Hello gorgeous crafters! Well, after a few yucky months (to put it mildly) personally, it is full-steam ahead with onehourcraft.

Guess what? I have some great news for the site and for me.

But. I can’t tell you. Just yet. Soon, very soon I will let the cat out of the bag. I had better not say anymore as I may just give it away. It is a little difficult to contain my excitement over this new and delicious project to sink my teeth into.

Blog Matters. We need a great idea for a monthly challenge for April. Umm, I was thinking about something really different to sewing. Fimo? Jewellery making? Origami? Any great quick ideas? They don’t have to be something we have already done on the site. Leave a comment or shoot me an email and I wil go with the most popular.

We have had our thinking caps on and have come up with some great Easter treats for you all. We will be posting them in the next few days… I should have one tutorial up by tonight.

Also, I am still in the thinking stages of organising a luncheon for Perth women bloggers sometime in the near future. I have already had some interest. Interested? If you live in Perth and would like to be involved or help to organise leave a comment or email me. I think that this could be a great fun time to actually meet some the people we talk to on-line. Feli are you in? Craftapalooza, Karen Cheng and any others, would love to meet you!

Guest contributors on this site. I have not really asked for guest contributors for a long time. But I am really keen to have some great crafty bloggers write tutorials for us. If you have a great quick tutorial idea and would like to submit it to us, we are keen to have crafts which are unique and easy to make. Any ideas, please email me. I will need good quality photos of all the main steps, and the notes. What’s in it for you? Traffic, traffic, traffic. Yep, we get a LOT of readers on this site and will be sure to refer them to your site.

Also, my personal blog is being resurrected after a long hiatus. I will be updating it every few days. I miss talking about Perth, my mates, my life, my blunders, my creations and more of my blunders. I have renamed it Maria Susannah. I think I will go back to using my full name instead of my nickname in my blogs. Just for a change….

Enough. The sunshine is bright and gorgeous. The dog needs a walk. The world’s most beautiful seven-year-old needs her mummy’s attention…

Have a great Sunday,

Maria Susannah

Hello lovely crafty chicas, we have just received our own copy of  Venuszine in the mail.  And guess what?  They have featured us in the Blog Hog section of their Spring Issue. Yay! We feel so warm and loved and lovely!  We are so glad they love us!

And thanks to all the blogs who are talking about us!  When I have a spare few minutes I will say a special thank you to other people who have been giving us good press,

Loving it,

Mia

Hi Ya. Today I have a special birthday treat for you. Well, it was my (and Em’s) birthday last week and for it I got my little family to help me make a pattern and sew up these to-die-for hand puppets. And so, now this is my birthday treat for you! These are easy peasy. Note: they are made for littlish hands (I can fit them but I have small hands). If you want them bigger just add an inch onto the pattern.

Ok, let’s get on with it, my lids are getting droopy and my bed is calling…

You will need:

Felt squares in different bright colours

Fake fur (yeah, don’t skin the cat for this one ok)

Thread

Teddy Bear Eyes (available at Spotlight in Australia) or buttons

Sewing Machine

Step 1: Grab your pattern from this site

Download and cut out my puppet pattern . This doesnt include the ears, I am trusting you to fashion these for yourself. You can make them round, pointy or I even thought of making some cool alien-like antenae (that will be my next one).

Step 2: Cut out the pieces, draw the markings on the fabric and cut slits for the ears.

Cut out the Hand and the Thumb pieces from the fake fur. Mark the markings onto the fabric with a pen (as in the photo above).
Cut out the Center Piece from a colourful felt (this will be the inside of the mouth so make it bright).

Draw markings on the back of the Hand piece where you would like the ears to go. If you know how big your ears will be, cut the slits. If not, wait until you have made the ears.

Step 3: Make the ears, sew them on and sew on the eyes.

Now is time to make the ears. Firstly take some baking paper and make a pattern for how you want the ears to look. Make sure that the base of the ear is not longer than about an inch.

Cut two ears out of the fur fabric and two out of colourful felt.

Take one fur ear piece and one felt ear piece, pin them with the right sides faces and sew around the edges, leaving the bottom open. Repeat.
Trim the edges (cut darts in the fabric as shown in the first photo above). Turn the ears right side out (as in the second photo above).

Take the fur hand piece and shove (yeah, I know this is not glamorous language) an ear through the slit, do the same with the next ear.

Now, sew along slit with the ear in it, leaving a seam allowance. Repeat for the other ear. Check to make sure that both ears are sewn securely onto the head of the puppet.

Turn the puppet up and sew on the eyes by hand. If you are using teddy eyes, read the instructions and insert them through the fur.

Step 5: Sew the puppet parts together

As in the first photo above, your puppet should now be starting to get a personality all of her own. Her face should look great by now.

Now comes the sort of tricky part, so listen *oops my inner teacher coming out again*.

Take the hand piece and the thumb piece and stitch them together, right sides facing, from point a to point b.

Now pin the centre piece in place with right sides facing again (as in the lower photo above). Stitch, starting at point c and then following the curve around to the corner on the other side. Now stitch the other curve.

NOTE: I didn’t make a lining for these puppets because I really didn’t think that it was needed! Yay! But you could pretty easily, if you like that sort of thing.

Step 6

Now you have finished the sewing, turn your puppet inside out and TA- DA!…………….

Please meet Scrummy, short for Scrumptious!   Isn’t she just gorgeous!  Take a bow Scrummy!  Scrummy is a little crazy madcap lady but we love her to bits.