Foxy face brooches

Hello! Do you get any craft magazines? I get *a lot* ... probably too many! ~___^ Mollie Makes is one of my favourites, but I almost never get around to making any of the projects that come in the free kits. Which is a pity, as they are totally adorable!

But, this week, I realised that I couldn't show you any of the three long-term projects I've been working on (yet! I will show you soon!) so I pulled out the train case I keep full of magazine kits and decided this one was the perfect one to make ^___^
 

The felt in this kit is a lot stiffer than the felt I normally work with, but it worked really well for this project. The cream part of the fox face is just one thickness of felt, so having the stiffer felt means that it retains its shape very well.

 

The pattern for the foxes included the design for the sleepy eyes, as seen on the orange fox, but I gave my pink fox some happy eyes - just for something different! ^___^

 

Also, I had absolutely no idea how to do the stab stitch in the way the magazine had pictured, so I did a running stitch instead. It worked out fine! But I do want to know how to do the stab stitch now; any stitching experts out there who could give me some pointers? 

I reckon I'll wear these cuties as sweater clips, because it's finally getting cold enough here to actually wear cardigans! I'm so excited! Last night I was wearing pants, socks, a jumper, *and* a hat - it was actually lovely ^___^ Anyway, I best get back to my knitting - I can't wait to show you this project! But I have to finish it first; hopefully with practice I will one day be able to knit faster than at a snail's pace! ~___^

- Lisa xx

Cross-stitched rose lavender sachet and faux vintage jars

Hello! Did you have a nice annual festival of togetherness? I'm on to my *fourth* day of celebration today; wowzers! Today is the day I get to open my presents too, but while I'm waiting to do that I thought I'd show you two presents that I made for other people! ^___^

For my Nana I made this lavender sachet, embellished with a cross-stitched rose. Yeah, I didn't really think that one through, huh? ~___^

 

The rose pattern is from Mollie Makes issue thirty, but I did change it a bit. Originally there was a heart to the left of the rose, as well as some additional buds above the main flower; I didn't want the sachet to be huge though, so I reduced the rose into more of a square shape.

Lavender sachets are super easy to make, as all you need to do is sew a rectangle that is open at one end. After scooping in the dried lavender, I added a few stitches across the top and then tied on the ribbon. 

My house smelt like lavender for days after making this; it was so lovely that I may have to make one of these sachets for myself! ^___^

 

For my mum, I made this set of faux vintage bottles. They were also quite simple to make, but they look really effective. I used this tutorial and some of the jars that I kept because they are interesting shapes. (I swear I'm not a hoarder!)

I thought they looked a bit plain straight out of the oven though, so I decorated them a little bit. My mum likes a vintage, country-rustic aesthetic, so I used baker's twine, old book pages, brown paper, vintage buttons, and thick jute twine. The Coca-Cola bottle and the Sarsaparilla bottle I left mainly as is; I just removed everything except the front logos before I coloured the bottles.

I also gifted some bright yellow chrysanthemums with these bottles, but they look pretty good as is, don't you think? ^___^

Did you make any gits this year? Did you receive anything handmade? And did you/ are you having a lovely holiday? I hope you are!

- Lisa xx