Birthday and Other Greeting Cards with Tags!

 How about making some Greeting Cards with Tags? They are very easy and can be made from a variety of materials...

 We made them at Mencap and they loved the idea of putting a message or greeting on the Tag - a surprise for the lucky recipient when the tag is pulled out...!

 For tags we used a variety of purchased coloured tags, as well common brown luggage labels.

As you can see the "Tag Pockets" were cut out of printed paper and attached to the cards with glue on only three sides.

Ribbons and stickers completed these pretty, fun cards!

Valentine Padded Felt Hearts - Tutorial and Printable Templates

 Sewing Valentine Padded Felt hearts on a cold Winter's afternoon, with a cup of tea and donuts to follow - our Mencap group really enjoyed this project!

What you will need...

One A4 size piece of felt - for the 2 large heart shapes

Smaller pieces of felt in contrasting colours for small hearts

Buttons

Embroidery thread and needle

Ribbon (30cms or longer if you wish)

Polyester fibre filling (toy stuffing)

Pinking shears (optional)

How to make it...

Print out your patterns  

3 x Heart Template Shapes

Cut out two large hearts 

Cut out one each of the smaller size hearts (per side **)

Place the button on top of the two smaller heart shapes and sew them 

together, leaving your thread hanging down underneath.

Place this in the centre of one of the large hearts and sew together, through the three hearts and the button.

If you want - do the same with the other large heart (you will then have small hearts and buttons on both sides of your finished padded heart **) 

Place the two large heart shapes together and starting at the bottom point, stitch them together - either using blanket stitch or a simple running stitch.

When you reach centre top of your heart, slip the ends of your folded ribbon in between the two large hearts and sew through them to attach the ribbon to the heart.

Continue sewing down the other side, stopping when you have about 4cms still open. 

Don't end off - leave your thread hanging.

Stuff your heart at this point and then continue sewing until you reach the bottom point again.

If you have used a running stitch (as in the purple sample), you can trim off the edges of your heart with pinking shears (optional) 

Here are some our group made... Hope you all enjoy this 

project!

Click on these hearts for another Tutorial >>>>>>

Valentine Wall Mural...! Hearts and Glitter!

We had great fun putting this Valentine Wall Mural together...

at Mencap Art and Craft group in Braintree!

As the Beatles say "All You Need is Love"...!

Happy Valentines Day!

Felt Owls and Hearts for Fund Raising - Tutorials

 

As we are always looking at ways to raise funds for Mencap, I have been working on some craft and sewing that we can sell. 

If you would like to make some of the same, I have put together a tutorial.

Felt Owl

You will need...

Felt - main colour 

(2 pieces) is 14 x 13cms

Felt - Scraps of other colours for wings etc

Googly eyes (or buttons)

Ribbon - 40cms

Glue

Embroidery thread

Batting/Wadding - approx 13 x 12cms

How to make...

Cut out your felt pieces as per the pattern
 
Felt Owl Pattern      

Plus a triangle of felt for the beak (not on the pattern)

Take one of the main pieces and attach the wings, 

leaving about 1/2 cm of body showing on the edges as per below. 

Use 3 strands of embroidery thread and a  simple running stitch

 

 Stitch on the black eye "mask" and the the two circular eye patches. 

For the patches I used blanket stitch. 

Stitch the "feathers" between the wings. (see on final photo)

Cut your batting in the same shape as you body 

but about 1cm smaller all round.

Attach the back to the front body using blanket stitch 

and at the same time 

stitch in the folded piece of ribbon, between the ears.

Glue on the Googly eyes (or buttons) and glue on the felt beak

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Felt Hearts

You will need...

Felt - main colour (2 pieces) is 15 x 15cms

Felt pieces - buttons - bows - embellishments  to decorate.

Ribbon - 28cms

Batting / Wadding approx 14 x 14cms


How to make...

Cut out two felt hearts from pattern
 
Heart Template

Decorate one heart with felt flower, buttons, bows or any other bling.

Cut batting in heart shape, but about 1cm  smaller all round and lay on back heart and put front heart on top.

Stitch around edge (I machine stitched, but can be done by hand if preferred) catching a loop of ribbon into centre top.  

Trim with pinking shears for a zigzag edge if so desired!

Hope these felt crafts help you make some funds for your group...