Friday, April 19, 2013

Recycle Cutout Dog Biscuit Tutorial



This is one of the Swaps I hosted on Swap-bot.com using a box from a food product that has pre-cut out fronts. Whether it has a cello front or just plain like I have here using the front and side of dog biscuit boxes for inserting scrapbook items. Click on each picture to see the steps to creating this pre-made recycled album using recycled items I received from another swap. Leaving half the pages blank towards the back for my partner to add her own special touches.
Comments are welcome.
Happy scraping! Joan

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Owl Pincushion instructions

Owl Pin Cushion Instructions

Well, hosting an owl pin cushion swap on swap-bot, but the magazine site only offers the template for the body but no instructions as promised.

So here is a short verision of the instructions.

need:
6 x 8" for body
4 x 6 for belly
scrap of fiberfilled
1/4 cup of walnut shells or weight for bottom
(keep it standing)
small funnel to fill the cavity
scraps of off white yarn
2 - 3/4" white buttons
2 - 1/2" black buttons
doll makers needle (extra long to get through fiberfill of body.


1. Using template from this site. Cut 2 bodies pieces and 1 belly piece.

2. Lay rt side together and stitch up one curved side.

3. With right sidesup open the body and rt sides together of the body to belly, sew the curved edges pivot at the top and go down the other side. trim tip to 1/8". Turn right side out.

4. On the belly side from the top mark a line 1" from the top. 

5. Lightly stuff the point and baste the line for bending thru all layers. 

6. Fold the bottom edge 1/8" and baste a hem stitch, but leave loose. Using the funnel to put in the crush walnuts to within 1/4" of not filled. 

7. Pull threads tight and if needed add more crushed walnuts. stitch close.

8. Smooth out the body of the owl. shape as needed.

Finishing:

1. Fold the top 1" down with the point centered. Using embroidery floss take a few stitches through the tip and belly to form a beak. Remove the basting stitches. 

2. Stack a black button on the white and thread a need with black thread and take a few stitches to hold the buttons together.

3. Cut 3 1" in lenghts of yarn, gather together and put one end under the button holes. Take a couple of stitches to hold in place. hand stitch the eye onto the owl using the dollmakers needle. Run the thread out the bottom and back up through the buttons. Take several stitches in this manner and then finish off. 

4. unwind the yarn to fluff up the strands.