Shall I tidy? Shall I craft?

I always like to have more than one project on the go at once, now I have two theories for why I do this

1. I am so intelligent that I become easily bored and distracted.  

2. I simply cannot finish one thing before I start another.

My house therefore is full of dozens and dozens of half-finished projects so my tidying regime (which is usually non-existent) consists of putting everything away into plastic carrier bags and moving them to another room – basically out of sight, out of mind.

You should try it, it works really well!

Eventually I get sick of all the carrier bags and decide to tidy them away properly – now generally what happens is that I am so excited about what I find in the bags…

’Wow! I’ve been looking for this for weeks’…

‘I forgot I even bought these! …

that I never actually empty all the bags and put everything away properly because I get distracted by what I have found! And so the cycle begins all over again!

This last week I tried to tidy away some bags, but it just didn’t work because in the second bag I opened I found a stash of felt….

Shall I tidy?  

Shall I craft?

Shall I tidy?

Shall I craft?

Decisions, decisions…I just don’t know.

I’m sorry to say that the tidying lost out… I did some crafting instead!

Look what I made.

They are really simple to make and very therapeutic – I find anything to do with toadstools therapeutic; I think it is because they are so cute!

This is not a tutorial as such; this is just what I did to give you an idea of how it's done!

First I drew a picture of a toadstool, and then I separated it into the red top and the cream/ beige (maybe even mushroom) coloured stalk. I extended the stalk a little so that I could push it up inside the red top.

I cut 2 tops and 2 stalks (one front and one back) from felt, cut a length of ribbon and found some white buttons.

I used matching embroidery threads to sew my toadstool, but you could use any thread.

First I sewed the two stalks together (one front and one back), I chose to do blanket stitch but you could use running stitches or over sew the edges.

Then I sewed the buttons onto the tops, I put three buttons on one piece – the front, and two buttons onto the other piece – the back. If you sew the buttons on before you sew the two pieces together then all the starting and finishing stitches are hidden inside the toadstool top. Very clever!

I then placed the front and back tops together, sandwiching the ribbon loop at the top and pushed the stalk into place at the bottom, holding everything together I sewed around the edge of the top.

Finishing it all off with a key ring slipped through the ribbon loop and there you have it a beautiful toadstool key ring.