Easy-Peasy Reindeer

This is my 200th Post - and by sheer coincidence I am taking part in Bugs and Fishes Blog link-up as part of it. Such fun! The link-up is all about Christmas and I am sharing my easy-peasy reindeer tutorial. Last year I created an easy-peasy robin for Pickle-Lily ( my crafty daughter ) and this year she asked for a reindeer to make and here he is.

Easy-Peasy Reindeer

You will need -

Two circles of medium brown felt - now these can be any size depending on how big you would like your reindeer to be.
A smaller circle of red glitter felt, or just red felt or even a red button for the nose.
Two black brads for eyes or appropriate sized buttons.
A length of ribbon to hang him from.
Some darker brown felt for the antlers.
A template for his antler - this I made by using the Kristen font in Word, enlarging it to the size I wanted, cutting it out and rounding it off to get what looks like this...

Or you could draw your own shape. The beauty is no two antlers look alike so you can make them as simple or as intricate as you like. Cut out two antlers from dark brown felt.

 

 

Place the nose where you like on one brown circle to be his face and stitch it on with running stitch.

At the same time - trap the folded piece of ribbon on the back of this circle.

Then ..

Place the two antlers in position and hold them in place with the eyes...

Now, put the other brown circle over the back and sew in place.
I use a cross between a running stitch and back stitch, this gives the effect of a simple running stitch on the front but is as strong as back stitch. To do this, sew as if it was back stitch making the top stitches shorter, so they don't touch each other and the under stitches longer.
The top stitching looks like this ..

The underside will look like this

You can add a little stuffing if you want to make him a little plumper.
If you prefer you could make him into a badge - leaving out the ribbon.
A tip for this is to add an extra little piece of felt onto the back of the back circle to strengthen your badge and to use double thread to sew it on. Sew the front and back together as before.

I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else is making and sharing their tutorials for! A big than-you to Laura for organising this.



This took a bit longer ...

... than I anticipated!
Sorry about the delay between posts, but half term week was very busy and since then school has been even busier and I haven't stopped! I've even tried getting up at 4.30am to add some extra hours to my day!!!! The pictures for the tutorial had to be done in the evening, hence the warm yellow glow.
So - the Heat Me Up Hand Warmer tutorial first, as promised. The name for these came from Pickle-Lily, if you are wondering.

Hand warmer tutorial

You need two squares of brushed cotton 25cm x 25cm, 150g of rice and two lengths of ribbon about 10cm long each if you want tags.
1. Cut the squares in half to create four rectangles.
2. Place one on top of the other to create a double thickness. I used a plain one that wouldn't be seen and a pretty one for the outside.
3. Fold in half to create a four thickness square, pretty side to pretty side, and pin along two open sides.

fold and pin

4. If using ribbon to create a tag, fold in half and pin between the two right sides with the cut edges lined up with the cut edge of the fabric, to create a loop pointing towards the middle of the square.
5. Sew along the two open sides, trapping the ribbon. Leave the third side open. Sew where the pins are in the photo below.

 

 

6. Turn right side out and fill with 75g of rice.
7. Tuck the open edges inside, to create a neat side edge and pin.
8. Now sew all the way round all four sides. Smooth and tip the rice away from the side, before you sew it, turn at the corner, and then smooth the rice away from that side and so on, until all four sides are sewn.
9. Now make a second one or make the two together at the same time.

Heating instructions - pop both into a microwave up to 800W one hand warmer for 30 seconds or both for 45 seconds.

A simple present ready for Christmas, or for now! The lovely brushed cotton came from Cloth Head.
I also need to announce a winner for the kit giveaway and the winner is ...

Gill

 

I am writing this tutorial quite late, so if any of it does not make sense - please let me know!

 

Bags of fun

Hello again to Handmade Mondayers! It is half term this week, so I can join in with everyone.
My dear daughter has finally let me on the computer so I can blog, but I will have to be quick as there is a roast dinner to cook! Mind you, I showed her how to make origami gift bags earlier in the week and they are now taking over the house. I believe a tutorial on them will be appearing on her blog soon.

Baby Christmas Bunting kit

I have had fun creating a new kit for Christmas - Baby Christmas Bunting.
To to launch this new kit I am having a giveaway on Pickle-Lily of one the new kits. With it you can make two metres of felt and pom-pom bunting. Everything you need is in the kit, apart from scissors. I'm also including two gift bags with a surprise in them as well.

How to enter

Follow my blog and then leave a comment to say you have done this. If you are already a follower (thank you) please just leave me a comment.

For extra chances to win you can....

'Like' me on my Facebook page and leave a comment on my blog and on my facebook page to let me know you have done this.
If you already 'like' my FB page then please just leave a comment here to remind me!
If you would like to blog about my giveaway this will give you another entry. Again leave me another comment here on my blog.
I'd like to boost Pickle-Lily's own Facebook page, so for an extra entry, please 'like' her page and  leave another comment on here.
Please ensure that I am able to contact you. Pickle-Lily will pull all the names out of a hat next Monday 4th November.

Good luck!

A quick catch up

I shall start with a picture of my latest buy to entice you into reading my latest post!

Fox lights

Life with Pickle-Lily has been busy, but not particularly exciting lately, now there's a turn-off from reading any more! I have been busy with school and crafting has been taking a bit of a back seat. P has had her first stall on her own, which was a success and has been busy dancing and with guides, as well as school.
Both of us have been very busy on Pinterest - which is highly addictive and I'm now hooked on Instagram! This has led me into finding even more fabrics to add to my collection! I have made some glow in the dark bunting from Riley Blake fabric.


Glow in the dark bunting

The screme egg critters have gone down very well and I am trying to knit some more - you can find the pattern here.
Next week is half term and there will be more posts and a tutorial and a giveaway, so keep watching!

From little things

A couple of years ago I designed a very simple knitted paper chain pattern for Pickle-Lily to knit. It was then used by the WI to create the Guinness World Record for the most people knitting at the same time at the Albert Hall.
 A week or so ago I went to the stitch and sew show at Westpoint in Exeter, where I found the UK Hand Knitting stall, and there on the table were huge balls of green and white knitted paper chains.

knitted paper chains

The challenge had been extended to knit 1km of knitted paper chains, so I sat down and had a lovely chat with one of the volunteers and 'modestly' let it slip that it was my pattern, and there was my name on the display. I also knitted a chain to add to the grand total.
Yesterday, I met the lady again who told me to check out the UK Hand Knitting website as this record had been met, and that they are now going for one mile!

Forest School Log - Autumn smells

As many of you know, my day job is a key stage 1 teacher, and the best part of my days are forest school. I 'do' forest school three times a week with three different classes, and quite often I am looking for activities, so I thought I would share some of mine with you. My sessions with the children only last for half an hour for one group up to an hour for another group, and I generally have half a class at a time. This half term has been all about senses and this week we have made autumn smells!

Autumn smells

This involved collecting the plastic tubs that you can buy lovely cakey goodies from M&S in, I have now collected 12 and they are brilliant for all sorts of things- ideal size for little people to use and have good lids. Any excuse to eat the contents really!!!
The children worked in pairs to collect autumn things from the forest school (after a reminder about not eating anything) and stir them with a little water using a stick. One group of boys found a small log and put the pot on the floor, gathered round and took it in turns to mash it altogether using the log as a pounding tool.
A lot of sharing, turn taking, describing words, discussions and smelling went on. The children were absorbed and would have carried on but we ran out of time. All agreed that it was a lovely smell, not what they'd predicted, and some looked beautiful as well.

All bunting out

This week-end I have been helping In a Pickle-Lily make bunting. Some of the bake sale bunting was used in a local shop window as part of the local food and drink festival, and it has generated orders for more! In fact the shop has asked for a selection of bunting to have as stock, so I have been helping her make bunting. This week-end we have made nine lengths of bunting, which is 22.5m or 99 flags.


lots of lovely bunting

I did distracted this week-end however, by turning my fox, squirrel and hedgehog into Christmas decorations! It wasn't part of the plan for this week-end, but my fingers sort of cut and stitched them by themselves and I am very pleased with them. In fact when I have finished this post I am going to put them on folksy, the first items in my Christmas shop for this year!