resurrection fern

birch bark christmas crackers

Christmas crackers have been a very integral part of my families Christmas celebrations ever since I can remember. They were invented in 1847 according to wikipedia and I bet my ancestors on my mother's side of the family have been using them ever since. My mom used to buy them at the department store but when I began a family of my own I also began making my own crackers. They became such a hit with the children and guests that we were making them for almost all our celebrations ( easter, thanksgiving, birthday's...). It just wasn't a party unless there were crackers at the table. 

  

To make your own all you need are cardboard tubes cut up into suitable lengths, poppers, tissue paper, other paper or stickers for decoration and wool, string or ribbon. For the contents you will need small gifts, candies, fortunes , jokes or quotes. We tend to skip the tissue paper crowns but you could also make your own, fold them up and add them.

For the party we hosted last weekend I made birch bark crackers and filled them with little nature inspired prizes, st nicholas day treats and since it was an "office party" , quotations from the tv show "the office".

  

The birch bark paper, that is one of my new favorite things came from a piece of real birch bark and a trip to the office supply shop to use the color photocopy machine. I copied both sides of the bark. I stamped the pieces with a fern and then used this to cover the tissue paper covered cardboard tubes.

Place the popper in the tube and tie off one end before you add you prizes, treats and jokes. Then you need to tie off the other end. I bet once you start making your own you will never purchase the store bought ones again. 

Here is a picture from the family archives so you can see this has been in my family for many decades. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend. 

m.

 

 

how to make a pinecone shaped pompom

These pinecone shaped pompoms are my new favorite thing. I will be decking my halls and porch with them very soon. They are very easy to make but I will warn you they do require a fair yardage of yarn. The favorite ones I have made so far have been using blue sky bulky alpaca wool blend. They area amazingly soft and you will just want to hold them in your hand and never let them go.

You can make them in any size you want but mine are about four inches long and almost three inches wide. 

Using this template or one of your own making cut two pieces out of cardboard. the trick to obtaining the shape is to make the width at the bottom of your template twice the width of the sides. 

 

Lay one of your cardboard pieces down and place a folded length of wool over it, long enough to be able to tie a double knot to fasten the pompom when it is time. The next couple of pictures show the process with a regular shaped pompom but the steps are the same. Only the template shape differs.

 

Now lay the other piece of cardboard directly on top making a yarn sandwich.

With your pompom yarn start wrapping. You will want to wrap thicker at the widest part and less on the thinner sides. Don't skimp on the yarn. The thicker the pompom, the more beautiful it will look.

 

Now draw the string together and cut the outer edges of the wrapped yarn with some sharp scissors. Draw the inner yarn tightly together and tie a very firm know before removing the cardboard template. The result will look like this.

 

Yes that is an illustration of the lung below the pompom. Now using your scissors trim the sides of the pompom to shape it. I sort of imagined myself trimming the cedar bushes around our house. When you are happy with the shape, stop and admire how natural it looks.

 

 

You can tie a ribbon or piece of fabric to the top or leave it plain. They will make beautiful ornaments, gift package adornments or the perfect little surprise to leave at your neighbor's door. 

Enjoy!! 
 
 
   

  

 

How to Make a Reversible Felt Basket

 This is so simple I am almost embarrassed to call it a tutorial. The background on this is that when I buy fruit at our local farmer's market it often comes in cardboard baskets like this one.  I use them to store various little bits and pieces but sometimes I have more than enough and I have to flatten them to go into the recycling bin. The handle is removed and then the ends are unattached and one is left with the carcass of a basket.

 

I wanted to make some simple baskets to hold some small gifts for Christmas. So I laid down two contrasting colors of wool felt and traced the shape of the flattened fruit basket out. I sewed them together . I then folded the shape back up into a basket and sewed a button on either end to fasten it.  So simple and yet so functional. You could make this with other fabric , stiffen it with interfacing or even hide a piece of cardboard from the original basket in the base if you wanted to. I like the softness and slight laxity to my prototype. I bet it would be really awesome made with recycled burlap. 

 

 

My daughter thought I was making a military style felt hat. I will have to think about that and see if I can convince her to model it later in the week:)

I had great fun filling it with beautiful soft things and taking pictures. Edgar found it very interesting as well and I found it increasingly difficult to get any shots without a little bit of edgar appearing somewhere in the picture. 

 

 

The elves are really busy making pompoms in the land of resurectionfern.

As the lovely Lisa so aptly reminded me today, it is the one year birthday of my little etsy shop. I still laugh at how my shop's name is knitalatte and I have yet to sell anything knitted to this very day. I am going to celebrate with a giveaway. All you need to do is leave a comment here by December 6th at midnight. The prize will be four prints from my shop of your choosing. I will even mail them to different addresses if you want to give them as gifts. Thanks so much for a wonderful year. Now if only I could get those pompom making elves to take up the hook and crochet some covers for stones! 
   
  

 
 

 

gifts to make with your own two hands

My gift to you, a list of tutorials for handmade gifts found within the archives of resurrectionfern. All of these can be made in an evening. Among this list you will find gifts that involve sewing, knitting, crochet, embroidery and some involving none of these skills. I am even planning a few extras to add to the list in the next week or so , some of which I have previewed with pictures at the end of the long list. 

 Snowflake pendant

Nahanni hat

Fabric covered button badges

Vintage lace earring display

Favorite things embroidered sampler

Liberty and a holey stone necklace

Merfish and Merfish necklaces

Rockfish

Pussy willows

Vintage hankie bunting

Heart of stone in ice

Beeswax heart garland

Sugar plum doilies in ice

Felt and Knitted Mushrooms

Knitted and Patchwork container

Knitted Rooster

Knit a Rag Nest

Knitted Bunny

Rock Babies

Crochet Covered Acorn Necklace

Crochet an Orb

Fabric Snail

Felt Embroidered Berries

Printing with Leaves and Flowers

Knit a Scarfette with Vintage Buttons

 Lazy Girls Guide to Felting Rocks

Crochet Trees

Vintage Button Mushrooms

Knit a Forest

Felt Stump

Folkloric Felt Bonnet

Crochet a Polypore

How to Whittle Gnomes from Branches

Crochet Acorns

Ice Wreaths

Floating Flower Stones

Fabric Scrap Trees

Knit a camera case

Knit and Felt a Bangle Bracelet 

Knit and Felt a Coffee Cosy

pompom pretending to be a pinecone tutorial (coming soon)

  Mathyld tassel tutorial (coming soon)

Reversible felt apple basket tutorial ( coming soon) 

Happy first bench monday of advent!!! 

 

hurray for pompoms

 

my latest little distraction

Main Entry: ¹pom–pom 

Pronunciation: \ˈpäm-ˌpäm\

Function: noun

Etymology: alteration of pompon

Date: 1873

1 : an ornamental ball or tuft used especially on clothing, caps, or costumes
2 : a handheld usually brightly colored fluffy ball flourished by cheerleaders

There is something strangely exciting about the moment when you cut the edges, pull the drawstring tightly together to reveal the pattern you have unknowingly (well almost) created.  In my mind this makes me thing of protein folding and embryology. One day I hope I have some time to describe why if anyone is interested. For now I only have pretty pictures of my very low tech pompom making method. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't you love the little guardians of the pompoms or perhaps they call them pompons since these are Parisian owls made by Mathyld. They are already world famous, having made it to explore on the weekend. 

Main Entry: pom·pon 

Pronunciation: \ˈpäm-ˌpän\

Function: noun

Etymology: French, from Middle French pompe tuft of ribbons

Date: 1751

1 : ¹pom-pom 1
2 : a chrysanthemum or dahlia with small rounded flower heads

During my brief research I discovered another sort of pom pom. Wouldn't it be amazing if this would shoot beautiful colorful soft pompoms instead of bullets. 

Don't be surprised if you see these colorful creations turning up just about everywhere this holiday season. We have plans....

Hope to see you tomorrow where the BIG SECRET PROJECT will be revealed!!!!

Snowflake Pendant Tutorial

Here is the little tutorial I promised yesterday inspired by the fresh fallen snow on the deep dark brown earth. It can be made in any color and with a simpler design. It could really be adapted to any thing you or your children might be inspired to stitch onto felt.

Materials : box board, template for circles, pencil, scissors, felt, embroidery thread, needles and a length of wool, ribbon or trim.

Step 1 : Trace some circles onto your box board. I used a small espresso shot glass but a small glass would be fine. The fern snow globe one was started in my office and I used my stethoscope as a template:)

 

Step 2:  Cut out the circles.

Step 3: Using your cardboard circles cut out two felt circles for each pendant. Cut the felt about 1/8 th of a inch wider than the cardboard. You will understand why later.

 

Step 4:  You are ready to embroider your snowflake or other pattern onto one of the felt circles. My design uses three simple stitches : outline stitch, chain stitch and the fly stitch. Hint when you are using the fly stitch start at the periphery and work your way inward. A great on-line source of stitch tutorials can be found here.

 

 

Step 5: Now turn it over, place the cardboard circle in the center and cover with the second piece of felt. 

 

Step 6:  Now you are ready to do a blanket stitch all around the edge starting just to the right of the center top of your pendant. Stop about 1/2 " from completing the circle.

 

Step 7:  Take a length of yarn, trim or ribbon at least 2 feet long and tie the ends. Place this knot behind the cardboard at the opening. 

 

 

Step 8:  Now continue the blanket stitch catching the wool as you stitch.

Step 9:  Secure the end of the embroidery thread and try it on.

 

 

Hint:  This could easily become a pendant by adding a pin to the back. It would look lovely on a hat or head band or even attached to a hair clip or pony tail holder. 

 

That of course is the first snow fall version of bench monday. I adore folkloric woolens.

nahanni : a hand knit hat

 

 

 

This is really quick and easy to make. You can finish it in a few hours. 

Materials:

 about 100 yards of bulky , preferably hand spun yarn. This was yarn I spun last winter. I was so pleased with how it looks knitted up in such a textural pattern.

a 16 inch size 10 mm circular knitting needle or a set of four double pointed needles

a large holed yarn needle for finishing.

Instructions: 

Cast on 40 stitches and join to form a circle. 

Knit one, purl one ribbing for 10 rows. 

The next round knit in the front and back of each stitch thus doubling the number of stitches in a round to 80.

Place a stitch marker at the beginning of the round.

*Wrap the yarn twice (w x 2)  around the needle in your right hand and then knit the next two stitches together ( k2tog) . Continue pattern until you have completed a round. 

Next round knit plain.* Knit the double wrapped stitch as one stitch. This will allow you to maintain the same number of stitches in each row.

Continue these *two rows*  for 4 more sets. ( 8 rows total)

Now **wrap the yarn twice around the right hand needle and then knit the next three stitches together. Continue pattern until you have completed a round.

Knit the next row plain as before.**

Repeat these **two rows** two more times .

Now cut your yarn so you have an 8 inch tail and thread it on yarn needle. 

Thread all your remaining stitches on the thread and pull to gather them together. Sew the remaining threads in firmly.

There you have it your own warm mushroom hat. I am going to make another one , a little longer to give it a more slouchy look. 

Here is a picture I took with the partially knit hat and wool on the page with images from Nahanni National Park. Don't they look great together.

 

 

 

How to Make a Fabric Covered Button Badge

A few of you asked for a tutorial on how to make a covered button badge of your own. It doesn't take much persuasion to get me to do a little tutorial. I see my little blog as a little spring board. Giving some of you that extra little lift to get your crafting life off the ground. Before I start I am going to apologize for the poor photography. I had to use the flash, something I dread. No light when I get home from work these days. The apology out of the way I think the pictures are self explanatory but I will add very brief descriptions of the steps.

1. Gather up your materials. I like to gather up more than I need because once I get into that making mode I hate to get up and look for things. The basic things you need are fabric, a small piece of felt,  covered button kit size 60, one inch wide ribbon or trim, a ruler, needle and thread, scissors and safety pins or brooch fasteners. 

 

2. I cut out vintage fabrics and a lovely moose from fabric Lara Cameron. I decided to use the moose for this little tutorial. Make a covered button using the instructions with your kit.

 

3.  Cut a length of ribbon 12 inches long. 

 

4.  Thread a needle and gather the ribbon. You could use a sewing machine here but I like to sew by hand. Pull the gathering until the length measures 5 inches which is the circumference of the button. Tie a knot to secure the length.

5.  Now sew together the ends of the ribbon to form a gathered circle. 

 

6.  Center this on the back side of the covered button.

 

7.  Now thread the needle again and sew this onto the edge of the fabric covered button. You could probably glue it instead but I rarely use glue so I prefer to hand sew.

 

8.  Now cut a piece of felt into a circle 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Make two little openings and poke a safety pin through. Sew the pin down into place with a few small stitches. 

 

9.  Now center this felt backing on the undersurface of your badge and sew it into place. 

 

10.  Add any detail you would like with a needle and embroidery thread. I added a tiny patch of moose moss to munch. 

 

I attempted to take a picture of it on a top of mine but it is late at night and again I apologize for the poor quality photographs. 

 

That is my closet door:)

 

I hope to have my hat pattern posted tomorrow. It is so quick and easy to knit up. 

 

By the way you will find a little post about me on Whip up and you can purchase my plush you 2009 items here. I think they would make wonderful gifts this holiday season and it would be like the gift that keeps giving since I am donating my portion of the sale to Greenpeace. Both the turtle and Halvard include crochet covered sea stones. 

pumpkin crowns

Want to make a crown or seasonal wreath in minutes without the use of glue, sewing or wire? In fact all you need are some embroidery hoops and some colorful fresh leaves. If you are fresh out of colorful leaves you can create your own out of paper or stiff fabric.  I made my first one out of the colorful leaves of the 

staghorn sumac.

 This bush is one of the first to turn red in Ontario and it does so in gradients. I removed the leaves from a few stems and sorted them by color.

 Open up the embroidery hoop and lay the inner layer down on a flat surface.

 Now place the leaves around the hoop overlapping the ring by about one inch.

 When you completed the circle and with the outer layer of the hoop opened to its widest setting place it carefully down over the inner layer and the leaves. Tighten the hoop and admire your colorful display.

I bet you won't want to stop at making just one. 

My little wild thing liked the paper leaf crown the most. He said it really complemented his grey coat. 

Edgar is always close by when I am working on the porch. 

I think he agrees the colors, textures and aromas of autumn are very special. 

I might just have to add professional pumpkin photographer and stylist to my resume.

By the way happy apple picking bench monday to you all!!

vintage embroidered abc's

I found a large piece of vintage linen that had large colorful letters embroidered to form a german phrase that I couldn't manage to translate. I bought it for next to nothing because it was badly stained and had a few holes in it. I must have been in a wanting to take a break from hand sewing and I was also in a back to school mood. I found a large piece of felt and enlisted the help of my sewing machine to sew a felt back onto the lines of german words. I cut out the letters and arranged them on the porch table in alphabet order. I am only missing p,q,x and y. I have extra fabric so I could embroider these one day if I find I can't live without them. Some of the letters are very flamboyant and a little difficult to decipher but the array of colors and shapes make them great fun to spell with.  At first we were just having fun laying them out on the table but later I came up with the idea of a felt board in a quilting hoop. The felt backing on the letters now made complete sense.

Don't you love those capital letters?

One last one to go along with this photograph I took this evening.

All things illuminated.

I will have all the winners of the week of blog giveaways later today. Since I am actually writing this post before midnight it just wouldn't be fair to announce the winners already.