Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

How To Fold A Tiny Origami Santa

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tiny-origami-santa

Image: Jessica Jones

Yes, I know, it’s at least 6 months until Christmas, but I just couldn’t resist sharing this adorable project with you all. Perhaps this is the perfect idea for your Christmas in July party – a fun way to get into the holiday spirit even in the middle of the year!

The original instructions for this craft are on a Japanese page, but don’t worry if you’re not fluent in Japanese! You can easily follow along with the pictures and step-by-step illustrations. It’s one of those projects where the visuals do most of the explaining, making it accessible and easy to follow regardless of the language barrier.

I first stumbled across this idea on Jessica Jones’ blog, where she shared how she made her own version of these charming creations. It was such a great post that I just had to give it a try myself! Jessica’s effort is absolutely lovely, and it’s clear that she had fun with it. If you’re looking for inspiration or need a little push to get started, you can check out her version of the craft, which is a great example of how versatile and fun these decorations can be.

So, while Christmas may seem far away, why not take this opportunity to get ahead of the game and enjoy some crafty holiday fun in July? You’ll have these ready and waiting when the festive season rolls around – or you could even host a mini celebration to make them with friends and family. Either way, it’s a joyful project to get your creative juices flowing!

I came across this via Jessica Jones blog on how she made them. Here is her effort.

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Cross Stitch Cards for All Occasions

I have never stitched a greeting card, but I kind of like the idea of it. It’s a card and a gift all in one, and hopefully one the recipient will hang onto for years to come. 

This collection of easy and colorful greeting card cross stitch patterns from Susan Bates (via Gathered) are a great place to start if you want to stitch your own greeting cards. 

These text-based designs cover a lot of card-sending events, such as:

  • get well soon
  • happy birthday
  • thank you
  • thinking of you
  • congratulations
  • anniversary
  • new home
  • good luck

The lettering is done in gradients and there are other details like hearts and stars, a house key and a gift, depending on the text. There are full cross stitches and back stitch on all of the cards, and they use 15 colors for the cross stitching and six for the back stitching (and just two colors are used for both, so it’s 19 colors total). 

The designs vary a bit in size but the biggest one is 52 by 67 stitches, which comes out to 3.75 by 4.75 inches or 9.5 by 12 cm when worked on 14 count fabric or 28 count evenweave. The text suggests beads are also used in the patterns but there’s no note of them in the key, so go wild and add some beads if you like. 

Designs are worked on a price of 6 by 8 inch/15 by 20 cm fabric and then mounted to a card with a colorful baking piece of card stock behind it. This is easy to assemble with whatever cardstock greeting cards you have on hand.

You can get the free charts as a PDF from Gathered. 

Have you ever stitched your own greeting cards? I’d love to hear about it, or let me know if these inspire you to try. 

[Photo: Susan Bates via Gathered]