needle felt elf

This needle felt elf is so cute:

She reminds me of Misfit Dolly, one of the Misfit Toys from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer .

origami candy cane

Today's project is another simple one from Origami Club, a candy cane folded out of paper:

I like how the two-sided (color and white) nature of most origami papers is used to its best advantage.

felt Christmas trees

I took a day off to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday, but now that I'm back, I'm going to start sharing Christmas crafts with you. (I have always disliked it when a site or show demonstrates a craft just a few days before the relevant holiday, leaving not enough time to gather materials and make the craft in time for gifts or decorations.) Today's link is for these precious felt Christmas trees:

The construction is very simple. The blogger shows the sewing thread with a contrasting color so you can see the stitches. When you are making them, use thread that matches the color of the felt. The cotton stuffing is both for shape and to prevent the hanging thread from slipping through the felt cones. These trees would be cute in lots of different colors. The felt ornaments could be just glued on instead of sewn, or instead of felt for the star and ornaments, buttons or sequins might be nice.

Thanksgiving stationery

Happy Thanksgiving! Here are some free, downloadable, and printable autumn stationery pages and envelopes :

The website these designs come from, Canon Creative Park, has loads of printable paper projects, including some amazing 3-D models. Enjoy!

autumn creatures

No how-tos today, just a couple pages with cute pictures. I couldn't resist this felt bunny . He is perfect for autumn!

And the squirrel on this page is adorable:

acorn and nut craft

Here is another page of crafts using acorns and walnuts, this time shaped into sweet everyday objects. I love the little shoes:

If you're interested, here are a few pages featuring lots of pictures of nut crafts:
Koubou Nuts Craft
Nuts Craft Blog
Nuts Craft Shop

acorn crafts

While we still have a little bit of autumn left, I thought I would share with you te-chan 's page of adorable acorn crafts:

If you want to use acorns for crafts, it is best to make sure they are clean. After collecting acorns, remove the caps. If you let them sit to dry for a week, the nuts will shrink a bit and the caps will pop off very easily if not by themselves. Once the caps are removed, wash the nuts in tepid water with mild soap. Dry them with towels. After that, I recommend drying them further in a warm (250°F) oven both to kill anything living inside them and to ward off mold growth.

Ministry of Furoshiki

...Well, not really. But the Japanese government has been encouraging the use of furoshiki as a way to reduce waste:

The above graphic was created by Japan's Minister of the Environment, Yuriko Koike, and presented as part of the 3R Initiative (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle).

furoshiki with handles

Below are a couple links that show you how to use furoshiki with round or D-shaped purse handles to create a cute handbag.

http://item.rakuten.co.jp/ayano-koji/furosiki50-01/
http://www.inazuma.biz/shop01bb.html

furoshiki gift wrap advanced

Here is a video that explains some more advanced furoshiki wrapping techniques, including how to wrap a pair of books or wine bottles.

furoshiki gift wrapping basic

This video shows how to use furoshiki to wrap a basic rectangular box. This is what most people think of when they think of Japanese cloth gift wrapping.

furoshiki bag

The furoshiki is the original "eco bag". These squares of fabric are most commonly thought of as being used to wrap gifts, but they are also used in décor and  to carry things. This video does a good job of explaining the basics of using your furoshiki as a bag, including a very important tip on how to tie and untie corners:

Of course you don't have to use a furoshiki, any square of fabric will do, including scarves and bandannas.

eco bag

Recently stores have been offering reusable shopping bags as an alternative to the disposable plastic ones. It's very easy to make your own, though, using lightweight fabric and seam binding. Attach a button and you can keep it rolled compactly when you're not using it.

The pattern for this bag wastes very little fabric -- none if you use the cutout section to create the pocket on the front -- and is therefore very popular. Here are some other pages on how to make the same bag:
http://www.irodoriplus.jp/page/16
http://allabout.co.jp/family/yarikuri/closeup/CU20070415A/index2.htm
http://longriver.cocolog-nifty.com/turezure/2006/07/post_3a6d.html

woven ribbon bag

This project comes from a site which sells craft supplies, including the felt ribbon that this bag is made of.

This bag would also look nice made from grosgrain ribbon or strips of fabric.

felt key case

A key case safeguards your key, as well as protecting the other items in your bag or pocket from the sharp edges on your key. This felt key case is cute, easy to make, and the perfect thing for a latchkey kid.

For grownups, an initial embroidered on a simple circle would be nice.

felt sweets

Today's link isn't a how-to site, just lots of inspiring pictures of amazing felt sculptures in the shape of yummy-looking desserts:

If you like the pictures on that page, you will definitely want to check out the bloggers gallery of her own creations!

felt animals

Here is a one blogger's collection of her adorable felt animals:

If you are wondering where on the Internet to get the wool roving and other supplies for this type of craft, here are a couple sites to get you started:
http://www.outbackfibers.com/fiber/obfiber.htm
http://weirdollsandcrafts.com/
http://halcyonyarn.com/

my felt teddy bear

Here is a miniature teddy bear I made from tan felt. As you can see, he is fully jointed. His facial features are embroidered. Seated he is five centimeters tall, and standing he is seven centimeters tall.

I made this bear about ten years ago, using a pattern from Debbie Kesling's book How to Make Enchanting Miniature Teddy Bears.

felt bears

Although teddy bears are considered to be an "American craft", these adorable felt bears have a definite Japanese appeal to them.



















There is a link for the pattern partway down the page. It might also help you to know that the original article is from a Canadian site and in English!

felt figurines

The figurines on this page are very fun. The blogger, yukimaro, makes them from merino wool felt.

felt matroyshka dolls

Felt is versatile and user-friendly, and these felt matroyshka dolls are adorable.

Some people believe that the matroyshka doll has its origins in the nesting type of traditional kokeshi doll seen in this picture. It's possible, considering the proximity of western Russia to northern Japan, where kokeshi originated.

felt flower

Here is another felt flower I like.

You need to cut out about 35 petals, and the stick-on felt circles are and option for the whimsical look pictured. The largest petals are about 8cm long and the smallest are about 5cm long, but you could make this flower any size you want.

felt dahlia

I love these felt dahlias, and they look very easy to stitch together. Felt is so simple to work with!

The blogger who posted the felt dahlias, rieo, also has a bunch of other cute projects, including these felt pansy hairpins:

carnation accessories

These projects are both cute and easy. First up, the carnation corsage, made from fabric circles with pinked edges:

These carnation hairpins looks adorable, and all you need is felt, scissors, thread, glue, and hairpins!

camellia corsage

The Japanese are famous for their love of high-end designer products. Here is a site that sells kits for making Chanel-style camellia corsages in both larger and smaller sizes, in several different shades of velvet.

All their products look high-quality and stylish. The four images on this page link to pictures that show how the corsages are formed.

fabric origami corsage

Of course you can create origami models with fabric as well as paper. For this corsage, the artist combined five squares of stiffened fabric, tissues, craft stamens, glue, needle and thread for a very attractive result:

The blogger who posted this piece, peach and skyさん, also has step-by-step photos for lots of other floral craft projects made from ribbon, paper, mizuhiki, rickrack, and fabric.

origami cherry blossom

Another flower that is undeniably tied to Japan is the cherry blossom. It is a symbol of springtime and fleeting beauty. On this page you can follow the yellow button for a chart and the blue button for an animation. The top set of buttons are directions for the blossom; the bottom set of buttons are directions for folding the branch.

The Origami Club site has easy-to-follow directions for lots of models, paper patterns you can print out, videos -- lots of fun stuff for origami enthusiasts of all ages.

origami chrysanthemum

One of the flowers most associated with Japan is the chrysanthemum, the symbol of the Japanese imperial family.

This modular chrysanthemum uses five squares of paper. It is from Hiroaki Takai's excellent origami Web site, where he has lots of clear diagrams for folding models of many everyday Japanese objects.

origami rose

The first flower than many people want to learn to fold is the rose. However, realistic origami roses are rather complex to fold. Go to this page if you want to see examples of different types of three-dimensional origami rose.

Many of the links lead to books available to buy through Amazon only in Japan, but there are also some how-to links. If you want learn to fold rose and you're good at following pictures, the first link on the page is the very good. It has directions in Japanese and step-by-step diagrams for folding three different models.

If you are more comfortable having directions in English, there is a link toward the end of the page (How to make a standard origami rose) that has a 43-step, multi-page detailed set of directions.

The final link on the page is for a youtube video on how to fold a rose. If it's easier for you to follow videos than still pictures, go to youtube and search for "origami rose" or "kawasaki rose" -- there are many good videos available, some in English.