How to Make a Valentine's Day Heart Ornament

For today I present you with my first tutorial!! I am super duper excited and I really hope you try and make some of these on your own. They aren't hard at all and make the cutest Valentine's Day decorations. You could also hang them up whenever you want to bring a bit of love into your home anytime of year!

So let's get started!


1. Supplies:
Felt in any color you want
Fabric to compliment the felt
Embroidery Floss also to compliment your felt and fabric choices
Ribbon
Scissors and an Embroidery needle
(Not Pictured) A scrap piece of cardboard and some sort of stuffing - fiber fill, scrap pieces of fabric or yarn, etc.


2. Stencil
You will want to draw a heart onto your cardboard. Also draw a smaller heart to cut out of the center.
Cut out your stencil.
I drew this by hand but I have a feeling some heart cookie cutters would be the perfect template!


3. Felt
You will want to fold your felt in half and pin together.
Trace your heart stencil, the outside and the center.
Cut the largest heart out from both pieces of felt.
***Now if you kept your felt pinned together while cutting out the large heart UNPIN NOW!!!!***
Cut the center heart out of only ONE piece of felt.
(in a sleepy, crafty stooper I cut the center out of both sides of felt twice! You read that right, TWICE!! I'm a genius kids, a pure genius!)


4. Fabric
Trace the large heart onto your pretty fabric.
Trim around the outside a bit so that it is smaller than the big heart but still larger than the center.


5. Sew Fabric to Felt
Pin your fabric to the felt heart with the center cut out.
Stich around the center heart to attach your fabric.


6. Add detail
If you want, now would be the time to add any cute little details to the back heart. Make sure you embroider on the side that will face out.
I did this so that if the heart spins around, it will still look super cute!


7. Sew Felt Together
You will want to cut a piece of ribbon long enough to hang wherever you choose.
Pin this ribbon to the front piece of felt.
Pin the two sides together and embroider about 3/4 of the way around.
Make sure you stitch over the ribbon so it is nice and secure.
*Tip* Start your embroidery on the inside so that the knot does not show on the back of the ornament.


8. Stuff your ornament
Once you get to about the 3/4 mark you will want to stuff the ornament.
Don't overstuff or it might get kind of puckered looking (unless this is the look you are going for then by all means, stuff away!)
Once stuffed, continue stitching your ornament closed.
*Tip* Tie your knot on the inside so it doesn't show on your ornament either.


Now you can admire your adorable new heart ornament!!



I love all the different felt and fabric combos I came up with. All the emboidered details were just off the top of my head too.

I hope you try to make some of these for yourself or as a gift. If you do, leave me a link so I can see it too!

Have a lovely day friends!



Jamie

Thirft Haul

Saturday I went to the VNA Sale in Jersey. It is right near the town I went to high school in, they have it twice a year and I have gone almost every year since I was in high school. All the proceeds go to the Visiting Nurse Association and there are sooo many goodies!

I was actually really good this year and made sure to just focus on what I knew I wanted and didn't buy any random stuff that I don't have room for in my apartment or will just end up in a drawer. I also didn't go into the movie tent. There was a huge wait and I was pooped from walking all over already.
I did get some pretty stuff though!

I have a huge love for tiny, round and oval picture frames. I have absolutely no idea why but I just can't pass them up! I also got 4 tiny little handmade doilys and I know exactly what I am going to do with them! There were so many handmade things being sold that it made me a little sad. I got to thinking about all the stuff I have and will be making people over the years, I hope none of it ever ends up at a Rummage Sale =(


I got some sweet Aida fabric which I can always find a use for!


I found these amazing embroidery books, a lot of the stuff in them are for 70's-ish folk art stuff which I looove!! There are so many things in these books I want to make!


I love all things Egyptian and I could not pass up this fabric. It's only a yard and I have no idea what I will do with it but it's so pretty!!


And my favoite score for the day is this book "A Pictoral History of Horror Movies"!! It is in amazing shape, only a few tears on the cover at the bottom of the binding but everything else is perfect. There are so many sweet movie posters in color and then all kinds of behind the scenes black and white photos and what not. I love it!






I also got some cardigans and shirts but they are in the hamper at the moment.
So this is everything I got, I'm totally satisified and can't wait for the October Sale, hehe!!

Have a great day everyone! I am taking my Sales Licensing test at 11:00am and I am sooo nervous!!

My own Buntings!

Hello all, happy hump day!

After making the buntings that I am giving away (still time to enter here!!) I wanted some of my own! I loved where I hung the Christmas Buntings I had made and that wall has looked so blank ever since I took them down.

I wanted to make ones with the same yellow fabric as the ones I'm giving away because I loved it so much! Major bummer though, they didn't have anymore when I went back to Joanns =( I did however find this lovely flower fabric that just screams spring! I also had the perfect dusty rose colored yarn to make the flower accents and found these buttons in my huge stash that looked good too.




And this is their new home!



I'm so happy with them. The way I have the tv stand and little night table (not pictured but it is right at the feet of the lamp on the right) on that wall, nothing really looks good hanging there. It's such an awkward space but having buntings up there really pulls everything together! I think I want to do a "My Apt. Tour" for you guys so you can see how my whole place is set up. It's tiny but I love it and I think I have made it very homey and comfy!

Have a great day!

Giveaway!!

So my loverly friends of blogland I decided that is about time I show you some gratitude by giving away a handmade bunting by ME to YOU!

I don't think I have said it enough but this blog really makes me so happy and means a lot to me! It gives me motivation to keep crafting, reading, set and accomplish goals AND the best part...I have met so many wonderful friends!! I just want you all to know how much it means to me that you take time out of your own life to take a peek into mine, seriously...it means so much to me!!




I saw this fabric at Joanns when it was still winter and I fell in love. It made me so happy and long for spring!! I loved it so much that I didn't even really want any other fabric incorporated. I did look but I just wasn't happy with the way any other fabrics looked together. After I sewed it all together I felt it was missing something though or a bit plain maybe. I found some adorable green leaf buttons but they didn't really show up too well with the green bias tape I used. Soooo....after some thinking it dawned on me CROCHETED FLOWERS, duh!! I have a butt load of buttons handed down to me from my mom and I found a bunch of different yellows ones that I used as the centers. I love these buntings so much, they are so springy and wonderful to look at. I made two of them so TWO of you can win!!!

All you have to be is a follower of my blog with either Google or Bloglovin and leave a comment telling me what you have planned for the month of May, it's that simple! You can earn extra entries by posting about this giveaway somewhere else, your blog, twitter (mention @jamietoohey), facebook, wherevs just so long as you leave a separate comment and a link it'll count.
So my darlings...I figure there is no better way to start the weekend than with a giveaway!!
I'll pick two winners at random next Friday, May 6th (I can't freaking believe it will be May already!!)

Good Luck!!

Prompt 10

Journal Prompt 10: This prompt is all about collections. Do you collect buttons, clothes, shoes, friends, parking tickets, whatever!! Illustrate your collections. This will be fun to look back on someday and see how your collections have grown or have moved on :)

I have alot of random things that I "collect". Anything that has to do with sewing and images of old sewing machines. I hope to one day have an antique Singer that I can keep in my craft room! I also collect halloween decorations...mostly just bats and skulls. Although, I do love the vintage halloween stuff but I don't own anything. I also love vintage pyrex and I like to get mugs from all the different places I've been. Oh and I love all things New Orleans which sort of manifested into a love of the fleur di lis.



Descriptions below...

I took pictures so you can see my favorites of each, I do have a ton more and it was hard to narrow them down but I think I got it!
First is a tea pot that is a sewing table with a Singer style machine on it!!! It belonged to my mom's boyfriend, Dave's mother. She recently moved and when cleaning out here house I found her collection of so many interesting teapots and they said I could have this one. I feel very lucky to have it.
Those little blue owls are actually salt & pepper shakers from the 50's. My sister got them at a bazaar for me =]
It was between this mug and the one I got in New Orleans. This one I got in GA during the first road trip Liz and I took. It's hand made and is painted with a beautiful scene of Colorado, at least that's what the carving on the bottom says.
This is a tattoo on got on the road trip Jeremy and I took last year. I got this in New Orleans the day after Mardi Gras. Jeremy got a crawfish in the shape of a fleur di lis on his shoulder.
The bat is pretty dark but he is so detailed an awesome for just a rubber halloween decoration. He was part of my halloween themed surprise birthday party that Jeremy threw for me last year.
That is a vintage pyrex bowl given to me by my mother. I don't know when she got the set but I remember always making chocolate chip cookies in the big pink one when I was little. This is part of a set of 4 and I love them all but this one I use the most.
And last but certainly not least is my super blingy skull! I got it at Michael's two years ago and I imagine that it is a take off of Damien Hirst's Diamond Skull "For The Love of God"
It was fun looking at all the cool stuff I have ;P

Marilyn Bicycle

So Jessie's boyfriend Jason refurbishes old bicycles, like 1930's and 1950's bicycles. He not only cleans them up and fixes them so they ride like new, but he does AMAZING paint jobs on them.
I've sewn some clothes in my day, especially corsets so he asked me to make a corset seat cover for this bicycle about a month ago. I am extremely envious of his artwork and what he does with these bikes so when he asked for my help, of couse I obliged!! He had all the fabric, supplies and ideas...I just had to construct it and since it's not really for wearing and included no boneing...it was a piece of cake! I gave this seat cover to him last weekend at Jessie's birthday party and he has it all put together now.
This bike isn't actually meant for riding, it's an art piece and really just to get his name out there so he can start getting some more commisions. He doesn't have a blog or anything but he does have all his stuff on Myspace which I'm pretty sure you can look at here.

Here is the before picture of the bike


The after picture


My contribution


Marilyn Detail that Jason stenciled on


Jessie's lips and a close up of the awesome lace pattern Jason does so well!


I really enjoyed being a part of such an awesome bike and I'd love to do it again in the future. Next time I won't be such a procrastinator about it either!!