Make Your Own Heat Bags

My little world has been in chaos as we change rooms about in our home and relocate my office/sewing & craft room - which also includes all of the things I sell online - so it is a huge task and I am surrounded by mess as I sort through everything.  It is a great opportunity to get rid of things I didn't even remember I had.  I'm finding the whole process very time consuming though and my crafting has been put on hold for awhile.

 

What I thought I would share with you today is how I made my heat bags.  I had a request from one lovely reader, asking how they were made.  If you remember reading my previous blog post about the school fete, these were something I made a lot of and they all sold really quickly.

 

Heat Bags are on the right side of the table

 

To make these I bought some heavier weight fabrics which would wear well - my choices were Corduroy and Furnishing Fabrics.  There are such a lot of lovely fabric designs available, so they key is to make them to look at attractive as possible.

 

 

Heatbags are really simple to make, they are just a large rectangle, sewn into 3 sections.  To begin with you need to cut 2 rectangles, one for the back and one for the front.  I used pattern fabrics on the front and plain co-ordinating colours on the back.  This was just so that I could stretch my patterned fabrics further.  If I was doing it for myself at home I would probably just used the same fabric for back and front.  My rectangles measured 7" x 15".  You can make these heat bags any size you like though.

 

The next step is to pin right sides together and sew around 3 sides of your rectangles, starting at one of the longest sides.  Leave one of the shorter sides open.  Turn to right side out.  Measure your  rectangle into three equal sections.  Now comes the tricky bit!  How to fill and sew the seams without the contents spilling everywhere!!! 

The idea is to fill the first 1/3 and then sew it right across to close it off, then continue again for the following two sections in the same way.  My greatest success came when I filled the first portion then pinned it completely closed and then sewed 1bout 1/4" from where I had pinned so that it was completely sewn shut.  The pinning helps keep the filling in place.  I used rice to fill mine - you could use wheat instead if you preferred - and if you like a little scent, add a drop of lavender oil to the rice.  When I reached the final end I tucked under the ends so that they would be completely enclosed inside and then proceeded to sew shut in the same way I did the other cross seams.

I know that it is really difficult to try and picture this without pictures of the sewing process, but I hope that if you look at the picture of the finished product you will be able to work it out okay.  These are the best heat bags and having those 3 even sections distributes the filling evenly and makes it so much more comfortable to use.

Happy Sewing!
 

Yarn Sale ~ A New Crochet Project

For the last 8 weeks we have had major repairs being done to the inside of our house.  I will be so grateful when it is all done, but in the meantime, surviving the constant mess and chaos has been very difficult.  For someone who likes to be creative, not being able to access my sewing and craft supplies and then not being able to access any table space to actually work on either, well that has been challenging to say the least.  So in cases like this what does one do, well you look for alternatives of course!

 

Our local Craft store had a sale on this week and I found the most gorgeous and soft yarn in very pretty colours.  I couldn't resist buying some, even if I had tried - which I did not. 

I came away with two different colour variations and enough yarn to crochet some new ripple blankets - I am very addicted to the ripple pattern, I just love the way it looks.

So here is what I have started so far . . . and I am really loving the softness of this yarn, it feels so great as I crochet with it.

Crochet is the perfect thing to pick up and do anytime, anywhere and a great creative choice for a cooler winter's day!

Craft Stall - School Fete Update

Well this post has been a long time coming, it has been such a hectic month for me.  For those of you who may not have read my other blog entries, I have been busy running a craft stall for our annual school fete.  As I look back, I have learned so much and my confidence grew along the way.  From sourcing ideas for craft items to make (thanks to Pinterest) which we hoped would be popular and would sell well, to running craft workshops with helpers to make everything, and then the actual set up of the craft stall on our school fete day.  Overall it was a huge success, with an enormous effort by a lovely group of ladies who so generously gave of their time - none of whom I knew before, but now all of whom I consider new friends.

So, besides the craft items I have shared with you before,  here is a brief summary of some of the other things we made to sell.

Extra Large Magnetic Pegs - perfect to pin up things on the fridge!

 

Canvas wall art. 

Anything with Owls or a Paris/Eiffel Tower theme sold very quickly!!

 

Magnetic Post-It Note Pads

 

Handbag Cards with Soap inside

 

Lots of pretty Heat Bags

Cookie Cutter Pincushions

Lots of decorative word art

Handmade Cards, Cupcake Pincushions and

lots of pretty Bunting - this was popular!

Beautiful Floral Decoupage  & Painted Wooden Coat Hangers,

Crochet Flower Clips and Hats

Crochet Hanging Tea Towels - a lady makes these every year and

they sell so well,  always very popular. 

This year she made over 50 of them!

Lots of different types of bags, quilts, painted folk art and we even made Kewpie Dolls.

In case you don't know what they are - Kewpie Dolls are dolls on sticks which are very glittery and have frilly dresses.  These were a trip down memory lane for lots of us from our own childhoods.  They were always something you came home with from a show/fair.  Believe it or not, we sold every single one.

 

We were still setting up in this last picture, the towel rail didn't stay up on the trolley.  The real challenge of the day was the wind blowing, we ended up having to tie up the stand with bags on it to stop it from blowing over.

 

We had incredibly positive feedback about the craft stall on the day and judging by the amount that sold, it was worth all the time and effort we put into it.  I did have the best salesman on the day, my wonderful husband! He was very enthusiastic and charming and had people buying things without hesitation - a natural sales person.  The objective of the fete is to raise funds for the school and it was great to be a part of that. 

Crafts to Make and Sell

Right now my life is totally consumed by craft! If I'm not busy making something for the upcoming school fete, then I am packing it and thinking of the next thing on my list of things to make.  It has been constantly like this for the last few weeks.  Thankfully I love to be creative, so it is a pleasant type of being busy.

Here is something I have been working on which is such an easy craft - bead magnets.

I made these using some glass beads I found in the garden section of a discount store, so they were very inexpensive.  Using a circle punch, I just punched out a cute picture for my magnet.  You could just trace around the bead and cut if you didn't have a circle punch.  The next step is to use a little Mod Podge and cover the back of the bead, place the picture right side down onto the back of the bead.  In case you are worried, the Mod Podge does not ruin the picture at all and it dries completely clear.  Leave these to dry.  Once dry use your craft glue to stick a magnet to the back and you are done.  So simple and you end up with some very cute magnets!!

 

Here are some close-up pictures

I've been working on some pretty hair clips too. 

I know it's being a bit fussy, but I do believe presentation does help to sell,

 so I've tried to package everything to look pretty.

Here is a basket of some of the hair clips, all packed and ready to sell. 

We have a few more styles to add to these.

I cannot take all the credit for everything that is being made for our craft stall.  I have been running a fun craft workshop one day each week at the school, where a few other ladies have volunteered their time to make things up to sell as well.  It is always fun to work together in a group!

One very talented lady has done lots of sewing for us - bags in all shapes and sizes.  One other very cute item she has made is this cute little bear in a bed.

 

A few of us have been busy sewing up heat bags.  I really like this style of making them with 3 separate panels.  It distributes the filling (rice) more evenly and stops it all going to one end, which means it is much more effective when heating and using it.  It actually stays in place too when you use it, rather than sliding off or down because of the weight of the contents all going to one end. 

We are putting a few drops of lavender oil into some of them,

then leaving the rest of them fragrance free.

Another lady has hand-stitched these beautiful Lavender bags.  The care she has put into each stitch really shows, she even has co-ordinating purple gingham on the back with a handmade gingham button.  

These are amazing and look like something you would expect to find

in some fancy gift boutique store.

While the night is still young I am off to make myself a cup of tea and get busy making some earrings and more hair accessories.  I have more photos to share but will save them for next time.  I hope you have the opportunity to enjoy a bit of craft and creativity this week!

Crafty Cupcakes & Clipboard Folders

My weeks have been busy creating crafts lately and I know I haven't been regular enough with my blogging - but I'm finding there are only "so many" hours in a day and I'm not able to accomplish everything I would like to sometimes, including my blog updates.  This next month is going to be crazy for me while I prepare crafts and run craft workshops for our upcoming school fete, so please be patient with me.  I will try and update you with my craft stall ideas as I go along.

 

Here is something I finished off today.  These cute little cupcakes are one of the items we will be selling.  They are made by using a facewasher, folded up to resemble the shape of a cupcake.  This is placed into a silicone cupcake holder and then decorated with coloured pins to represent the sprinkles and instead of a cherry on top - I have little rose bud flowers. 

I think they look quite cute and wouldn't they make a lovely little gift for someone!

This is closer photo to show you the detail.

I've also been shopping and picked out some great corduroy fabrics which are ready to be sewn into heat bags.  These are always a very popular selling item and we make them in all shapes as sizes to suit everyone.

Another project I have been working on is decorating clipboard folders.  These are all done using my papercraft supplies.  This is my first attempt at ever working with Mod Podge so I'm finding I am learning the best techniques to use with it as I go.  I've also used a sealer spray to finish everything off, I like this better rather than just leaving the Mod Podge as the sealer on top.

These started out as plain wooden clipboards.  I'm loving the colours!

Well that is about all that I have actually taken photos of at the moment. This week I am starting to work on decorating some canvases.  That should be fun!!

Have a great week everyone!

Craft Market Projects

I know that I am always saying how busy I am, and it is true, believe me! Well a few weeks ago I was asked if I could take on co-ordinating the craft stall for our upcoming School Fete - how could I say "no" to something I love so much?  So of course I said ÿes".  I probably did over-commit myself in the process, but this only comes around once a year and it is helping to raise funds for our school and my involvement is doing something I love - so not too hard really. 

 

Co-ordinating the craft stall means a whole lot of things, sourcing supplies and donations, making crafts and we are also running craft groups for school mums who can come along to help make things for the craft stall while the kids are all in school.  We start that next week, so I really need to get myself organized.  But for now, while we have been on school vacation, I have been making a few things here at home.

 

First up are these little babushka dolls which I made up from a drawing I did.  They still need keyrings attached and then they are finished.

Next are some ruffled tea towels - I love how they turned out - ruffles are amongst my favourites!

I do have quite a few other things I have made but haven't had time to take pictures of everything yet.  Over the coming weeks I will show you some more of the craft projects that are being made for our craft stall. 

 

I am still constantly searching the internet for ideas, so if you know of any simple, inexpensive crafts to make for craft markets/school fetes, I would be so, so, so grateful if you could reply and let me know.  I am relying on a team of helpers and I know that what might appeal to me may not necessarily appeal to someone else, so a wide variety of ideas is essential.

Above are some of my felt creations - chocolate and strawberry tarts and pancake stacks with berries and cream - don't they look great - and so edible!  If only!!! 

In my little part of the world it is now school vacation time and we have just been away on a camping trip as a family over the Easter long weekend.  We went with a group of friends and had such an enjoyable time together. The best part was that when you stay in a place like this which is so peaceful, it forces you to just stop and take a break from the usual frantic pace of life.  I really needed that! 

While sorting out my photos today on my computer I have come across some quilts which I have made but don't think I have ever shared with you - so I thought it might be a nice opportunity to do that today.

 

I really love the simplicity of this design.  It is called a Disappearing Nine Patch.  Made with 9 squares of fabric sewn into a block (3 rows of 3 joined together), then the finished square is cut into quarters, straight down the centre, horizontally and vertically. All you do then is rearrange the squares and you get this neat combination.  It makes the quilt look more complex than it actually is.

 

I fell in love with the Moda Charisma fabrics by Chez Moi when they were around quite awhile ago but couldn't think of a quilt design that would show them off nicely, until I came across this.  What I liked was that even with a collection of very busy looking fabric prints, it still looks great.

 

 

Here is another version of the same style quilt, this time made with Moda Nature's Chorus by April Cornell.  Again, these fabrics were around quite awhile ago.  I will often buy fabrics I see and love then put them away until I can the perfect use for them.

 

So if you are looking for an easy afternoon or evening of sewing a quilt, then why not give this quilt pattern a try.  To make it even easier, all you need are 2 packs of the Moda pre-cut Charm Squares and you won't even need to cut out the squares to begin with.  It really is that easy!!