirt! It's the Martha Stewart Scalloped Tree Skirt to be exact. Looks amazing but at the same time it's pretty easy to sew. Check out the video below to get an impression of this crafting project. I will also show you my Christmas tree :)

Thanks for watching and see you soon back here on my blog!

Yours
Uta

NES Controller Pillow

Hey everyone,

every now and then I let my inner Nintendo nerd lead the way when it comes to pick new crafting projects. And that's when things like this happen :)

An NES Controller inspired pillow case made off crafting felt (a gift btw, I did not keep it):

It was quite a challenge to figure out the sizes of the different shapes. Luckily I am not that bad when it comes to math.

See you next week!

Yours
Uta

Felt Animals for my Christmas Tree

Hello everyone,

just lately, I finished these cute little felt animals:

They are supposed to be hanging on my Christmas Tree this year :)

All in all, these little guys turned out to be a quite time-consuming project. The prototypes alone took me about 1.5 hours each. But I am really happy with the result!

How are your Christmas preparations coming along?

Yours
Uta

Owls for my Christmas Tree [+ Tutorial]

Hello everyone,

I finally started working on the ornaments for this year's Christmas Tree! Last year I went all Harry Potter and I loved it :) This year, I don't really have a theme. Nevertheless, I want to make a few ornaments myself. And these are the first DIY ornaments - owls!

It all started over at Pinterest where a lot of DIYs actually start. I came across this pin right HERE.

I tried to copy those but truth to be told, the result was a huge fail. But I wasn't willing to give up the whole idea so I did some sort of an interpretation using wooden balls from IKEA instead of fir cones. Et voilà, it worked!

Let me give you a quick run-down...

Materials needed:

• VINTER 2016 decoration balls from IKEA (currently available HERE)
• Thin felt in grey, light blue, white and yellow
• Fabric glue & hot glue
• Brown chenille
• Eyes
• scissors and a pen

And you might also need those three shapes. The biggest one should have an overall height of 6cm.

How-To:

1. For each owl, cut out two large wings, two small wings and one shape for the head plus a tiny yellow triangle for the beak.
2. Afterwards, glue one small wing on a large wing making two two-layered wings per owl using fabric glue. Mix and match the colors of the felt you are using.
3. Glue a little yellow beak plus two eyes on the shape for the head using fabric glue.
4. Using plies and a wire cutter, put together two feet per owl using the brown chenille.
5. Glue two wings, one head shape and two feet onto one decoration ball using hot glue.

What will you hang on your Christmas tree this year? Self-made ornaments or store bought ones?

Happy crafting, everyone!

Yours
Uta

Self-Made Meditation Pillow

Hi all,

yes, I know, I'm one day late with this. I told you all you can expect new content on here on a Wednesday, now it's Thursday. So what happened? Quick and easy answer, I was on vacation until this AM :)

Anyways, a couple of months ago I already mentioned on my blog that I'm into meditating. I took that as inspiration for a new DIY project and sewed myself a meditation pillow!

It doesn't look as puffy as the average meditation pillows you can see at Yoga studios but I like it the way it turned out. The fabric I used is from IKEA so it's 100% cotton. The fabric I used for the inlay was actually part of a fabric scraps baggie I bought at IKEA so it didn't cost me that much. The striped one was 7 € per meter I think.

For the filling I used spelt husks which I bought online at amazon. I ordered 3kg but ended up using only 1kg for my pillow.

And here are the pictures:

The inlay - if stuffed this one into the actual pillow case then filled it with spelt husks

The final result!

Have a great week, everyone!

Yours
Uta

Ring Storage

Hi guys,

I don't really know how this project got started. It just sort of hit me when I walked through Xenos one day and found this awesome looking box.
First thought: That would be just perfect for keeping my rings in!

Well, what should I say, I bought it of course. It wasn't that expensive, maybe 4 € if I remember correctly.

Back home I began sewing four black felt rectangles into tubes and stuffed them with fiberfill, put them into the box and voilà, a ring box!

I like it :)

What have you crafted so far to store jewelry in? Maybe also a ring box? Something for your necklaces?

Have a great day, all!

Yours
Uta

Menswear Mice

Hi all,

this is also something I worked on during my blogging hiatus.

I might have already told you in one of my former blog posts that I own the Martha Stewart Encyclopedia of Fabrics and Sewing. Besides all the great tips it also has awesome project ideas in it. One of it is called Menswear Mice.

I made four of those using some IKEA cotton fabric. They turned out quite nice I'd say. Three do also have a bit of catnip in them beside the usual fiber fill. I already gave one away to my colleague and her two tigers seemed to like it :)

You can find the pattern online at the Martha Stewart website if you want to make some yourself!


Have an awesome evening, everyone!

Yours
Uta

Faux Fircones made of Felt

Hey ladies,

sorry for blogging so little lately. I've been working on a lot of things, most of them presents so I can't showcase them up here right away. Well, anyways. Who of you knows the magazine Mollie Makes? I'm quite sure, the British people among us do for sure. There's also a German edition. I myself came across this wonderful crafting magazine thanks to my friend Kristin. She let me take a peek in a couple of Mollie Makes issues she had at home during one of my visits to Berlin this year. So for the last couple of months, I've been buying Mollie Makes regularly. I'm also thinking about subscribing but haven't decided on that one yet.
In one of the Mollie Makes issues - I think it was the one that came out in July 2014 - there were instructions on how to make faux felt fircones. I instantly fell in love with them and a couple of days ago I finally found the time to make some myself. Definitely easy to make but one should be careful with the hot glue gun, I almost burned myself a couple of times.

Warm greetings from Kassel, I hope there's sunshine wherever you are!

Yours
Uta

Self-Made Pencil Case

This project is definitely pinterest - I just can't find the pin anymore ;)

Well, anyways. I made a pencil case!

I used cotton fabric from IKEA and a 20cm plastic zipper. Very easy to sew, even for someone like me who's not that experianced when it comes to sewing :)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Yours

Uta

Autumn Branches

I came across some DIY Autumn branches made of wire and paper over at pinterest a couple of months ago and I thought that's something that could also be made with wire and felt. That's the result:

And here's the tutorial :)

Well, first of all, get you hands on some nice Autumn coloured felt leafs. I made mine using some handicraft felt and my Sizzix Big Shot. Afterwards, cut the leafs in shape as shown in the picture below.

Now cut some pieces of wire into shape and bend as desired.

Last but not least, hot-glue the leafs onto the wire...

...and you're done!

See, totally easy :)

Happy Craftin'!

Yours

Uta

Martha Stewart Book Jacket

I found this one in the Martha Stewart Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts. Easy and quick to make and such a cute idea! And guess what, I made it as a gift for Kristin :)

This book jacket was made for Maigret novells

Neatly wrapped

Fabric used: Thin red handicraft felt.


Yours
Uta

Someone finally got a Smartphone

Yes, after years of negating when asked whether I could be contacted via WhatsApp I finally joined the smartphone crowd. With a cell phone still working (more or less properly) and a Blackberry paid by my employer that I was allowed to use for private calls without paying for them I never really felt the urge to join the 21st century in matters of mobile communication. Well, I finally surrendered and got me a darn smartphone. I don't have a problem with being a bit old school but I sort of felt a bit lost behind lately so I though it would be the time to jump on the WhatsApp wagon. So I bought a Samsung Galaxy S3, cut my SIM card so it fit into the MicroSim slot and turned that thing on. I sort of still feel a bit overwhelmed but that's just a matter of time I assume.

Anyways, what I initially wanted to blog about is what I made for my new smartphone. The thing is, I totally forgot to add a case or something equivalent to the cart when I ordered my S3. Smartphone in hand I decided this sweet fragile device definitely needs some protection so I quickly put together some layers of felt I had laying around and called it a smartphone cozy:

Yours
Uta

Grandma's Lace Handkerchiefs

When my grandma died a couple of years ago I helped my mum to take care of her belongings. While going through her commode we found a bunch of lace handkerchiefs. Thankfully my mum allowed me to keep them. I though they would be worth sharing with you. So colorful and delicate, aren't they lovely :)

Have a nice weekend, everyone!!!

Yours
Uta

Drawstring Pouches

This is yet another project I had on my list of resolutions for 2014 - drawstring pouches! They are quite similar to the ones over at the Martha Stewart Page. The only difference is that mine have only one layer of fabric instead of two.

I used a 100% cotton fabric from IKEA called BERTA RUTA. Not sure whether it has the same name all over the world. As far as I know IKEA names things differently depending on the region it is sold. One meter of that fabric made three big pouches and a small one, btw. For the drawstrings I simply used shoelaces.

The drawstring pouches are also mentioned in Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts, which I got for my birthday last year. Great book with good information and nice project ideas in it!

Yours

Uta

Crochet Bag

After hooking on this one for about a month and spending a whole weekend sewing (did I mention zippers aren't fun), I finally managed to finish another one of my resolutions for 2014 - the crochet bag :)

The yarn I used is a 100% cotton yarn, Mille Fili by Wolle Rödel.
The fabric is cotton as well. I bought it at IKEA - unfortunately, I forgot its name and can't find it online.


Yours
Uta

Felt Egg Ornaments

So here's another project I had on my list of resolutions for 2014 - felt egg ornaments. I'm not such a big fan of fancy ornaments therefore mine are pretty simple:

I hope you are all having a great weekend so far! Enjoy your Sunday :)

Yours
Uta

Self-Made Hand Warmer

This is another project inspired by a certain pin I found over at pinterest:

I also sewed a little cushion filled with rice. Furthermore I hooked a tine cozy for it. And that's how it turned out:

I gave that little hand warmer to Kristin for her birthday.

Yours

Uta

Felt Owl Egg Cozy

While flipping through the pages of my favorite crafting supplies catalog I saw this:

And I so had to make my own! As there wasn't a pattern available I again had to improvise. And that's the result:

They are actually quite easy to make, it's just the sewing part that takes a lot of time. The pattern is also quite simple. Use mine if you like, but make sure you print it out at about 150%, otherwise the cozies will be too small.

I wish all of you a wonderful week!

Yours

Uta

From Shopping Tote to Shoe Bag

I just recently recycled on of my many many shopping totes by turning it into a shoe bag!
A not so easy task for me, as I don't sew that often but I made it. And I think the result is a good one even though it's not perfect!

Before...

...and after:

Yesterday night was awesome by the way! The orchestra played from 8 pm until about 11 pm with a 30 min break in between. While they played the last song at 11 pm fireworks started. Definitely a wonderful experience! Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera and therefore had to use my cell to take some (bad quality) pictures:

The building behind the stage is the Orangerie, one of the most famous historical places here in Kassel.

I wish all of you a sunny Sunday! Mine is quite cloudy actually, I think the weather forcast said it is going to rain in the afternoon, let's see...


Yours
Uta

PS: Turns out, this can be counted as yet another project for my No-Buy Challenge :)

The Great Drapo: Making Dresses without Sewing

I just had to share this with you :)

Wish you all a joyful day!

Yours
Uta