A Jolly Heap of Hedgehogs Card Tutorial

Here's a cute little tutorial on how to make hedgehog cards for Christmas.

You will need the following supplies:

Hedgehog shapes in cardstock

Cream coloured blank cards
Black ink pen
Red Sharpie marker
Green Sharpie marker

Start with some hedgehog shapes.  I used the textured cardstock hedgehog shape stickers from my shop.

 Arrange the shapes in an interesting stack on your card.

 Peel the backing on the stickers and stick them to the card.  Start drawing hedgehog eyes, nose, and quills on the stickers with the black ink marker.  I like to make the nose extend out of the shape a little.

 Fill in details on the other hedgehogs.

 Add little red hats with the red sharpie.  Draw the pom pom with black ink (outline only).  Add green leaves with the green Sharpie.  Draw the berries with black ink (outline only).

 Here's a different one with white fluff under the hat drawn as an outline with black ink.

 I added the words "a jolly heap of hedgehogs to you!"

 Another one  :)

 Here are some hedgehogs in blue...

 ... and some hedgehogs in red and green!  So fun!

 Now your cards are ready to be written in and sent to your loved ones!

If you don't want to make your own cards, you can also print out some cute hedgehog cards using these PDFs.

Enjoy!  and Happy Holidays!

Midori D-Clips In The Shop

I have been happily filling my store with new products lately.  One of my favourite new things are these adorable paperclips by Midori.  They come in a variety of different shapes, but they are all so darn cute!

There's a cute little penguin

 A pretty bird

 A butterfly (I had to add this one to my shop since I carry so many butterfly paper shapes)

 A car (because my friend voted and said this was her favourite)

 An alligator/crocodile (because they are awesome)

 A duck... just because

 An elephant (because I have so many origami elephants in my shop and I am mildly obsessed with them)

 A hippo (because "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas")

 An airplane

 Squirrels (because who doesn't love these nut-crazy tree planters)

 A turtle (because my sister has turtles... oh yeah, that totally makes sense, right?)

A whale (it just looked cool)

You'll find them all in my shop.  Hurry, favourite styles sell out fast!  Also, ribbon and washi tape are on sale right now.  Go check it out!

How To Make a Hedgehog Carrying Pouch With a Flat Bottom

 If you would like your hedgehog carrying bag to have a flat bottom, then follow these instructions to add an additional flat base to your carrying pouch.

***Please note that these tutorials are for you to make things for your own personal use, not to sell.***

First, finish sewing up the flannel to the fleece fabric on the hedgehog carrying pouch tutorial.

Then measure out fleece fabric approximately 8.75 x 2.5 inches.  The goal is to have a piece of fleece 4 cm too short on each side.  Cut out 4 of these.

Place one fleece rectangle on the bottom of the flannel section good side down (wrong side up).  Center it carefully and pin in place.

Sew the bottom edge.  Make sure to backstitch both ends.

Tip:  Use a ruler to measure both sides.

Do the same for the fleece side of the fabric.  Then do the same for the other fleece and flannel piece.

Place the two finished pieces together.  Line up all the sides carefully and pin in place.

Note:  The joint that you particularly want to line up is the one in the middle between the fleece and flannel.  It will be the most noticeable if it is not perfectly lined up.

Sew the four main sides.  Ignore the indented corners for now.  Make sure to back stitch.

Now you want to create the flat base.  Make your base look like the above picture.  This will line up the fleece bottom with the flannel side (on the fleece and flannel side).

Sew the new fleece and flannel edge.  Make sure to backstitch.

Do the same thing for the other corners, but leave one of the fleece + fleece (inside of pouch) corners.

For the last fleece + fleece corner, only sew the outermost edges.  Don't sew the middle.  Leave a 2 inch gap.  Make sure to backstitch.

Turn the pouch inside out through this gap.

Your base should look like this.

For the remaining gap, tuck in the edges of the fabric and pull the fabric edge together taut.  Pin in place.   Close the gap with a hidden (ladder) stitch.  Make sure to overlap some of the existing stitching to create a secure joining.

Tuck the fleece side into the pouch.  Match up all the corners neatly.

Your flat bottomed pouch is done!

Optional resealable opening/firm base:

Idea #1

Don't sew the last gap shut.  Instead, sew thin strips of velcro to both sides of the remaining gap so that it can be opened and closed anytime.  This creates an opening where you can insert a sheet of plastic to make the base firm.  The plastic needs to be slightly smaller than the base so that it will fit inside well.

Remember to remove the plastic before washing the bag!

Idea #2

Cut a piece of plastic to fit slightly smaller than the base.  Sew a thin pillow case/envelope for it out of flannel.  Place on bottom of pouch to create a firm base.

Potential problem:  There is risk for little toes to get caught on the side of the bag and the hard base. 

Idea #3

Measure the base of the bag and use it as a template to create a removable base with 4 sides (an inner bag).  Sandwich your hard base between the base of your carrying bag and the removable bag.  Make sure to finish your edges so there are no loose threads for toes to get caught on.

Idea #4
Create an envelope for a plastic insert on the outside of the base.  Close the enclosure with velcro.

Let me know if you think of anything else!

Ideas For Plastic Types to Insert
Plastic canvas, thin plastic cutting boards (the kind that's just a sheet of plastic), plastic sheets for rolling dough on, chloroplast, dollar store placemats, report covers

You can also use cardboard, just discard it when it's soiled. Remember to remove it before washing!!! (or you'll be very sad...and your pouch will be shreddy-coated)

Optional Bigger Pouch:

The finished base in this tutorial is approximately 3 inches wide and 7.75 inches long (7.5 cm x19.5 cm).

Wider Front to Back

If you would like a wider base front to back, add an inch to the width of your fabric on both sides.  Also add an inch to the width (shorter side, not length) of the fleece fabric strips for the base.  This will make your base about 1 inch wider (so 4 inches wide) if you have 1/2 inch seams.

Wider Side to Side

If you would like a wider pouch horizontally, add an inch to the width of your fabric on both sides.  Also add an inch to the length of the fleece fabric strips for the base.  This will make your pouch wider by about 1 inch (so 8.75 inches) wide on the bottom.

Move on to the carrying straps tutorial to make the straps for your carrying pouch!

Don't forget to post your finished pictures in the Flickr group here. I'd love to see what you make!

Don't want to make your own? Email me at bluepandemonium (at) hotmail.com and maybe I can make one for you! I also have some fleece pouches listed in my Etsy shop.
Happy Sewing!

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Read other hedgehog tutorials

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More Hedgie Dolls

I sold two sets of hedgie dolls, and that almost wiped out the remaining of my brown polar fleece fabric.  I had just enough to make one last one.

 So I made her extra pretty  :)  She has a lovely cluster of three pink flowers in her quills, with two tiny green leaves.  Each flower has three little pale yellow french knots in the middle.

 I gave her a touch of blush on the cheeks too.

Then I came across some grey flannel fabric in my stash with yellow dots.  So made a little hedgie with black eyes, a pink nose, and teensy ears.

 I made him a girl hedgie friend too!  She has an orange flower above her ear.

 They look very sweet together  :)

They are available as a set in my shop!

Have a happy day!

Rainbow Cupcake Living World Dome Cover

I just finished up a new custom dome cover for a customer from my Etsy shop!   

It's a cupcake with rainbow sides, a chocolate cake layer, pink icing, sprinkles, and a giant pink strawberry!  I went all out  :P

I must say, I am really loving it.

It kind of puts all my other dome covers in shadow.

Here's a close up of the strawberry on the top.  I even embroidered seeds on the berry, and the leaves have an indented center line.

Oh, and I rolled up little strips of fleece to make sprinkles!

The rainbow sides are super fun, huh?  I had my work cut out sewing strips of fleece together to make those.  

I think custom dome covers are really fun to make.  I'll miss it when school starts and I won't have as much time to make these anymore. 

I hope the customer likes this new dome cover.  It's really quite spectacular!

Have a great day!