Surprise! Another Giveaway!

The Giveaway is now closed, thank you so much for visiting, and thanks to all of you who participated. I will be announcing the winners soon.

 Every time I see how many people have visited this blog I am amazed. It is wonderful to be able to share ideas around the world and to be part of this online community of talented, crafty and artistic people. So to show my appreciation for all the wonderful feedback I have been getting, I am hosting a little surprise giveaway! 

I am giving away 2 keychain clutches, and inside each clutch I am adding a pair of pretty silver earrings, all handmade by me. I will be randomly choosing 2 names from the comments and contacting the lucky winners by email. The giveaway will close Wednesday, February 9th. Anybody can enter, I am willing to mail these anywhere in the world. Please check the bottom of this post for entry instructions.

These cute little keychain clutches were made using a Keyka Lou pattern. I really enjoyed sewing with this pattern, which uses little darts to give the clutches a nice shape. I used a different Kokka linen canvas for each one: a patchwork Echino by Etsuko Furuya (above) and Ruby Star Rising by Melody Miller (below). They are both lined with a turquoise tiny heart quilters cotton and accented with vintage buttons I found at my local thrift store. I chose to interface the clutches with felt to add extra structure and to make them a little padded. The closure is a Velcro strip under the flap. The clutches are very small, approximately 2.5" by 4", but are useful for holding a few precious items such as a few cards and some small cosmetics like a lipbalm.

The silver drop earrings are made from some really cool crystals and dark purple pearls which I brought home from my trip to Taiwan. I bought them from the craft and jewellery district just north of the Taipei Main Station, which is crammed full of stores selling crystals and kits for making tiny beaded animals, purses, desserts and dolls. I actually bought one of these kits, which was a minor disaster I will have to tell you about some other time.

I haven't been able to find faceted metallic rondelle crystals like these anywhere at home and they are very special and unique. The beads dangle from a delicate silver chain and have lovely movement when wearing. They hang approximately 1" long from sterling silver earwires. Everything I used for making these earrings is new, and they have never been worn.

The design is modern with just a little edginess and they are perfect for a lunch out with friends or a night on the town. I guarantee you will get some compliments... you can tell them they were handmade for you by a friend!

Never want to miss a spontaneous surprise giveaway? Subscribe! Thank you all so much for visiting. Good Luck!

The Giveaway is now closed, thank you so much for visiting, and thanks to all of you who participated. I will be announcing the winners soon.

Little Fabric Scrap Earrings

Last year I had the opportunity to travel to Taiwan. The country is an amazing place to visit, with beautiful temples, fantastic natural landscapes and some of the nicest people I have ever met. In the shopping districts in Taipei, there are hundreds of cool little shops, many filled with trendy, zakka-style handmade jewellery, bags and clothing. In one of these, I saw some tiny little fabric earrings. They were so simple and cute, I still don't know why I didn't pounce on them immediately. The memory of these little earrings has been nagging at me ever since, and today I decided to go ahead and make some of my own.

These earrings are a great way to use up little scraps of a favourite fabric you just can't throw away. They work best with tiny prints, or with a really eye-catching solid like an iridescent silk. Of course, if you have a tiny Japanese kawaii print, that would be great too! Along with the fabric, you need a tiny amount of fiberfill or wool roving, a pair of stud earrings, a needle and thread, and some strong craft glue such as E6000. It is best to use earrings that have a "cup" shaped end, instead of a flat surface (see first picture below).

1. Flip over your fabric scrap and trace a small circle (I used a quarter as my template). Cut out 2 circles of your fabric. In Taipei, they were selling these as mismatched sets, so feel free to use 2 coordinating prints, or simply use different areas of the same fabric so they are not identical twins.

2. Sew a running stitch around the circumference of your circle (you should use a matching thread, I used red to make the stitching clear in the photos).

3. Roll up a pea-sized ball of your stuffing, place in the circle of fabric and pull the thread tight to gather into a ball. Make a few stitches across the gathers to hold the little ball tightly closed. Knot your thread and cut off.

4. Put a tiny amount of E6000 glue on the earring, then carefully attach your fabric ball. Let glue harden overnight before wearing them.


I was considering giving these away but I think I might have to keep them for myself! I really hope you try making yourself some of these. They take only a few minutes to make and are great little accessories.