Christmas craft - recycled jumper ornaments

One jumper made quite a few little ornaments. I kept it traditional - hearts, doves and reindeer. Still have one sleeve left for some more!! Do you have a festive looking jumper you could cut up? I'm eyeing off my daughters cardigan....

Deer, Hearts and Gentle People

I'm calling this my "deer, hearts and gentle people" garland. After the song. Do you know it? Are you humming it now? It is catchy. I’ll tell you more about the song in a minute. First – the craft.

The garland is made from recycled jumpers, felted in a hot wash. The decorative details are vintage cotton ric rac and recycled buttons.

The decorations all hangs on a length of mini white cotton ric rac.

One is for sale on our etsy page and if you are in the Brunswick area, our friend Liz at Gleaners inc has a couple for sale - including an extended  l...o...n...g...e...r  version with three deer heads, four snowflakes and four hearts.

Now. The song. “Dear Hearts and Gentle People” was written in 1949. Music by Sammy Fain, most famous for his film song compositions like “Secret Love” (from Calamity Jane) and “Love is a Many Splendoured Thing” and lyrics by Bob Hilliard. First recorded by Dinah Shore in 1949, the song has been recorded by many great singers over the years -  Bing Crosby, Jim Reeves, Marty Robbins, Pattie Page, Perry Como and Gene Autry. It’s a simple heart warming old fashioned song about a home town.

I love those dear hearts and gentle people
Who live in my home town
Because those dear hearts and gentle people
Will never ever let you down.

But here’s the sad part. The song was inspired by the words written on a scrap of paper found on the dead body of Stephen Foster in 1864. Stephen Foster wrote many songs and I know you know them. We all know them. “Camptown Races”,  “ Oh Susannah”,  “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair”, “Swanee River” and “Beautiful Dreamer” are among his catalogue of compositions. Yes, many a popular song. So popular we forget they were even written by someone. If this guy were around today he’d be like a pop star! He’d have a mansion and limousine and squillions. Maybe. But he died alone, impoverished in a New York hotel in 1864 with 38 cents and 3 pennies to his name and a scrap of paper with the words "Dear friends and gentle hearts" written on it. He was just 37 years old.

Now I don’t know if he was even a good person or not but it seems pretty tragic that someone who was so prolific and talented dies like this. Sorry. Gives the song a different air, doesn’t it? But let’s all be grateful for dear hearts, gentle people, dear friends and gentle hearts. And for those who never let us down.

Christmas craft: Paper

Well, it's finally time! December is here! And everyone is getting into the Christmas/Craftmas spirit here so I thought I'd share some of the things we are making at our place. In fact - the twins (aged 4) are so keen on decorating the house, that today they hung undies and kitchen utensils all over the house! Clean undies....but still... not recommended!

Garlands are my "thing" this year. And I'm still keen on reindeer. So I've made this template for a leaping deer with Adobe illustrator and I've used some vintage wallpaper to cut them out.

 I cut on the outside of the line to make it a bit easier. Once I have cut them out I glue them to a length of ric -rac just across the antlers. You could use any sort of ribbon really. I stitch little loops at each end for easy hanging.



I have also been making reindeer paper chains based on this template below which I also created on Adobe Illustrator. Cut out the template then fold the paper to size in a concertina and don't cut on the left side at the antlers and the right side at the back leg. I used old wall paper again - which was, quite frankly, too tricky! But it works well in lighter weight paper - crepe, tissue or even brown paper on a roll.

The template below I used for a felt decoration but it would work well in paper too! You could add a frosty layer of tracing paper for an icy effect!



 Happy Craftmas!



deerly inspired

 

"The Wounded Deer"

El Venado Herico

Frida Kahlo 1946

Oil on masonite

8 ¾" x 11 ¾"


Collection of Carolyn Farb


Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

Left over christmas card from a few years ago

  

Illustrator and A1 knitter, Sandra Eterovic's  Deer Knit

Leaping deer bag - pattern here

The prolific Betty Jo Designs and her deer brooch

For more deer love try the  kitsch deer and faun flickr group and the I love you deer flickr group.

Lions and tigers and bears, Oh My!

Now that's a crocheted deer head!.... Shauna Richardson is a sculptor from the UK who has invented "Crochetdermy"

Her current project is the lion heart project which is part of London's 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

In this interview you can see her working on a sculpture up close and get an idea of just how, with a hook and yarn, she created these creatures. I bet your Nanna never crocheted like this!!!

oh Deer...again...

After a little tinkering, I think I got the size and pattern for this deer head just right.... then enter my daughter Hazel. She saw it and immediately wanted to wear it - anyway, anyhow, now please. So we popped it on a chain, put it around her neck...then exit Hazel. Out the door she went.

Will type up the pattern and share tomorrow.

posted by Julianne Sister outlaw

Oh Deer...

 I was heard to say this morning that I was going to have a make free day....oh dear! I ended up making this little reindeer fella. Just experimenting with adapting a pattern I found but will share the pattern when I get it right!  

 
posted by Julianne Sister outlaw