Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

Robelle Parklands

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Recently we attended the Robelle Parklands opening and was thrilled to find so many hands on activities for the kids.

Here are a few of the snapshots from the day along with more information on some of the artists.

One of the exhibits/stalls they had was by Mealie Art. Pastels were available for any budding artist to have a go and start drawing on the concrete. Above is a picture of my 3 year old  drawing a Rainbow, note the stunning Octopus created by Mealie in the background. If you take a look at her website you will see how amazing her art is.

You can check out a full you tube interview with her here. You Tube Interview or visit her website for more information.

Next was Felting with Mieke Den Otter and her Husband. Tucked away in a corner of the parkland we made a little felt snake. It only took 20 mins  or so and was lot’s of fun. It was so much fun that I am hoping to book into one of her classes for a little more felting fun (info on her blog) .  Take a look at her blog as her pieces are amazing and she was such a lovely lady too.

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Cross Stitch Lids for Mason Jars

Mason jars are fun to craft with, use for storage or even use to hold gifts like baking mixes or sugar scrubs. But you can make your jars even cuter — no matter what you’re using them for — by adding a bit of cross stitch to the lid. 

This idea comes from Gathered, and while they are showing examples of Mason jars used for storage in the craft room, you can use these throughout the house. I’m also thinking you could do this as a way to fancy up a traditional Mason jar sewing kit, since there’s already a little batting under the piece of cross stitch you could still use it as a pincushion. 

The post walks you through how to make a cross stitched Mason jar lids and a link to a PDF pattern that includes six design options.

They’re not totally for beginners because they include cross stitch, backstitch, eyelets and Rhodes stitch, but if you aren’t familiar with those techniques you can either leave them off or there’s a stitch diagram in the PDF to help you. 

Either way these designs are cute and relatively quick to stitch in whatever colors you like. It’s easy to turn them into jar toppers, or you could even just use the Mason jar ring as a frame rather than using it on top of a jar (I did this with a little Christmas tree cross stitch pattern I turned into an ornament). 

They’re super cute in the pastel colors shown, or work in red and green for more of a holiday look if you’re using them for gift giving. 

Check out the instructions and grab the free patterns for these jar toppers at Gathered. Once you start stitching I’m sure you’ll come up with all sorts of things you want to store or gift in jars so that you can make more of them!

[Photo: Gathered]