Mason Jar Monday #2... A Warm and Cozy Gift....

It's Mason Jar Monday Again!

This week is not technically a mason jar so I hope you will forgive me.

Today's jar project uses a recycled pickle jar.

I love saving these after the pickles are gone.

They are tall and thinner than a gallon jar so they fit more places.

In this case, it is roomy enough to house the contents for this gift.

First I painted the lid with a coat of DecoArt Chalky Finish paint in Serene.

Then I made a pair of cozy mittens to give as a gift.

These wooly mittens were made from a thrift store sweater.

  I used the pattern and directions from Hobby Farm Home.

While the magazine is no longer in print, you can find the directions here.

The mittens can be whipped together in an evening.

They will make such a cozy gift for someone.

I did learn that you have to cut the pattern precisely. 

I had one piece that had a wonky side and when I sewed it together it got all goofy.

I ended up having to take it all apart, trim the wool and sew it again.

They are much better now.

Next, add your mittens and a few pouches of hot chocolate to the jar.

Screw the lid on.

Add a scarf.

I tried tying it a few different ways...

In a bow...

 Folded in half with both ends pulled through...

And my new favorite way to wear a scarf...

Folded in half with one end pulled through, twisted and then the other pulled through as well.

Now you have a perfect cozy gift for someone special.

Anyone who lives where it is cold would appreciate this warm and wooly treat.

Once the mittens and scarf are removed, the jar can be used any way they want.

This is a proud part of 99+ Handmade Gifts...

Thanks for stopping by....

Linking up with these great blogs.

Needle Felting...All Warm and Woolly...

One of my favorite winter crafts is needle felting. 

Have you tried it?

Very relaxing...

I love needle felting by hand...

The rhythmic tapping of the needles through the fabric....

But I must confess...

I also own a needle felting machine which is much faster and easier.

The drawback is that with 12 needles loaded in the machine, when they break it is a pain to replace them.

And expensive.

However, you can achieve really cool results quickly.

Let me show you.

This was a piece of wool felted sweater.

I just machine felted it onto a scrap of burlap a little bigger than the piece of wool.

Then I wrapped it around my jar to see where I would need to stitch it.

I stitched it with some cotton string.

I love those little primitive Xs.

This little purse came from the thrift store.

I needle felted the little wool butterflies on by hand.

Just get a little cookie cutter in a shape you love.

Put your felting mat inside the bag under where you want your shape.

Lay the cookie cutter on top.

Add some wool roving inside the cookie cutter and needle felt it.

Be sure to do the edges extra to give your shape definition.

Then remove your cookie cutter and continue to needle felt it until it looks like you want it to.

You can add details with more wool like the lines down the center of the butterflies.

I used a scrap of wool yarn for the butterfly trails.

Just needle felt it in place too.

I added a wool butterfly to this little wool hat as well...

A sweet fun touch that can take a simple gift from nice to much more personal.

A project I have been wanted to try is a machine felted landscape pin.

This one used scraps from a blue sweater, green sweater and a black sweater as the base.

I cut my shapes and then machine felted them together.

 

I learned that the piece grew quite a bit larger when it was felted. 

 

This is quite a big pin, but it started just the right size.

If you try it, make yours smaller than you want the final product.

After I machine felted the sweater pieces together, I added little wisps of wool roving in green to the hills and white for the clouds.

While I had the felting machine out, I did a little experimenting.

I had this doily from the thrift store and wondered if the felting machine would work on it.

It did.

I did have one little place where the machine sort of ate a little bit of the doily.

But it was on the edge and not super noticeable.

I felted it on a piece of wool and then trimmed the wool afterwards.

A successful experiment.

  WooHoo!

Hope you got some new ideas for felting.

Thanks for stopping by....