Life Updates in November and December

Hi guys! I know I've been away from my blog for almost 2 months but I'm very much alive! There was not much sewing during these past months thus the absence of blog post but, surprisingly, November and December had been the best months of 2017 for me!

November had been a very fun and happy month. Lots of things happened in which I'm grateful for! Here are some of the highlights of this month:

1. It's my birthday month! Oh yes... I'm a Scorpio and I just turned 30 years old! huhuhu...

2. Since my husband's job requires him to travel often, my mom and sister came over to Macau to spend a whole month with me. It was sooo fun and nice of them to come all the way over from Philippines to Macau just to give me a little company <3

3. I kinda miss my old self where I would spend my nights after work watching TV series, so I decided to go back to the old habit and started watching "The Exorcist"  Season 1 and 2. Why didn't I see this before?! In case you don't know, I'm a big fan of horror stuff! I watch Ghost Adventures every Saturday, btw... huhuhu

4. Another big step in my life was being able to go back to church after, maybe, 15 years? Yes...It's been that long.

5. I finally got my first Hobonichi Journal!!! And I'm so excited to start writing on it and even make it more prettier than the last one! haha

6. Since I got this lengthy art block this month, I accepted a few custom orders from friends. I almost forgot the feeling of the beauty of challenges.

7. I finally made a videochat with my best friend after 10 years! I know it sounds crazy while we have all this advanced technology at our fingertips... hihihiiii

8. My best friend sent me a surprise birthday package with lovely stationary in it <3 Thank you, Silvia! I love you loads!

9. Remember that journal I used to write on? Well, I'm so proud of myself because I finally finished the whole book! Since it's a cheapo journal, it didn't contain all the months of the year so I was forced to buy a thin lined notebook to be able to accommodate a bit of November and December.

Now, for the best month of the year - December. Why? 

1. Because I was able to make one of my life's biggest dreams come true which was to visit Kyoto and Osaka, Japan <3 How can I even start describing the happiness and fulfillment it have impacted me? All I can say that I was over the moon ... All I ever imagined Kyoto would be was true! All those Pinterest images of that beautiful city were very much real and lively! The food, the streets, the houses, the shops, the restaurants were so dreamy! I would wake up every single day thinking how lucky I was to be given the chance to visit Kyoto! I planned for this trip for so many years but it was in November 2016 that I disciplined myself to save up for 13 months so that we could enjoy our trip to the fullest and carelessly!

2. I was able to visit Japanese stationary stores like Tokyu Hands, LOFT and a few 100¥ shops and treated myself with tons of super cute stationary!!!! Aaahhhh I felt so overwhelmed by the amount of stickers and tapes!! But I really had to control otherwise we would go broke of the first few days! huhu

3. I felt a little crafty a few weeks before Christmas and so I decided to sew up a little festive ornament tutorial pattern that's now in the shop.

4. I had my family over for Christmas time ( except my parents and younger sister) and we all cooked 2-3 dishes to bring over to enjoy <3 Lots of gifts were exchanged and I was soo happy to see the kids and the adults excited and overjoyed over their gifts!

5. I love scrap booking so I'm finally printing photos of our adventures and memorable moments in albums filled with tapes, origami paper and stickers! I don't really like keeping them on hard drives specially when It's a really nice one with a story behind it. It's really so satisfying to be able to hold them and revisit those times in a super fun way! I'll probably write a post about it one day ;)

So that's pretty  much it for November and December highlights... I'm looking forward for a even more productive year ahead! I've been so blessed and grateful for all your support over the past 4 years on Crafters Boutique! Thank you all from the bottom of my little heart and wishing you all a lovely and successful 2018! May God bless us in every way in our life and others <3

New Items in the Shop!

Good news everyone! I've listed brand new beads and sequins in the shop and doubled my inventory for existing ones! Lots of pretty pastel colors!

As for life updates, I've been down with a flu lately which ,in fact, I'm still quite not recovered yet.. I'm waaay far behind on my blog posts and I can't help but feel super disorganized! I've had my parents over for 3 weeks and my mother-in-law for 1 week and I've been sooo busy trying to catch up for the lost time so I had no choice but to put my little business aside for awhile. I only see my parents twice a year... So having them with me was just too precious and I couldn't bare to not spend time with them. Last Monday I was down with high fevers, a stuffy nose, sinus pains and to make the situation more disastrous, my little one was down with fever and a cold as well... So here we are, both of us recovering together with the house in a mess, lots of laundry to wash and fold, a broken stove and a empty fridge... definitely not of my best weeks!

On my desk right now are 4 patterns that I've traced over the past weekend but I'm thinking to sew one of them and turn it into a giveaway somewhere this month. How exciting!

Christmas pattern is among these sheets and definitely planning to release them much earlier than planned. 

So till the next blog update!

Free Pattern of the Month - Kitty Bee Ornament

Hello everyone!

I know that I'm a bit random when choosing my free patterns...but I guess that's how inspiration comes to me. And when it comes, I'll just draw it down! I mean... Halloween is just around the corner, so let's just take it as a kitty dressing up like a little bee! So, are you ready for a new fun project?

Materials:

Main felts for the Kitty Bee

Needle and Scissors

Embroidery threads matching felts

Universal Glue

15 cm long bakers twine

1 pair of 3 mm round black beads for the antennas 

1 pair of 2.5 mm round black beads for the eyes

Filling

Step 1.

Lay the 'wings' and the 'legs' and applique stitch them in place. Feel free to secure your cutouts with a little bit of glue prior of stitching. 

Step 2.

Take your 'bee body' and dab a bit of glue on the bottom edge then lay it in position.

Step 3.

Slip in the 'arms' and adjust.

Step 4.

Applique stitch the 'arms' and 'bee body'.

Step 5.

Apply a thin strip of glue around the 'face' and lay the 'bee head over the 'face'.

Step 6.

Lay it over onto the 'cookie' cutout and applique stitch it in place.

Step 7.

Applique stitch the 'bee strips'.

Step 8. 

Backstitch the little antennas.

Step 9.

Stitch on the round black beads.

Step 10.

Our little kitty is a calico cat, so let's stitch on the 'calico markings' using the applique stitch.

Applique stitch the little 'cheeks' as well.

Step 11.

Let's stitch on a tiny triangle for the kitty's nose.

Step 12.

Fill in the little triangle using the satin stitch.

Step 13.

And for the mouth, make a tiny fly stitch.

Step 14.

Fold your bakers twine cord in half then make a knot on the loose ends. Cut off the excess.

Step 15.

Place your bakers twine in the center of the other 'bee cookie' cutout and secure it with multiple knots.

Step 16.

Combine both 'bee cookie ' cutouts and blanket stitch them together leaving a small entry for the filling.

Step 17.

Lightly fill your ornament making sure all corners are evenly filled before closing.

And you're done!

Please click on the link below to download the pattern in its original size :)

PDF Kitty Bee Ornament Pattern

Hope you enjoy this little tutorial! Let me know how yours turn out! So 'till next time again <3

Carol's Journal Week #8

I'm having so much fun with all the these color match washi tapes and hooray for my 8th week of kawaii journaling! It's seriously addicting guys... I think I might have tagged my mom along on this super fun hobby 'coz she's now asking me to buy her journal and a few stickers! Haha!

Also, let's take a moment here to realize that we're officially in Autumn! Gosh...how time flys!! Looking at beautiful Autumn season photos makes me miss Portugal so much... all the brown and orange colors and the smell of cinnamon and roasted chestnuts everywhere.. In Macau, we are far from all those memories as It's still plain Summer here! It's the worst season at the moment as we are facing never ending typhoon times and thunderstorms... and I can't wait for this terrible weather to be over as I'm sooo ready for Winter!

It's been very calm here at home... Lara has been going to school and I've been quietly working on my crafts...although slow as expected there is sure some progress! I'm currently editing and cropping photos to get ready for the tutorial so It may take a 2 -3 days or so before It's finally up at the shop. Thank you so much for your patience.. I promise it will be up, latest, by next week!

A Spooky Behind The Scenes

It's the second week of school and I'm slowly catching up with my old routine. I'm happy to make little progress on my upcoming pattern in which you might already know what the theme is! That's right! One of my second favorite seasons and holiday is coming up right fast...Autumn and the Halloween! I'm targeting to have this pattern ready by next week..So I'll keep you guys posted!

Carol's Journal Week #7

Carol's Journal Week #6

Working With Felt - Blanket Stitching Through Ribbons

Hi everyone!

I know It's been awhile since my last 'Working With Felt' series! I'm slowly catching up with what I was suppose to post so bare with me! Now that school holidays are officially over tomorrow, Lara has been going to bed earlier thus I have more energy to linger through the night to work on my stuffs!

So today's topic will be learning how to attach ribbons on felt using the blanket stitch. A perfect little technique if you want to turn felt projects into hanging ornaments or if you have intentions of sliding a string through the ribbon hoop to create beautiful garlands, etc.

Step 1.

 First things first, I 'prep' my ribbon by applying a thin strip of glue onto the bottom hem then I fold in half.

Step 2.

Apply glue at the hem again.

Step 3.

Position your ribbon with the glued hem facing the felt. Then, place the other piece of felt on top, making sure corners or curves are aligned on both felts.

Step 3.

Insert the needle through the ribbon.

Step 4.

Pull needle leaving a small hoop.

Step 5.

Insert the needle from the back of the ribbon and over the felt hem. Also, make sure the needle (B) is aligned with the stitch (A).

Step 6.

Insert the needle underneath the little hoop and pull.

Step 7. 

And here you have it! Your first blanket stitch through felt! Now, to continue securing the ribbon, just repeat steps 3 -7 then continue your blanket stitch as usual after the ribbon.

Hope this helps!