Crafts Beautiful November 2015: A Digital Sample

12 CHRISTMAS CRAFTS FOR UNDER A FIVER!

50 FESTIVE CARDS using the latest designs!

Winter Wishes...

Wreath, Angels, Stylish Felt Decs & More Issue 286 Nov 2015

20 WAYS

❄ Hot Products ❄ Top Trends ❄ Brilliant Prizes

ISSUE 286 NOVEMBER 2015

t s u J BRIGHT & MERRY + 100 for you! Christmas Makes in Easy Steps

£4.99

WITH YOUR STENCIL KIT!

Share it!

MEET THE CELEB MAKERS JULIE & WENDY’S TRADE SECRETS!

PAPERCRAFT FUN Table Top Tree

Do it!

XMAS COUNTDOWN Quick stitch ideas CB Nov 15 Cover.indd 1

STOCKING FILLERS

Copy our templates

Plus...JOANNA SHEEN Q&A H PYRAMAGE FOR NEWBIES

H TODO ON TEST H FLASHY FOILING H LACE STENCILLING

01/10/2015 14:43

NOVEMBER 2015

in this issue..

REGULARS

81

12 OVER TO YOU

Share makes and stories with your fellow CB readers

23 AT HOME WITH

JULIE & WENDY

The ladies work their magic on store cupboard basics

86

26 INSPIRATION FOR

NOVEMBER

See what we’ve been coveting this month

38 OUR PAPERCRAFT HERO

Create a perfect holiday gift set with Scandi-inspired makes

47 CORINNE’S CRAFT SPACE

Tricks and tips from our team of craft designers

103 NET SAVVY

Walk through the winter wonders of the web this month

113 COMING NEXT MONTH

Don’t miss your December issue

114 YOUR REALLY USEFUL

ON MARKET STREET

Use this stunning collection to create a pretty set of festive cards

21 PRESENT TIME

CB readers offer their creative advice Jacqui Joseph shares Christmas craft tips and her love of sewing

44

Have yourself a therapeutic session when whipping up these parcels

29 SEASON’S GREETINGS

Form unique cards using the latest Christmas collection from Sizzix

30 LUNCHTIME MAKE

CRAFT TIPS

122 BEHIND THE CAMERA

7 5 WAYS WITH... CHRISTMAS

Corinne Bradd celebrates felt with gorgeous house decs

70 ASK THE EXPERTS

47

CARDS & PAPER

Combine rustic elements with Me To You decoupage motifs for cute greetings

42 IT’S A CRACKER

Achieve stunning kinetic cards using Die’sire Dies and wow your friends

44 HEAVENLY HOSTS

Use candy and coppery colours to create whimsical Christmas classics

PEOPLE & PLACES 50 MILLIE MAROTTA

We catch up with freelance illustrator and adult colouring book author Millie Marotta

53 CHRISTMAS CRAFTERNOON

Do your bit for charity by spending an afternoon crafting with friends

STITCHING 46 CRAFTY COUNTDOWN

Get into the spirit of the season with a rustic envelope calendar

104 HOLLY DAYS

Use items from your sewing stash to stitch a festive wreath and card

MAKE & SELL 85 SHOP TALK WITH FOLKSY

Make your packaging stand out with Camilla Westergaard’s guide

86 MALCOLM’S FAMILY

Remember Malcolm from issue 267?

Well say hello to his family

LEARN & MAKE 24 ELIZABETH MOAD QUILLS

60

Shape paper into delicate baubles for greetings and decs

34 PYRAMAGE MASTERCLASS

Design a fresh and simple card for Christmas using this technique

49 TOOLS ON TEST

This month we put the TODO Machine through its paces

62 SARA NAUMANN’S MASTERCLASS

Use our guide to add a fabulous flash of foil to your designs

 Share it! with the rest of the CB community via 4 CRAFTS-BEAUTIFUL.COM

Contents.indd 1

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38 FREEBIES & PRIZES 15 HOW TO USE 72 INTERNATIONAL YOUR FREE GIFT CRAFT AWARDS Discover 20 cards and tags that you can make with your free Christmas Stencil Kit

Vote in our 2015 awards to win prizes from your favourite brands

40 FREEBIES & OFFERS

Get a FREE* Scandi book worth £14.99 and discover money-saving offers

We’ve got over £1,580 worth of goodies this issue!

112 SEARCH PRESS OFFER

40

24 MIXED MEDIA

CROCHET

11 CRAFT CRUSH

54 HALLOWEEN CRAFTING WITH DUCK TAPE

81 CROCHET CARAVAN

36 SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

60 LIGHT SHOW

BROWSE & BUY

Christmas cards and gift wrapping are made easy with our seasonal finds Receive Joanna Sheen dies and bonus papers when you sign up this month!

67 CHRISTMAS CRAFTS FOR £5 OR LESS

We share how thrifty thinking could save you oodles this year

Take trick or treating to the next level with this versatile material Create a set of tea light holders using Posca Pens for cosy evenings in

100 LUSTROUS LACE

Follow our methods to transform plain glasses into shimmering designs

106 LAYERED TRINKETS

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Give your seasonal decorating a fun update with inventive adornments

BAKING 64 WINTER WARMERS

Celebrate cuddly knitted garments with iced gingerbread biscuits

Take yourself on an adventure with a delightful camper

JEWELLERY 89 BEAD BOUTIQUE

Rose gold jewellery is a must-have for family members this year

91 SHAPE UP

Create lovely textured and polished organic pendants from silver

94 HEXAGON HAVEN

Team brass hex nuts with vibrant rat tail cord to make urban pieces

97 JEWELLERY SCHOOL

We give you the low-down on basic jewellery techniques

Brands we love!

40

50

29

60

www.crafts-beautiful.com

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Contents.indd 2

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LIZ MOAD’S QUILLING MASTERCLASS

Christmas Baubles SHAPE PAPER INTO DELICATE DECS FOR CARDS AND ACCESSORIES

For many, the festivities transport us back to childhood, with each household having its own rituals for decorating the tree.

The Christmas bauble has become part of the family folklore, though artisans made the original ones long ago. Here, quilled strips of uniformed loops are used to make paper versions which nest into each other to form the spherical shape. Complemented with additional coiled pieces, not only can this technique make cards and tags, but also hanging decorations including festive earrings.

Have a merry one!

Liz x

Start with...

Quilling papers, 3mm wide: red, green, pink Quilling tool Border Buddy Tool

Card: red, white, pink, green Peel-off stickers Earring hooks, silver

Merry Christmas Card

1 green paper circles with a pink Make a bauble with pink and

coil inside each. Using the Border Buddy Tool, glue five of these shapes around a red tight coil. Wrap the whole shape using green, then red paper. Make a second bauble decorated with red circles and smaller pink circles inside.

Insert red coils into the pink shape.

Make five and glue around a pink tight coil. Wrap the shape with pink, then red paper, and fix the baubles to the green card. Attach a peel-off sticker to pink card and mount with foam pads.

Make some holly leaves and red berries, then arrange on the card front.

2

Happy Christmas Card

1

Take a red card with a fold at the top and cut a circle aperture from the front panel. Mount white card behind the aperture on the back.

Attach a Happy Christmas sticker onto pink card.

2 paper end to end and using the

Glue two lengths of green 3mm

quilling tool, make a loose closed coil. With your fingers, pinch each end to create a holly leaf. Shape another and two tight coils from 10cm lengths of pink paper.

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Cards & Paper

3 large circles of paper, five green, For the bauble, create five red

and five pink, ensuring each colour decreases in size. Glue one of each colour together. Shape quilled teardrops from 10cm lengths of red paper and secure inside the pink shapes. Fix a tight green coil on top.

Wrap the whole shape with pink paper, followed by green and red.

Arrange on the card with the holly and berries.

Quilled Earrings

1 wrap red 3mm wide paper around Using the Border Buddy Tool,

the 9th circle ridge down from the top. Wrap around three times, cut off the excess paper and glue the end in place. Slide the loop off the tool so you have a paper circle about 2cm in diameter; make another red loop this size. Create two loops from pink paper using the seventh circle on the tool, two green using the fifth circle, and two pink ones with the third circle from the top.

2 slightly to create eye or pointed oval Pinch the ends of all the loops

shapes. Slot the shapes inside each other and glue in place. Insert the pink shapes into the red circles with the smallest pink one in the green. Glue the green/pink shapes either side of the large red/pink shape to make two sets of earrings.

Using the quilling tool, make a tight coil from a 7cm length of pink paper and glue to the top of the three shapes. With 10cm green paper lengths, make loose closed coils and pinch into teardrop shapes. Create six in total and insert three into each paper loop shape.

Fold a 13cm length of green paper in half. Wrap the paper around

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one of the shapes and glue in place.

Wrap a length of red paper right around the shape and glue. Attach a silver earring hook to the top of each shape using a thin strip of paper. To make the earrings more sturdy, apply a coat of protective lacquer such as Diamond Glaze. CB

Shopping List Quilling tool and materials, JJ Quilling, 020 8295 1822, jjquilling.co.uk Border Buddy Tool, elderberrycrafts.com

How to make‌ quilled baubles

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Crafty countdown Get into the spirit of the season with Amanda Walker’s rustic envelope calendar

Sta rt wi t h ... b Fabric: craft linen sheets, printed; cotton, red, 50cm b Fusible webbing, Bondaweb b Buttons, printed b Peel-offs, numbers b Permanent markers b Mini pegs b Sewing kit b Adhesive See the templates on our pattern pages

Envelope Pockets

1 ironing board. Iron the

Lay red fabric onto your

webbing to the fabric with the paper backing uppermost.

Leave to cool, then peel off the paper backing. Cut 25 printed linen squares measuring 15cm each. Position in a grid format on the webbing, right sides facing up. Press and adhere the pieces together; place a cloth over the fabrics and use a hot iron with the steam setting on.

Draw around the envelope shape onto the printed side

2

“Most of this project could be done in the evening working on your lap whilst watching telly”

of the fabric. Repeat for the other squares and cut out.

Thread-up the sewing machine and work a line of red stitching all the way around the edge, starting and finishing on a base corner. Fold and press the corners in towards each other; then the two side flaps of the envelope, plus the base flap Amanda Walker, Designer up over the edge of the sides.

Stick the edges of the base flap onto the edges of the side flaps. To make this process easier, use a cocktail stick to apply the glue. Use markers to colour the peel-off numbers and Printed craft linen and cotton fabrics, Sew Crafty, 01628 stick to the buttons. Attach to the 620703, sewcraftyonline.co.uk envelopes as shown. Place a chocolate or sweet inside, then Printed buttons, peel-offs and hang the envelopes from a marker pens, The Range, length of twine with the pegs. CB 0325 026 7598, therange.co.uk

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Shopping List

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People & Places

Corinne’s Craft Space “As with everything craft-related I have a tendency to hoard... this can’t come as any surprise!”

Corinne Bradd celebrates the wonder that is felt with gorgeous house decs

M

ost of us have used felt at some point in our lives. For me it was the fabric of choice when making Sindy doll accessories because it’s so forgiving. It never frays, can be glued easily if you’re really lazy (which you are aged eight) and disguises the most shoddy of stitching. I’ve probably still got some scraps from felt sheets I had as a child. They were about 20cm square, came in bright primary colours and had very little wool content, but they were so cheap.

Nowadays I’m a bit pickier and choose felt sheets with at least 40% wool in subtler shades. Subsequently they’re much more expensive, even accounting for inflation, but they’re so much nicer to work with. As with everything craft-related I have a tendency to hoard... this can’t come as any surprise! I’ve a big stacking box stuffed with felt in every possible colour and I still buy more because it’s ‘always useful’. It’s so versatile – you could probably make a model of anything given enough time, patience and felt.

Corinne x

Felt Houses As I’ve never got enough time or patience, I’ve made felt houses to use as cute Christmas decorations this year. They’d also make beautiful bunting for a child’s room or a fob for your keys if you scale them down.

There’s more where that came from...

Christmas decs are some of my favourite things to make. I’ve also created this concertina Christmas tree for issue 88 of PaperCrafter magazine – on sale 23rd October! Visit papercraftermagazine.co.uk for more info and ideas.

1 felt. Cut a zig zag edge around a

Trace around our templates onto

fabric square with pinking shears, pin to the roof of one house shape and trim to the same shape. Over-sew the bottom edge of the roof to the felt with three strands of embroidery thread.

Pin the two houses together and blanket stitch around the sloping edges of the roof to join. Fold up the back piece and pin to the roof.

Cut out door and window pieces from felt and pin to the front. Fix down with embroidery thread using over-sew stitches. Add a button to the front door. Un-pin the back of the house and continue sewing the two shapes together with blanket stitch. Leave a small gap in the side of the house and stuff lightly with fibre filling before closing up the gap. Add a loop of thread to the top for hanging. CB

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“I want people to feel that they have created their own artwork”

Millie’s favourite art tool is her trusty mechanical Rotring pencil which she uses to sketch

MILLIE MAROTTA Words by Jecelyn Latimer

Freelance illustrator Millie Marotta never imagined that she would become one of the UK’s best-selling authors, but that’s exactly what happened after the success of her first adult colouring book, Animal Kingdom. She tells us about her younger years, influences and her latest title, Tropical Wonderland.

I

n a little rural corner of the UK, Millie sits and creates beautiful designs in a studio by the sea. Her intricately drawn animals and plants have a wonderfully whimsical, nostalgic feel that are intended to be coloured in as a getaway from the ‘grown-up’ world. As a child she found drawing an incredibly engaging activity and this link between childhood and wildlife is important to Millie’s overall creativeness. “I’ve been fascinated by nature for as long as I can remember,” she confesses. “I grew up on a smallholding in West Wales which is where my obsession first began.” Millie still lives in this part of the country and continues to use her favourite elements to influence her work as a professional artist. “I never really have to think too much about where to find inspiration. It helps that I live on the coast, too – nothing blows away the cobwebs like a blast of sea air.”

This interest eventually led her to study wildlife illustration. “I got to combine the two things I had always felt very passionately about: drawing and nature,” she explains. It wasn’t until after her studies that she started to build a freelancing portfolio whilst juggling other jobs. After teaching art in a local secondary school for a few years, she finally decided to take the plunge and became a fulltime artist. Millie’s commissions have featured in fashion, retail, branding, textiles, packaging and more for a range of well-known clients including Marks and Spencer, Virgin Atlantic, Penguin Books and Waitrose. With a list of impressive names under her belt, it was only a matter of time before she moved on to the next big thing: adult colouring books.

The colouring craze has taken the publishing world by storm over the past year. This absorbing activity can help to reduce levels of anxiety and relieve stress, providing a little bit of creative escapism.

With Millie, it was her publisher who eventually approached her with the idea of putting one of these books together, which she immediately took to. “I felt quite

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People & Places confident that the style of my work would lend itself very well to colouring books for adults,” she says. Millie never thought for a moment that her work would become so popular and is delighted that so many are enjoying the designs. “If you think about it, we all loved colouring as children so why should we stop because we’ve grown older?” Millie believes that it can help us to focus on the here and now and wants her audience to be artists in their own right. “By the time they’ve finished an illustration from one of my books, I want them to feel that they have created their very own individual artwork.”

Millie’s first book Animal Kingdom was released in 2014 and became an instant success, which then led to other products including notebooks, postcards and vinyl wall decals. Her second title, Tropical Wonderland, was released this summer and is sure to be on plenty of Christmas wish lists. Whilst the creatures in this volume are not native to the UK, she believes that inspiration does not simply have to come from local settings.

“With an entire planet’s worth of plants, animals and habitats out there to explore and discover, there’s endless potential for themes.”

Her success means that Millie is now working harder than ever and no two days are the same. She prefers to do admin first, filling the rest of her time researching, sketching, planning page layouts or drawing up final artwork

pieces depending on what stage she’s at. “There are so many illustrations to produce,” she tells us. “Putting a book together is a huge task, not least because my work is so detailed, which makes the whole process very demanding.” She insists that the quality of the artwork is paramount as people are going to spend their time filling them in, making it important to offer images that reflect the amount of effort which will go into colouring them. “I put a lot into my work, but it’s such a privilege to earn a living doing something you love.” Millie insists that if you want to create your own designs, make sure that your work is inherently ‘you’. “I think that if you’re offering people illustrations that you’ve created from a subject that you feel passionately for, then it will show.”

The fruits of her labour are certainly paying off as Millie is currently working on her third colouring instalment which is due for release next year. “I hope to continue creating more books,” she assures. “As for any other projects?

Watch this space!”

“It’s such a privilege to earn a living doing something you love”

Shopping List

Find all you need to start your own art adventure with Cass Art! Visit cassart.co.uk Faber-Castell pencils, £12.50

Staedtler Pigment Liners, £8.75

Large Moleskine sketchbook, £12.95

To find out more about Millie Marotta’s Tropical Wonderland and Animal Kingdom books (Batsford, £9.99 each), visit pavilionbooks.com

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Layered trinkets

Give your Christmas decorating a fun, modern update with Cathie Shuttleworth’s inventive adornments Sta rt wi t h ... b Felt, 3mm: yellow, green b Card, various b Paper, Dovecraft, Crowning Affair b Thread: red, silver b Relief paint, white b Pens: felt, green; fine, black b Paintbrush b Dowel, wooden b Cube, wooden b Sewing reel b Needle, long b Drill b Adhesives See our Shopping List opposite

Paper Tree

1 top of a wooden cube. Use Drill a small hole into the

the block base as a template to draw a square onto the back of decorative paper, then make a hole in the middle to match the one on the object.

Draw squares onto all four edges to form a cross. Give two parallel squares tabs, then cut out and stick to the cube.

Make sure that the sides with tabs are secured first. Fix a contrasting trim along the bottom. Wrap and secure ribbon around the middle, then fashion a bow and adhere over the join. Colour in a wooden dowel using a green pen, then add glue to the end and place into the block.

Use a compass to draw 17 circles onto patterned green card, gradually decreasing in size with each one by approximately 6mm at a time. Punch or cut holes into their centres so that the gaps are smaller than the width of the dowel to ensure a tight fit. Embellish the tops with various circles and dots of white relief paint. Starting

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“Don’t have a drill? Make a cube from clay and push a dowel through to form a hole before you dry it” Cathie Shuttleworth, Designer

Mixed Media

Design Detail

The red tree is made by stringing a pompom, red felt circles and beads together

with the biggest circle, begin to feed them onto the dowel, leaving a 6cm gap from the base with 5mm between each shape. Punch or cut a yellow star, then top with decorative paper and white relief paint before gluing to the top of the dowel.

Joy Card

1

Create a pink card blank, 11.5cm x 20cm. Use a compass to make a green 8cm circle, then another from scrap paper for a template.

Cut three more circles from assorted papers, decreasing the dimensions by 5mm at a time. Join them together using foam pads, then embellish with gems. Mark the centre of the card. Using the picture as a guide, trace the circle template to the lower half of the blank using a pencil, then use it as a guide to draw the top of a bauble and string.

Write scripted ‘J’ and ‘Y’ letters next to the circle to spell ‘JOY’, making sure that they slightly overlap the ‘O’.

Go over the pencil lines with a fine black pen and shade in the letters. Leave to dry, then rub away the pencil marks and highlight areas with white

2

paint. Attach the bauble over the empty circle. Cut a strip of decorative paper and fix at the top, then add highlights. The ‘Noel’ card is made by following a similar method.

Felt Tree

1 red string, 30cm, and

Tie a loop into the top of

ribbon bow, followed by a felt square and small bead until all the shapes are attached. Add a button to the base and knot to secure. Tie a silver bow to the top of the parcel. Trim a small tag from green felt and stitch red thread around the edges, then sew over the ribbon to finish. CB

Shopping List Felt, Blooming Felt, bloomingfelt.co.uk Dovecraft Crowning Affair papers, Trimcraft, trimcraft.co.uk

thread the other end with a long needle. Use a compass to draw and cut out five circles from green felt, decreasing each one as you go. Mark where the compass point was positioned using a pen.

Make a star from yellow felt. Thread the needle through the top of the motif, followed by a bead, a red sequin and the smallest felt circle. Continue until the largest circle is on, then pop on a sequin and bead before adding a wooden reel. Sew through one hole on a button, then loop through the other before tying it off. Decorate the reel with patterned paper.

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Parcel Dec Create five 4.5cm squares from red felt. Make a loop at the top of red string, 30cm.

Thread a needle onto the other end. Sew on a green

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