Needle Book Sewing Tutorial

I have been putting together some kits for my crafty friends this Christmas and one of the things I have included are these little needle books made from the Lizzy House, Lollipop Trees fabric I got in this bundle from Fabric Rehab. 

 

I thought you might like to make some for yourself and your friends too if you have any odds and ends in your fabric stash, so here's what you need to do...

Kit: Fabric for cover, felt, ruler, scissors, pinking shears, needle, thread, sewing machine (optional)

 

1. Cut out two 20cm x 10cm pieces of fabric and pin the right sides together.


2. Leaving a 1cm seam allowance, sew 3 sides leaving one of the short sides open.


3. Turn your work inside out and press.


4. Where you still have an opening fold the 1cm seam allowance inside, press and pin closed.


5. Hand stitch the opening closed with an invisible stitch.


6. Cut 2 16cm x 7cm pieces of felt using your pinking shears.


7. Pin the 2 pieces of felt in the middle of the fabric cover you have sewn.


8. Fold the cover and felt in half like a book and press well to create a crease in the centre.


9. Sew all the way along the crease from top to bottom through the fabric and 2 felt pieces.


10. On the font cover sew 1cm in from the edge on all four sides to create a decorative square. Repeat for the back cover.

Have you been crafting for your friends and family this year? Id love to hear what you're making so tell me all about it in the comments section :)                      

DIY Travel Journal

Hello, have you seen my travel journal guest post over on Simple Blueprint today? No...? Well hurry on over there and take a peek.

Joanna has had a whole host of fantastic guest bloggers this past month so there is lots to see and enjoy!

Printable Get Well Soon Cards from Vale Design

It's around this time of year (well,here in the UK anyway!) that everyone gets the sniffles so it was a great idea of Erin's to post these thoughtful get well soon cards for her readers.

Nothing makes you feel better than when you feel loved and these will definitely bring a smile to any patient. I think my favourite has to be the, 'I'm bored without you card'. It can get lonely when your partner in crime is laid up in bed so let them know it and urge them to have a swift recovery!

click here to download the cards...

Pocket Money Picks 13/Nov

1. Horray Design Shop: Spools of Trimming - $6

These trimmings are so beautiful I don't think Id want to use them up! They are far too special though to just sit in my craft box, id have to use them to wrap a very special gift for a very special friend. The trimmings come packaged in a lovely little drawstring bag which you could reuse along with the spools once they are finished. 

2. Zoetropa: Surprise Grab Bag - $3

I think these grab bags are such a great idea and would make perfect inexpensive gifts for friends and coworkers. At just $3 I don't mind taking a chance, especially when its bound to be something lovely as its a surprise from Zoetropa.

3. Two Brunettes: Floral Pattern Note Card Set - $10

You can never have too many note cards is what I say and these could be used for so many different occasions! Go on, add them to your Etsy cart now ;)

Free Font By Ali Edwards

Dont you just love this font designed by Ali Edwards? I found it through a tweet posted by Suann from Simple Song. Finds like this are the reason im such a fan of Twitter, there is always something new and unexpected to be found :) 

 

Leave a comment and let me know what you have discovered via twitter or link to your favourite free font below. Want to follow me on twitter? Click here...

PRINTABLE HOLIDAY MAILING LABELS

Get your holiday mailing labels now over on the new blog!

Printable Holiday Mailing Labels

Although it might seem a little early to start the holiday posts I cant wait for the holiday season and have designed some mailing labels so we can all start writing our Christmas cards.

 

 

Make your cards look extra special when they arrive in your friends mail box with either the 'Happy Holiday' or 'Merry Christmas' labels.

All you have to do is print on sheets of sticker paper, cut around the pink border and your ready to labels your cards!

What are you doing to get ready for the holiday season, can you tick christmas cards off your to-do list yet? Leave me a comment below.

Add to Craftig!     

MAKE, DO & SEND HAS MOVED!

Hello! At last Make, Do & Send has a new home. Come on over and visit me at http://www.makedoandsend.squarespace.com/

Please remember to update your bookmarks to continue following Make, Do & Send. Those of you who keep up with whats going on round here via RSS will also need to subscribe to the new feed http://makedoandsend.squarespace.com/blog/rss.xml to continute following the blog.

Thank you for being so patient while I got the new blog up and running, I hope you like the new design.

I look forward to see you over on http://www.makedoandsend.squarespace.com/ very soon!

Hello Friends!

 

MAKE, DO & SEND UPDATE!

In case you were wondering where I am I thought I would pop in to let you know that I am working on moving Make, Do and Send to a new blog platform! I'm very excited and hope to be able to share the new site with you very, very soon.

If you have any thoughts or ideas you would like to see incorporated into the new blog why not leave a comment below? Id love to hear from you.

Back soon,
Alex x

Printable Postcards from Martha Stewart

As quite a few of you seem to have found my blog via the BPS I thought you might like it if I posted some printable postcards for those of you that like to get creative and make your own.

 

I definitely have a couple of ideas up my sleeve for these but you'll have to watch out for my future Benevolent Postcard Society posts as I'm not giving away my secret plans just yet if you don't mind ;)

You can download both of the Martha Stewart cards by clicking here...

I hope you find these useful even if your not a BPS member. I would love to hear what you plan to do with them. How about Save The Dates?

 

PRINTABLE POSTCARDS FROM MARTHA STEWART

As quite a few of you seem to have found my blog via the BPS I thought you might like it if I posted some printable postcards for those of you that like to get creative and make your own.

I definitely have a couple of ideas up my sleeve for these but you'll have to watch out for my future Benevolent Postcard Society posts as I'm not giving away my secret plans just yet if you don't mind ;)

You can download both of the Martha Stewart cards by clicking here...

I hope you find these useful even if your not a BPS member. I would love to hear what you plan to do with them. How about Save The Dates?

THE BENEVOLENT POSTCARD SOCIETY: OCTOBER

September flew by and here we are in the first week of October which means my 2nd postcard is now in the mail!

Many of you already know about the postcard exchange I'm taking part in but for those of you who are new around here it's basically an art project and postcard exchange rolled into one. The Benevolent Postcard Society is the brain child of Automatism blogger and collage illustrator Lori Langille who thought the random exchange of postcards, would bring a smile to its members.

This time I sent a Kelly Hyatt card from the Juliette collection with an Autumn themed poem on the back by George Cooper.

I hand stamped the date and framed the address (which I hand wrote) with part of an Aunty Cookie book plate which I cut out using an Xacto knife. I love the little illustrated bird that's escaped from it's cage!

I was a bit disappointed as the poem on the back, which I tried to 'stamp', on the card didn't come out very clearly. I did a few test runs which came out great but the card was slightly textured like water colour paper which i should have realised would effect the result . I use the term 'stamp' loosely because I basically printed the text onto a transparency and tried to quickly transfer it to the card like a stamp whilst the ink was still wet.

I lightly went over the text with a pencil to make it more legible but if your reading this, Sarah from Islington, and you still don't have a clue what it says here is the poem below...

October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came-
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.
By George Cooper

If you're taking part in the exchange too tell me all about your cards in the comments section as I love hearing what everyone else is doing.

THE BENEVOLENT POSTCARD SOCIETY: OCTOBER

September flew by and here we are in the first week of October which means my 2nd postcard is now in the mail!

Many of you already know about the postcard exchange I'm taking part in but for those of you who are new around here it's basically an art project and postcard exchange rolled into one. The Benevolent Postcard Society is the brain child of Automatism blogger and collage illustrator Lori Langille who thought the random exchange of postcards, would bring a smile to its members.

This time I sent a Kelly Hyatt card from the Juliette collection with an Autumn themed poem on the back by George Cooper.

I hand stamped the date and framed the address (which I hand wrote) with part of an Aunty Cookie book plate which I cut out using an Xacto knife. I love the little illustrated bird that's escaped from it's cage!

I was a bit disappointed as the poem on the back, which I tried to 'stamp', on the card didn't come out very clearly. I did a few test runs which came out great but the card was slightly textured like water colour paper which i should have realised would effect the result . I use the term 'stamp' loosely because I basically printed the text onto a transparency and tried to quickly transfer it to the card like a stamp whilst the ink was still wet.

I lightly went over the text with a pencil to make it more legible but if your reading this, Sarah from Islington, and you still don't have a clue what it says here is the poem below...

October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came-
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.
By George Cooper

If you're taking part in the exchange too tell me all about your cards in the comments section as I love hearing what everyone else is doing.

TWEET...TWEET...

Have a little nosey below to see what I've been tweeting about lately. Remember to click the quotes to follow the links!

Feel free to post tweets you think I'd like in the comments section!

 

TWEET...TWEET...

Have a little nosey below to see what I've been tweeting about lately. Remember to click the quotes to follow the links!

Feel free to post tweets you think I'd like in the comments section!

HIS 'N HERS PRINTABLE CALENDER

I love simple yet brilliant ideas that take everyday items and make them work even better for us. This his 'n hers calendar for October from Simple Blueprint is one of those simple, ingenious ideas that just make me think - 'Why didn't i think of that'?!

This printable calender has the dates down the middle instead of being aligned to the left leaving a space either side for you and your partner to mark important dates. Isn't that a great idea?

Let me know what you think and leave a comment below. I know I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for more his 'n hers calendars over the coming months.

Psst! Joanna also has a desktop calender and 2 A5 size designs to download if you want one all to yourself ;)

HIS 'N HERS PRINTABLE CALENDER

I love simple yet brilliant ideas that take everyday items and make them work even better for us. This his 'n hers calendar for October from Simple Blueprint is one of those simple, ingenious ideas that just make me think - 'Why didn't i think of that'?!

This printable calender has the dates down the middle instead of being aligned to the left leaving a space either side for you and your partner to mark important dates. Isn't that a great idea?

Let me know what you think and leave a comment below. I know I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for more his 'n hers calendars over the coming months.

Psst! Joanna also has a desktop calender and 2 A5 size designs to download if you want one all to yourself ;)

FREE SUSYJACK* PRINTABLE THANK YOU CARD

 

Hello, lots of work commitments have meant my poor little blog has been a little neglected this month...sorry! I have been itching to get back to my blog schedule and finally here I am so lets get back to business...

I am a big fan of SusyJacks* clean, bright, contemporary prints so I was really excited when I found this little freebie on the HeySusy* blog. As so many of you liked the SusyJack* day of the week pegs I featured a few weeks ago I am sure you are going to love this printable card. I'm really excited to share this with you, isn't the orange and pink colour combo fantastic?

download the SusyJack* thank you card here...

I think there is nothing better than getting a little thank you note so get printing and show your appreciation next time someone does something nice for you.

FREE SUSYJACK* PRINTABLE THANK YOU CARD

Hello, lots of work commitments have meant my poor little blog has been a little neglected this month...sorry! I have been itching to get back to my blog schedule and finally here I am so lets get back to business...

I am a big fan of SusyJacks* clean, bright, contemporary prints so I was really excited when I found this little freebie on the HeySusy* blog. As so many of you liked the SusyJack* day of the week pegs I featured a few weeks ago I am sure you are going to love this printable card. I'm really excited to share this with you, isn't the orange and pink colour combo fantastic?

download the SusyJack* thank you card here...

I think there is nothing better than getting a little thank you note so get printing and show your appreciation next time someone does something nice for you.

PAPER AND PRINT PROJECTS FROM THE LONG THREAD

Do you ever log on in the morning to catch up on a few emails only to find yourself hours later still surfing the Internet completely side tracked?

This happened today when I got hooked trawling through the archives of a blog I have just discovered called The Long Thread.

I just had to share my blog find with you all here and thought that you would like these two projects. I think they could go hand in hand to make the most amazing printed journal!

 

click the links to get instructions for

cereal box journals

+

simple linoleum printing

(if Ellen's kids can do this so can you!)

Hope you enjoy The Long Thread as much as I do! Let me know what's caught your eye in the blog world today by leaving a comment below.

Add to Craftig

PAPER AND PRINT PROJECTS FROM THE LONG THREAD

Do you ever log on in the morning to catch up on a few emails only to find yourself hours later still surfing the Internet completely side tracked?

This happened today when I got hooked trawling through the archives of a blog I have just discovered called The Long Thread.

I just had to share my blog find with you all here and thought that you would like these two projects. I think they could go hand in hand to make the most amazing printed journal!

click the links to get instructions for

cereal box journals

+

simple linoleum printing

(if Ellen's kids can do this so can you!)

Hope you enjoy The Long Thread as much as I do! Let me know what's caught your eye in the blog world today by leaving a comment below.

Add to Craftig

MR & MRS BYRD PRINTABLE INVITATIONS FROM JINJERUP

I received a lovely email this afternoon from Lynn over at Jinjerup telling me all about a new printable invite she had designed. I knew I was going to love it before I'd even opened the attachment. I was sold on the description alone:

"Its a cute invite card going by the name of "Mr & Mrs Byrd Invitation Cards" featuring a pair of little birds, dressed to the nines."

Yes that's right, today's printable features birds dressed up to the nines! What more could you want....

 

Mr & Mrs Byrd Invitation Cards

Quickly pop over to Jinjerup now where you can download the Mr & Mrs Byrd invites and follow the super easy step-by-step picture tutorial Lynn has put together for you over there.

You will need...

1. Paper (of a preferably thicker stock)
2. Printer
3. Scissors
4. Box cutter (blade)
5. Single hole punch (Optional)
6. Thin ribbon (Optional)

 

What to do...

1. Download and print the cards.

2. Take note of the 2 different type of crop marks. The dotted line crop marks (boxed in yellow) are folding lines. The normal crop marks (boxed in pink) are cutting lines.

3. Locate the 8 dotted line crop marks then score them across from one end to the other with the back of your box cutter. You would have scored 4 lines, this helps ensuring smoother folding lines later.

4. Cut out the invite card along its normal crop marks.

5. Fold along the scored lines as pictured here and press the folds together.

6. Repeat the same folding and pressing actions for the other side of the invitation card.

At this stage your card should look like this.

7. Write you message and send to your friends!

These are the basic instructions for making up your invites but Lynn has two more crafty ideas if you want to make them even fancier! Click here if you want to find out what to do with your ribbon and hole punch...

Although these were designed as invites initially I think they would be perfect for writing little notes to slip in your loved ones pocket. They are just so sweet. Id love to know what you plan to use these for too so leave me a little comment below.

Thanks Lynn for sharing such an adorable printable with us!

add to craftig

MR & MRS BYRD PRINTABLE INVITATIONS FROM JINJERUP

I received a lovely email this afternoon from Lynn over at Jinjerup telling me all about a new printable invite she had designed. I knew I was going to love it before I'd even opened the attachment. I was sold on the description alone:

"Its a cute invite card going by the name of "Mr & Mrs Byrd Invitation Cards" featuring a pair of little birds, dressed to the nines."

Yes that's right, today's printable features birds dressed up to the nines! What more could you want....

Mr & Mrs Byrd Invitation Cards

Quickly pop over to Jinjerup now where you can download the Mr & Mrs Byrd invites and follow the super easy step-by-step picture tutorial Lynn has put together for you over there.

You will need...

1. Paper (of a preferably thicker stock)
2. Printer
3. Scissors
4. Box cutter (blade)
5. Single hole punch (Optional)
6. Thin ribbon (Optional)

What to do...

1. Download and print the cards.

2. Take note of the 2 different type of crop marks. The dotted line crop marks (boxed in yellow) are folding lines. The normal crop marks (boxed in pink) are cutting lines.

3. Locate the 8 dotted line crop marks then score them across from one end to the other with the back of your box cutter. You would have scored 4 lines, this helps ensuring smoother folding lines later.

4. Cut out the invite card along its normal crop marks.

5. Fold along the scored lines as pictured here and press the folds together.

6. Repeat the same folding and pressing actions for the other side of the invitation card.

At this stage your card should look like this.

7. Write you message and send to your friends!

These are the basic instructions for making up your invites but Lynn has two more crafty ideas if you want to make them even fancier! Click here if you want to find out what to do with your ribbon and hole punch...

Although these were designed as invites initially I think they would be perfect for writing little notes to slip in your loved ones pocket. They are just so sweet. Id love to know what you plan to use these for too so leave me a little comment below.

Thanks Lynn for sharing such an adorable printable with us!

add to craftig

MAKE, DO & SEND IS 1 MONTH OLD

Today I wanted to mark the passing of my first month blogging here at Make, Do and Send by thanking those that have helped me with the blog so far!

Just a month in and already I have be lucky enough to have... 2550 Visitors pass through who have collectively read a staggering 4666 posts. 40 of you have become Followers through blogger (see side bar), 115 of you have Subscribed via RSS and 240 have joined me on Twitter so far. Isn't that amazing?!

I couldn't be happier with how the launch has gone but its thanks to a few bloggers that I have managed to get off to such a good start so...

...my first thank you goes to Kristen for coming up with the ingenious idea for Craftig. If you don't know what Craftig is all about click here, you will love it.

A big thank you goes to Kelly at Design Crush, Danni at Oh Hello Friend and Will at Bright.Bazaar for sharing my blog with your readers. Apart from boosting my traffic stats (which was greatly appreciated!) your support more importantly gave me a much needed confidence boost.

I'm really thankful to Maria for letting me join in the fun with the 'Through Her Eyes' feature on Layers of Meaning. It was great to share a little about myself and I met some lovely bloggers by taking part.

Lastly a very special thank you goes to Dionne of City of Dionne for all the wonderful comments she's been posting here since the start. They really do help keep me blogging!

If I could I would give you all a big group bear hug right now :)

Those that have taken the time to comment and share your thoughts with me here also deserve a special little thank you, so thank you to you too. Sorry I couldn't mention everyone :)

I hope you will all continue to follow the blog and enjoy what you find here! Have a great week... Alex x

MAKE, DO & SEND IS 1 MONTH OLD

Today I wanted to mark the passing of my first month blogging here at Make, Do and Send by thanking those that have helped me with the blog so far!

Just a month in and already I have be lucky enough to have... 2550 Visitors pass through who have collectively read a staggering 4666 posts. 40 of you have become Followers through blogger (see side bar), 115 of you have Subscribed via RSS and 240 have joined me on Twitter so far. Isn't that amazing?!

I couldn't be happier with how the launch has gone but its thanks to a few bloggers that I have managed to get off to such a good start so...

...my first thank you goes to Kristen for coming up with the ingenious idea for Craftig. If you don't know what Craftig is all about click here, you will love it.

A big thank you goes to Kelly at Design Crush, Danni at Oh Hello Friend and Will at Bright.Bazaar for sharing my blog with your readers. Apart from boosting my traffic stats (which was greatly appreciated!) your support more importantly gave me a much needed confidence boost.


I'm really thankful to Maria for letting me join in the fun with the 'Through Her Eyes' feature on Layers of Meaning. It was great to share a little about myself and I met some lovely bloggers by taking part.

Lastly a very special thank you goes to Dionne of City of Dionne for all the wonderful comments she's been posting here since the start. They really do help keep me blogging!

If I could I would give you all a big group bear hug right now :)

Those that have taken the time to comment and share your thoughts with me here also deserve a special little thank you, so thank you to you too. Sorry I couldn't mention everyone :)

I hope you will all continue to follow the blog and enjoy what you find here! Have a great week... Alex x