The Magic Bean

Picturing WWII

I don't know about you, but when I read fiction, I don't really see the words. I just see moving pictures in my head, that is, if the book is good and convincingly written. So when I read a period novel, my imagination conjures up costumes for every character appropriate to that era.

So when the publishers of Margaret Dickinson's latest novel Jenny's War asked if I'd like to read her latest book, I jumped at the chance. The book is set in London and Lincolnshire during WWII and so the review would fit in very nicely with my historical costume theme for the month of March, here on the Magic Bean.

Pictures like this were popping into my head:

Sadly, the cover of the book is a disappointment from the point of view of someone who loves period and vintage clothing.  The girl pictured is styled in a very modern way.  A floral blouse does not a 1940's outfit make.  Particularly, when paired with an extremely modern hair style and coat. If I had seen this book in the shop, I'm not sure I would have picked it up, simply because of the style of the cover.

However, I would have missed out on an enjoyable read.   Like when I read Margaret Dickinson's last book, Forgive and Forget (click the link to see my review of that book), I found myself sucked into the book quickly.  It wasn't hard to flip the pages and become involved in the story of war evacuee Jenny Mercer.  Jenny's mother had next to no interest in her little girl.  When the opportunity came to send Jenny away to the country, it was more convenient for Jenny's mother, Dot to have her out of sight and out of mind.

Luckily the family home where Jenny eventually took refuge was the opposite of what she had previously experienced - warm, welcoming, loving and supportive.  Interestingly, the Thornton family who sheltered Jenny were the subject of one of Margaret Dickinson's previous novels, Sons and Daughters.  I haven't read Sons and Daughters myself (with its far more appropriately period cover, at least, not yet), but this book has been written as a stand-alone story.  In fact, it was written in reponse to readers who wanted to know what happened to Jenny when she left the Thornton family.  Obviously, I'm not the only one who gets attached to Dickinson's characters.

One element of the novel did give me pause however, and that was that I didn't feel that Jenny's behaviour was appropriate or entirely believable for her age at the beginning of the story.  I felt Jenny's thumb sucking and tantrums when she first arrived with the Thornton's were more typical for a 5 year old, rather than a 10 year old.  I would have assumed that given Jenny's mother's lack of attention which would have meant that Jenny was often left to fend for herself that she would have been more mature than her years, rather than the other way around.  I'm certainly not a psychologist, but that element of Jenny's character did make the moving picture in my head falter while I struggled to suspend my disbelief.

However, I'm glad that I persevered as the rest of the novel did not disappoint.  Jenny matured, despite having to return to her mother and her nefarious "Uncle" Arthur who involved her in their stealing and black market dealing. 

Through it all, Jenny continued to draw and paint, having been introduced to art by Charlotte Thornton, a painter herself.  I think it is so interesting that many of Margaret Dickinson's characters have creative souls.  For Jenny, art was a solace and also a large part of the key to her happiness.

The other key was, of course, love.  The love of the Thorntons, but most specifically of Georgie Thornton.  Georgie had difficulty thinking of Jenny as anything other than a sort of sister to him, that is, until the end.  I won't tell you the ending.  You'll have to read the book yourself, but I will say that I thought the ending was surprising and brave.  Jenny and Georgie were brave, but I felt that Margaret Dickinson was brave too.  Not many romantic novelists would make such a bold choice for their romantic leading character.  It was a more realistic ending.  It was still romantic, just not picture perfect. 

So if you want to take a page out of Margaret Dickinson's book and draw, like Jenny, take a look at some of these outstanding drawing tutorials.  Although I most often draw faces on my cloth dolls, I do also have a sketch book, as it is essential to constantly draw and hone your skills.  Check out these links:

Drawing Faces

Basic Anatomy of the Artist- Art School Online by Roger Elliot

Emotions and Facial Expression - by Jouman Medlej

The Basic Head - on Neon Dragon Art

Drawing the Human Eye - on Only Pencil

How to Draw Eyes- by Stan Prokopenko

How to Draw Nose- on Drawspace

How to Draw Expressions (click on the link and then click the image to see it larger) - by Lackadaisy on Deviant Art - read through the captions they are both hilarious and helpful!

How to Draw Lips - by Cataclysm X on Deviant Art

Drawing the Body

How to Draw the Human Body- on Neo Dragon Art

Drawing Clothing

How to Draw Clothes (click on the link and then click the image to see it larger) - by Sugar Sugar Hyper Lolly on Deviant Art

Many of these links I found via a great list of drawing links on Design Your Way, click the link for even more drawing tutorials.

If you are looking to draw on some inspiration for either that 40's costume feel or for sketching and painting, look not further than between the pages of Jenny's War.

By the way, this is NOT a paid, sponsored post, but simply my opinion of the book. The publisher contacted me and asked if I would like to read a copy of the book as I had reviewed one of Margaret Dickinson's previous books.  So read it I did.  Enjoy it I did.  I didn't mean to start speaking like Yoda, I'm not sure how that happened.

What's Inspiring Me Right Now

Inspiration can sometimes be elusive when you are creative person.  But luckily they are lots of ways to get the creative juices flowing.  Here are a few things that have gotten my 2012 off to a creative start, maybe they'll inspire you too.

The book that has me disproportionately excited:

A Field Guide to Fabric Design: Design, Print & Sell Your Own Fabric; Traditional & Digital Techniques; For Quilting, Home Dec & Apparel

Why this books is stoking my creative fire:

I had a vague thought I'd like to design fabric. I figured fabric design and cloth doll design could be happy bedfellows.  I hadn't realised how much this book would open my eyes to the possibilities offered by surface design.  Suddenly in my mind, I am Amy Butler.  In my mind, I have an assistant and an empire chock full of aesthetic appeal.   I am now enrolled in an Introduction to Illustrator course at the Fashion and Textile Museum and it's all this book's fault.  I read about other designers and how fabric design slots into their creative lives in the pages of this book and I thought "I can do that" and the book even told me how.  Move over Amy, make room for me!

The blogs that are currently floating my boat:

True Up 

Why this blog is keeping me interested:

Kim Kight, author of my new favourite book (see above gushing) writes a blog all about fabric, all the time.  There's fabric and more fabric, plus interviews with fabric designers and even a forum that you can join to discuss, guess what, fabric. 

Art Licensing Blog 

Why I "heart" this blog:

A blog I found, through Kim Kight's book A Field Guide to Fabric Design: Design, Print & Sell Your Own Fabric; Traditional & Digital Techniques; For Quilting, Home Dec & Apparel, Tara Reed talks all about art licensing, a world I never really contemplated (or understood) before.  I particularly loved this post about not staying in a place that is not working for you that Tara just posted. If that doesn't inspire you, I don't know what will.

The movie that makes me feel positive:

The War Bride



You know when you start thinking that your day is utterly hopeless because your waistband on your trousers didn't quite dry before you put them on, and you had to spend an hour on public transport sniffing someones armpit that was sitting exactly at your eye-level and you didn't have time to get a coffee and you just finished your book and have nothing good to read, and the list goes on.  If you are having a "bad day", this is the movie you watch.  Anna Friel being cheerful in the face of the Blitz, unfriendly in-laws and an unfortunate lack of indoor plumbing will make you feel shame for ever having complained about stinky armpits.  Plus, she sews.  And looks glamorous doing it. 

What's inspiring you right now?

Freebie Friday - Creating Custom Stamp Tutorials

Creating your own stamps doesn't need to be high-tech or expensive. You can use simple materials to create one of a kind stamps to then make one of a kind fabric. Here are some simple projects to get you started on creating your own stamps.

Make a block print pencil bag by creating a stamp out of Styrofoam (polystyrene) trays to print on burlap with a tutorial from Factory Direct Craft Blog.

Kelly Wilkinson at Make, Grow, Gather shared a simple way to make stamps out of adhesive foam sheets.

To stamp a slightly distressed image, make a stamp from a champagne cork with Kimminita.

Ellen author of 1, 2, 3 Sew: Build Your Skills with 33 Simple Sewing Projectsguest posted at Indie Fixx and shared a really simple way to stamp tea towels using a stencil brush based on one of the projects from her book.

Learn the basics of carving your own stamps from a tutorial on the blog Punkin Patterns, plus get templates for cars and trucks to carve into stamps.

Craft Leftovers shared a tutorial to make a logo stamp. This would be perfect if you sell things on Etsy. I'm not sure I'd be up to carving out all those teen tiny letters, but the stamped image is really cool.

The Red Kitchen has a tutorial for using an artist's carving block to create custom stamps and showed how you can use them to make custom labels for your handmade items.

Joggles shared a video tutorial on how to carve stamps from Speedy Carve Blocks made by Speedball 6.75. or you can carve erasers:

Crafterella shares a cool way to re-use empty thread spools to make stamps with this tutorial.

Re-use plastic bottle caps by turning them into stamps with some simple puffy paint with a tutorial from Pretty Little Things.

The blog Creature Comforts shared a tutorial to carve erasers into stamps.

Alisa Burke ingeniously used cranberries as a stamp, see how she did it here.

Martha Stewart suggests using salad leaves as a beautiful rose stamps. Sounds weird, but looks marvellous.

If you love the idea of designing and printing your own fabric, then you might enjoy the book, The Printed Pattern: Techniques and Projects for Inspired Printmaking and Surface Design. This book is a really quick read (that is, if you are like me and read a book cover to cover). Created by a mother and daughter team it covers potato printing, lino printing, eraser printing, rubber stamp printing, vintage woodblock printing, stencilling and screenprinting. The projects have a clean, modern feel that is really appealing. The instructions are straight forward with some templates that you can use to recreate the patterns in the book, but with lots of encouragement to try your own designs. This book would be particularly good for people who just want to dabble, but don't want to have to wade through a wordy tome to get started.

Although there are lots of ways to create relatively simple images by carving your own stamps, I am currently lusting after the TERESA COLLINS STAMPMAKER Machine Own Stamp Stencil Kit. With this machine you can make much more complicated images with finer detail. Apparently, you can even make stamps from photographs. You just use your home printer to create images to feed into the machine and it imprints your image onto a pack of gel which hardens into a stamp image. I want one. Badly.

So whether you want to make detailed stamps with a whizz bang machine or are happy stamping with a humble potato, there are lots of ways to make custom stamps. Break out the ink!

Freebie Friday - Free Tutorials Created by Alisa Burke

Normally, when I post a round-up of free tutorials that I've found and been inspired by on the web, they will be on a particular theme, but this time I decided to dedicate my entire Freebie Friday post to one artist - Alisa Burke. 

Some may call it stalking.  I call it admiration.  Inspiration.  Aspiration even.  You can just call it what you want.  I don't care.  I am inspired, so I'm sharing. 

Alisa Burke is a painter and free-wheeling mixed media artist.  She writes books, she makes television appearances, she is a Bernina Artisan, she sells her beautiful art in galleries and boutiques.  Graffiti, art history and fashion are all big influences in Alisa's work. 

Alisa has so many free tutorials on her blog that I've just picked a few of my very favourites.

Pillows

 
Alisa used stamping and scraps to create this free scrappy pillow tutorial.

Alisa shared her doodle pillow tutorial as excerpted from her first book Canvas Remix: Techniques For Creating Mixed-Media Accessories on Sew Mama Sew.

 

Alisa repurposed a black t-shirt to make this fabulous black and white numbers pillow complete with tutorial.

Home Stuff

 
Upcycle some old fabric with Alisa's fabric scrap coasters tutorial.

 
Upcycle jeans into these fantastic potholders with Alisa's tutorial.

 
 Use Alisa's tutorial to create fibre fill Fall placemats.

Accessories

 
Alisa sassed up a plain baseball cap with patchwork.  See how she did it here.

 
Alisa guest posted at I Am Momma Hear Me Roar and shared how to make this fab bracelet with safety pins, paper towels and fabric scraps.

Kid's Stuff

Alisa guest posted on Whip Up and shared a great tutorial to make a monster lunch snack for a monster appetite.

Stamping

 
Stamping comes up a lot in Alisa's work, here she shares how to make rolling pin stamps.

 
Create your own fabric using Alisa's technique of scoring pattern into foam to print onto fabric.

 Other Stuff

 
A woman after my own heart, Alisa Burke loves paper rolls.  She painted these stunning paper roll angels and tells you how.

 
Alisa painted up paper rolls and old boxes to create this painted city scape tutorial.

When I look at Alisa's work I see freedom and looseness, an ordered messiness that it is all the more appealing because it isn't too perfect.  I think Alisa's work appeals to me because it is in so many ways very opposite to mine.  I see in her art my own need to get a bit messy sometimes.  Granted, I get messy when I'm working.  Blue paint in my belly button - normal.  Dying my fingernails green -done it a few times.  Paint/thread/stuffing (delete as appropriate) in my hair - an everyday occurance.  One thread, bead or mark out of place on my work - never.  I need to let loose, so I am really looking forward to the release of this book, Sew Wild: Creating With Stitch and Mixed Media by Alisa Burke. The book even includes a DVD!

Alisa talks about her newest book in this video:

 

Alisa is so creative and prolific that there are far more tutorials that she has created for you to explore. Visit Alisa's blog to be inspired all the more.

All the photos included in this blog post are Alisa's and are copyrighted, however, Alisa has kindly granted me permission to use the photos of her work.  Thank you Alisa.

What's Black and White and Read All Over?

The Ingersoll Times Newspaper of course! 

 
Read all about it!  The Ingersoll Times, my hometown newspaper did a feature on me which is appearing in this week's paper.  You can read the full article by the Ingersoll Times' John Tapley by clicking the link.

If you missed out on the cloth doll making classes that I taught in Ontario, Canada this time round, fear not - I am teaching at the Creativ Festival in Toronto, Ontario October 21-23, 2011.  Just so you know, for some reason they spell Creative without the "e".  Perhaps "sans e" is regarded as more creative? Or should that be creativ?

 
I'll be teaching Dive Into a Book, a flat fairy bookmark with three dimensional toes.

 
And The Green Man, a brooch that will teach you the fundamentals of drawing and sculpting a male face.

The exact dates and times that these two course will be taught have not yet been set.  But if you subscribe to my blog by clicking the link, you'll be sure not to miss it when the dates are set.

Freebie Friday - Free Tutorial and Patterns for Making Eye Glass Cases

If you wear spectacles (as I do) then you will definitely need a fetching case to hold them.  And if you are looking forward to the summer sunshine then you will need a glass case for your sunglasses too (hey, I may live in Britain, but it is best to be optimistic).  Here are a few free tutorials and patterns for making your own eye glass cases.

Felt

 
Better Homes and Gardens shares an easy felt appliqued eye glass case tutorial here.

If you really dig the folk art, felt, applique vibe then you might also like this glass case tutorial with three little birdies stitched on from Wee Folk Art.

Or one of my favourite craft designers, Betz White, who uses re-purposed wool felt to create this cute as a button caterpillar eye glass case.

 
Woman's Day magazine also uses felt to create a super simple eyeglass case that would be great for beginners.

If you like your felt a bit more funky than folky, try this felt owl glasses case from Style Crush.

Using Specialist Frames

Crafty Ady shows you how to use a flex frame to create an eyeglass case - no chance of your spectacles slipping out. 

Not sure what a "flex frame" is? Here it is:

 

Lisa Lam of Uhandbag shows you how to get to grips with a curved purse frame with her Dottie Glass Case tutorial.  If you are in the UK, Lisa also stocks flex frames.

If you like Lisa Lam's style, she has a new book out on making bags:

Fabric

The Artful Crafter features this eyeglass case tutorial made from leftover upholstery fabric - there is even room for two pairs of glasses in this case.

Make this simple pieced eyeglass case using fusible fleece, as featured on Craft and Fabric Links.

Debbie Colgrove shares a very straight forward tutorial for making a fabric eyeglass case on About.Com.

If plain is just not your style, check out this PDF tutorial from Embellishment Village for an embellished eyeglass case.

If you are a quilter and prefer your embellishment to be pieced, check out this tutorial from Craft and Fabric Links for a quilted seminole glasses case.

If you wear reading glasses then this ingenious eyeglass case from Marmadaisy will be perfect for you.  This clever pattern combines a bookmark with an eyeglass case, so you can keep your glasses safe right with the book you are reading.

If you like to repurpose, then check out this tutorial from Two Shades of Pink which gives you two ideas to turn potholders into eyeglass cases.

Use this tutorial from Sew 4 Home to create this eyeglass or sunglass case from Pendleton Wool.

If making bags is something you'd really like to get into, you must check out this book from Amy Butler - it made me want to give handbags a try.  The bag designs in this book are so unique, but they are truly drool worthy.  They are certainly different than what is available to buy commerically and what I mean by "different" is "better".  Check out Amy Butler's Style Stitches: 12 Easy Ways to 26 Wonderful Bags

But then isn't homemade always better? 

Freebies and Features From Fairfields

Fairfield, makers of my beloved and favoured stuffing Poly-fil fiberfill have featured little ol' me in the April 2011 edition of their monthly newsletter under the "Friends of Fairfield" section. 

 
After reading all about moi, I strongly suspect that all the free patterns this newsletter contains are going to get you excited.  There are several free projects that you won't want to miss:

 
- Eve Leder's gorgeous rainbow coloured crocheted bunny (as seen  Soft Touch® Poly-fil Supreme® fiberfill packaging)

- Betsy Bunny a free sewing pattern in time for Easter

- a stuffed polar bear cuddling an applique penguin designed by Janet Maurer

- Meryl Ann Butler designed the Fast and Easy Decorator Pillow pattern

- For Amigurumi fans there is a free pattern for a Japanese Maiden that designer Eve Leder says is the perfect beginner crochet pattern

To see any of these free patterns click here  and download the April 2011 newsletter in PDF format (on the left of the screen).

If you want to make sure that you never miss out on any of Fairfield's newsletters (and any of those freebies) then just click "sign-up" in the far right, top corner of Fairfield's website.

For even more free patterns you can  revisit past newsletters  from Fairfield.

Let Fairfield know how much you like free patterns by liking them on their Facebook page and check out all the videos they have on their page while you are at it.

Simply Homemade Freebies

 

The second ever issue of new British craft magazine Simply Homemade is out.  And The Magic Bean, little old me, is featured in the "Inspiring Blogs" section. 

Simply Homemade features a wide variety of crafts from card making to candle making to sewing and knitting.  It's a great publication for those of us who like to "dabble" in all sorts of different crafts.  There are also some great freebie stencils with this issue and ideas about how to use them.  The freebies that came with both the inaugural issue and this second issue were top quality and very usable.  I just finished a huge pile of cards made from the decorative paper pack and stamps from the first issue.  Issue 2 is now on new-stands in the UK. 

My blog shares the inspiring blogs page with 3 other blogs.  I've taken the liberty of scoping them out and found some great free tutorials from these crafty blogger types that I think you'll enjoy.  check them out:

Comfort Stitchingby Aneela Hoey - primarily about quilting and embroidery

 
Free Girl on a Tree Swing mini-quilt tutorial

 
DIY Fabric Transfers Tutorial

Esther Bultitude writes Hettysblog-Esther - primarily a knitting and crochet blog from a mum of two.

Crafterhours is written by Adrianna and Susan - featuring crafts of all sorts, but great sewing projects in particular with lots of free tutorials.

My favourite tutorials from this pair are the military hat tutorial, a funky but feminine hat for girls and the Pocket Locket, a fabric photo locket for kids tutorial (with a secret hidden pocket in the locket).  Funnily enough, I had already bookmarked the military hat tutorial at Crafterhours before sharing a glossy page in a magazine with its creators.

Simply Homemade also has several free craft tutorials on their website.  Incorporating sewing, knitting and paper-craft projects.  Check them out by clicking the link.

I hope everyone finds the Magic Bean as inspiring as Simply Homemade proclaims it.

PS  The article says that I am "from Toronto" originally.  While I did attend university in Toronto I do not consider myself "from Toronto".  I am originally from Ingersoll, Ontario.  That bit was sort of lost in translation.

PPS Mum, don't worry, I already got you your own copy. 

Book Review: Forgive and Forget, A Book Where Crafts Save the Day

I find I enjoy books (or films) where I can see a little of myself in the main character.  Maybe that is extremely egotistical, but I suspect we are all drawn to characters who, in even small ways, resemble ourselves.  The similarities allow us to more easily slip into that character's shoes and share their world for a short while. 

While I certainly never had to struggle with losing a mother to typhoid.  Never had to try and keep a family afloat from the age of 13, saving the family from ruin and most often from self-destruction.  Never took up cooking or sewing because of having no other choice.  Never had to deal with poverty or war.  Polly Longden, the character in Margaret Dickinson's latest novel had to contend with all of these trials, but I was able to relate to her and care about her within the first few pages of the book. 

 

In the UK, click here to see the book on Amazon.

Because I cared what happend to Polly, it was easy to pick up the book and difficult to put it down.  The pages flew past, but I hit a bit of bump in the easy reading road about half way through the novel.  By that time, I was invested in Polly and believed in her, so when her father injured her fiance who also happened to be a police officer during the course of a union riot/protest (delete as you feel appropriate) I was full of righteous indignation.  "How could her father do such a thing?", I thought.  "How could he do that to Polly?" 

The thing was that Polly wasn't thinking the same thing I was.  Polly was blaming the love her life for arresting her father.  Huh?  Suddenly I was not seeing things Polly's way.  Ordinarily that sort of thing might make me abandon a novel, but I was too invested in Polly to let her go just yet.  I was invested, but confused.

A curious thing saved the day.  Crafts.  Yup, you read that right.  In the pages after Polly's mystifying decision, I struggled to understand her and her choices.  But in the second half of the book, Polly is introduced to a new craft - rag rug making.  Polly seeks solace in crafting things with her own hands and begins to see things differently, maybe not entirely because of crafting rag rugs, but I think that finding a thing to occupy the hands often frees the mind.  And for me, that small detail helped to revive that feeling of relating to the character.  Creating things with my hands I understand.  Seeking refuge in creating I can relate to.  From that point, Polly's life started to come back into focus.   

By the end of the book I understood Polly better, just as she understood herself better.  It seems Margaret Dickinson is so good at making you see yourself in a character that I had no idea that I was having a crisis of identity at the same time that the character was.  But like Polly, I enjoyed a happy ending.

Having finished Forgive and Forget, I find myself seeking out more of Margaret Dickinson's backlist of novels.  As she has been writing for 25 years, there is no shortage of titles. 

And I also find myself looking for rag rug making tutorials.  I have done some rag rug hooking before, but Polly has got my interest peaked once again. 

Inspired to give rag rug making a go yourself?  Try some of these free tutorials.

Start with this video from Heather Ritchie, one of the UK's leading rag rug teachers.  In this video the proddy method is shown, the same technique used by Polly in Forgive and Forget:

 

I have myself used the "hooky" method for rag rug making.  Let Heather show you how to do that method with this video:

 

You can also create rag rugs in a couple of other ways.

Try woven rag rug as shown in this tutorial on Craft Passion.

Or try braiding a rag rug with Moda Bakeshop with this tutorial.

If you need a little inspiration to get you started on rag rug making, try reading Margaret Dickinson's novel Forgive and Forget .  You'll be hard pressed to decide between picking up the novel and picking up a new craft.

By the way, this is NOT a paid, sponsored post, but simply my opinion of the book.  The publisher contacted me and asked if I would like to read an advanced copy of the book as they felt that the craft angle might be of interest.  And it was.

Freebie Friday - DIY Wedding Tutorials

If you are getting married and planning a wedding, let me share this thought with you - when I got married almost 9 years ago now, the details that I most enjoy remembering about my wedding are the things I made myself.  I wish I had made even more. 

If you are not getting married, still take a look at some of these amazing wedding tutorials because any number of them would make great gifts or decorations for any event.   (Valentine's Day?  Wedding Anniversaries?  Celebrating the wedding of Wills and Kate in April?).

There are so many DIY wedding tutorials out on the net at the minute.  I just wish these had been around when I got "spliced" as my husband puts it.  Here are a few of my favourites.

Cakes

 
This has got to be one of my favourite ever budget conscious ideas for a cake.  Make this lace cupcake tower using a free bit of lace clip art from Martha Stewart and stick the printed pattern onto the side of round boxes or tins.  Then, stack the boxes on top of each other to form tiers.  Fill each level with cupcakes and you couldn't ask for a more affordable or more stunning cake.

Accessories

 
Believe it or not, but these lace clutches were made by downloading some free clip art from Martha Stewart and printing onto fabric.  Wouldn't these be great for bridesmaids?  Or even to carry as a guest at a wedding?  Click the link to get the how-to.

Find a fabulous tutorial to make the most delectable fabric rose on the blog, How About Orange.  This rose could be used as a brooch, hair accessory or as a decoration.

The Wedding Chicks website features a stunning floral bird cage veil tutorial - again great for brides, bridesmaids and guests.

Flowers

 
Along with cakes, flowers can be a very expensive part of a wedding.  Why not trying using these novel ideas to make maximum visual impact without making a maximum impact on your budget.  I love this tutorial for making a butterfly bouquet from Martha Stewart.

The Belle Bride shares this tutorial for making a felt heart wedding bouquet.  Also perfect for Valentine's Day or anniversaries.

I love the idea of making flower girl wands out of fabric and paper.  How pleased would little girls be to wave these about?  Another genius idea from Martha Stewart.

Heart, Hands, Home shares a tutorial for making delicate crepe paper kissing balls.  You could suspend them from a ribbon and have your attendants carry them instead of flowers or mount them on a piece of dowel and make them into topiaries for table decorations.

Favours

 
You can personalise these seed packages as favours from Martha Stewart, using editable clip art downloads.

There is more free clip art to download from the Martha Stewart site including elegant monograms for favour boxes and dressy labels for round favour containers.

The Wedding Chicks site shares a tutorial to make delicate tea cup candles.  These would make great gifts for any occasion, frankly.

Style Me Pretty suggests making your own tangerine flavoured sea salt as favours, while Martha Stewart provides a rosemary sea salt recipe.  Either of these ideas would add some flavour to your favours. 

Maize in Montana shares a recipe and packages idea for making your own butter, so that you can spread the love.  Also perfect as a romantic present.

Place Settings and Decorations

 
Martha Stewart re-invents the standard sugared almond favour, by presenting the more traditional candy in a bird's nest.

The Ruffled Blog shares this simple idea for transforming mason jars into ceremony chair flower holders.

Dedicated DIY Wedding Sites

If you want more wedding ideas here are some sites that feature regular DIY wedding ideas. 

 
Martha Stewart has a dedicated wedding site with a huge number of DIY wedding ideas, including the moss covered wedding ring pillow pictured above, so make sure you visit there for some inspiration.

One Pretty Thing has now got a special wedding site that features wedding tutorials, called One Pretty Wedding.

Craft Gossip also has a new DIY wedding category here.

The Wedding Chicks is also full of inspiration and DIY ideas.

Although this post on Miss Gracie's House features just one wedding, I found the vintage theme and sheer originality of this wedding so inspiring, I felt I just had to share it.  Any couple that serves coffee instead of champagne at a wedding has got my vote.

If you still need more DIY wedding inspiration, check out this new book released earlier this month, Handmade Weddings:

 

You can even create your own ring!

Whatever you make for your wedding, make it from your heart.