Outgoing Seaside Themed Happy Mail

 Hello everyone! I'm sorry it's been so long since I last posted, infact it was last season! That's why my first post of Autumn is actually Summer themed he-he! Over the summer holidays I created a seaside themed happy mail and I wanted to share it with you today to inspire you with your craft projects and happy mail projects! As you can see, the container was a shoebox hat I decorated with a gorgeous wrapping paper that I actually bought from IKEA.

As you open the box, you can see a pencil case , a shell shaped ring bowl and a glimpse of a few other items. I really enjoyed mixing items that I'd bought and items that I'd crafted. The pencil case and it's contents were from the shop TIGER that I love to shop in to find quirky stationery items (they also sell other random bits and bobs like snacks and toys). The ring bowl was also bought (not made)but I'm not quite sure where from (I think it was from Home Bargains though). I was hoping to decorate it with a marble effect with acrylic paints on the inside and I wanted to make a seashell ring to go inside it, but unfortunately I ran out of time.

Above, you can see all of the contents of the happy mail:

-A pencil case that contains:
-a set of 3 washi tapes (TIGER)
-a large seasehell rubber (TIGER)
-a seahorse pen (TIGER)
-a fish shaped rubber (from an M&S sale a while back)
-a handmade jellyfish keyring (that I made with felt, black buttons, thread, stuffing and beads)

-A paper pouch containing:
-stickers (some glittery mermaids and some photographic sea creatures)
-washi tape samples
-fish shaped paperclips
-a postcard
-some papers
-some sticky notes

-A seashell ringbowl

-A fortune telling fish

-A Handmade Scrapbook (here's what I used:
-A5 pieces of white paper
-a stapler
-washi tapes from my own collection
-seaside papers from a 'Lollipop Box' subscription box (check out the website here)
-embellishments from 'Lollipop Box'
-stamps from 'Lollipop Box'
-paperclip from 'Lollipop Box'
-my own alphabet stamps

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my seaside themed happy mail. Sorry that this post was mainly lists but it's been a while since I last posted and I just wanted to write a quick post to inspire your crafts! I hope to start posting regularly again soon but this month is a very busy one for me with revision, homework, Inktober (see a post on this topic here), trying to make my own Halloween costume (I hope to make a post on this), a few craft projects, etc. So for now, have a happy October! I'll be back with Autumnal posts!

Over to you...
Did you have a good Summer? Tell me about it in the comments! Or have you been creating happy mail recently/will be soon? I'm planning on making Autumnal happy mail soon which I'll be sharing. Let me know about your happy mail. 

Tea Party Themed Happy Mail Swap

Hello Everyone! Today I'll be showing you a tea party themed happy mail swap I did recently. If you're not familiar with the term 'happy mail swap' it means that you and someone else both send a parcel along with a letter to each other, often with a theme. Normally both parcels are sent at the same time but in this case, I sent a teaparty themed happy mail and then got one back in return soon after. I hope you enjoy taking a look at what I have created and what I received as a reply!

For my tea party themed happy mail (the one I made and sent out), I created a flip book. I used A5 pieces of card that were sellotsped together so they could fold into a small shape or open out into a large, interesting piece of happy mail. I used lots of different papers and embellishments. You can see in the collage above, just one page of the flip book that I've photographed in 3 different ways. I created 2 mini envelopes and filled them with goodies. In one envelope I put handmade stickers and some pretty gift tags that I bought in there. In the other I put elements of a decopague picture in there. They could fold back to reveal a quote and a colouring page.

In this collage you can see the front cover, the back cover and the letter. I wanted everything to tie in with the tea party theme or at least tie in with the pastel colours I used throughout. That's why I thought carefully about the design on the writing paper. I was inspired by a picture I saw on Pinterest  of some beautiful writing paper to create my own teacup writing paper with watercolour paint. The back cover was decorated with pretty sticky notes that I stuck down to create a pattern. Also, the front cover was created with all sorts of embellishments along with a pretty piece of paper.

I wanted this flip book to be full of handmade delights so I made this teacup bookmark (on the top page) out of paper, alphabet stamps and string to fill the flip book. The bottom page has a currently section which if you didn't already know, is a place where you write everything that you've been up to recently e.g what you've been reading.

Here's what you see when you first open the flip book. On the left hand side of the page, there's an envelope where the letter goes in (that you saw earlier). I chose a beautiful envelope that came with a writing set which acted both as an envelope and as a decoration. On the right hand side, I used a mandala stencil and acrylic paint to decorate the card and I put some handmade teacup hairclips on it as a goodie.

Now here's the incoming teaparty themed happy mail. It's made with gorgeous tea party patterned paper. This is called an exploding box because when you take the lid off it unfolds! It was really exciting to open the box and even the letter opened up really beautifully since it was sealed with a sticker.

Here's what I saw when I opened the box, it's gorgeously handcrafted with scalloped pockets on each square and beaded and threaded borders on each square. The colours scheme is super cute and I was giddy when I saw the pretty goodies which you'll see better in the next photo.

Here's the goodies that were sent to me. Along the top are handmade gift tags with cute tassles in pastel threads and sweet notes on each tag. I think I'll keep these in the box instead of using them on gifts since they're too pretty to use! On the left is a handmade 3D brooch which is a turquoisecrafting The person I received this from is my Auntie Beverly who does bead and wire crafting so this is made very professionally and I can imagine it took her hours! In the middle is two lady grey teabags in an origami box she made with a sticker on that I sent her. Then there's a rolled up recipe for strawberry short bread that is so cute. I look forward to making it soon!

So that's the tea party happy mail swap! It was so fun to make the flipbook and I love love love the exploding box I got in return! I recommend  doing a happy mail swap if you're bored or you want to try out a craft project! It's fun to pick a theme to do with your penpal whether they're a friend or family member!

Over to you...
Have you ever done a happy mail swap? Did it have a theme? If so, what was it? I'd love to know! Or have you ever have a tea party? What did you eat and drink? Let me know in the comments! 

Trying Out New Creative Hobbies

A while back, in my '2017 Blogging Resolutions' post (click here to read) I said that I wanted to introduce a few new topics such as bullet journalling and calligraphy. As of yet, I haven't posted about these topics yet. That's why today I wanted to show you three new creative hobbies that I have tried out recently: calligraphy, scrapbooking and bullet journalling.

#1:Calligraphy: Recently I've been trying out my Winsor and Newton calligraphy set that I got for Christmas. I've only had a few little goes at it so far but I've enjoyed trying out the little tutorial for a simple font. Here you can see my attempt at writing a phrase. The first time round didn't go so well because as you can see, the capital letters and lower case letters aren't in proportion to one another. I was practising for a title in my school art sketchbook. That's one of the main reasons why I asked for a calligraphy set for Christmas, so I could create interesting titles for my sketchbook. I'll have to practise a lot more to become skilled at calligraphy, but I'm already enjoying experimenting with all the inks.

 #2:Scrapbooking: I have a lot of cute crafting supplies so I thought I'd try out scrapbooking so I can use some of my supplies. Here's the first page in my scrapbook, it's an Easter page so I used lots of pastels and Spring animals to decorate the pages. I'm really looking forward to decorating more pages because it will mean that I'll have to take more photos of everything I've been up to. I think that will be great for me since normally I only take photos for this blog, but with a scrapbook I'll try to keep memories with my photos. 

#3:Bullet Journalling: I've been seeing lots of bullet journalling on pinterest and YouTube over the past year so I thought I'd give it a go myself. I asked for a dotted moleskine notebook for Christmas so I've been using this lovely notebook to start my own bullet journal. I've not been doing daily or weekly spreads, only a monthly tracker and a few other random pages (e.g. books to read). I've only done simple designs so far to see what it's like to be a bullet journaller. It may look like I've not done well at the goals I've set myself, since there's lots of blank spaces but I'm actually happy with what I've achieved. These aren't necessarily goals that I have to do every day, I just want to see how often I do things like colour or practise calligraphy so I can decide whether I should do it more often or not. I keep a bullet journal to motivate me to do creative things regularly and it seems to be working for me. I think it's something I'll improve on over time as well. By the way I haven't fully filled in everything yet and some rows don't even have a goal on since I ran out of ideas hehe.

I hope you've enjoyed today's quick post. I'll be writing about these topics again once I've practised a few more times and have some more creative things to show you.

Over to you...
Have you ever tried out these hobbies? Let me know about your experience in the comments! Also, have you been trying any other new things recently? 

Creative Guide to Gift Giving

Hello everyone! Sorry that it's been more than two weeks since I last posted but I'm back with something a little different. Today I wanted to share with you something that I enjoy doing every now and then, being creative with gift giving. There have been several friends that have had birthdays in the last two months so I have lots of ideas for you.

This first set of gifts has a bit of a theme. I tried to use lots of pastel colours and a few metallics so the gifts would tie in well together. I handmade some bookmarks that looked like some of my friend's favourite cartoon characters. One of my tips for gift giving is to make some gifts yourself. This means that you can really personalise the gifts and it's fun to see what you can create.

This next set of gifts doesn't really have a theme but there's a few fun gifts here. My next tip for gift giving is to ask a few questions to the person you're giving gifts to. A few weeks before their birthdays, I asked my friends a few things about what their favourite things are. Things like their: favourite sweets, favourite TV shows/programs, favourite accessories and things that they can't get enough of/collect. This helped to inspire me with possible themes or just the sort of gifts they might like. In the jewellery box in the photo, are some handmade earrings. This friend told me they liked Harry Potter and Stranger Things and their favourite accessories were earrings. So I made waffle stud earrings (apparently waffles are a Stranger Things reference) and golden snitch inspired dangly earrings (a Harry Potter reference).

Again, this next set of gifts doesn't have a theme but I used the questions about their favourite things to come up with these gifts. My next tip for gift giving is to try to give different types of presents. What I mean by this is you should try not to give just food or just jewellery or just stationery, etc but instead to give a mix of all of these things. The reason I say this is because everything lasts for different amount of times. Food lasts for a very short amount of time, depending on how tasty it is tee-hee. Stationery lasts for much longer but can eventually be used up. Then jewellery could last for a very long time. BY the way the handmade items here are: the notebook, the bookmarks and the earrings inside the jewellery box. 

 This final set of gifts does have a theme, jaffa cakes. It's a bit of an unusual theme but fun. That's why my last tip is to think outside of the box. Just think, who else is going to give these gifts? I don't think anyone else would (that could either be a good or bad thing, you decide hehe). I used two of the things that they said were their favourite things: jaffa cakes and bath bombs, to inspire me. This was actually quite difficult to put together because there weren't many jaffa cake items in the shops. So I actually bought chocolate orange items from the shops:chocolate orange bath bomb and chocolate orange lollipops. I made the notebook myself and the keyring was handmade too, but not by me. It was made by Heartfelty (see their facebook page here).

I hope that I've inspired you to get creative with your gift giving, it's such a fun thing to do for your friends and family! Just to recap, here's my four tips for creative giftgiving:

1. Hand make some gifts-this can really personalise the gifts
2. Ask the recipient a few questions about their favourite things-again this helps you to personalise their gifts
3. Try to give a few different types of gifts-this means the recipient can enjoy their gifts in different ways for different amounts of time
4. Think outside the box-this makes the gifts fun and unique

So that's all for today's post, remember you don't have to spend a lot of money to give gifts that your friends will enjoy, I just thought I'd share a few creative ideas to inspire you.

Over to you..

Have you given any gifts recently? Or have you been doing anything else creative? Let me know in the comments. Also, what has been your best gift you've ever received?

Christmas Card Craft Idea

Hello everyone! I'm finally back with another post and it's my first Christmas one!I've had lots of revision to do recently so I took a few weeks away from blogging but I missed it so I'm back this week. Today I've got a lovely Christmas card idea for you to craft for your friends and family so get cosy and see how I made a wreath card!

 Firstly I chose a Christmas patterned paper, a plain card, a bow, a doily and a few Christmas washi tapes. You can find all these supplies (or similar ones) at The Works or The Range. These are two of my favourite shops for craft supplies since they sell a wide range of products for good prices. In ended up not using the button you can see in the photo or all of the washi tape but you might decide you want to. As yopuc an see I have quite the collection of Chrsitmas-y washi tapes-I've been collecting lots in the last few months!

 Now that you've got the basic supplies you can now choose all of the embellishments. You'll use these to decorate the wreath so you'll want small, festive embellishments. The ones you can see in the picture are: silver star stickers, enamel dots, crystal stickers, a range of Christmas stickers and Christmas phrase stickers. You probably won't sue them all on one wreath but I just got out plenty of embellishments so I could choose what looked best. I actually went with the crystal stickers, stars and mini candy cane stickers for the wreath. I also used a Christmas phrase sticker elsewhere on the card. I liked how the red crystal stickers looked like berries, the yellow crystal stickers looked like flowers and the green crystal stickers looked like sprigs or leaves. The enamel dots would have given the same effect but I wanted to give a sparkly effect to the card! By the way, some of these products were from a subscription box last month called Birmbles Box.

Here's the final result! started by cutting a strip of patterned paper and glueing it n the left side of the card as an accent. Originally, I was going to make a background with it but I think it would have been too overpowering. I cut the middle of the green doily out so that it looked like a wreath. Once you've glued down the patterned paper and green doily you can personalise it however you want! This is where the embellishments come in! I spread out the crystal stickers, stars and candy canes evenly around the wreath. After decorating the wreath, I created the ribbon. In chose a washi tape and cut a small section of it to go above the wreath, To give the impression of a real wrath, I then put a bow on top of the washi tape. I used double sided sticky tape for this. To finish off, I used washi tape and a phrase stcker in the centre.

There you go, that's how I made the wreath Christmas card and I love how it turned out! It's such a unique card; I thought of it when I was looking at my Christmas craft supplies, I knew I wanted to use a doily but I didn't want to just stick it down so I did this instead! So now you're ready to make your own Christmas cards, let me know if you make any.

PS: I've changed the background for Christmas now. Do you like it? I created it with the PicMonkey overlays, sorry that I didn't draw any of the elements this time round. Hopefully my next background will have some of my drawings.

Over to you...
Have you made this card idea or any other Christmas cards this year? Tell me about it in the comments. Also, do you have any Christmas blog post ideas? I'm looking forward to writing plenty of Christmas posts!

Craft Project Idea:Coraline Doll

 I love celebrating Halloween (and all celebrations really) and I love crafting so I thought I would combine the two in this week's post! This week, I have been making a doll from the Coraline film using felt! I'll be using this as part of my Halloween costume this year, which as you can probably guess, will be a Coraline outfit! Coraline is one of my favourite Halloween films because it perfectly mixes creepy with cute and the animation style is beautifully stunning! Hopefully this will give you a few ideas for your next project, it's not necessarily a tutorial but i'll tell you the basic steps I took to make Coraline!

To start making this doll, I decorated her face! I chose two shiny,black buttons for her eyes and sewed them in place. Next, I drew on the felt where I wanted the lips, eyebrows and freckles to be. You can draw quite easily with biro to give you an idea where to sew! Then I started to sew the rest of the facial features! I used satin stitch for her eyebrows, french knots for her freckles (which are quite complex stitches, so I recommend you practice them on a fabric scrap first) and I haven't sewed the lips in this photo yet! I then created two hair pieces out of blue felt! I started by cutting out a basic hair outline for the front and back and then cut strips of felt, which were then sewed onto this larger piece! This helped to add texture to the doll which adds interest!

In this next picture, I have started to add clothes and sew her lips on. For the lips, I used basic running stitch down the centre (in brown thread) and then filled above and below the line (in light pink thread) in whatever way I could. i'm not sure if the technique I used has a name but I just imagined the thread was a pen and I was colouring in the lips. If you're confused, I mean that I simply put my needle through at the top and put it back at the bottom, then moved along to the right and went through at the bottom and then out at the top, and then repeated until it was done. Sorry if you don't understand, it's hard to explain! I then sewed on a dark pink vest which I then sewed light pink strips onto with running stitch that was spaced apart. I then put a black strip to be the skirt waistband (I put the skirt on in a later picture). After this I sewed on white socks which has black stripes sewn on. Finally I made yellow boots with laces!

In this photo, you can see Coraline stuffed! She was sewn up using blanket stitch in a skin tone. As I stitched, I added little bits of stuffing to make sure I didn't miss any gaps. I probably would have missed gaps if it was stuffed after sewing most of it up. It can be fiddly to sew and stuff simultaneously but this method is the most effective to evenly stuff. Take your time to sew it up because you don't want to leave large paces between each stitch because the doll will easily fall apart and the stuffing will come out; you don't want that!  I forgot to mention earlier, I added a little clip in Coraline's hair that she has in the film. If you add all these little details, it makes for a more accurate costume (but if you're short of time, you can just create an impression of Coraline rather than a close replica).




This last photo shows Coraline now that she is completely finished! The things that changed from the last picture to this one, is the fact that she has all her clothes now! Here she is in her lovely yellow anorak that was sewn up using three pieces (1 for the back and 2 for the front) which was then turned inside out and decorated with a collar and buttons! She is also wearing a  black skirt that was made using layers of different fabrics: black felt, a black ribbon,taffeta and netting! the reason I use different fabrics is to add interesting texture and depth to the piece of clothing! I didn't want it to just lay flat on her legs.  I love the way that she turned out! She is cute but also a little bit creepy, just like in the film! I think this will be a great addition to my costume that I'm wearing on Halloween. I'll also keep her afterwards because she looks great!



If you make this, I hope you have a lot of fun like I did when I made this! You could make it with a friend or family member who's experienced with sewing if you'd like! I made mine with my Mum who's an experienced sewer!

Over to you...
What are you wearing for Halloween? Let me know! Did you give this project a go? 

Outgoing Ocean Themed Flipbook

Hi everyone! Today I have an exciting post for you! It's been a while since I last posted but for a good reason...I have created my first ever YouTube video and I'm sharing it with you right now! In the video below I show you a flipbook letter that I have created. A flipbook is a creative letter for your penpal that has several pages to flip through and often has a theme. My swap partner and I agreed on the theme 'Ocean' because we both love the wonderful colours and creatures of the sea! It was a lot of fun to decorate my letter with a variety of my favourite stationery including washi tape and stickers! Not only am I sharing with you my first ever YouTube video, I am also showing you my first flipbook! I recently got into creating happy mail so I am trying out lots of different techniques! I hope to make a tea party themed flipbook soon for the same swap partner where I can use my new doilies! By the way, the picture of the beach scene inside the flipbook was drawn by Kenza from http://5starartists.blogspot.co.uk/ .If you haven't already, go check out her blog because it's full of awesome art! Let me know what you think of the video and the flipbook in the comments. Would you like to see more happy mail posts from me? I have lots of outgoing and incoming mail that I would love to share!

Cardmaking- my tips

Hey guys! There are so many great occasions to give a card for: birthdays, anniversaries, Valentines Day, Easter, Christmas and more! So today I'll be showing you my tips on how to make your own cards. When you create your own cards, they're more personal and show that you have put time into sending a special message! If you want some inspiration for your own cards then take a look at the photo of a card I made myself for an anniversary (at the top of this post)!

Here are my card making tips:


Tip #1- Use sparkly gel pens- These sparkly gel pens can make small details glimmer on your card. I used a gold gel pen to draw a heart in between the elephants!





Tip #2- Use embellishments- You can buy card embellishments from any good craft store but I have used something slightly different! I use gold and silver bindis to embellish my card because I love the way they look on the card. I prefer them to the normal sticky gems that I use every now and then.




Tip #3- Use shaped hole punchers- If you want to create different layers on the card then you can punch holes using a shaped hole puncher. I used a heart shaped hole puncher to fit with my theme, but there are plenty of shapes for any occasion out there! After this you can put something on the inside of the card such as a patterned piece of paper that will show up on the front!

Tip #4- Stick with a theme- Like I said earlier, one of the great things about cardmaking is that you can really personalize the card!  Therefore, you can choose a really specific theme that the receiver will love to see! Instead of choosing Easter as a generic theme, for example, you could choose chocolate as a more specific theme. For my card, instead of choosing anniversaries as a generic theme, I chose  the 14th anniversary in particular to be a more specific theme. The two symbols for this particular anniversary were gold and ivory so I tied these into the theme with the colour scheme and the elephants! Have an idea in mind before starting your cardmaking!

Tip #5- Fill the spaces well- To create a professional looking card you should fill spaces well. This doesn't mean that you have to fill every gap, it just means that you should have a balanced looking card where spaces are used well. For example, if your card looks quite bare you could fill a space with zentangle designs like I have done with my elephant. Not every part of the card is filled but this looks tasteful.

I hope my tips have helped you out with your next cardmaking project or have inspired you to get making! I really enjoyed designing and creating this card, what cards have you made in the past or are planning to make? Let me know in the comments! :D

PS: Do you like the photo at the top of this post? I took time to layout the props, take the photo and to edit, I'm proud of the results! Do you think my improved photography is improving the overall blog? I'm aiming to include at least one well finished photo in most of my new posts!

B2S DIY Notebook

Hi guys! Some of you may have already gone back to school but there's still time to make your notebook cute! Today I'll be showing you how to make a collage notebook! On the right you can see my DIY collage notebook! Cute right? The best thing about this tutorial is that it can be completely different to mine! Here's the simple tutorial:
1.) Find a plain, cheap notebook that you will be decorating!
2.) Choose a cute piece of paper that can fit your notebook!
3.) Cut it to size. You can either have just the front covered or both the front and back covered! It's up to you!
4.) Stick the paper down
5.) Look for images online of your favourite things or just search for pretty things!
6.) Put them all on a word document and print them off!
7.) Cut them out carefully and arrange them on the notebook.
8.) One by one, glue them to the front cover.
9.) Fill the empty space with things like washi tape, sequins, glitter, buttons ect.
10.) Enjoy your unique notebook!

That's just the start of creating your own notebook! You can see in the pictures above that I have done some cool things inside the book as well! On the left there is a picture of the first page. On the first page of the notebook, I stuck lots of motivational quotes that I can look at whenever I want to! I got all of these quotes off of google images and printed them off! On the right, I have another page in my notebook! I have decided that on every page there will be an activity on the left and a notes page on the right! In this particular picture I have chosen to put a mini 'adult colouring book' page on it. On every notes page I have chosen a cute sticker to decorate it with! 

You don't have to do this with your notebook! Here are some more ideas for the inside of your notebook:

.write your timetable inside it

.write down your homework and when you have to give it in

.use it as a sketchbook/doodle book (you can't doodle in your exercise books)

.write down story ideas (if you're a writer)

.write down blog post ideas (if you're a blogger)

.write down lyrics to songs (if you need to learn a song)

.write down a script (if you're in a play)

.write down music notes (if you're a...you get the point)

.write translation pages for the language you're learning

There's so much you can do with your DIY notebook! I hope you try out this simple tutorial!

PS: Don't forget to check out my giveaway that's going on at the moment by clicking here!

10 Question Interview With a Self-Employed Handcrafter

Today I will be sharing with you an interview with Michelle, the creator of Hearfelty (a self-run sewing business) and Heartfelt Illustrations (a self-run illustrating business). Michelle is a self-employed felt craft artist and illustrator based in Staffordshire. If you're thinking about starting your own handcrafting business or you are looking for a handcrafter to buy personal gifts from, then this post is for you. Let's get onto the interview...

1. Where do you find inspiration for your designs?

I find inspiration in the natural world by using shapes, textures and colours of plants and flowers. I love watching the seasons change.

2. How do you advertise your products?

I find that the best ways of advertising are to use social media websites such as pinterest, g+, facebook and twitter which I update regularly with my new creations and updates.

3. What is the best part about your job?

The best part of my job is having creative freedom, being able to work from plans and designs of my own making.

4. What is the worst part of your job?

The worst part is not having a consistent and predictable income, not always knowing how much I will make one week to the next. That's the hardest part.

5. What have you learnt as a handcrafter?

I've learnt to be patient and not to rush even if I have a short deadline because mistakes are easily made but not easily rectified (for example, I once made a personalised order and completed the whole creation with one letter missing and I had to start over)

6. What is your bestselling product?

It depends on the time of the year. The best selling products are often the ones connected with a special occasion. 

7. How do you decide on a price?

Pricing can be tricky. First you need to find out how much the product costs you to make  (including the time it takes you to make) then you need to consider what a fair price would be for the customer, leaving room for a decent profit.

8. What gets you in a crafting mood?

Getting a new idea for something I've heard or seen. For example, song lyrics seem to inspire creation.

9. Why did you choose to be a handcrafter?

I sort of drifted into it form having creative hobbies for instance, cross stitching. Once my career path changed, I found I had more time to develop my hobby into a business.

10. Who is your target audience?

People who appreciate handmade goods, a special dedication goes into handmade items that you just can't find in ordinary shops. My customers appreciate that personal touch. 

Michelle says...

I sell my work online through social networks and websites. I also have my work in gift shops of pottery museums and a high street shop. I occasionally sell on my stall at local events and I have previously ran my own craft fair events. I additionally run workshops for adults who want to learn how to sew their own items.

Here are some of Michelle's links you may want to check out:

. Heartfelty facebook page

. Heartfelt Illustrations facebook page

. Heartfelty website

. Heartfelty twitter

. Heartfelty g+

In the next few months, one of heartfelty's items will be featured in a GIVEAWAY on my blog! So keep reading my blog to find out what else I'm giving away! I hope you have enjoyed today's post, it was a little different but I thought it was interesting post! Enjoy looking at heartfelty/heartfelt illustration's items! Bye for now!

Friends Inspired Father's Day Card

Looking for last minute father's day ideas? Oh no. Luckily for you, today I've got the perfect card idea for a dad who is a big fan of the comedy, friends! Hopefully I will inspire you to make your own card! 

1. To start off making my my card I looked up Monica's peephole frame on google images and printed it off so it would be a decent size on my card

2. I then cut out the frame and glued it onto the front

3. For the typography I looked up the friends logo then copied the style to say FATHERS DAY. The whole text says The one with the Fathers Day 2015. Every episode title starts with the words 'the one' so that's why my card starts with that.

4. I looked up quotes that Chandler (my Dad's favourite character) said and wrote them in bubbles on the left side of the inside of the card

5. I then wrote my message on the card (on the right side of the inside, obviously)

6. I looked up an image of a quote that seemed fitting and stuck it on the bottom of my message

So that's it! It's quite easy but very fun to make and will be appreciated more than a shop-bought card! :D If you make this yourself- of course it doesn't have to be exactly the same so here's some ideas on how to change it up a bit:

. change the special occasion it is for-

you could change this card so it could be for a birthday, Christmas (or even thanksgiving if you're American). These special occasion cards can be adapted so they are real episode titles too (for example the one with the birthday is an actual episode where it is Rachel's birthday). 

. change the quotes that you use-

I only used Chandler quotes for mine because he is my dad's favourite character but you can use any friends quotes you want. If the person you are giving your friends card to has a favourite character, you can use those! If not, just use a mix of quotes that are awesome!

. change the picture quote at the end-

Choose a picture quote that matches your card! For example if you change it to be a birthday can you could use this: 

Here are some more photos of my card:

The Quotes

The Photo Quote

I hope I helped you make your very won friends card today! I love the comedy friends just like my dad so if you have any cool facts, favourite moments or hilarious quotes from the show let me know in the comments! 

Fimo Clay Review+My Creations

In my last post (Read With Your Cuppa' #2) I mentioned something called fimo clay so today I'm going to introduce you all to the craft supply in more detail and show you some of my creations.

So what is fimo clay?
Fimo clay is a  particular brand of polymer clay which is basically oven hardening clay. This is different because normal clay is air hardening and has a completely different texture. Polymer clay is more like a play dough texture except more smooth whereas normal air hardening clay is quite dry and almost fluffy as you tear it apart.

So why have I written about Fimo clay rather than another brand of polymer clay?
Fimo clay is the only type of polymer clay I have tried and tested so I decided to post about this so you can get an honest opinion on what I think about the product. It is also quite a well known brand of clay so more of you may know it.

What don't I like about fimo clay?
I find it quite difficult to work the clay before I can start to mould it. I think the consistency should be softer so it is easier to shape without it snapping. Most of the time that I take making something out of fimo clay is used warming it up which can be annoying when I'm trying to quickly create something.

What do I like about fimo clay?
I love the bright colours of this brand and the range of glitter clays that they have on offer. I think fimo clay is a fun craft yet it reminds me of when I used to play with  kid's plastecine. This is a really great activity to do in your spare time and the possibilities are endless! Whether you make an animal, a container or your favourite character, you're always having fun!

Now let's have a look at my new creations

Here is a group photo of all 3 creations that is going to be featured today. I have made a kawaii inspired unicorn, a duck and a ring bowl (or small trinket holder). I'll giev you a small description of each model next to it's photo. :)

Kawaii Inspired Unicorn

I've recently been interested in kawaii style things so I decided to make a unicorn...for some reason that seemed kawaii to me at the time. :) I used mainly pastel colours to create this model because I thought it fitted with the theme. To make the the mane and tail I rolled orange, baby blue, pastel pink and glittery silver clay into individual sausage shapes then laid them next to each other. After they were connected, I twisted the whole piece of clay all the way down. I then worked it a bit more before shaping it into a mane and tail.

Duck 

To make this cute little fella, I followed a youtube tutorial (I think it was created by SoCraftastic) which was really helpful! I love the bright colours and I think it closely resembles a rubber duck! Also, the clay became slightly more transparent after I cooked it for some reason (it kind of looks cool though).

Ring Bowl

I made this multipurpose mini bowl out of the same mixed clay I used on the unicorn model except I worked it more. I twirled the clay into a flat spiral then pinched each side slightly to give it a bowl-like shape. This tiny, decorative bowl is perfect for storing your rings or another small item!




The verdict?
Overall I give the fimo clay 7 out of 10 stars. I knocked off three stars because it takes up way too much time to heat up the clay and start to work it. On the other hand I love this product because of the fun colours and the wide range of tools you can buy alongside it. There are plenty of moulds to choose from and there are even some texture sheets you can buy. I would recommend you buying this type of polymer clay or perhaps you could try a few to compare them. Making models out of fimo clay is a great activity to prevent boredom.

I hope you liked today's post. I thought I would do something a bit different today so please let me know in the comments whether you would like to see more reviews. :)

How to Make a Luma Plushie (from Mario Galaxy)

Recently I have been playing Mario Galaxy on my wii again so I decided to make a plushie of one of the characters! I chose Polari (the black luma with blue eyes) to make but if you make your own plushie you can choose any luma you want. I've written some simple instructions for you below so feel free to make one for yourself (you can't sell them though because of copyright issues).

What you will need for this project

You will need:

. a generic luma template from google images
. a large piece of felt in the main body colour
. a small piece of felt in the eye colour
. a long piece of thread in the body's colour
. a shorter piece of thread in the eye colour
. a needle
. pins/pen in a different colour to the fabric
. Stuffing
. paper scissors
. fabric scissors (not necessary)



Let's get started!
1. First of all you need to cut out your template with paper scissors
2. Pin**it to your large piece of felt securely
3. Carefully cut around the template with fabric scissors (if not you could use paper scissors)
4. Flip your template over, pin**it and repeat step 3
5. Now you have your body pieces you can cut out 2 ovals from the other fabric for the eyes
6. Choose one body piece that will be the front and place the eyes on it
7. Use felt stitch*to attach each eye onto the felt shape (using the shorter thread)
8. Place the front and back pieces of your luma together
9. Now you can start to use blanket stitch* to attach it together (using the longer thread)
10. Make sure you leave a gap for stuffing
11. When you are stuffing the luma plushie put more in the centre to make it look more realistic
12. Once it is stuffed you can sew up the rest with the same stitch as before

Finished plushie example

You have finished your luma plushie! 
Here is a picture of my finished Polari luma plushi! Yours should look similar once you have finished but of course it may not be black with blue eyes-it could be any colour!




* If you are unsure on how to do these stitches then you can look up simple tutorials online.
** If you are using a lighter colour than black you can just draw around the template then cut it out 

How to create a Good Mood Board

Mood boards are really helpful sources of inspiration for any sort of creative project such as making a cushion cover or designing fashion. However, you need to remember some of these helpful tips I have come up with to ensure that your mood board prepares you well for the project you will be making. You won't have to come up with any more inspiration sources for your designs if you do this well. Here's a list of the elements that you need to include in your mood board:
.Images (you always need these on a mood board but it isn't enough you also need the other elements to back up your inspiration ideas)
.Fabric samples
.Ribbon cuttings
.Interesting Buttons
.3D elements (I have included bindis and beads)
.colour schemes
All of the elements have to be relevant to the theme you are aiming for in your designs. I am creating a mood board for school as inspiration for an Indian themed cushion cover so as you can see I have researched things with that theme and have used other elements that remind me of the culture. You can take a look at my mood board below for ideas.

Loom Band Charm ATTEMPT

Loom bands have been a great hit in the UK for the past year or so-this crafty trend has now kind of drifted away and although I made plenty of loom band bracelets I never had the chance to made a loom band charm while they were in fashion. Now it seems like it was for the best. Yesterday I attempted to make an owl loom band charm. It didn't work out so well. However it was still quite cute so I used as a little gift for my Nanna. There were lots of kind of loose bands on the back of the owl so I made the creative decision to turn it into a magnet. First of all I used double sided sticky tape to attach it onto the charm but when I stuck it onto my whiteboard the adhesive pulled away and only the basic magnet was left on the board. My mum had the idea to sew on 2 pieces of felt slightly bigger than the magnet on each side then sew the whole thing onto the charm. It now works very well. You can look up many different tutorials for the loom band charms and maybe even try and create your own design to make using a loom. Look below to see my owl loom band magnet.

Sunny Soap!

Hi guys, I really hope that you're enjoying my blog much more at the moment. I've been trying in the past few months to upload more posts to do with special occasions and now I am doing a whole series of crafty half term kind of art projects to do when you're bored. If you like my posts at the moment you should keep coming back for more because I will try to upload more often for you guys now!

      Anyway, in this post I'll be talking to you about the handmade soaps I recently made and  a cool recycling project on what to do with the scraps. I used a soap making kit to make my soaps so you will probably need one of your own to make sure that the soaps you make are actually safe to use on the average human's skin. I got my kit for Christmas but I have seen it in shops so I know it costs around £25 so you'll probably want to ask for it for a birthday or Christmas (unless you save up) if you want to use it. To make 4 bars of soap, I melted a quarter of the given soap compound in a pan over a bowl of water on the stove. Once it was fully melted (using the stirring method) we added in 2-3 drops for each bar of soap (so you had to times that by 4 and add it into the mixture that would be shared between all four of them). Before it was poured into the molds, I put various seeds and petals into the bottom of the molds. We then poured a layer of the soap mixture into each one and then added more seeds. After that we filled each one up to nearly the top and left it o cool on the side for half an hour. When we came back from the cooling we covered it in clingfilm and put it in the fridge for an hour! Once it was fully hardened we popped them out of the molds. Your soaps (if you choose to make them) should look a little like these below.

They have different variations of marigold petals, poppy seeds, linseed and aniseed inside them along with a lemony scent. I love the overall look of them and I think they would make great gifts! I'm giving 3 of them as mothers day gifts for my mum (of course), my grandma and my Nanna. I hope they love them as much as I do. I'm keeping one for myself (the circle shaped one) because I really like the way they smell and look. These have a matching scent to the lip balm so I'll use them both on the same days! Since I'm giving most of them as gifts, I wrapped them and her's a picture below so take a little look for inspiration on how you may want to wrap your own.

I used the lemon patterned tissue paper again to wrap my Mum's and pink colored tissue paper to wrap my Nanna's and Grandma's. Mine is the one that is wrapped lie a bonbon in cling film. I'm only preserving it, I didn't want to waste paper. I then use lace ribbon for Mum's little package and a pink bird on for the other two. 

    I don't know whether you noticed the little bag or not but I filled it with little bits of the handmade soap that crumbled off and some petals alongside some extra drops of essential oil. I may give this to someone as a little gift in the post- it's meant to be a drawer scent (you know when you have a little package in your clothes drawer to make them smell nice. Unfortunately I think I put to much extra oil in it, it's a bit strong scented for me. I enjoyed making this and I really hope you do too.