Let’s Make Something Sweet for Easter! 🐣

There is still time to add that special handmade touch to your Easter celebration. Why not put on some cheerful music, gather your supplies, and enjoy some peaceful crafting time? These little makes are as fun to create as they are delightful to display. With Easter just days away, I wanted to share a few of my favourite simple projects that always bring me joy.

Pink Paws Bunny Hanging Ornament

How to Make Video

Tutorial: Hello, Kloosha! Easter Ornament

With just a few days before Easter you still have time to make this cute chicken ornament that is perfect for hanging on your Easter tree or using it as a charming decoration in your home. The best part is, all you need is a small piece of fabric and some embroidery floss to make this sweet chicken. So why not give it a try and bring a smile to your face this Easter season!

Here's what you'll need:

• 2 pieces 5" x 5.5" of lightweight or medium weight linen or quilting cotton in natural colour
• Embroidery floss in dark brown, red, yellow, pink and green
• Embroidery needles
• Soft fill
• Sewing accessories
• Optional: A small piece of ribbon or string if you want to make a hanging ornament

NOTE: The bottom of the chicken is rounded so it won't stand upright on its own. However, after you finish your chicken, you can gently push the bottom in to give it a flatter bottom so it can stand leaning against something or even on its own. If you would like to turn this ornament into a pincushion, you can fill the bottom part with rice.

1. To start, download and print out the chicken template at the bottom of this page. Cut out the template.

2. Put two pieces of linen right sides together. Centre the template on sandwiched pieces, pin it and trace it with a water/heat removable pen. Mark the opening.

3. Set the stitch length to 1.8 (or the one shorter than you sew with) on your machine and stitch on the marked line. Backstitch the start and the end of the seam.

4. Trim the seam allowance to about 1/8" and clip the curves and corners.

5. Carefully turn the chicken right side out, pushing all the corners out gently. Using a small amount of soft fill, fill the chicken until it's plump and firm. Do not overstuff it.

6. Sew the opening closed by hand with a Ladder stitch.

7. Use a running stitch and two strands of brown embroidery floss to trace the shape of the chicken on both sides. Then use two strands of red floss and long straight stitches to add the comb, two strands of yellow floss to add the beak. For the eye use brown floss and Colonial knots.

Optional: You can add flowers on the side of the chicken. For the flowers I used two strands of floss and used a Lazy Daisy stitch and Colonial knots.

Here you have it a cute chicken Easter ornament. You can easily enlarge the pattern and make chickens of various sizes. You can add a ribbon loop if you would like to hang your chicken on a tree. Happy sewing and happy Easter!

Larisa xo

Tutorial: Pink Paws Bunny Hanging Ornament

Easter is just around the corner, and it's the perfect time to add some sweetness to your home decor with a delightful felt bunny ornament. This simple, yet charming and fun project is sure to brighten up your day and make you smile. Whether you are an experienced crafter or just starting out, this is a perfect make for anyone who loves crafting and decorating for the holiday season. So why not grab your materials, get comfortable, and let's make something sweet together!

Tutorial: Gift Tags

Welcome to our last week of Sip Tea and EPP Sew Along! It's been a wonderful adventure that we shared with Irina @nordiccrafter and all of you who joined us by sewing with us, leaving comments on our posts and simply liking our work. Thank you so very much!

Today I would like to share with you the way I make gift tags. A small gift tag can add a lot of charm and love to any gift. Once you see how easy it is to make the base for your gift tag, you would want to create tags not only for Christmas, but for any special occasion. So gather your scraps and let's get crafty!

New Adventure

Hello my dear friends! It's been a very long time since I have posted any of my work here, but I thought I would pop in to say hello and tell you about a new and happy adventure on my creative journey. It took me a very long time, but finally I am doing what I love, what makes me, as a creative person, even more happier.

In the Making and Small Finishes

If you have visited my blog recently, then you might have seen the previous post with the Mushroom paper piecing pattern. Paper piecing technique is something that I learnt not too long ago, but since the first time I tried it, I fell in love with it. So... one late night I ended up making this dog. It's a very small block, but it can easily be increased to any size. I have an idea what I want to make with this little piece and I cannot wait to work on this.

Happy Easter!

Wishing you all a wonderful, peaceful and happy Easter with lots of laughter and sweetness!

Larisa xox

Happy Easter Everyone!

Wishing you all peace, happiness and love! xox

Breakfast, Anyone?

Sunday breakfast is always my favourite. Why? Because Sunday is the only day when we don't have to get up early in the morning and rush out the door. It's the day when we can take all the time we wish to sleep in and to cook something a bit extra special, get all together, enjoy our first meal of the day, sip coffee and chat. Simple pleasure.

Treats For Friends and Pretty Bags

It's that time of the year again when we all overload ourselves and our loved ones on chocolates. Bunnies, chicks, baby lambs, eggs of all sorts, sizes and colours. Simply scrumptious! Easter treats are special, they come in beautiful pastel wrapping paper and bags, and even eggs are coated in soft, delicate colours. Don't forget about freshly baked delicious hot cross buns. Yum! So, yesterday I was packing some treats for friends, I was putting them in paper gift bags that I bought thinking that it would be too much for my poor hand to sew any gifts that I planned... mug rugs, apples, bunting. Well, half way through I stopped packing and went to my sewing nook, pulled some lovely pinkish pastel fabrics of the shelves and started sewing. That's just me.

More Easter Birds

A few more birds for the Easter Tree "arrived" last week. The combination of the baby pink and pale green with the delicate flowers and petals is really pleasant to my eyes. This fabric is Sakura Park by Sentimental Studios for Moda Fabrics.

It does not take long to sew the birds but it really is a fun and quick project and it's possible to do it even if you do not have a sewing machine. And what a great way to use all the scraps of fabric, lace and ribbons that you might have.

From Paper to Fabric

I think on paper. Do you? I always carry with me a pen or a pencil and a small notebook. Now I carry a sketch book as well. When I have an idea or plenty things to do in a very limited time, I feel overwhelmed and my head gets "overpopulated" with too many unimportant and distracting thoughts. I feel a need to organise it. Once I put my ideas, plans, worries on paper, I feel much better and see more clearly what needs to be done and how. 

While having some soup at a cafe all by myself, I kept thinking about our family Easter Tree. The houses were finished already but I felt like something else was needed to be made, I kept going back to the idea of little birds. I got my sketch book out and in less than ten minutes I had a pattern for my birdie. The choice of fabrics and ribbon and even buttons was made at the same time. I just had to rush back home and test it. 

I am really happy with the final result. The pastel colours are so soft and sweet and attractive to me. I cannot wait to go "twigs picking" this year and fussing over our Tree while arranging the ornaments in a best possible way.

Birds and Houses

Traditions. Do you keep the traditions that used to run in your family? Or do you create your own? These small rituals that fill your life with extra warmth, love, happiness and laughter. When I was little, I spent every summer with my grandparents and on the day I arrived, my grandma would give me a handmade drawstring pouch filled with goodies. It was the best present ever because you never knew what colour the pouched would be and what you would find inside.

With the Easter season quickly approaching, I am making a few decorations for our Easter Tree. This is something still new to me and my family - making the Easter Tree. A couple of years ago me and my not so little boy came up with the idea of making a tree and decorating it with eggs and birds. The tree that we made that year turned out to be really beautiful. It was just a bunch of twigs arranged in a small sack and decorated with pastel eggs and birds. A year later we added some birdhouses to our ornament collection and from that day it became our new family tradition - making and decorating the Easter Tree. This year I am creating my own decorations. Today's project - cute fabric houses.