Never too later for some last minute Valentine’s project though it is just 3 days away. I have compiled 40 Valentine’s DIY tutorials for you to choose and many of them are my favorites too. Hope you will find them inspired to make for your sweetheart

This is the fourth and the last compilation for 2012 Valentine’s Day projects to make. If you have missed out the first 3 Valentine’s Round-ups, here are the links: Sew Valentine Round Up, Food Of Love Round Up, and, For The Love Of Yarn Round Up. 4 of them total up to 100 projects for you to make for Valentine’s Day, which will also inspired you to adapt the method and turn into some projects for special occasion through out the year. Happy crafting and …..
Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

1. Valentine Heart at The Idea Room.
2. Say It With Love – Paper Heart Garland at Happy Clippings
3. Crayon Heart Valentines at Whipper Berry.
4. DIY Ombre Heart & Striped Canvas Totes at Four Flights Of Fancy.
5. “Love Struck” Pillows at Homestitched.
6. Painted Cross Stitch Pillow at Craft Berry Bush.
7. Painted Heart Bag at V And Co.
8. Sparkly Valentine Banner at Lemon Tree Creations.
9. Homemade Heart Soaps at Sun Hat And Wellie Boots.
10. Asterisk Heart Garland at How About Orange.
11. Paper Punch Heart Garland at Oh! Crafts.
12. Love You Bookmark at Mmmcrafts.
13. Book Love at Craft Berry Bush.
14. Upcycled Valentine Garland at Just Something I Made.
15. “52 Reasons I Love You” Cards Tutorial at Papervine.
16. DIY Project: Valentine Lightbulb at Design Sponge.
17. Pipe Cleaner Heart-Shaped *LOVE* Goggles at Make And Takes.
18. Heart-Shaped Paper Clips at Design Sponge.
19. Clothespin Planter at Family Chic.
20. Valentines Day Countdown at Infarrantly Creative.
21. Valentine Gnome at GardenMama.
22. Puzzling Cards for Your Valentine at Make And Takes.
23. Birdseed Hearts: Eco, Easy and Inexpensive DIY at Intimate Weddings.
24. Valentine Garland from Plastic Grocery Bags at Aunt Peaches.
25. Doilies & Hearts Tied on Jars with Strings Tutorial DIY at Crescendoh.
26. Chalkboard Hearts Ornaments at Embellishing Life.
27. DIY Chalkboard Picture Frame at The Moody Fashionista.
28. Salt Dough Hearts at One Clever Mode.
29. Salt Dough Tags at Intimate Weddings.
30. Gold Beaded Heart Pendant at Mod Podge Rocks!.
31. Chalkboard Craft at Creative Organization.
32. Love Letters Picture at 30 Handmade Days.
33. Clay Valentine Necklace at 365 Days Of Crafts.
34. Valentine Love Boats at Green Jello.
35. Love Potion no. 9 Labels at The Idea Room.
36. Friendship Bracelet Valentines at Dandee.
37. Love Pop Up Card at Under A Cherry Tree.
38. Pop Up Love Card at Cut Out And Keep.
39. Pop Can Key Chain at Diary Of A Crafty Lady.
40. Quilled Heart Pendant at Craftzine.

◄ Back

Next ►

Indigo Dial Trivet - Locker Hook

Picture 1 of 3 (Click arrow for more pictures)

If you remember my recent book review and introduction about Locking Loops, you should remember Theresa Pulido, the author of the book. I have been a big fan of Theresa Pulido’s locker hook crafts & projects, and her books “Locking Loops: Unique Locker Hooking Handcrafts to Wear and Give” and Hook, Loop ‘n’ Lock: Create Fun and Easy Locker Hooked Projects are really creative and inspiring. Theresa has brought me to the world of locker hook and I love this craft ever since.

Today, I am very excited and feel honored to have Theresa here to show us how to make these beautiful trivets, they are truly eye candy and perfect for your dining or coffee table [more colors on picture 2 and 3 above]. Theresa also included a video of another similar trivet tutorial [at the end of the post]. So, sit back and enjoy watching it. To see more of Theresa’s projects, you can buy her books, visit and subscribe to her website – Color Crazy and blog, and/or like her Facebook Page.

I am going to make one of the projects from her new book, Locking Loops, stay tuned. Till then, enjoy this tutorial on how to make a Indigo Dial Trivet. Hope you make one soon.

*****

{Get full details on next page.}

◄ Back

Next ►

Welcome Home Rug Rag - using Locker Hook method

Picture 1 of 3 (Click arrow for more pictures)

This Welcome Home Rug / floor mat measures 78cm x 52cm (30 ¹¹/₁₆“  x 20 ¹/₂“).

As for the material, I used 4 solid colors of poly jersey interlock, dark brown (1 meter), turquoise (2 meters), olive green (1/2 meter), and baby pink (1/2 meter), cut them into 2cm wide strips. I specially love jersey interlock because both sides of the fabric are the identical, and it frays very little. Thus, it will give a fresher color and neater look to the project.

Let’s get ready for this project…..

Download the free pattern by clicking the above photo.

Follow the tutorial of the Basic Preparation to gather all the materials you need, prepare the edge of the hooking rug canvas, cut the fabrics into 2 cm wide strips.

Begin to locker hook the pattern onto the canvas, don’t forget to pre-draw the pattern onto the canvas for easy reference. Upon sewing the border, locker hook the brown border in circular. The internal pattern (turquoise background, the words, the foot and paws prints) is in horizontal direction.

Hide all the ends and sew a backing to cover the back of the work. If you are not sure how to do this, you can go here for the tutorial.

Hope you like this. Drop me questions if you have some!

Happy crafting!!!

◄ Back

Next ►

迎春接福 Auspicious Locker Hook Ornament

Picture 1 of 3 (Click arrow for more pictures)

恭喜发财， 迎春接福， 新年快乐， 万事如意! 恭贺全球华人庆丰年! These are the common words that we wish each other during Chinese New Year. Hopping the best wishes will bring good wealth, happiness, good  luck, auspicious, prosperity, good health during the early spring of each year.

春 – spring, 福 – prosperity are the most conventional character found in Chinese New Year decoration， which means 迎春接福 – Auspicious.

Let’s get into the tutorial on how to make this auspicious decoration for the Chinese New Year.

Material you need (for 1 ornament):
1. Hooking rug canvas, 34 x 34 squares
2. Red ribbon, 25.4mm or 1″ width, 20 meter
3. Yellow ribbon, 25.4mm or 1″ width, 10 meter each
4. Locker Hook or crochet hook & disposable chopstick
5. Tapestry needle
6. Thick cardboard 4 x 4 cm or 1″ x 1″, 2
7. China knots or Chinese knots decorations, 1
8. Chinese red dangle fringe, 1
9. Stiffest interfacing 25 x 25 or 10″ x 10″, 2
10. Fabric 25 x 25 cm or 10″ x 10″, 2

Download the Chinese character pattern here,
春, Spring character
福, Prosperity character

Get ready the locker hook character of 春 & 福. You can get the 3 parts of locker hooking’s tutorials in the following link:
Basic preparation, locker hooking and finishing touch
Measure the back of the completed locker hook work, cut 2 interfacing (for each locker hook) with 25mm (1″) smaller and 12.5mm (1/2″) smaller than the actual measurement respectively.
Iron the smallest interfacing to the back of the locker hook work, and biggest to the wrong side of the fabric (I used red Chinese silk but you can use other fabric if you can’t find silk). Cut the fabric with 1/4″ seam allowance, fold the seam allowances and iron to set them. Set aside.
Prepare the yellow ring ornament as shown below.

Draw a 38mm (1.5″) diameter circle on a thick cardboard, and a smaller circle 18mm (3/4″) inside it. Cut out the circle to become a ring.
Sew the yellow ribbon as shown. It is similar to blanket stitches, where you insert the needle into the loop before pulling the ribbon.

Insert the ribbon to the first stitch of the ribbon when come to the end.

Hide the ribbon end in the loops.  Trim the extra length.

Tie the ring to the Chinese knots and sew the end to the locker hook work.
If you can’t find the Chinese Knots in the shop at your area, this is the video you can follow to make one but it is a smaller version.
Do the same to the diagonal corner but this time the ring is paired with the dangle fringe.

Sew the fabric backing to the locker hook work by using slip stitch.

Hang it on the wall, pussy willows, cherry blossom, lime tree or bamboo tree to add some Chinese New Year atmospheres in your house.

◄ Back

Next ►

Locker Hook Coasters @ Starbucks

Picture 1 of 6 (Click arrow for more pictures)

I am so proud of myself to come out with these coasters which I am giving them away! I brought them to Starbucks one afternoon when I needed a coffee kick to get my brains going. Took some photos of them with the coffee mug for the keepsake as I am going to mail this to Diana, the lucky winner who won them in my January Giveaway Draw. Well, I can always reproduce them, but the feeling will be different.

Hiding The Ends
Turn to the back, bring all the ends to front by using a tapestry needle. Insert the needle to the next square of the end, pass the end through the eye of the needle and pull it over to the front. Never use the same square when passing  the ends from back to front as you will undone your last loop.

the back of the coaster is so tidy…

The front is full of “ends”.

Just like looping the ends of the border in the previous post, traverse the end by using the tapestry needle and bring them into the loops and hide it there. Trim off the excessive length. If you are afraid that end will come off for some heavy usage project eg. rug, you can apply some glue to the end.
Do the same to the locking yarn ends.

After all ends are hidden!

Handling The Back
Iron on a piece of interfacing with the size smaller than the border. The loops will be extra secure if you do this step. The interfacing will glue the fabric in place and hence further lock it there.
Cut a piece of lining fabric for the back of the coaster with the size exact to the dimension of the coaster. Fold the 4 edges in so that it is slightly smaller than the coaster, iron it to fix the fold.

Place it on the back of the coaster and secure it with pins.

Stitch them up with slip stitch. Stitching on the coaster.

Stitching on the lining.
You can use heatnbond double-sided adhesive interfacing for non-wash projects, in that case, you don’t have to fold the edges and stitch them up, just cut the lining to the exact size you want, iron it with heatnbond onto the coaster’s back.
Personally, I like to stitch them up though it is more time consuming, but I like everything to be long lasting and flexible, as I never know if I will wash the project one day even though it is just an ornaments, it will cover with dust overtime, right!

The coasters are ready to get into service!!!!
I hope you enjoy these 3 parts of tutorials. Just like all my handmades and tutorials, I have put a lot of afford on them because I believe beautiful crafts are meant to be shared and not to be kept to myself. Please throw in any questions or comments as it is always opened for you. I will try my best to answer, if I can’t, I believe Theresa would be happy to help.
Also, you should get a copy of Theresa‘s “Hook, Loop & Lock” she has plenty of beautiful projects and patterns there.

Sew A Border
First, sew a border at the 4 edges of the project. Thread a fabric strip of about 1.5m through the eye of the tapestry needle, it will caused excessive fraying if your strip is too long. Start whip stitching on the second square from the edge, you can whip stitch on the 1st square if you prefer thinner border. Leaving a tail of about 4cm long, catch the tail and whip stitch it along the edge as you go to secure it.

You will need to pass through the square twice when you reach the corner. This is to make sure that you can cover the corner nicely with fabric.

Adjust the fabric so that it covers nicely by overlapping each fabric a little before tightening the stitch.
When you reach the end of the strip, pass the needle through a few loops and pull the end through the loops. Trim off excessive strip. Continue with a new strip and repeat the steps above.
Hook And Lock The Loops
Use a length of about 2 m long yarn or strong thread, tie one end to the locking chopstick and the other end to the 1st square that you are going to hook a loop. Place the fabric strip under the canvas.
If your locking yarn happens to finish before your project, just cut the yarn out from the locking chopstick and tie a knot to the end with a new yarn, leaving about 2-3 cm length for the ends, tie the other end of the new yarn to the locking chopstick and you can continue with the locker hook. Be a little careful when pulling the yarn with the knot through the loops, sometime it will get stuck, just help it pass through the huddle by “massaging” the loops a little.
Use a crochet hook to hook up a loop of fabric from bottom to top via the rug canvas square. Insert the locking chopstick through the loop. The strip tends to fold up into halve the width when hook up. I like my fabric to open flat so that it wrinkles between the square. Some people like a folded type, in that case, just let it be and don’t open the strip flat. Leaving a tail of about 4cm, don’t do anything on the tail yet, we are going to take care of it after the project is finished.
Pull the strip so that the loop sit on the chopstick tightly. The locking chopstick not only act as a locking tool, it is also a tension gauging medium. You will have an even height of loops through-out the project.
Continue hooking up the fabric strip onto the chopstick, move the chopstick forward a little as you go. When you reach the end, pull the chopstick completely out with the yarn passing through all the loops. The function of the yarn is to lock all the loops in place so that the loop won’t get out from the canvas square.
Rotate the canvas 180 deg and work on the second row and so on.
Besides locker hooking row by row horizontally, you can also go round and round, just rotate the canvas 90 deg and work on the column.
Locker hooking a single color is simple, just keep on locker hook with the same color fabric strips, one after another. But if you have a pattern which uses different colors, managing the strips becomes challenging. In order to complete a neat and tidy locker hook project, we must keep the strips-crossing at the back to the minimum. You don’t want to have a bumpy bottom, right?
As an example, I used 5 strips for the coaster of the number “0″. When I locker hooked row by row, I just used the correct strip according to the pattern on the canvas to avoid bringing it across at the back each time I need to change color.
Just look at the back of the coaster, I ended up having only 10 ends to manage. You can see that the back is flat without any messy zigzag crossing here and there.
You are near to completion, just left the finishing touch and you are done!
NEXT —> will be published tomorrow! PUBLISHED

See how Theresa hook-loop-lock a beautiful trivet, you are going to love it!

I fell in love with hook locking after I bought the book Hook, Loop ‘n’ Lock: Create Fun and Easy Locker Hooked Projects written by Theresa Pulido last November. The moment I saw the cover I knew I was not going to leave the bookstore until I owned it. Confirmed that I must get one after flipping through the books. The instructions and the projects in this book are so appealing and tempting,  I can’t help myself for not trying 1 out.

The way I hook and lock is a little different from the book, so if you want to know how Theresa did it, please refer to Hook, Loop ‘n’ Lock: Create Fun and Easy Locker Hooked Projects. As a beginner and without a proper locker hooking hook, I am afraid that I don’t have an even tension and might spoil the beauty of the crafts. So…. I made my own loop-lock tool by using a disposable chopstick. This method works, just look at how my first locker hook project turns out in my giveaway post!!! It is simple, just engrave a groove (approx. 0.5mm deep) about an inch from the tip of the chopstick so that you can tie a yarn or strong thread there. I used only about 3 inch length of the chopstick but you can use a full length if you prefer.

Due to the details of this tutorial, I have to split it to 3 parts:

1. Basic preparation
2. How to hook and lock the loops
3. Finishing touch

To start off with the basic preparation of locker hooking, you will need to get the following materials:
1. Hooking rug canvas
2. Crochet hook (2-3mm size) & the locking “chopstick” or locker hook if you are able find one
3. Fabrics or pre-cut fabric strips (you can also use wool yarn, T-shirt yarn, or plastics strips)
4. Strong yarn or thread for the “locking”
5. Permanent marker
6. Scissor
7. Measuring tape
8. Pattern
9. Rotary cutter, ruler and cutting mat (if you choose to cut your own fabric strips)
Prepare the Canvas
Draw and mark the pattern [click the link to get the free pattern of the coasters] on your hooking rug canvas with permanent marker. Though it is not a must but it is easy so that you don’t have to refer to the paper pattern while lock-hooking.
Leave at least 2 extra squares at the edge for a smaller project (eg. coaster) and 5 squares for bigger project (eg. rug). We are going to fold the edge in for a steadier construction.

Snip off the corner of the extra square so that you can fold it in nicely.

Make a few stitches to secure the fold of the edge.

Prepare the Fabric Strips
Cut the fabric by using scissors or rotary cutter. The latter will give you straighter and more even strips and it is faster then using scissors.
As a rule of thumb, cut the fabric about 3 times the width of each small square of the canvas. For thicker fabric like upholstery material, cut 1/2 a square smaller, and for thinner fabric, cut 1/2 to 1 square bigger.
To make the cutting faster, fold the fabric to 2 – 4 layers thick, press the cutter a little and cut it by using new blade.

Which way to cut the strip, horizontal or vertical? Good question…. I would say both ways work depend on the type of fabric you use. Cotton or quilt-weight fabric can be cut in both way, you can even use “tear method” if you want a fray look on your project as tearing fabric strips create more frays on the bare edges.
Since I am using poly jersey interlock material, I cut it vertically so that it won’t curl up like my T-shirt yarn.
All set and we are ready for the lock hooking adventure!!!
NEXT —> will be published tomorrow! PUBLISHED!

Mermaids Of The Deep Blue
Two daughters of the sea swim gracefully toward treasure lost.
Their tails sparkle like diamonds and emeralds.
Their hair flows around them like veils of silk.
They are real and fairytale combined to become beauties of the deep.

Recently, my eldest sister, Estee, just finished one of her cross-stitch projects, “Mermaids Of The Deep Blue” and wish to share it in Craft Passion. She bought this Mirabilia pattern online which came with a photo and a color chart. She spent about 3 months to get it done, working 2 hours per day in average. She has been doing cross-stitch since years ago, I lose count but I think should be more than 20 years. She has quite a number of fine-crafted cross-stitch works in her collection and I am pleased that she lets me show them here in near future. I am a big fan of her, the most precious one among her collection would be the famous fine-art – “The Kiss” which was originally painted by Gustav Klimt. Watch out for Estee’s gallery soon!!!!

Required materials

• Stitched using 32 count Zweigart Amsterdam Blue Linen.
• Stitched area 9 3/4″ x 19 1/2″ with a stitch count of 156 x 312.
• Stitched (2 over 2). DMC floss used.
  
• Glass beads and Treasures by Mill Hill
  • 02011
  • 02022 (3 packets)
  • 03049
  • 03050 (4 packets)
  • 13007 (2 packets)
  • 18831
• Kreinik Metallic Threads #4 Braid
  • 014
  • 015 (2 spools)
  • 024
  • 152V

Remark: there are some mistakes in the chart, but they are very obvious that you will notice them.

Finally, I finished my second pair of Kasut Manek. It has been the most eye-straining project I have done. Average people take about 2 weeks, even months to complete but I took about 12 days (working throughtout day and night). I did my first pair about 9 years ago for my wedding, unfortunately it was stolen during a break-in.
The manek or beads I used is Size 15 Japanese Seedbeads. I used 7 colours: white, sliverlined blue, yellow, sliverlined yellow, opaque green, opaque chartreuse and black. There are manek shoes made from bigger beads, size 11 but personally I prefer the smaller size as it makes the pattern look finer and better.
First of all, clamp a 16-count cross-stitch cloth onto a rectangular frame, trace an outline of the shoes cover of the pattern and size you want (I got it from the shoes-maker who is going to do the final part of the shoes). Start of with sewing the top and bottom outline (blue colour beads in my picture shown below). Next, start sewing the beads from the center of the pattern. The bead should be sewn in diagonal direction on a square of the cross-stitch cloth. Pick one bead into the needle for every square you sew.

Upon finishing, you can give your manek shoes cover (shown above) to your shoes-maker to attach the sole and heel in order to complete the kasut manek. Choose the colour you prefer for the sole and heel. I used blue for the sole and white for the heel. The shoes-maker will need to measure your foot in order to perfectly fit your feet. If you can’t present yourself there, you can trace your foot outline on a paper and measure the width of the widest part across the upper arch of your feet. Some shoes-makers will want you to come again to fit the shoes before he nails and fixes it permanently.

***Update***

I developed a step by step tutorial for manek shoes beading:

• Part 1 – Preparing the frame and canvas
• Part 2 – Border Beading
• Part 3 – Interior Beading
  
• Part 4 – How to take measurement on your foot