Decorated Tote Bags for Valentines Day

This craft design is from the hobbycraft.co.uk idea's library.
These really sweet tote bags are so cute for Valentines day and all year round. And if you don't have a Valentine, you could make one for yourself!

What You Need:

LOVE' TOTE BAG
Calico bag
A5 Acetate sheets 10-pk
Dylon black fabric paint
Proarte paint brush (no barcode) Craft knife

CAT TOTE BAG
Calico bag
Fabrics, fat quarter pack
Embroidery thread, (310) black
Red satin ribbon
Red velvet ribbon
Red bead
Spray adhesive

This Project
Allow: 45 Minutes
Skill Level: Beginner

LOVE' TOTE BAG INSTRUCTIONS:
Cut four A5 stencil shapes from the acetate using the picture as a guide.
Press the tote bag and line it with a few sheets of paper or some cardboard
Position the stencils and secure with a few pieces of sticky tape (the centre of the O can be held in place with your finger, or use double sided tape)
Lightly stencil the black dye building up the colour as you go. Keep your brush quite 'dry' for this
Allow to dry before peeling off the stencils.

CAT TOTE BAG INSTRUCTIONS:
Press the tote bag
Cut the A5 stencil shapes from the acetate using the picture as a guide.
Spray adhesive lightly on the reverse and position the shapes on the bag
Take a running stitch around the edge of each shape to hold it in position.
Create the cat's collar using red velvet ribbon and a bead, sewn in place
Decorate the hearts with bows made from red satin ribbon

Perfect Valentines :: Tea Cosy Folk :: Santas Postbag::Halloween Mania :: Swindon Flowers ::Zafyna :: Connect2Business

Crazy Daisy Jeans

Funk up a dull drab pair of jeans with a little bit of flower power. Great for kids jeans or hippie ladies jeans or a project for a teenager, you’re bound to be a trend-setter in funky daisy jeans. Quick and easy to do and not a great deal of artistic flare is needed.

To make daisy jeans you will need…
A pair of jeans (cheap jeans are ideal), thick bleach, artists paintbrushes, thick card, scraps of bright fabric (look in the patchwork box in your local haberdashery) and a needle and thread.

Lay the jeans out flat on a table. Move anything from the area that would be spoilt should it come into contact with the bleach.

Push some thick card up the inside of the right leg of the jeans. This creates a firm base and prevents bleach from seeping through to the fabric below.

Along the bottom hem and up the side seem of the leg to the knee draw 4 to 8 daisies with a biro. The flowers can be assorted sizes. Start off with an “O” shape at the centre and draw six petals or so coming off from the daisy middle. Just draw the flower heads – no stalks or leaves.

Once you are happy with the design go over the daisies with bleach. Pour some bleach onto a plate (thick bleach is best) and using a paint brush, brush the bleach over the biro lines.

You need to work quickly because not only will some brush bristles melt, but the bleach will also be bleaching and attacking the fabric of the jeans. Really you want all the daisies bleached to a similar colour.

Reapply bleach to areas you feel needs it.

When all the daisies have turned white, immerse the jeans into a bowl of water and rinse three or four times to get all of the bleach out. Do not put them into the washing machine because the bleach will perish the rubber seal of the washing machine. Leave the jeans to dry.

You can leave the jeans like this, or you can give each daisy a coloured centre.

Here’s how to colour centres…
Draw around a mug or something onto the back of some brightly coloured fabric. Cut out and with a needle and threads sew a row of running stitches around the outside of the fabric circle. Draw the running stitches up so that the raw edges are drawn in. Flatten the circle out, this is your daisy centre. Adjust the tightness of the “Drawing up” to make the centre bigger or smaller to fit each particular daisy. Sew or Wonderwed the daisy centre into place on the jeans. Use invisible stitching, hemming stitch would be good.

Feeling adventurous?

Try covering the jeans in daisies, the front and back. Or just across the seat of the jeans. The funky design possibilities are endless.

More of S. Roberts craft ideas can be found at http://busy-crafting.blogspot.com/. For Christmas crafts visit http://www.santaspostbag.co.uk/ where you can also send a free letter to your child from Santa Claus. For Jewellery crafting, visit http://www.artclaysupplies.co.uk/ for beautiful home-made jewellery making projects.

Home-made Safety Pin Jewellery

By S. Roberts

Make a beautiful bracelet from safety pins and beads. No one will know what it's made of until they look really closely.

To make the bracelet you will need...
Roughly 85 silver safety pins of the same size, an assortment of small beads and some sheering elastic.

Decorate each safety pin by opening each pin and slipping on some beads. Make sure there are enough beads to fill that side of the safety pin once the pin is closed again. Close the pin and use a pair of plies to squeeze the head of the safety pin to hold the pin firmly closed.

Decorate each pin in this way, adding beads to pins in a random way.

The pins are now threaded together. You will notice that there is a hole in the pinhead and another hole at the other end of the safety pin where the metal is turned, creating a circle. These are the holes used when threading up the pins.

Two lines of elastic are used one at the top and one below with the pins threaded onto them like the rungs of a ladder. To begin, thread the top line through the head of the first pin and the bottom line and through the circle hole. With the second pin, thread the top line through the circle hole and the bottom line and through the head of the pin.

Continue adding pins to the lines in this way alternating which way you add each pin. Make sure when you add the safety pins that all the beads are visible on the same side.

When the last safety pin has been added tie the two ends of the top line together so that all the pins sit closely together. Then tie off the bottom line in a similar way.

S. Roberts is one of Santa’s Helpers and writes for www.santaspostbag.co.uk a Christmas educational & activity website. For more festive ideas & gifts to make visit www.santaspostbag.co.uk/homemade-christmas-gift-ideas.html SantasPostbag is in association with www.bigboystoyz.com Together keeping Christmas Magical