"Easy As" Recycled Mini Glass Vase

I love using old glass bottles to display flowers, fresh from the garden.
I find however, that mini glass bottles (recycled from supermarket juice bottles) used on their own can be wobbly at the best of times ... so in order to make these little glass bottles more stable, I decided to join several together, simply by wrapping them with twine!


To make these "Easy As" Mini Glass Vases:
1) Place (a minimum of two) mini glass bottles side by side
2) Wrap twine around the outside of all your mini glass bottles (If joining more than two bottles you will probably need another pair of hands to help you hold the bottles.)
3) Wrap twine tightly between each of the bottles (enough to stop the glass from touching)
4) Fill your new vase with water and flowers and enjoy :)

"Easy As" Fabric Roses

Do you like crafting at Christmas Time? 
Christmas is usually my favourite time of year to sit around the dining table, chatting and crafting with friends and family.
I've always loved easy - yet - Oh! so pretty crafts that add a vintage or handmade feel to your decorating - I think pretty fabric roses fit this brief perfectly and best of all they can be made at any time of year!

Easy As - Fabric Rose - Tutorial!
- Tear a strip of fabric / old scraps of cotton and/or linen fabrics are perfect for these pretty roses
(Note: changing the width and length of your fabric strips will create interesting variations in your roses
- Fray the edges of your fabric strip
- Tie a knot in one end of your fabric strip
- Wrap the remaining fabric strip around the knot (twisting as you go) 
- As you twist the fabric use a needle and thread to stitch (hold) fabric in place (or hold fabric in place with glue from a hot glue gun etc)
- When you have almost finished wrapping your rose, tuck the end of your fabric strip to the underside of your new rose
- Your new fabric rose can then be sewn onto ribbon to decorate presents etc
-Enjoy :)

Fabric Gift Tag Tutorial

It's the 1st December! - can you believe it?

For us the 1st December has always been the day when our old dusty box of Christmas Crafty Goodness gets pulled down from the back of the cupboard, and our home is decorated for Christmas (although I'm always so tempted to start earlier)

So today as well as decorating the tree, I've made some personalised Gift Tags (with a lovely handmade shabby feel) for the numerous "brown paper packages" soon to be placed under the tree!

Below is a little DIY tutorial, for my Fabric Gift Tags  ... Happy Decorating :)

Fabric Gift Tag Tutorial

Materials

1 x 3.5" x .5" cardstock rectangle (per gift card)

1 x 7" x 1" linen or burlap fabric rectangle (per gift tag)

Sewing Machine and thread (to match fabric)

Scissors

Hole punch and eyelet kit (or a button and thread)

Stamps, Stencil Kit or Fabric Paint to decorate

Method

- Cut cardstock rectangle to size

- Cut fabric rectangle to size and fray edges

- Wrap cardstock rectangle with the fabric rectangle to create fabric gift card

- Sew around all edges of gift tag (to the inside of the frayed edge)

- Using a hole punch make a hole in your gift tag about .5" in from one end of your gift tag (Or attach a button at one end of your tag)

- Trim any extra fabric /cardstock created by hole punch, to ensure a flat surface for eyelet

- Using hardware supplied with your hole punching kit attach eyelet

- Stamp, stencil, or paint your gift tag with a message or your recipients name etc

- Attach ribbon or twine (through the eyelet or around the button) and attach gift tag to your gift

- Voila :)

"No Sew" Christmas Ornament Tutorial

... seeing all the Christmas Decorations starting to appear in the stores earlier this week, I decided today to make some new fabric ornaments for the tree! ...
(I know ... I know ... where has the year gone?)

So using fabric swatches of my design "Linen Look Stars" in Cinnamon and Mint (as above) I made these - So Simple! - So easy! - No Sew Ornaments :)
Below is a little Tutorial, incase your wanting to make some too :)

"No Sew" Christmas Ornament Tutorial

Materials:
1 x 65mm Polystyrene Ball (per ornament)
1 x 8" square of fabric (per ornament)
Pins
Twine

Instructions:
- Tear 8 even strips of fabric
- Place 2 strips of fabric together at right angles
- Continue to add strips of fabric (as shown)
- Place Polystyrene Ball in the center of the fabric strips
- Wrap the fabric strips around the polystyrene ball
- Fasten fabric in place, with a pin (and add a loop of twine under pin if hanging ornament)
- Enjoy :)

Daisy Dress in Dusty Pink!

As soon as my "Dusty Pink Daisy" fabric sample (above) arrived from Spoonflower, I knew my days - To Do - List would be out the window!
So instead of working, I searched the internet for a cute little toddler dress pattern and spent the day sewing instead ;)
This so cute (and so easy to sew) 'A' line sundress is based on a free downloadable pdf pattern by Oliver + S  called "popover sundress" ~ Thank-you ;)

Now that it's finished, I guess it's time to get back to work! 
... Although It could be 'milk and cookies' time first ;)

Pear Harvest - Cabinet Makeover!

Yay!
Today I finished making over my new 'stock' cabinet!!!

Finding this beauty for a bargain price on ebay was the easy part - deciding what fabric to use for the makeover, .... well that's another story!

Weeks of procrastinating later, I finally ordered my Spoonflower design "Pear Harvest" 
I love that even with the doors closed, you get the sense you are peeking inside the cabinet, to see shelves of pretty pears all lined up in rows :)

Before pics below:


To give this cabinet a simpler, more rustic country feel - the first thing I did was remove the fancy 'fret work' from the legs.
Then I lightly sanded, washed and painted the cabinet in one of my all time favourite products: White Paint!


Further adding to the country feel, I attached a new iron handle and French inspired escutcheon (for a key and tassel.)


To attach the fabric to the timber panels, I measured and cut the fabric to size - and simply used double sided tape to fix the fabric to the timber .
(This also makes the fabric quite easy to remove whenever it's time for a change)
Finally the edges of the fabric were topped with ribbon (applied with a hot glue gun.)


And Voila! 

"Easy As" paper flowers :)

Happy Sunday ...

Today I've been making some fun paper flowers, that are not only an ideal way to dress up and decorate gifts but are oh so wonderfully - "Easy As" - to make.

I like to make them from recycled white tissue paper, (after carefully removing the wrap so often used by department stores on new purchases) - but vibrant colours work well for kids birthday parties, and restricted or limited mixed colour palettes help give a co-ordinated look to presents under a Christmas tree etc ....

.... If you'd like to try these out for yourself, see a wonderful tutorial for similar tissue paper flowers on the Feeling Fuzzy Blog <here>

But be warned ... try stopping after you've made just one :)

Revamped Vintage Chair

Fabric Design: Inky Floral - French Blue

I have been wanting a cute and comfy study chair for absolutely ages ... so I decided to remodel an old timber dining chair that had seen better days.

.... Using the chairs original, worn out fabric as a template and leaving the existing padding in place helped to make this (my first ever) attempt at reupholstery so much easier than I thought it would be - YAY !!!

For more fabulous Chair makeovers, see the Chair Party being hosted on the Drab to Fab blog 

... Oh the possibilities :)

Bunting - Just for fun :)

Happy New Year !!!
I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

Over the last few weeks, we have also celebrated several family birthdays - including mine on New Years Eve - YAY! - Happy Birthday to all the other Capricorns :)

... and in what for us was some very surprising and exciting news, we made Spoonflowers list of Top 10 Indie Fabric Designers for 2010

All I can say is WOW ... and a HUGE, Thank-you, Thank-you, Thank-you, to everyone for all their amazing encouragement and support :)

I'm thinking all the celebrating may have stopped me noticing until now, that we are already 11 days into 2011 - Time seems to be flying by this year.

So finding some extra time today, just to relax and sew up my first ever Bunting Flags was fabulous. (I did cheat a little with the sewing - just cutting the edges of the flags with Pinking Shears - but I'm loving the way they have turned out ;)


Directions for "Easy As" Bunting:

Cut 15 fabric flags (as included in this bunting kit) with pinking scissors - Iron flat - Arrange as desired leaving an even space between each flag - Cut enough bias tape to fit all 15 flags side by side + extra on each side for tying bunting to hooks etc - Pin flags into place in bias tape (or folded ribbon) and sew to secure - Enjoy :)

Merry Christmas :)

I had such fun today listening to old Christmas records, and making this cute fabric ornament with my new design "Vintage Christmas Star" 
..... Many many thanks to the Knitty Gritty Thoughts blog for your inspiring free tutorial on how to make these super cute ornaments :)

To all my fabulous friends here on Blogger, 

Wishing you a very

MERRY CHRISTMAS

and a

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Thank-you so much for all your wonderful support throughout 2010

... you guys rock!!!

All the very best for 2011
Enjoy the holidays

Cheers,

Kris
xxx

Vintage Shabby Rose : Cushions

This month, I've really been enjoying pretty pink, green and neutral colour palettes.



So to bring some of these wonderful Springtime tones inside, I decided to make myself some new cushions, featuring designs from the Vintage Shabby Rose Collection.

Today the rain is pouring outside my window, but I'm enjoying listening to the steady sound it makes as it hits the roof :)
..................

Also this week Judi Hall from Gingezel, featured our designs on the Gingezel website ~ Thank-you so much Judi for the wonderful Kristopher K feature :)

I first became aware of Gingezel Fabrics on Flickr, when I saw this lovely Collection of fabrics called Ocean Villa 

... (I just love the muted blue and brown colour palette) 

See more beautiful Gingezel Fabrics @Spoonflower here

..................


I hope your week so far has been fabulous ... 
Time for me now to make a nice hot cup of coffee, while outside the rain continues to fall :)

Terrific Tuesday

Today has been a Terrific Tuesday ... why ? Well apart from being the first Tuesday in November and a day when a little old horse race called The Melbourne Cup stops a nation ... I also made some fun "easy as" fabric buttons :)

Using a simple button kit that I purchased from The Haby Goddess (here) it really was as "easy as" 1, 2, 3 to make these adorable fabric covered buttons (with absolutely no sewing skills required ;)

Fabrics shown are from my Perfect Pink Collection and include : (from top)
Disco Dots - Hot Pink
Country Checks
and
Spring Blossoms 


I hope you had a Terrific Tuesday too, and if you placed a bet on The Melbourne Cup, I hope you backed a winner!

The Liberty Way To Tie A Scarf

Inspiration I just had to share with you all, from a recent visit to the Liberty YouTube page : featuring several inspiring demonstrations on "How-To" tie a scarf :)
Hope your having a fabulous week, Enjoy, Cheers Kris :)

Shabby Raggy Soft and Snugly: Rag Quilt

Yay! 
Anyone who has ever made a Rag Quilt will probably understand, that I'm not exaggerating when I say 
.... there is cotton from one end of my studio to the other ... lol

But WHAT FUN it was, making my very first Shabby, Raggy, Soft and Snugly Rag Quilt, from a mix of (Organic Cotton Sateen and Quilting Weight Cotton) fabrics featuring designs from my "Shabby Rose" Collection.


From Fabric to Quilt Above.

Many thanks to the:
'green apple orchard' blog 
- For, inspiring me with their fabulous rag quilt Tutorial
"Easiest Quilt Ever! The Rag Quilt Tutorial"

And for more awe-inspiring Rag Quilt photos see:
La Dolce Boutique Blog: here

Ah *Sigh* 
Now I better get busy and tidy up the studio :)

Cheers, Kris

© Kristopher K 2010

Dot - The Disco Frog

Just a quick post to show you all Dot - The Disco Frog!

A big thank-you to The Purl Bee Blog for providing this fun and easy to sew pattern :)
Dot loves to dance to the hip buzzing sounds of the lilly pond - lol -

I am really enjoying the holidays, and using the time to practice my sewing skills 

- prior to my new Quilt fabric arriving :)

Dot is made from my fabric design: Disco Dots - Night
and the background fabric is: Lofty Linen Leaves 

Happy Easter for tomorrow,
Cheers Kris :)

© All rights reserved.

Camera Case by Bozontee

A big thank-you to Bozontee for giving me permission to show you all, her adorable camera case :)
- Featuring my original fabric design: 

52" x Magnolia Little Gem - Dark Spice - 1 yard panel

I can't tell you how exciting it is to see photos of the wonderful creations you make with my fabric designs.

If you too, have made any lovely things, using Spoonflower printed fabrics, why not add them to the Spoonflower Group Pool on Flickr.

You never know, you may just make a Textile Designers day :)