valentine's day cards revisited

valentine's will be upon us in about a week, so i thought i'd re-post a couple card ideas from last year, in case you were feeling crafty or desperate for a freebie.

follow my tutorial here to make these stitched felt heart flat notecards.

and check out my post here regarding the free printable card below, and download it here.

150th + a giveaway

the giveaway is now closed.

the winner is #35, brandi! look for an email from me soon so i can get your information.

for everyone else, i am offering a 10% discount to my etsy shop.  just enter code 10OFFTWO at check out.  thank you to everyone that participated!!
----------------
it has been nearly four years since i started this blog, and i have finally reached my 150th post.

this is it.  sure took me long enough.

to "celebrate", i am giving away two coffee sleeves from my etsy shop: one red with a top ruffle, and one yellow with a pink side ruffle, to one winner.

to enter and possibly win these coffee sleeves, you have the opportunity of up to three entries:

entry 1: leave a comment on this entry - tell me, what is the drink you most frequently order when you're out? - or something else, if you prefer

entry 2: follow my blog + leave a comment to inform me (if you are already following, leave a comment stating so)

entry 3: pin one of my tutorials/ideas/recipes/etc from this blog, and leave me a 3rd comment + link me to the post

entry 4: blog about this giveaway, and leave me a 4th comment + link me to the post

make sure you leave a way for me to contact you on your entry/entries!

the giveaway will close on tuesday, february 12th, midnight, pacific time.

1 winner will be chosen via random.org

*giveaway valid for u.s. entries only, sorry!* 

stitched felt heart valentine's cards (ways to rid yourself of 30 yards of felt #7)

a couple weeks into the new year, and as expected, valentine's day products are already littering the aisles in shops all over.  here is a simple but slightly whimsical flat card that can be easily whipped together. send one or send twenty!

to make these cards, cut a sheet of 8.5"x11" cardstock into four. i used my awesome brand spanking new paper cutter (a christmas gift, thank you, thank you, bff!).  

hand cut little hearts with your felt.  twelve little hearts, to be exact. three for each card.  i used red and pink from my stash.

thread your sewing machine with thread (a color that will pop off the page and go with your hearts-- i used pink), and stitch three hearts down the middle with the centers of the hearts about an inch into the card.  

you may find it helpful to use a ruler and lightly mark with a pencil the line down the paper where you intend to sew. cut the threads flush (or you could leave them hanging a little longer if you like) to the card, and you should find yourself with something like this:

how do you feel about valentine's day?  love it? hate it? look forward to it every year? wish it didn't exist? 

ways to rid yourself of 30 yards of felt #6: make coasters

a little over two years ago, i found myself with an abundance of leftover felt.

even though i have technically moved six times (not with all my stuff, mind you) since i wrote my last felt post, i still mysteriously find myself with a box full of felt.

it's absurd. i know. you don't have to tell me.

i was, however, grateful to have this box of felt when i found myself itching to sew my first project in san diego. something easy. something useful.  something i needed.    

like coasters.

i drew a pattern on a piece of paper and cut two pieces of different colors of felt.  i cut a hole out of the top so the bottom color peeks through, and then sewed them together.

although i'm just making these for myself, these might make a cute stocking stuffer idea or just a small homemade gift for a friend. 

just throwing that idea out there.   

felt. flower. headband.

i realize i'm a little late in the game here, but happy new year!

i wanted to share this headband with you.   a very good friend of mine made it for me for christmas.  isn't it absolutely adorable?  the flower is made of felt petals that are both glued and sewn to the headband.  

did you receive any great handmade gifts over christmas?

felt tissue cases revisited

last month i posted about felt tissue holders that my friend scrappybug made using a martha stewart tutorial.  i decided to make some with a twist- i added an elastic strap so that they could fit over the sun visor in our car.

to do so, follow martha's instructions of cutting a 5 7/8" X 6 3/4" piece of felt.  but instead of folding the short ends together in the middle, fold the long ends (at least the tissue packs i bought fit better this way) into the middle.  measure the around your car's visor and then subtract 6 inches from it (the length of the tissue holder).  cut a piece of elastic (i used about 1 inch wide elastic) of that length.

tuck in one end of the elastic (about .5 inch) into one of the short sides, centering it. sew down the side.  do the same with the other end.  make sure the elastic is on the back side, not the side with the slit opening. you'll have to pull the elastic a bit out so that you don't sew over it in two places.

back view.

finished with some embellishments.

and a third one, beaded, but without elastic, just for kicks. 

craft boston

on sunday, the husband and i made our way boston's seaport world trade center to visit craft boston.  the show runs twice a year, once in the spring and once in the winter.  while i would have hardly called it spring-like on sunday with temperatures still hovering in the 30s and low 40s, at least it was a sunny day, and the show was indoors.  something funny i noticed is, exactly a year ago, we visited the bayou city art festival in houston.  what are the odds?   anyway, the show had about 200 artisans and we easily spent a few hours admiring everyone's work.  it was incredibly hard to walk away without doing serious damage to our wallets, but i managed, even though it still hurts to remember all the beautiful items i had to leave behind.  

ways to rid yourself of 30 yards of felt #5: felt rosette wreath

my friend olivia of olivia's ultimate recently began a new cute blog with a friend of hers called deux petite amie. she posted a felt rosette wreath tutorial in february that would be a great way to use excess felt, if you ever find yourself in a predicament like mine. 
check it out the full tutorial here.

ways to rid yourself of 30 yards of felt #4: make tissue holders

my new craft room looks like this right now:

which is why i have nothing to show you.  however, i'd like to share these felt tissue holders my friend made  using martha stewart's tutorial. cute huh? i really like the little flower detail she added.

i plan on making a bunch of these for my mom and her thousand friends later on. it seems like the kind of thing they'd like.  and yes, i brought the majority of my felt stash with me, although i did give away a yard or two, and i parted with a lot of scraps (that was really hard). 

ways to rid yourself of 30 yards of felt #3: make a gift pouch

i trust that everyone had a fantastic christmas.  i intend to post something about ours, but we'll see.
for my third installment on "ways to rid yourself of 30 yards of felt"... make a gift pouch. with a button.

like this:

ruffled coffee sleeves

what's better than a button coffee sleeve?  ruffled coffee sleeves. 

side ruffle.

top ruffle.

lots of ruffles...

ways to rid yourself of 30 yards of felt #2: create embellished cards

after i arrived at my parents house last week for thanksgiving, i had the following conversation with my father:

dad: grandma called earlier. she told me to thank you for the card you sent.  i told her you made it.
me:  you told grandma i made the card?  ... i didn't make the card. i bought it.
dad:  you didn't make it?
me: no... what made you think i made the card? you didn't even see the card.
dad:  don't you make ALL your cards?  i thought you make all the cards you send, that's why i said it.
me:  i make SOME of the cards i send, not all the cards.
dad: ok. well. i guess you can tell her that you didn't make the card next time you talk to her.
me: yeah.. i'm pretty sure she'll figure it out, since it says "carlton cards" on the back.

i don't know why, but our conversation made me laugh.  it really has nothing to do with the rest of this post, but i wanted to share.

anyway, it had been a while since i had made any cards, but i thought that making a felt embellished card would be a fun little project and reduce my weighty stash by .000001%.  YES!!!

ways to rid yourself of 30 yards of felt #1: make a 2X eco-coffee sleeve

for my first trick, i present to you the 2Xeco coffee sleeve tutorial.

crazy christmas lady

you may have noticed the appearance of christmas products in my etsy shop. sometime this summer, i was struck with the insane idea that this year i would make + sell whimsical, non- traditional tree skirts and some stockings.

i was inspired. it was going to be fabulous. i could NOT wait. i would make a minimum of 25. maybe 30. even 40. different sizes. different colors. different patterns!! the fabric store was having a sale on eco felt, and in my enthusiasm, i bought nearly 30 yards of felt. at once. i brought the husband along so he could lug the bolts around for me.

the lady cutting for me naturally was curious as to why i needed so much felt in the middle of july. i explained. she made a comment implying that she would not want a bright pink or peacock blue tree skirt in her house.... and ever since that encounter, she has greeted me as "the christmas lady" every time i enter the store. if you heard the tone of her voice, you would realize what she is really thinking is, "the crazy christmas lady".

make your applique POP

i had some trouble deciding what gift to make a friend for her recent baby shower. a minky baby blanket? a kimono?

nah... i had already made those for other people. i wanted to try something new. like applique onesies. i'm sure you've seen them. they are all over the place, and for good reason. a plain onesie is nothing much to look at, but slap on an applique car, bird, airplane, giraffe, or puppy, and you suddenly have yourself one adorable baby outfit.

if you search google, there are endless hits for "applique onesie tutorial". still, i had trouble finding exactly what i was looking for. i wanted my applique to "pop" off the onesie. a year or two ago, i had purchased some onesies that had a raised applique, and i wanted to replicate the process. the secret appeared to be a felt backing.