Buzy Bobbins

Saturday, 28 March 2020

Fun kids crafts tutorial: Making doll clothes from wrapping paper

Hello everyone,

Today I have a wrapping paper dolls dress tutorial created by my talented friend Naomi. This quick kids craft is made from ordinary items you can find around your house. I bet theres a stash of wrapping paper in the attic which would be perfect for making colourful fashions for your dolls.

Renember: Young children should ask an adult for help with cutting out the paper.

Step 1

Collect your materials: You will need a selection of wrapping paper, scissors and ordinary sticky tape

Step 2

First stick some pieces of wrapping paper tightly to the body to make a bodice. You can stick it right on the doll as the tape won't hurt the plastic and it's see-through

Step 3

Now make a cone shape and tape it at the back, fitting the narrow end round the thinnest part of the doll's waist.

Step 4

I had some crepe wrapping paper so I crinkled it up in strips and added it as a trim. You could also use fabric. You can also add stick-on gems, buttons or stickers or anything you've got lying around. You can look up clothes on the internet (Medieval ones are good) and you can keep layering and adding stuff. Remember, you can just rip it off if you don't like it. You can do this just as easily with any superhero figures - capes, masks and logos and crazy boots and armour.

Step 5

Cut a strip of paper with a zig-zag edge, make it into a circle and tape at the back. Now your queen can go outside and play among the flowers! Why not give everyone a makeover and have a tea party in the garden?

We hope you have fun making your dresses, with a little imagination a whole variety of lovely dresses can be made. If you don't have any spare wrapping paper why not try making the dresses out of plain paper and draw on your own designs. With a few coloured pencils or crayons you can have a go at being a cool fashion designer,

For more craft tutorials why not check out these links:

For the Buzy Bobbins Index page Click here

Wednesday, 25 March 2020

Tiny wishing well motifs

Thread numbers

Hello everyone,

Its been a while since my last post. But here is a cute little wishing well design. One of the wells is cracked and old but the other is neat and new. These designs would be great for a good luck card, maybe pair it with a 'Make a wish' text nearby.

I hope you have fun stitching this design. I'll try and post a little more for a while, I want to help fellow stitchers out during the coronavirus lockdown by providing a few more nice cross stitch designs to sew while we are all stuck indoors.

Much love and happy stitching

Gemma

For more small designs you may be interested in these designs:

Cinema themed motif collection

Tattoo style dragons

New home card motifs

Square flower motif

Small motifs for St Patricks day cross stitch cards

Elemental coasters - simple cross stitch designs

Geometric black and purple cross stitch design

Rainbow coloured Geometric pattern

Wishing well card sized cross stitch design

Question Mark Maze

Cute bird sitting in some bushes

Blue and green sewn bird

Bright orange and yellow summer sun motif

Bunch of colourful balloons

Jesters hat small card sized cross stitch design

Rainbow pencils cross stitch design - Thank you card

Pencil themed Thank you card for Teachers or artists cross stitch design

For the Buzy Bobbins Index page Click here

Saturday, 2 March 2019

Whole stitches only alphabet for bold impact - cross stitch design

Hello everyone,

Today I have a bold cross stitch alphabet for use in your designs. Theres no colour recommendation for this one since you can use your own choice of colours to match. Also it is up to you if you want to fill in the gaps in the letters. I left them plain and unstitched here but they can be filled in with the main colour for a really bold line or filled in with a complementary colour.

I started this alphabet from one word used in a Christmas design (which I will be posting nearer the time) I just love the way the letters where looking in that one word so decided just to see how the whole alphabet would look.

I hope you have fun with this alphabet should you decide to use it.

Much love and happy stitching
Gemma x

For more Alphabet cross stitch designs here are some links:

Blue and green alphabet sampler
Fancy alphabet cross stitch design
Big bold cross stitch alphabet
Easter egg alphabet
Meme caption alphabet
Big backstitch alphabet
Retro styled half and half alphabet
Happy new year, whole stitches single colour Alphabet
Pumpkin themed Halloween Alphabet
Large bubble Alphabet

For the Buzy Bobbins Index page Click here

Friday, 22 February 2019

Yellow duck in the rain cross stitch design inspired by The Little Yellow Duck Project

Hello everyone,

This sweet little Yellow Duck is enjoying the rain and splashing around in a puddle while wearing her cute little wellington boots.

The design was inspired by The Little Yellow Duck Project, check out the web page here:
https://thelittleyellowduckproject.org/

The Little Yellow Duck Project has a simple aim, to encourage people to share acts of kindness.
Crafters can create little yellow ducks to leave around your local area to brighten up someones day, each duck should have a label attached encouraging the lucky finders to add their find to the map on the website. There have been ducks found all over the world including tiny islands and even Antarctica.

While on the website the finders are encouraged to pass along a kindness of their own. They can also find out about blood and organ donation in their area as an example of something kind they can do if they are able.

There are many ways to contribute by making a little yellow duck using a variety of crafts, the website has a whole collection of free patterns for embroidery, knitting, crotchet and now some cross stitch designs.

This duck is only one of the designs I drew for this charity. In fact there are another 6 little yellow duck designs to download. Why not head over to The Little Yellow Duck project website to find out all about this wonderful cause and download the PDF from the patterns list page to see if you can use your cross stitching skills to help out. To find the patterns head over to

https://thelittleyellowduckproject.org/ and click on the patterns drop down menu to see everything available.

For a few more cross stitch designs related to this one here are some links:

Animals (pets)

Peanut the cat in a box

Border Collie Puppy

Simple Beagle puppy

Rainbow Bridge - Angel cat with halo

Rainbow Bridge - Angel dog

Hug a pug today - cute cartoon pug

Animals (not pets)

Small wolf paw - little cross stitch design motif

White wolf howling at a crescent moon cross stitch design

Silhouette of a sitting panther cross stitch design

Cute red fox cross stitch design

Pair of Seahorses

Counting themed designs

Kids animal counting: 1 Hippo

Kids animal counting: 2 Giraffes

Kids animal counting: 3 Monkeys

Kids Animal Counting: 8 Elephants

Kids animal counting: 11 Slimy Snails

Kids animal counting: 12 Pawprints

For the Buzy Bobbins Index page Click here.

Friday, 15 February 2019

Space Explorer with Union Jack flag cross stitch design

Preview:

Chart

Thread numbers:

If you would like to make the Space Explorers suit to be more white make the following changes:
Replace ANC 231 with ANC 1
Replace ANC 399 with ANC 231

Hello everyone,

Today I have a design for a spaceman holding the Union Jack. This was designed with a space loving little boy in mind. Since hes from the UK he loved to have a space man holding this flag as he imagines one day he will plant this flag on the moon or another distant planet just like Neil Armstrong planted the American flag many decades before.

Hes even been training for his space mission with all the enthusiasm that a 10 year old can muster. (which is a lot to be honest) He insists on eating healthy food and even though he has never been fond of broccoli once his mum told him that is so full of vitamins he was determined to eat it.
Hes been making sure to be going to his football practice every week and practices against his cousins at every opportunity as he thinks this is a good way to be fit enough to go through astronaut training.

For more designs related to space exploration here are some links:

Rocket ship blasting off into space cross stitch design

Simple cartoony rocket ship - cross stitch design.

For the Buzy Bobbins Index page Click here.

Saturday, 9 February 2019

Cute Skull and cross bones in red and black heart cross stitch design

Thread numbers

Colour	Anchor Colour	DMC Colour
White	1	5200
Black	403	310
Red	334	606

This design was originally drawn in Anchor colours and a conversion chart was used to get the DMC thread numbers. For the closest match to the picture please use Anchor colours.

Hello everyone,

This simple motif has been designed with clothing patches or Halloween cards in mind. With only three thread colours and whole stitches only it could even be used as a simple yet bold decoration when sewn on to plastic canvas.

I know its a bit early for Halloween right now but I love all things to do with the season and couldn't resist posting a small design for anyone like me who can't wait to get crafting some decorations. Plus its a heart shape I can pretend its for Valentines day :)

Maybe I'm showing my age but I do recall this style of design being very popular when I was a teenager. We often used to mix skulls and bright colours together to create bold but slightly gothic looks. I even embroidered such a design on to one of my denim jackets long ago.

Much love and happy stitching
Gemma xx

For more designs suitable for Halloween here are some links: