Felt Bookmarks

I am lucky to have a mother who kept all kinds of little craft supplies, just in case, and she then gave it all to me a while back. I have followed in the tradition, and have added to the collection. Like why would anyone ever just throw out a broken necklace? If you buy a sweater with beading or sequins, they usually give you a little baggie of extras. Throw those in there too. Various bits of embroidery floss, darning thread (?), felt in all colors and sizes, all worth hanging onto.

Books are also a treasure. As much as I love books, I don't think I should ever work at a library or book store because it would drive me nuts to be with them all day and not be able to sit and read or look through them. Pure torture.

I bought books for a few people for Christmas (and a couple for myself) so I wanted to make them some bookmarks. These are an elastic style I saw on Pinterest but have never used myself so I hope they work well. I embellished the top felt piece and then hand-sewed the back piece to it while sandwiching the elastic between them. The only trouble is deciding how long to make the elastic. They will be too big for very small books but should work for average novels and even larger text books.

I have a few more to make still. The hardest part is trying to think of ways to personalize them. But that's also the best part. That's what makes handmade gifts so special, right?

Folk Art Bird Garland

Birds of a feather flock together - across my fireplace mantel. I have a fun little project to share with you today. I made a garland of stuffed birds to use up scraps and bits of this and that and to fill my time in the evenings . Each one is unique and together they make an interesting folk art decoration.

They are strung together with glass beads. Some were purchased and others come from a broken necklace.

To make them, I made paper templates to keep them uniform. I hand-sewed the details using felt, buttons, sequins, beads, and yarn. I basted the wings onto each front and back and then machine sewed around. I used fiber fill to stuff them and then machine sewed the bottom closed - because I'm lazy like that. 

I made 3 or 4 at a time in front of the TV and then went to the machine for finishing. It took about a week in all. 

We happen to be bird lovers in our house, but you could make something similar out of turtles or fish or flowers or whatever you can imagine.

 I'm linking up to LeChallenge for the "small" theme because there are lots of small components here - overall size, buttons, beads, prints, trims... If you are unfamiliar, you should check it out.