Pattern Giveaway and a Free Embroidery Tutorial

Happy New Year everyone!  To start this brand new year, I have two surprises for you!  The first is a Pattern Giveaway and the second is a free Embroidered Fox Lavender Sachet tutorial!  Yay!
Many of you have already seen my two new creations ~ a Panda and a Princess Kitten, each with a little cupcake to celebrate their birthdays.  I think these would be lovely as birthday cake toppers, but of course, that's up to you to decide what you'll make them for:)

This pattern will include instructions and pattern pieces to make both animals and their accessories.  I love the idea of a versatile pattern with options to change things up a bit.  You could make either one as a boy or a girl just by changing their ears and accessories.  Each ones measures about 6 inches tall from tips of ears to tops of toes.

I made the kitty with hand dyed wool felt from Feltorama, and the panda and all the accessories were made with a wool blend felt from Benzie Bazaar.  I used 7.5mm safety eyes that I purchased from 6060.  To make kitty's crown and star, I 'painted' all~purpose glue on each and sprinkled tinsel glitter on top.  Her wand was made with a jewelry head pin, onto which I threaded seed beads.  Her little cupcake has three layers of frosting sprinkled with seed beads, and is trimmed with elasticized lace and seam binding.

Panda wears a birthday hat with seed beads and a tiny pom~pom.  His little cupcake is topped off with a pretty red rose and a wrapper to match his accessories.



If you'd like to enter to win this new pattern, please leave your name and email address in the comments section below and I'll pick five winners on Tuesday, January the 8th.  If you are unable to leave a comment here, please see the post on my Facebook or Facebook Fan Page and leave your comment at either one.

Now, on to the free Embroidered Fox Lavender Sachet tutorial!  A little while ago, my dear friend Jessica Hamilton of The Doll Project asked me to create a special project for her blog readers as well as mine.  I put a lot of thought into what to create and finally decided to try something completely new.  I've been considering the idea of creating embroidery patterns and thought that this free tutorial would be a good way to start.  You can download the free pattern by visiting Jessica's site.

This little sachet is very easy to make and requires very basic embroidery skills.  I've included an illustrated stitch guide as well as the materials you'll need to make it.  Unfortunately, the photo's I took during the making process turned out so badly due to our gloomy weather, that I was unable to include them in the tutorial.  Do not be alarmed if you are used to my step-by-step illustrations as it really is very easy to make, you'll see!

I used a mixture of fragrant dried lavender and uncooked Basmati rice to fill the sachet and I must say that it smells divine!  You could tuck it into a lingerie drawer, hang it from a closet door or make it for someone special, if you can bear to part with it!


Please remember to leave your name for the Pattern Giveaway and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the embroidery tutorial!  If this is something that you'd enjoy making, I'd love to start adding embroidered patterns to my shops!

All the best for a very happy, healthy and creative New Year!
~Shelly xo