Bella Dia

Pom-Pom Tutorial

This is a tutorial for making pom-poms using your
fingers. This one is a small, two-finger pom-pom
(about 1" in diameter) but you can make bigger ones
by using more fingers. As far as yarn choice, thinner
and softer yarn will make a more pleasing pom-pom.


Okay, let's get started! With your index and middle
fingers together and holding the end of your yarn down
with your thumb, begin wrapping the yarn around your
fingers. Be careful not to wrap too tightly
- no purple fingers!


Cut your yarn when you've finished wrapping;
for this pom-pom I've wrapped the yarn 75 times.

*Tip: For any size pom-pom, you'll probably wrap the
yarn twice as much as you think you will need.


Cut another piece of yarn, about 12", and squeeze one end
through your fingers between the pom-pom and your palm.
Bring the other end of the yarn string through
your fingers at the tips.


This is a picture of the backside, make sure your yarn
string wraps all the way around your pom-pom bundle.


Begin a knot, pulling as tight as you can, then slip
the pom-pom off of your fingers.


Still pulling tightly, finish off the knot.


Holding the pom-pom yarn strings, use your scissors
and cut through all the loops of the pom-pom.


This is what it looks like after you've cut all
the loops, a woolly bully mess!


Now comes my favorite part :) Still holding the yarn
strings, start cutting down your pom-pom.

*Tip: you'll probably end up cutting twice as much
off as you thought you would.


Trim with the scissor blades flat along the pom-pom
to help get a smooth finish. Check it from different
angles and fluff it up with your fingers, then trim some
more. Be sure to trim around the bottom end where
you are holding it. The pom-pom should feel
firm when you're done.


Voila! A pretty little pom-pom!

I keep the yarn strings on until I'm ready to use it,
then I trim them off the same length as the rest of the pom-pom.

*Visit my other blog, The Crafty Crow, for useful tips on
making these pom-poms with children!

Embroidered Children's Drawings

This is an embroidery of one of my son's drawings when he was about five, I think. He chose the colors and I did the embroidery. I love his big smile and nose, his dancing feet and wing-like arms. I want to incorporate it into something but I haven't decided what yet, maybe a pillow. If you don't want to bother transfering one of your child's drawings to fabric then just give him/her a temporary transfer marker to draw directly onto the fabric that you'll be embroidering. The tighter the weave on the fabric then the smoother the line will be. You can get marking pens that disappear over time or with a dab of water so it's easy to correct mistakes. We did this for Halloween one time, you can see the result here.

Mini Swap

Our partners for the Mini Swap
(thanks to Molly for organizing this) are in Beijing China! They have a 9-month old baby girl, a 2 1/2 year old boy and an 11 year old boy. They don't have a blog so I thought I would share what we sent here.

I made these things for their baby girl - I guess there's not a lot of little girl stuff there. There's a zipper pouch, a felt ball, a beribboned burping cloth, and a star baby made out of super soft Minkee fabric. The star baby is made from a pattern in Gifts for Baby by Joanne O'Sullivan. My daughter and I also enjoyed picking out a couple of baby girl dresses - such fun!

For the boys we tried to send things that might be hard to get in China: baseball cards, American candy, Model Magic, books, Play-Doh, fun tattoo band-aids, Hot Wheels, etc. I also included a few treats for mom. I hope they enjoy everything :)

Spring Chicks

I'm making some little chicks with fancy Easter hats to be included in the shop update. Here's some of the ones that I've already made.

Including their hats and feet, they're about 6" tall and their hats are removable. I'm hoping (crossing my fingers) to have these, the bunnies, and some pincushions in the shop in the next 10 days.

Magnets

I love painting and decoupage but I don't really do it that much. It is probably because I don't have it all out the way I do my sewing stuff so I have to pull everything from the cupboards and set up a work space. Crafting is so much simpler when your supplies are accessible and it makes you more productive too. Anyway, I made some of these little magnets last week. I painted wood shapes with acrylic paint and then decoupaged a cut-out from an old kids magazine on top after the paint had dried. They're bright and cheery and I really like the artwork too.

Bunny Bums and Bellies

Here's a preview of one of the projects I have going - bunnies for Easter! Easter for us is more of a celebration of springtime and the turning of the seasons. It's just about my favorite holiday; I love the colors and flowers and baby animals coming out of a long winter. I'm working on some chicks too but I haven't taken a picture yet; I'll get them all in the shop as soon as I can.

I love their little pompom tails! I have several pompom making things but I always end up using my fingers. If you'd like to see a tutorial on how to make them let me know - I'm kind of assuming everyone knows how to make them but maybe not and fingers are awfully convenient ;)

A close-up of the brown bunny's belly.

Tag Sale Tales

I found these buttons on my most recent thrift outing. I never find good buttons so I was really thrilled with these. More pictures of what I brought home and a new post over at Tag Sale Tales - go check it out!

P.S. Here's a close-up of the detail on the apron I found; I really want to try this weaving stitch.

Swap-a-riffic!

Isn't this a wonderful apron?! The photo doesn't do it justice at all (blaming the winter light again) - the color is such a pretty shade of salmon pink and the details are so sweet. Where did I get this treat? From Toni, for no good reason at all except she's super thoughtful and a good blogging friend!

More treats from Toni (sorry again for the crappy photo). Tea, buttons, and beautiful ribbon - everything to make my heart skip a beat!

I am very late in posting my Gifty 3 swap but here's a look at all the goodies I received from Giao. You'll just have to imagine lots of chocolates and other candy mixed in, they went missing long ago ;) Great cards from her shop, The Walrus and the Carpenter, cute tin of hot chocolate mix, plastic cupcake full of gummies, a heart shaped ramekin and rose soap, plus a red paper lantern which I love ♥ - I use them all the time!

This swap happened awhile ago and I never got around to posting about it. It's with the International Trade group at Flickr and I received all these treats from Tania Ho. I had asked for stuff for the kids and she kindly obliged plus sent fabric for me! So much fun :)

I finally found some frames for the prints I got from Jackie. Sadly, I don't have an Ikea nearby, not even in the state, but luckily I found these at Michael's. I know I've said it before but I'm just ga-ga over Jackie's work! She is so talented, I just love it!