The Magic Bean

Announcing the Eucalan Wrapture Giveaway Winner

I am happy to announce that Marcy Mahle is the winner of 3.3oz/100ml bottle of Eucalan's new scent Wrapture.  Congratualtions Marcy!  

When you've emptied your bottle of Wrapture, you can make your own version of either the Delicate Disposition Ecualan Bottle Doll using my tutorial (just click the link)

OR use the Bottle Lightening Bug Night Light tutorial to make your own night light from the empty bottle.

 

Waste not, want not!

Want to try Wrapture too?  Get your own bottle at this link.

Free Night Blooming Jasmine Panel Doll Tutorial in Honour of the Release of Eucalan's New Scent Wrapture

Panel dolls are a quick way to make a fun ornamental doll.  This free panel doll is based on the trumpet-shaped blooms of the night blooming jasmine flower with her lower body forming the base of the flower and her upper body seeming to blossom from the petals.

When Eucalan, one of my favourite products announced they were releasing their latest fragrance called Wrapture based on the scent of night blooming jasmine and designed by Kristin Omdahl, the sensual scent immediately brought to mind this exotic, but simple to make doll. 

Here's how to make one:

What You'll Need:

• The free printable panel, just click the link to Download Night Blooming Jasmine Panel Doll

Tip:  If you are having trouble downloading the panel doll then please ensure that you
have Adobe Reader installed and that you have updated your Adobe Reader.  It is free to both download the reader and to update it, just click the link to visit the Adobe site.

• Printable cotton sheets such as Jacquard InkJet Cotton Fabric or EQ Printables - Inkjet Cotton Satin Fabric Sheets 6/Pkg
• Sewing machine, thread, scissors, hand sewing needle
• Polyester stuffing
• Eucalan No Rinse Delicate Wash in the new Jasmine scent Wrapture
• Access to a home printer
• 8"(20.3cm) wide ribbon for loop
• 6"(15.2cm) square of white felt
• Haemostats (US spelling hemostats)
• Finger Turning Tubes (optional)

How to do it:

1.  Print the front and back doll image that you downloaded above onto paper first, just to
make sure that it prints correctly.  Once you are confident that the image is printing properly, follow the printer ready fabric manufacturer's instructions to print the photos onto the photo ready fabric. I advise feeding one sheet into the printer at a time. It is also usual to leave the paper backing on the fabric for 24 hours after printing to allow the ink to dry fully.

2.  I find that printer ready sheets can have a quite crispy texture once the backing is removed due to the amount of sizing in the fabric to allow it to feed nicely through the printer.  It is particularly important when stuffing a panel doll that the fabric be soft in order to facilitate turning.  Some brands of printable cotton sheets (such as EQ Printables sheets) will recommend soaking the sheets in fabric softener, but I find that the lanolin enriched formula of Eucalan No Rinse Delicate Wash conditions the fibres and improves the hand of the fabric.  You might be tempted to skip this step but you will find it makes the doll easier to turn, ensures that any excess ink washes away and the new Wrapture scent from Eucalan makes the doll smell fantastic.

Hang the sheets up to dry.  Once dry iron the sheets if necessary.

3.  Fold the 8" (20.3cm) piece of ribbon in half to form a loop and tack the loop in place at the top of  head on the front side of the doll so that the loop faces down over the body and the cut ends of the ribbon point up above the head. 

4.  Place the printed cotton sheets with right sides together, matching the dotted outline of the front and back of the doll exactly with the ribbon loop sandwiched between the layers. Pin layers together.

5.  Sew around the outer dotted outline of the doll just to the inside of the dotted line as accurately as you can.  Leave a small opening approximately 2" (5cm) along one side of the doll.  Be sure to back-stitch at the beginning and end of your stitching.

5.  Cut out the doll leaving a 1/8" (3mm) seam allowance around the seam.  Clip into the
curves . 

Turn right side out through the opening.  You may find it easier to use a pair of small haemostats or even finger turning tubes to turn the hands. 

To turn the arms with finger turning tubes, first, select from the turning tubes, a tube that is the right size for the arm and slip it in the arm through the opening placing the turning tube right at the end of the fingers.  Take the small brass rod from the turning tube set and press it against the end of the tube that is inside the arm.  Push the rod against the seam as the seam is stronger and less likely to burst.  While maintaining pressure on the tube with the rod, gently roll the hand up and over the small rod.  To finish turning the arms reach inside the opening and grab onto the arm with a pair of haemostats and continue to turn the rest of the body.

6.  Stuff your doll using a pair of haemostats if you have them, or alternatively use
something like a chopstick to get the stuffing into place through the opening.  First fill the doll's hands and arms with polyester stuffing, continue to stuff the body lightly with stuffing.  If you are used to making art dolls, do not stuff the doll as hard as you would stuff an art doll because it will distort the dolls features - keep her relatively flat.

7.  With a hand sewing needle and thread, ladder stitch the opening closed.

If you don’t know how to do the ladder stitch, have a look at this diagram.

I’ve used red thread so you can see the stitch better. The blue lines indicate where the thread is travelling through the fold of the fabric. When you pull the thread taut the two bits of fabric butt together. You should pull the thread taut as you go, but I have left it loose at the end here so you can see the stitch better.

When you have closed the opening, finish by anchoring your thread and bury the tail in the body of the doll.

9.  Give the doll's body a light press with an iron.

10.  Print the last page from the Panel Doll pages that you downloaded onto paper.  Cut out the Jasmine Flower pattern, remembering to cut out the inner circle of the flower.  Trace the Jasmine flower pattern onto a single piece of white felt.  Cut out, again remembering to cut our the inner circle.

10.  Slip the felt jasmine flower onto the doll's body so that it sits just at the top of the green portion of her lower body.  Position the felt flower so that the doll's hand can grasp the area between two petals so it looks like she is holding onto the petal's edges.  With a hand-sewing needle and white thread, stitch the felt flower to the doll's body from the underside of the flower using a small whip stitch.

Hang up your Night Blooming Jasmine Panel Doll ornament and enjoy her exotic beauty and beautiful jasmine scent.

Never tried using Eucalan No Rinse Delicate Wash before?   Tried one of the other scents like lavender or eucalyptus, but want to try the new jasmine scented Wrapture?  Here's your chance!

How to enter the Eucalan Wrapture giveaway:

Just leave me a comment on this blog post and I will enter you into a draw to win a 3.3oz (100ml) bottle of the new Wrapture Eucalan. 

The giveaway is open to US, Canadian and British residents only.

Entries will be accepted until midnight (Eastern Standard Time) Saturday December 16th. I will then choose the winner with Random.org and will notify the lucky winner via email. In
order to secure your prize you must respond to my e-mail within 48 hours or I'll have to pick a new winner! 

 

Just so you know, I was asked to write this post about one of my favourite products as part of Eucalan's Wrapture Blog Tour (click the link to check out some other bloggers tips on using Eucalan for everything from washing crochet swatches to sudsing your lingerie).  I was not given any payment for this post except a free package of Eucalan's new Wrapture No Rinse Delicate Wash.  I'd like to give you some free Wrapture too, so leave a comment now!

PS Can't wait to try the new Wrapture?  You can purchase Eucalan's Wrapture by clicking this link. 

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We have a winner...

 
Using Random.org, I selected a winner for the Eucalan prize pack.  At lucky comment number 8 Jen who writes a blog called Bayou Quilts and Dolls  was the winner!  Jen will soon be enjoying her Eucalan products.  Thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaway and to Eucalan for providing such a fantastic prize.

 

A Delicate Disposition: A Free Eucalan Bottle Doll Tutorial

I get some of my best ideas in the shower. Consequently, my idea folder tends to get a little damp.

The idea for this doll tutorial came about because I was washing some of my delicates in Eucalan No Rinse Delicate Wash. While my laundry soaked in a tub on the bathroom counter, I multi-tasked and took a shower.  Suddenly it hit me that Eucalan bottles look really rather like a feminine form. 

  
So while washing my hair, I set about designing a doll that had a simple one piece cloth head and extremely easy clothing pieces made from rectangles, triangles and circles.  At the same time I wanted to make use of the entire Eucalan bottle, including the lid. Eucalan is an environmentally friendly product and I wanted an environmentally friendly project to go with it.

That little round lid made a perfect base for a bonnet, so the doll just simply had to be Jane Austen inspired.  There was nothing else for it.

To find the free tutorial, click the following link to Download A Delicate Disposition Instructions and Pattern

What can I say?  Suds are inspiring.  I want to inspire you to make this doll, but for that you'll need a Eucalan bottle.  And I can help you there too.

You can win a lovely package of Eucalan with this giveaway  - I'm sorry, this giveaway is now closed!

The prize includes:

1 x 500mL/16.9oz No Rinse Delicate Wash in your choice of scent

1 x 100mL/3.3oz No Rinse Delicate Wash in your choice of scent - this is the size of bottle for the doll!

1x Getaway Gang travel set which consists of 8 x single use packets, 4 x stain treating wipes, 1 package of lint remover sheets, 1 nail file and 1 sewing kit 

Scope out the prizes by watching the following video where Jen, Managing Director of Eucalan, walks you through each of these products and the scents that they come in:

 

If you've never used Eucalan before you may not realise all the wonderful uses for this environmentally friendly product. 

Here are my top 5 uses for Eucalan:

1.  Use Eucalan to wash (and block) your hand knits and fine knitwear -  I use Eucalan to block my loom and hand knitted items and then to keep them looking and smelling wonderful ever after.  I won't let anything else near my husband's cashmere jumper (that's a sweater in North America).  Knitting Daily shared some tips on how to use Eucalan for your hand knits with this video:

 

2.  Use Eucalan to create felt from hand knits - Eucalan can also be used to help get a knit item to felt or full as long you combine it with hot water and lots of agitation.  In this case, I put the knit item with Eucalan in the washing machine and run a cycle with hot water (also throw in a pair of jeans to increase the agitation levels) and voila - felt.  The loom knitting book, Loom Knitting Primer, actually recommends Eucalan by name, in the felting chapter. 

Eucalan works well for bringing wool back to life after felting as well. As the lanolin enriched formula of Eucalan helps to naturally condition fibres, it can help to restore the natural hand and texture of felted knits.

3.  Treating Printer Ready Fabric - Whether you use printer ready sheets (such as Jacquard InkJet Cotton Fabric) or Bubble Jet Set 2000 to print photos or text onto fabric, you'll find that the sheets tend to come out a little crispy after printing.  I find that if I soak the printed sheets in Eucalan, the lanolin in the Eucalan softens the fabric and any excess ink leftover from printing also comes out, leaving me with a softer fabric that is much more pleasant to feel and work with. 

4. Use Eucalan to soak dyed fabrics -  I often use Jacquard's Dye-na-flow to dye ribbons, cheesecloth and fabrics, like I did for the cheesecloth headdress on my doll Treasures of the Deep, pictured below. 

Dye-na-flow is non-toxic and goes on like a paint so it is very easy to use in the small space that I have to live and craft in.  However, after I heat-set the newly dyed fabric in either the clothes dryer or with an iron, I find that the fabric tends to be a bit stiff, so I give it a soak in Eucalan with a dash of white vinegar.  The Eucalan restores the soft drape of the fabric while the vinegar helps to set the colour.  Two birds, one soak.

5.  Use Eucalan to save money - Instead of taking some of my fine washables to the dry cleaners, I simply soak them in Eucalan.  I recently washed a silk chiffon, lace and satin dress I wore to a wedding in Eucalan and it came out beautifully.  And you know what that means - more money for fabric. 

HOW TO ENTER TO WIN THE EUCALAN PRIZE PACK:

1. The giveaway is open to US, Canadian and British residents only.

2. Leave a comment telling me what your preferred Eucalan scent would be - Eucalyptus, lavender, grapefruit or unscented.

3. To get further entries in the giveaway "Like" Eucalan on Facebook, or Tweet or Blog about this giveaway.  For each additional entry, you must leave an extra comment for each telling me what you've done in order for it to count as an extra entry.

Entries will be accepted until midnight (GMT) Thursday July 28th. I will then choose the winner with Random.org and will notify the lucky winner via email. In order to secure your prize you must respond to my e-mail within 48 hours or I'll have to pick a new winner!  - please note that this giveaway is now closed!

Just so you know, I was not given any compensation or payment for this post, but I thought all my readers deserved to try one of my favourite products.

Good luck.  Gets sudsy and get inspired!

Freebie Friday - Cloth Doll Patterns for Free

Recently I've found some great free cloth doll patterns that I haven't linked to before.  They range from rag dolls to baby dolls to art dolls, so no matter what your style, you'll find something here to get your creative juices flowing. 

Whip-Up gives us this very kid friendly Sleepy Time Baby Doll and Miniature Quilt free pattern.  Altogether now...ahhhhhh.

My favourite brand of stuffing Fairfield who make the wonderful Fairfield Poly-fil stuffing that I still maintain is the very best stuffing out there (so much so, that on visits back from the US and Canada I stuff my suitcase with it), have got some fabulous free patterns on their website, designed by various featured artists. 

 
Designer Ellen Lumpkin Brown is one of Fairfield's featured designers.  

Ellen, author of Doll Fashionistas is the creative force bethind this free pattern for a great basic fashion cloth doll that can be customised to suit the image you want to create.  Click the link to get the pattern and then click on "Download PDF" at left for the pattern.

If rag dolls are more your speed, then Nancy Lindblom's doll Brooklyn on the Fairfield site will be just the ticket.  See Nancy's free rag doll pattern here and then click on "Download PDF" at left for the pattern.

Vicki Riley, creator of Dinky Babies also has a free pattern on the Fairfield website called Riley.  This free baby doll pattern uses Vicki's signatures style of soft sculpture.  Click the link to get the pattern and then click on "Download PDF" at left for the pattern.

This free tutorial for a Retro Doll Pajama Bag is just so funky.  Thanks to Tipnut for featuring it.

Heart of Mary gave away this free pattern to make an angel in a rag doll style.

If primitives are your favourite type of doll, check out this free primitive Sunflower Annie pin doll and doll from Attic Annies.

If, like me, you love period style costume, then you will love the giveaway that Edwina Sutherland is offering on her blog.  Edwina will give 3 people her online class to create a 1812 costume for a doll to 3 people.  All you have to do is comment on Edwina's blog in January 2011 to be in with a chance, click here to go to Edwina's blog and leave your comment. 

 

I met Edwina at my Finders Keepers class in Ottawa in 2010.  (In the picture below I'm on the right demonstrating and Edwina is on the left in the green top)

Edwina lives in Canada but is originally from Britain.  I am orginally from Canada but live in Britain.  Edwina is a costumer who specialises in historical costume with experience in theatre and I was a costumer for theatre and specialised in historical costuming and of course we are both cloth doll designers, so you could say that Edwina and I have formed a mutal admiration society. That is the best part of travelling around and teaching - you make great friends that way! 

If you are after some cloth doll shoes then try out these cloth doll boots  featured on the Craftside blog and taken from Elinor Peace Bailey's section of the fabulous book Cloth Doll Worskshop by Patti Culea, Elinor Peace Bailey and Barbara Willis.  If you haven't seen this book yet it is a great addition to your library whether you are a first time doll maker or a devoted die-hard.  Each section features the doll on the cover PLUS a way to alter that doll to make each more complicated or different.  I think this book is a must have.

Have fun making some cloth doll friends from these free patterns.

Where's a Nun When You Need to Cross the Road?

You can learn a lot from travelling and thankfully I travel both for pleasure and for doll making (which I guess can also be called travelling for pleasure, as well as business, but let's not split hairs).

In Cornwall I learned that when crossing fields do not step in anything that is steaming.

In Bali I learned there are no rules when driving on the roads.  And watch out for that chicken/dog/man (delete as appropriate).

In Rome I learned that to safely cross the road you can:

a) cross with a nun

b) wear a very short skit

c) cross like you are Julius Caesar himself and they wouldn't DARE hit you

d) all of the above

In Sequoia National Park, California I learned never to bring just one craft project with you when you travel as the chances are that you will be snowed into your mountain lodge with no TV and a husband who has thrown his back out so badly that he is permanently bent at a 90 degree angle, rendering you bored and craft-less.

In San Francisco I learned that there are cheap fabric stores to be had and Alcatraz at night is very scary.

There's so much more to learn, so many more places to travel, so when I heard that Park Inn by Radisson were running an online competition to win one week's stay at Park Inn Manchester, Park Inn Berlin, or Park Inn Ulysse Resort (in Djerba, Tunisia) plus a £300 giftcard, I thought - count me in, what do I have to do?

 

Turns out you have to play a game called the Play 4 Park Inn .  Well that's not so bad.  Games are fun, I thought.  And I clicked on over to Play 4 Park Inn and I saw this guy:

I thought "I can take him".  I work with my hands all day long stitching itty bitty tiny cloth doll features.  I'll be able to slot those cards and get 4 in a row  with absolutely no problem.

Here's what I learned from playing that game:

a) I'm really bad at it

b)  it's totally addictive

I don't know if it's my need to win a free week's stay at a lovely hotel or if it's my desire to win one of the two weekly prizes of an iPad and a £250 voucher (respectively) for Park Inn Hotels, or if I just want to prove that I can beat that hotel manager at his own game.  The funny thing is that win or lose, you can still enter the competition.  But it's a grudge match now folks.  He will not be taking this doll maker down!

Just do me a favour and go on over to play Play 4 Park Inn  and tell me -  is it that my hands are just exhausted from too much stitching or am I just pathetic at online games?  I suspect it might be a bit of both. 

Just a note, if you decide to give it a go in order to win the prizes you need to be 18 years or older, be a resident of the UK, Switzerland, Germany, or Austria.  To win you will have to provide your name and e-mail address and the contest only runs until December 18th, 2010.  That means that I only have a few days left to wipe that smug grin of the hotel manager's face and score me an iPad. 

I've already got my eye on some free tutorials for iPad covers in anticipation of my victory. 

Like this tutorial for a quilted iPad cover and stand on Instructables.

Or this easy fleece iPad cover on Craft Sanity.

Or this quilted iPad sleeve from Moda Bakeshop.

I just realised I totally wasted valuable time looking at iPad cover tutorials when I should have been playing 4 in a row to win the silly iPad in the first place.  Can't cover it if I don't have it!  Have patience with me, it takes me a while for my travel lessons learned to sink in.

 

 

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Winner of the $45 CSN Stores Giveaway

Thank you to everyone who entered the $45 CSN Stores Giveaway.  I used Random.Org to pick a random number.  The winning number was 8 and the writer of the 8th comment was Henria O!

 
Congratulations Henria.  Enjoy spending your gift certificate.

CSN Stores $45 Giveaway

When I hear people complaining that they don’t have room to be creative it makes me laugh.  It makes me laugh because I have never met anyone with less space than I have.  My flat in London is 350 square feet.  I share that with a husband and run a business based on creativity in that same 350 square feet, from the same small table.  It seems to me that what those people need is fewer excuses and some ingenious space savers.

Lucky for us, the very generous people at CSN stores have decided to give my blog readers another chance to win a gift voucher to spend in one of their 200+ stores, this time for $45.  So, whether bistros sets  are the type of creative surface that you have room for or if you have room for several giant cutting tables, CSN stores has got the right stuff for the space that you do have.

CSN has got some great storage options, like this multi-faceted storage cube that comes in 6 colours and can be stacked into any configuration and for any space.

 

Create a bit more space to create with this rolling storage unit.

 
 Pin up inspiring pictures or pattern pieces to keep them out of your way but close at hand on a metallic pin board.

 

And jazz it up, with some blinging magnetic pins .

 
So tell me what is your favourite space saving technique?

Again, the giveaway is for $45 (not including shipping) to spend as you wish at any of CSN's 200 + stores!

HOW TO ENTER:

1. The giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only.  My apologies to my British, European and Antipodean readers.  I hope to have a giveaway in which you can participate in the future.

2. Leave a comment telling me what your favourite space saving technique is.

3. As always, Facebooking, Tweeting or Blogging about this giveaway gives you an extra entry, but you must leave an extra comment for each telling me you've done so in order for it to count as an extra entry.

Entries will be accepted until midnight (GMT) September 15th, 2010. I will then choose the winner with Random.org and will notify the lucky winner via email. In order to secure your prize you must respond to my e-mail within 48 hours or I'll have to pick a new winner!

Just so you know, I was not given any compensation or payment for this post, but I thought all my readers deserved a pampering.  And you do!

 

$60 CSN Giveaway Winner

Thank you to everyone who entered the $60 CSN Stores Giveaway.  I used Random.Org to pick a random number.  The winning number was 7 and the writer of the 7th comment was Jennie A!

 
Congratulations Jennie A.  I hope you enjoy your shopping.

CSN Stores $60 Giveaway

The generous people at CSN Stores offered me the opportunity to give my faithful blog readers in the US and Canada a chance to win $60 in gift certificates.  CSN stores has 200+ websites offering a wildly diverse range of goodies.  Whether you mean to tart up your home with tablelamps or style your studio with a new table, CSN stores has something that will get the job done with style. 

I spent a short while browsing through CSN’s 200+ stores,  and found exactly what I’d buy to tart up my studio space.

First I would start with this gorgeous sewing and craft table, designed by HGTV’s Ty Pennington.  This table has plugs built into the side, plenty of storage, folds out to increase your working space and best of all would actually fit into the tiny amount of space that I actually have.
 
If you want to drool over this sewing table (or a picture of Ty Pennington), click here.

Then of course I would need somewhere to sit and this chair fits the bill.

 
Then I decided “let there be light”.

 
 
 Now isn’t that a gorgeously sexy tablelamp?

A stunning throw pillow for a little extra detail.

 
And a beautiful area rug to tie my fantasy studio space together.

So, again, the giveaway is $60 (not including shipping) to spend as you wish at any of CSN's 200 + stores!

HOW TO ENTER:

1. The giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only.  My apologies to my British, European and Antipodean readers.  I hope to have a giveaway in which you can participate in the future.
2. Leave a comment telling me what you most need or want for your studio space.
3. Facebooking, Tweeting or Blogging about this giveaway gives you an extra entry, but you must leave an extra comment for each telling me you've done so in order for it to count as an extra entry.

Entries will be accepted until midnight (GMT) August 16th, 2010. I will then choose the winner with Random.org and will notify the lucky winner via email. In order to secure your prize you must respond to my e-mail within 48 hours or I'll have to pick a new winner!

By the way, I was not given any compensation or payment for this post, but I thought all my readers deserved a little something extra.  And you do!