"Save The Date" cards on a budget

Probably the simplest and easiest way to save money on your save the date cards is to send them by email!

Send a photo of the two of you and the details of your wedding or
use http://www.wordle.net/ to make a fabulous word cloud invitation! 

Or go to 
http://www.smilebox.com/wedding-announcements.html?partner=google&campaign=search_core_wedding_sitelink&gclid=COKw15jf17sCFfMctAodDVYAfg
For

Creative Wedding Announcements

Let friends and family know about your big day with memorable wedding announcements.

• Choose the perfect design for your announcement.
• Add your message, customize with photos and videos.
• Email, print or post your wedding announcement.
• It's FREE to download and personalise 

Have fun with this great app' 

I'd love to see what you create! Make sure you send me a copy and you may also go into my new book "Bride on a budget". 

Another easy Christmas Craft...

Cinnamon Christmas Tree

You will need:

Scraps of felt, buttons/embellishments, ribbon, cinnamon stick, scissors, glue.

Cut two triangle Tree shapes from the felt and put one to one side.

Play around with some embellishments for your tree. I used vintage buttons and ribbons – they also look great with broken jewellery and a sparkly ribbon.

If you are using ribbons – make them slightly wider than the tree so that they can tuck around the back of the tree and be stitched or glued down.

When you are happy with your design stitch or glue the items in place.

Add a thin ribbon folded in half to act as a hanger for your decoration.

Place the cinnamon stick on the plain tree shape and add some hot glue to it and to the edges of the tree. Place the decorated tree shape on top and press firmly down.

I normally give these a squirt of Christmas room spray to bring out the cinnamon smell – they make great festive air fresheners!

 

Easy Recyclng Christmas Craft ...

 

This cute little Christmas Wreath is soooooooo easy to make - just had to share it with you!

Use an old curtain ring and glue around its edge.

Then tightly wrap some ribbon or fabric around it.

Cut out some holly shapes from some felt scraps and add these with

a red button or two for the berries.

Make a matching set or all different!

Try decoupaging the ring, or gluing buttons all around!

So many ways to use this simple idea!

Watch this space for more recyling christmas crafts!

Festive Button Wreath Tutorial

You will need:         Felt/Fabric scraps,  beads, buttons, florist wire, ribbon

Cut your scraps of felt into small pieces (about 1.5cms/  ½”) with pinking shears

Twist the end of the wire into a small hoop to stop the beads etc falling off,  and  thread the wire through felt pieces, buttons and beads, leaving about  5cms/ 2½” of bare wire.

 Put the bare wire through the hoop, twist to fasten and  hook over

Add   a pretty bow and hang!

Note Book Upcycling!

I've been busy making some notebook covers for a craft fair I am doing on December 3rd at The Methodist Church, High Street, Lincoln. It's on the same day as the Lincoln Christmas Fair - if you've never been, I highly recommend it. If you are able to, take the long walk up Steep Hill, many of the shops and houses sell mulled wine and hot chocolate laced with brandy to make the climb up the cobbled hill more bearable! Hopefully, the beautiful vintage carousel will still be there too.

Anyway... back to the notebooks...

You will need:

• A hardback notebook
• Fabric remnants - (I've covered some in vintage embroidered napkins, tablecloths, curtains, shirts etc. Cotton is probably the easiest to work with as it is not too bulky)
• Pins
• Sewing machine or willing hands!
• Thread
• Scissors
• Rule
• Buttons, card toppers, stickers, jewellery etc to embellish

Take your notebook and lay it flat onto two pieces of fabric. 

Measure a rectangle around the book, allowing for a 1cm seam allowance all the way around and then also add on 5cms for each flap that will fold in to hold the notebook in place.

Save the trimming scraps, either to make a decoration for the front of your notebook holder or for stuffing another project.

Cut the two pieces of fabric, place their right sides together and pin them together.

Using either your sewing machine or hand stitch them together, leaving a gap in the middle, on the bottom edge of about 6cms.  

Turn the fabric right side out and press with an iron. Trim off any excess fabric and use chopsticks or a pencil to push the corners right out to get a nice sharp, crisp corner. Hand stitch the gap together. 

Place the notebook in the centre of the fabric, and fold both flaps in. Make sure that you leave a little space for the book to "breathe", by closing the notebook and checking that the fabric is not too tight.

Pin each flap to secure, and carefully remove the notebook.

Sew the flaps at the top and bottom of the cover. Y0ou can either do this by hand as in the picture below or stitch on the machine around the rectangular shape as close to the edge as possible (the brown ones at the top of this post, are made in this way).

Now comes the fun part! Raid your button tin and hunt out some buttons of similar or contrasting colours to your fabric.

Have a play! Try out some different designs with your buttons/buckles/charms/ribbons/beads etc, until you are happy with the design and stitch or glue in place.

1. Pop the cover over your notebook and you're done!

The possibilities with this project are endless. Experiment with different fabrics: silks, tweeds, shrunken jumpers, sacking etc... etc... Add personalised embellishments such as charms, buttons, badges, etc and create a unique personalised gift for someone.