New Fitness Regime & A Bright Ornament

Hi Everyone (*-*)/"),

Happy Friday!  Real life has taken over for the past few weeks and I have not had any spare time to make as many ornaments as usual.  I am not sure if I mentioned it to you before but I have been trying to lose a few pounds by eating a bit healthier and on the back of this wanted to improve my fitness level.  So I recently joined a gym and am currently going swimming twice a week and also the gym twice a week.  Already I feel better in myself and have more energy, even if I havent yet noticed any visible results.  Each time I go I try to push myself a little bit more, but most importantly I am thoroughly enjoying it and had forgotten how good it feels to do a good workout.  So now all I have to work on is finding the balance, so I can fit in everything.

Here is my latest ornament that I have just finished working on.  This one is for displaying in a bowl or stand alone, but if you decide to make one like it you could always add a hanger:-

New Leaf Crafts - New Fitness Regime & A Bright Ornament

New Leaf Crafts - New Fitness Regime & A Bright Ornament

New Leaf Crafts - New Fitness Regime & A Bright Ornament

New Leaf Crafts - New Fitness Regime & A Bright Ornament

New Leaf Crafts Birthday!

Pull those party poppers, grab a piece of cake and crack open the bubbly - Its New Leaf Crafts birthday!!!!

I cannot believe another year has passed and I am still enjoying and managing to find the time to post on a fairly regular basis as much as I did when I first started blogging, what seems now like many moons ago.  I long ago lost count of the hours I have spent crafting, photographing, video editing and post editing, which have unsurprisingly propelled this little blog to its very own cosy corner next to my heart which dare I say I am a little proud of.

Don't get me wrong, it will always be a work in progress as nothing is ever perfect. I am always looking for ways in which I can improve.  This last year I have tried to up my game on the quality of the photos I published, and whilst I don't have an all singing all dancing SLR camera, my little point and shoot camera has really come up trumps after helping it any way I could with better lighting, backgrounds etc.  But still there is always room for improvement and maybe in the future may splurge on an SLR one day???

So When Did It All Begin?

Way back when on the 23rd February 2011 I nail biteingly published my first post, which was a tutorial for pipe cleaner candy canes.  Whilst I will admit its probably not one of my best posts, I am not about to go and delete it as I enjoy looking back sometimes to see how this blog is changing and growing and what I can learn from what I have already done.

You can jump in my time machine and visit 2011's first post by clicking here

Finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you readers, followers & casual visitors old and new, and am looking forward to hearing from you and sharing more ornament design ideas with you in 2013!

Now who's up for pin the tail on the donkey?

Sequin Ornament - 'Pink Honeycomb' & The Seaside

Hi Everyone (*-*)/"),

I hope you all had a lovely weekend!  Let me know what fun & exciting things you got up to in the comments section below.

As for us, as usual we awoke bright and early on Saturday morning and within 5 minutes had spontaneously decided to have a drive out to the seaside.  Now I realise that visiting the English coast in mid February might not be everyones cup of tea, but if you are a dog walker then in my opinion it can be one of the best times of the year.  We spent a good few hours walking up and down the beach with plenty of room around us, doing our own thing without being disturbed.

We did have a bit of an episode where Prince decided to pick up and hold a huge rock in his mouth and would not drop it for love nor money, but it was nothing a cooked sausage from a local fish & chip shop couldn't fix.

Here are a few pics from our day:-

The Happy Traveller

New Leaf Crafts - Sequin Ornament 'Pink Honeycomb' & The Seaside

The Pooch & I

New Leaf Crafts - Sequin Ornament 'Pink Honeycomb' & The Seaside

My Boys

New Leaf Crafts - Sequin Ornament 'Pink Honeycomb' & The Seaside

Bye Bye

New Leaf Crafts - Sequin Ornament 'Pink Honeycomb' & The Seaside

Now, Lets Get Crafting!


For today's sequin ornament I have been experimenting with layering sequins on top of each other  to give a look similar to honeycomb.  I fastened the pink and yellow sequins using my usual 13mm sequin pins which seems to have successfully fastened them in place (each pin also dipped in glue for extra holding strength), but if I make an ornament using this technique again I will use slightly longer pins for extra stability:-

New Leaf Crafts - Sequin Ornament 'Pink Honeycomb' & The Seaside

As with my last ornament, I layered two small ribbon bows (one in yellow and one in pink) onto a yellow diamante pin which I think finishes it off nicely.

New Leaf Crafts - Sequin Ornament 'Pink Honeycomb' & The Seaside

New Leaf Crafts - Sequin Ornament 'Pink Honeycomb' & The Seaside

New Leaf Crafts - Sequin Ornament 'Pink Honeycomb' & The Seaside

Tools & Materials Used:-

50mm Polystyrene ball
7mm Pink sequins
5mm Yellow sequins
6mm Yellow ribbon
6mm pink ribbon
40mm Yellow head diamante pin
13mm Silver sequin pins
15/0 Translucent seed beads
Clear drying glue
Scissors
Lighter (for sealing the ends of the ribbon to prevent it from fraying)

What do you think?

Rainy Days & Sequins

Hi Everyone (*-*)/"),

In my opinion there is nothing better to do on a cold and rainy day then take out some crafting supplies and getting to work; which as today is one of those days, it is what I have been doing.

At the end of my last post I asked what kind of ornament you would like me to make next and Stacey from Beautiful Solutions kindly left a comment asking for a sequin one.  I have been making  mainly fabric quilted ones lately so it was great to go back to my roots and crack open the pots of sparkly sequins again.

Here is what I came up with:-

New Leaf Crafts - Rainy Days & Sequins

New Leaf Crafts - Rainy Days & Sequins

New Leaf Crafts - Rainy Days & Sequins

Step By Step Tutorial

Materials / Tools Used:-

50mm Polystyrene ball
13mm Silver sequin pins
15/0 Translucent seed beads
7mm Turquoise sequins
5mm Bubblegum pink sequins
6mm Bubblegum pink ribbon
6mm Turquoise ribbon
40mm Turquoise headed pin
Scissors
Clear drying glue
Lighter (to melt the ends of the ribbon to prevent it from fraying)

Instructions:-

1. Using the Basic Sequin Technique place bubblegum pink sequins around the equator line on the polystyrene ball
2. Place a line of turquoise sequins above it
3. Then a line of turquoise sequins below it
4. Place another line of bubblegum pink sequins above and below the turquoise ones that you have just placed
5. Fill in the rest of the ball with the turquoise sequins
6. Cut a length of ribbon and add the ends to the turquoise headed pin to form the hanger
7. Add a small ribbon bow in turquoise ribbon to the pin
8. Add a small ribbon row in pink ribbon to the pin
9. Dip the end of the pin in glue and fix to the centre of the top of the ball

How have you been spending your day?

Pin Crafts - Green & White With Blue Stars Fabric Ornament

Hi Everyone (*-*)/"),

Hope you are all having a great day, and if you are in the UK are managing to keep your feet on the ground as it has been sooooooooooo blustery out there lately!  We are certainly going through all of mother natures elements at the moment.


After planning to set aside a few hours crafting time at the weekend to make some more ornaments, I ended up being a lazy daisy and bar doing the regular household chores  & having countless Princey cuddles did virtually nothing else at all.

Thankfully I had an almost complete ornament sat waiting for a bow to be added which I finished off this evening, meaning fortunately I still have something to show you this week:-

New Leaf Crafts - Pin Crafts - Green & White With Blue Star Fabric Ornament

I used white with blue stars fabric contrasted against a plain emerald green fabric.  Topped off with a full 6mm ribbon bow fixed to the ornament with a white pearl fastened in place with a green pearl headed pin.  Due to the size of the ornament (80mm), the stars on the fabric do not translate all that well.  In the future when purchasing more fabric, I will stick to the smaller and closer together prints so the pattern will be more visible.

New Leaf Crafts - Pin Crafts - Green & White With Blue Star Fabric Ornament

New Leaf Crafts - Pin Crafts - Green & White With Blue Star Fabric Ornament

New Leaf Crafts - Pin Crafts - Green & White With Blue Star Fabric Ornament

New Leaf Crafts - Pin Crafts - Green & White With Blue Star Fabric Ornament

What ornament (sequin, ribbon or quilted fabric) colour combinations would you like to see me make next?

Quilted Ornament Crafted From Yellow & Green Fabric

Hi everyone (*-*)/"),

Just as it looked like the snow/ice was beginning to thaw, and I was back to wearing only 9 layers of clothing as opposed to 10 it has started to snow again! Personally I don't mind the fluffy fun stuff myself, but I know some people who will be glad to see the back of it sooner rather than later.

If you are one of those people who is dreaming of warmer weather then maybe today's quilted ornament will toast your tootsies and thaw you out a bit:-

Made from cheerful bright yellow with white star detail fabric, contrasting against a plain emerald green fabric.  All pinned onto an 80mm polystyrene ball across 3 layers.  Embellished with green snowflake sequins and gold pearl headed pins.  Topped off with green and yellow ribbon teased into a bow and fastened in place with 4 green pearl headed pins.

New Leaf Crafts - Quilted Ornament Crafted From Yellow & Green Fabric

New Leaf Crafts - Quilted Ornament Crafted From Yellow & Green Fabric

New Leaf Crafts - Quilted Ornament Crafted From Yellow & Green Fabric

New Leaf Crafts - Quilted Ornament Crafted From Yellow & Green Fabric

New Leaf Crafts - Quilted Ornament Crafted From Yellow & Green Fabric

Daily Nuggets

• I finally tried a Derby Biscuit from Greggs for the first time after having my beady eye on them for a while.  I am not sure if I am happy that I found them moreishly delicious.  I mean my taste buds were over the moon, but my eat healthier new years resolution is already dangling by a thin thread from the window!
• Enjoyed listening to En Vogues - Don't Let Go song on the radio earlier.  I have not heard their version for years (it was recently re-released by Little Mix here in the UK) and had forgotten what a good song it was at the time, way back when in 1996.  Yes it was really that long ago!!!

What craft projects have you started in 2013? 

'Red' Quilted Ornament

Hi Everyone (*-*)/"),

With today being Blue Monday (the most depressing day of the year) I thought I would defy the feelings we apparently should have; stay upbeat and get an ornament finished and uploaded, to hopefully cheer up not only myself but also any of you who has a case of the new year blues and is trawling the net looking for something cheerfully handmade to look at.

For this 80mm ornament I used a pretty pillar box red fabric scattered with white heart and spots against a deeper plain red fabric.  Around the side of the ornament I pinned a thick red satin and mesh stripy ribbon.  For the bow I used 6mm satin red ribbon for the top half mixed with a couple of loops of 8mm red with white hearts ribbon on the bottom, fixed onto the ornament with a white pearl pierced by a red 40mm pearl headed pin.

New Leaf Crafts 'Red' Quilted Ornament

New Leaf Crafts 'Red' Quilted Ornament

This ornament design would make a great gift for a loved one for Valentines Day

New Leaf Crafts 'Red' Quilted Ornament

New Leaf Crafts 'Red' Quilted Ornament

New Leaf Crafts 'Red' Quilted Ornament

How are you beating the Blue Monday blues?