Inspired by - Felt Scrap Garland

Use left over felt scraps to make a upcycled Christmas garland. 

This post contains affiliate links, if you click through and make a purchase then the cost to you is the same but Sum of their Stories receives a small commission Today I'm sharing another project inspired by another fantastic blogger - part of my "Inspired by" series. This time it's a lovely felt garland made from felt scraps inspired by one I saw a couple of years ago over at Pillar Box Blue.

What I love about this project is that it uses the teeny tiniest scraps left over from all my recent felted jumper projects.  It's super simple. Take little left over bits of felt, cut them into pieces approx 1" square and then thread them up to make a garland. I've been on a bit of a 'felting old jumpers and cardigans' crazy recently and have been making all sorts of things with the felt. I've already shared a few here, some felt flowers & these felt lavender bag houses and I have quite a few more to come. What this has generated is a lot of tiny scraps and I was really pleased to remember this garland idea. It was so quick to make up and saves all the little pieces from the bin. Yay! 

I used a Green Pearl Thread and made my garland about 145cm/57" long (plus the tassels) . It actually gets pretty heavy so this feels long enough. I finished the ends of my garland with a few beadsand a tassel made from more of the embroidery thread.  

You can see the felt from my felted jumpers and cardigans came out in different thicknesses, that doesn't matter at all for this project. Not all my pieces were perfectly square either, I used every little corner so as to not waste a scrap! 

Pillar Box Blue has a lovely bauble idea too along the same lines if you want more options, check out it out here. I wanted something to use up my tiny felt scraps - job done! 

Chocolate Chip & Orange Porridge Oat Cookies

Mix, bake and cool slightly, these chocolate chip and orange flavour porridge oat cookies can be ready to eat from start to finish in about 30 minutes.

I don't know if a Terry's Chocolate Orange is a specifically British thing or if they are available worldwide but I do know in my family Christmas is not Christmas without a Chocolate Orange. "Don't tap it, Whack it" "One of my 5 a day"  and "It's not Terry's it's mine" are all common catch phrases linked to this most Christmassy of treats. So for me chocolate and orange just go together, especially at this time of year and I've been experimenting with a family favourite cookie recipe to give them a chocolate orange twist. You might notice I am calling these cookies too, not biscuits as I should do, being an English girl and all. They are quite cookie like though I think as they are slightly chewy inside.

Chocolate Chip & Orange Porridge Oat Cookies

Makes between 25 and 30 230g Baking Margarine or butter 230g caster sugar 2 eggs 2 tsps orange essence 300g SR flour 150g porridge oats Zest of 1 orange (optional but makes it more orangy) 100g plain chocolate chips 100g milk chocolate chips 100g chocolate for decoration * you can get an easy print version of this recipe with a conversion to cups too here.
Heat the oven to 180 c   350 f   gas 4
Beat the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. If you have a lovely food mixer use that (you lucky thing you!) or use an electric hand whisk or a wooden spoon. Beat in the eggs and orange essence. Stir in the flour, porridge oats, chocolate chips and zest if using. Mix until it forms a stiff dough and you can't see the flour anymore. Use a desert spoon to spoon out blobs of mixture and roll them lightly in your hands. Place them on the baking tray and press lightly with a fork to flatten them slightly.

These cookies don't really spread very much as they cook so whatever size/shape you make them now is pretty much how they will end up. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes until golden brown, then cool on a cooling rack. Melt the remaining chocolate and drizzle over the cookies to finish.

Enjoy! I'll be sharing this recipe at some of these linkups.

Cake International and Stitching, Sewing & Hobbycrafts Upcoming Shows

Something for the UK peeps today - Cake International, the Stitching, Sewing and Hobbycrafts show and Simple Christmas are coming to the NEC Birmingham soon.

I've been attending the Stitching, Sewing and Hobbycrafts show at the NEC Birmingham for the last few years and like to share with you all the lovely things I've seen, but it actually makes sense to talk about it before it happens in case you fancy popping along. Plus I have a fab 2 for 1 ticket offer for you.
The Stitching, Sewing and Hobbycrafts show and Simple Christmas are on from Thursday 2nd November until Sunday 5th and the Cake International show joins them from Friday 3rd, again until the 5th.

The Cake International show sounds amazing, apparently there is going to be a life size wedding dress cake and a War Horse cake on display as well as a Snow White exhibition, loads of competition cakes to see and masses of places to buy up cake decorating and baking supplies.  I remember a couple of years ago spending ages looking at all the stunning competition cakes with this Star Wars/Bake Off one being my favourite. 

The Stitching, Sewing and Hobbycraft is a mass of loveliness with stalls to buy things that you really "need" coving all types of crafts, as well as workshops and demonstrations. Simply Christmas is a giant Craft Fair, with lots of unique handmade items for sale. As I have the grand total of 1 Christmas gift sorted I am going to take the chance to get my Christmas shopping on!  Entry to one show gets you entry to them all, although they are separate shows they all lead in from one to another so you can wander freely between them.  You can read my highlights of similar past show here and here to get a feel for what to expect:

 

Receive 2 for 1 on tickets to Stitching, Sewing & Hobbycrafts with Simply Christmas taking place at the NEC from 2 – 5 November.

To take advantage of this special ticket offer visit www.ichfevents.co.uk and use code OV80 when purchasing or call 01425 277 988 to book.  

Terms and conditions for buy one get one free tickets

• Phone lines open 9am-5pm Monday –Thursday, 9am-4.30pm Friday.
• Standard tariffs apply. 
• This offer is for advance, 1 day tickets only and is valid until Monday 30 October 2017, it cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer.
• Children under 16 go free when accompanied by an Adult (otherwise £6).

Yoda Snowflake attempt

Last year on a dull day in December when I should have been doing a whole number of things, I sat with a cup of tea had a go at making a Star Wars paper snowflake instead. When shared it on my personal facebook page some of my friends seemed interested to know how so I thought you might to see too.

I downloaded and printed a template from Anthony Herrera Designs and got to work. There is a great little video too that is worth watching before you start, with some info about how to fold the paper and tips on cutting out.

I could have made a whole blizzard of regular paper snowflakes in the time it took to make this, but who wants a whole blizzard when you can have a Yoda snowflake?

You make these with regular printer paper and sharp scissors but you also need a good sharp craft knife. This is not something for young kids to do in the holidays!

The most difficult bit was the internal shapes like the eyes and mouth as there are just so many layers to get through. I found it helped if I cut the shape with my knife, lifted as many layers as I could then cut again, repeating 3 or 4 times.
I did tweak mine a little and joined Yoda's ears up, on the template the are not.

My precious Yoda snowflake got packed away with the decorations and by a miracle was still intact when we got the deckies out again this year. I've run it through the laminator, after all my hard work I hate the thought of it getting ripped.

Now it's taped to the window for all the world to see. (Well, the people who walk down our street anyway!) The street light makes one Yoda really glow at this angle.

There are some Frozen Paper snowflake designs over on Anthony Herrera Designs too if that's your sort of thing as well as Guardians of the Galaxy and Harry Potter. I really love the Groot and baby Groot snowflake designs in the Guardians of the Galaxy collection ..... next time I have another "not really spare" moment I'll have to have a go!

Festive Mirror Fun with Chalkmarkers

Turn your mirror into a fun festive photo opportunity this Christmas with Chalkola Chalk Markers.

A few weeks ago ChalkOla sent me a couple of packs of their Chalk Markers to test and review.

I shared a classy and sophisticated idea last week, my festive wreath to decorate a window but I've been having loads of fun trying out these pens in other ways too.

In a mad moment, on a whim I added a Santa hat and beard to the mirror in our hallway. Then I couldn't resist adding a Rudolph red nose and Antlers too.

We've had fun messing about posing for photos ever since.

The drawing on the mirror was so simple. Just stand close to your mirror, shut one eye then draw the outline of a Santa hat and beard over your face using ChalkOla chalk marker pens. Then you can step back, open both eyes and take a few minutes to colour it in. 

These are the UK links to the products I tested :
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chalk-Pens-Whiteboard-Chalkboard-Blackboard/dp/B01E17WAQO

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chalk-Pens-markers-Whiteboard-Chalkboard/dp/B00VVOWCSC

It's slightly tricky to get great photo of this. If you stand there in front of the mirror it looks fab, but if you try to take a selfie it's really challenging to get lined up properly.

The flash adds additional difficulties! 

You need to stand to one side with the camera and then direct the person who is posing to line them up as best you can.

Anyway, great photos or not, it's been loads of fun. I think we will make all our guests over the holidays have a picture taken in front of the mirror! 

It doesn't have to be Santa and Rudolph of course, an Elf would be fun, maybe a snowman hat and carrot nose. An angel halo could work, or maybe 3 crowns for 3 kings. 

There is still plenty of regular mirror left so you can check your hair/teeth/makeup/clothes before you leave the house too.

You might also be interested in:

Christmas Windows

Christmas Scrabble Sign

Wooden Christmas Gift Tags

Origami Christmas Tree Ornament

I'll be linking up at all these great link parties, pop over and have a little look round at all the lovely ideas.

Christmas Windows with Chalk Markers

Simple designs drawn on the window in fantastic Chalkola chalk markers that just wipe away in the new year.

I was lucky enough to receive some Chalk Marker pens from ChalkOla in exchange for a review. 
Scroll down to the bottom for a 20% off discount code.

I have loved trying these Chalkola Chalk Markers out. They are so simple to use, smooth to write or doodle with and the colours are way more vibrant that I was expecting. They contain a high density chalk ink and it takes a couple of minutes to get them going when they are brand new. You pump the nib down a few times (like you would for any paint marker) and the nib gradually fills with colour - then you are ready to go. After that the ink flows pretty constantly even vertically like I was using them. If the ink flow slowed a little I just gave them a shake, depressed the nib again then it flowed freely again.

I've tried a few idea out with them so far, the first is a Christmassy wreath and greeting on the doors to our back garden.

That IS glass, it's just evening. Here it gets dark pretty early (about 4pm) this time of year so most crafting has to happen in the dark!
Start by drawing round a side plate with a white chalk pen.

Then add a very simple sets of leaves and then twiggy lines to make a wreath design.

Add a few dots with a red Chalk Marker pen for just a little touch of colour. You could do your wreath in green if you prefer, the sets from ChalkOla have loads of colours to choose from.

This next bit I did a bit earlier the next day so daylight - yay! This is what I had so far.

Next print your chosen greeting onto regular printer paper. I used a font called Bromello which I downloaded from DaFont. You might need a little trial and error before it is the right size for your wreath, I got lucky with mine. Or you could be super organised a measure everything properly first.

Blue Tack the greeting to the glass outside lining it up centrally.

Now you just need to trace over the words with your Chalk Marker pen. I found I needed one eye shut to do this, I'm not sure why, it just made it easier!

It looks like I was a bit off with the tracing, but remember the camera is off the the side so it's a bit of a weird angle.

Next just thicken up the down strokes next to give them a little more of a modern calligraphy look.

The white pen shows best where there are no curtains or binds as once it's dark the design really shows beautifully. I'm going to try the other brighter colours on our front windows, where we have shutters, if I get time before Christmas.

In the daytime, with gorgeous dull grey UK skies the effect is more subtle but still pretty festive.

These are the UK links to the products I tested :
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chalk-Pens-Whiteboard-Chalkboard-Blackboard/dp/B01E17WAQO

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chalk-Pens-markers-Whiteboard-Chalkboard/dp/B00VVOWCSC

I've had SO much fun playing with these pens already and have more ideas to share with you using them. Photographing anything on glass is a challenge though! Hopefully you get a good idea of the fun and vibrant effect you can get with these pens. And as long as you use them on a non porous surface they just wipe away easily when you've had enough of them.
Update 7th Jan 2017
Just to reassure everyone that they really do just wipe away here is a quick photo from last night when I finally cleaned off our window wreaths using a damp cloth.

You might also be interested in:

Festive Mirror Fun

Papercut Christmas Tree Picture

Paper Serviette Poinsettias

Origami Christmas Tree Ornament

I'll be linking up at all these great link parties, pop over and have a little look round at all the lovely ideas.