Lizard pillows

Inspired by gorgeous our home pet George (see pic. on the left) I decided to dedicate a few cushions for this amazing creature. At first, here are some pctures with the result and then a 'how to' bit.

One of two pillow cases is made crocheting line by line. Its like making a net, small squares and filling up some of little squares makes a picture you want. The scheme is the same as cross stitching. 

The secret is, that to make your own original scheme is much more simple than you think, especially if you are using only one color strings. Here is what I did: 

I drew a lizard on a piece of squared paper with the pencil and then I filled the picture with tiny crosses and erased the pencil to get get the view more clear. That's it! I did the same for both pillows: croched and stitched one. 

Stitched origami boxes. Step by step.

Finally I can present you all collection of my paper stitching experiments. I have to confess that it's not always really easy when you want everything for free :) What I mean is that it was quite difficult to find patterns for paper stitching, but after long searching on internet here is stitched picture of ballerinas and a few origami boxes. I varnished them a few times to make them more resistant. 

This technique is not difficult at all although it depends on picture but in a future I plan make a few simple patterns suitable for kids. After a few tries when you understand how it works you can make your own pictures and stitch anything you want. But for the first try is good to make a simple thing.

Here is step by step instruction: 

Take a square of carton and make all folding lines as you make an origami box just don't put it together yet. We need a folding lines to see where to put varnish. At the beginning I put varnish only on the top of the box as it might be hard to fold it if you varnish it all. I varnish it several times to make it shiny. Have in mind that paper covered with varnish might change a colour a bit. 

After the varnish is dry take printed pattern (you can find a few free patterns here and I found some photocopies in these Picasa albums) try to put in on the centre of the box (square) and make a holes. I used a simple needle for that, just put a thimble not to hurt yourself as the card is pretty hard with a few coats of varnish on it. Also put something on a table under the card - I used just a peace of carton box. 

After you make holes - stitch them. Normally together with pattern you get stitching instruction where to start and which direction to go. After you do that put your origami box together, varnish whole of it a few times and you have a unique box for candies, jewellery or anything you can think of. I made one for my dear friend for the St.Valentine day to make her life more sweet I put some candies into the box. The picture is really banal, I know, but isn't everything a bit trite on that day? 

Paper stitching

I spoke to my sister yesterday who reminded me about wonderful craft - stitching! Can't wait to get some proper strings and material for that, but before I do I found something similar - paper stitching. 

On internet I found some free stitching patterns and already can't wait to try them all. Mostly postcards are made using this technique but I putted my very first stitched butterfly on the cover of origami box. 

More coming soon!