Like any devoted catlady, I think my kitty is the cutest creature in the entire world and all I really want out of life is to bask in her cuteness. To that end, I had the idea a little while back to make a crochet version of Miss Fifi. (I know that the crafty catladies out there will totally understand this, right?) I just thought it would be funny, but it turns out that Fifi was not amused by her yarny doppleganger. Apparently this apartment ain’t big enough for two smooshy kitties. Who knew?

And, well, crochet Fifi was not too fond of her flesh-and-fur counterpart, either. Sigh.

Seriously you guys, I made this amigurumi Fifi for I Love Yarn Day back in the fall, and all I was really hoping to do was get a cute picture of real Fifi and crochet Fifi together. But real Fifi took one look at crochet Fifi and she did not like what she saw. She stalked crochet Fifi from behind for quite a while, and then attacked her over and over, with particular attention to her tail. It was the funniest thing ever. I knew Fifi liked being an only cat, but this was a more violent reaction than I anticipated!

Point taken, Fifi! We will not be getting another kitty anytime soon, I promise.

But! If you want to make your own crochet Fifi, I have a free pattern for you: Click here to download the free pattern to crochet your own Amigurumi Fifi!

(And PS, if you’re looking for safety eyes like the ones I used, a great place to buy them is Etsy shop 6060.)

Enjoy! xoxo, Brett & Fifi

Are you ready to start crafting for the holidays?! I know, I know, it’s not even Thanksgiving quite yet… but let’s get real. It’s never too early to start thinking about glitter.

…or big puffy yarn pom poms…

…or mini mooses made of felt!

This year, Country Living Magazine invited me to take part in their Holiday Pinspiration party, which is a fun event where several crafty bloggers were asked to submit three holiday craft projects (the three above are my entries). Each blogger’s three images were pinned to the Holiday Pinspiration Party board on Pinterest, where folks can repin their favorites. The image that gets the most repins from each blogger will be demonstrated by that blogger at a live party in December. Whew!

So! If you’re on Pinterest, hop on over to the Country Living Holiday Pinspiration Party board, where you can check out all the entries and vote for your favorite from each blogger. And stay tuned because I’ll be posting full tutorials for each of these projects in the next few weeks. (By the way, I’m @brettbara on Pinterest – are we friends?)

Ready or not, it’s holiday time! Crafters, start your engines!

Recently I teamed up with my friends at YOLO Colorhouse to design some cute and easy sewing projects for baby nurseries. YOLO is a great indie paint company based in Portland, Oregon, that’s all about creating their products responsibly, sustainably, and free of harmful chemicals. (You may remember YOLO from when we teamed up to paint my living room pink!) Exciting things are happening over at YOLO hq, because in addition to their fantastic line of paints, they just debuted their first line of fabrics!

The fabrics are 100% organic and come in a wide range of chic baby colors and patterns, in both cotton sateen and knit. (I love that they offer a knit range, because it can be so hard to find good-looking knit prints.)

The fine folks at YOLO asked me to design a collection of patterns to showcase their fabrics–everything that new parents might need to deck out a green nursery, while being quick and easy to make.

I designed a simple baby quilt, a fitted crib sheet, some throw pillows, a stuffed bird…

…curtains, flag bunting, and more!

So click on over to the YOLO site to download all these patterns for FREE and to check out their new line of fabrics as well as their eco-friendly paints. Because you know you have some baby gifts to make (who doesn’t?!).

What’s this, a snapshot from a gemstone display at the Natural History Museum?

Nope! It’s chocolate! Chocolate gems!

These little treasures may look fancy but they’re super easy to make yourself. Like a craft project you can eat (which is pretty much the most perfect thing in the world, if you ask me).

Ready to see how easy this is?

To start, simply melt yourself some chocolate. Be sure to temper it–if you’ve never tempered chocolate and need some advice, I like these instructions (which includes a video) explaining how the process works, in very simple terms. Tempering chocolate is one of those things that sounds intimidating but really isn’t, so don’t let that step stop you, okay? Please?

Then grab yourself some gem-shaped candy molds (you can pick them up here).

And pour a bit of chocolate into each mold. You don’t need to grease the molds first or anything like that–just pour the chocolate directly into the clean, dry mold. I like to use a small spoon or ladle for this, or even transfer the melted chocolate into a small squeeze bottle and squeeze it in. Just be sure to work quickly so your chocolate doesn’t get too cool (if it does, warm it back to the minimum temperature per the tempering instructions).

Place the filled molds into your fridge for about 5-10 minutes, just to allow the outer surface of the chocolate to begin to set. Then remove the molds from the fridge and place them at cool room temperature (away from sunny windows!!!) until they are set. They’ll be set after a few hours, but for best results, allow them to rest in the molds for 24 hours. (After the chocolate sets for 24 hours it will be less likely to pick up fingerprints when you handle it.)

Then just pop the chocolate pieces out of the molds, and the hardest part if this project is done!

Next it’s time to add the bling. Applying the sparkly color to the chocolate shapes is ridiculously easy–you just brush it on! I used Luster Dust–a powdered, edible pigment–in a few different hues of jewel tones and metallics.

Simply brush the Luster Dust right onto the chocolate with a small, soft brush–and that’s it! The dust will adhere right to the chocolate, you don’t need to use any kind of adhesive or anything. (As for what type of brush to use, I use small, soft artist’s brushes, and reserve them for food use only.)

(PS: Looking at this photo I just noticed for the first time that my gold highlighter is labeled “non-edible use.” Um, oops? Guess I won’t eat the gold gems.)

So just swipe your color of choice in a thin, even coat over the top surface of each chocolate piece, and you’re d-o-n-e! Crazy easy!

But when everyone freaks out over your gorgeous, fancy-looking confections, you don’t have to tell how easy they were to make. Go ahead and blow everyone’s minds–I won’t tell.

I can think of so many lovely uses for these little gems. Display them on an ornate platter at a party. Wrap them up in a fancy (velvet-lined!) box for a gift. Place a few in glassine bags for party favors. Stick them on top of cupcakes. Shove them into your mouth by the fistful and pretend you’re Marie Antoinette. The possibilities are endless!

Tell me, are you interested in working with chocolate? I’m thinking of doing more chocolate-molding posts in the upcoming weeks, and am wondering if that’s something you all are interested in. Do tell! xoxo

The way I usually deal with holidays or any gift-giving occasion is that I generally forget about them until the absolute last minute, and then I scramble to come up with something nice, like, in the middle of the night. (I know. Lovely.)

So if you’re anything like me and today you’re realizing that you failed to knit a sweater / sew a quilt / plan an amazing dinner / buy chocolates / whatever for all the people you want to show some love on Valentine’s Day–here’s your solution!

Whip up one of these little stuffed hearts! You can make them each in about 10 or 15 minutes, so even if you’ve got nothing up your sleeve for your valentines tomorrow, you can pull these together tonight after dinner. Really you can. They only take a tiny bit of fabric so you can make them using scraps–no frantic last-minute run to the craft store!

All you do is cut out the fabric pieces using my template, sew ‘em up, stuff ‘em, and you’re done. This project is from my Sewing 101 column on Design Sponge, where the full instructions and free template are available–so just click on over there to get the how-to.

You can make them with a pocket or without (the pockets are great for tiny things like tickets, coupons, or just a little love note). So stitch up a bunch and use them anywhere and everywhere… slip one in your kid’s lunch tomorrow with some candy in the pocket, place one on your sweetie’s pillow, or–my favorite option–sneak a few onto your work friends’ keyboards tomorrow.

Instant handmade Valentine’s gift! Whew–there’s hope for even the most last-minute-makers among us.

Get the free pattern, heart template, and sewing instructions at Design Sponge here!

Happy holidays! As a tiny little gift to you, today I’m sharing some free templates for making embroidered felt ornaments. They’re super easy to stitch, and the perfect kind of relaxed project to work on after Christmas, when all the cooking and gifting is done, and you (hopefully) have some time to just chill out, stay cozy and relax. My favorite holiday crafting time is often the week between Christmas and New Year’s. It may seem like at that point it’s “too late” – but it’s totally not! You can still add your newly-made items to your decor, and then of course you’ll still have them for years to come.

To get started, just click this link: brett bara’s felt ornament templates to download a printable pdf of my ornament templates. There are tons to choose from, including Mister Moose here, an alpaca, gingerbread man, Christmas tree, holiday bulbs, and many more! Once you’ve got your templates, here what you do:

1. Trace two copies of your selected template shape onto felt, using a sharpie or pen.

2. Cut out the shapes, cutting just inside the traced line (this is important to avoid visible pen lines around the edge of your ornament.)

3. Using 3 strands of embroidery floss, embroider one or both of the felt pieces however you like. You can go super simple, or practice some fancy embroidery stitches and make a little sampler, like I did on the ball ornament.

4. Stitch the front and back together. I did this two different ways – either with a running stitch and 1 strand of floss, which creates a somewhat invisible seam (like on the white ball ornament), or with a whipstitch and 3 strands of embroidery floss in a contrasting color, which creates stand-out stitching (like in the moose).

5. Leave an opening in the stitching, then stuff the ornament with fiberfill, and finish seaming the front and back together.

6. Attach a hanging loop using embroidery floss. That’s it!

There’s really no right or wrong way to make these ornaments, so just play around and have fun with it! Enjoy! xoxo

PS: These are the same ornaments we made last week at the New York Public Library Crafternoon, so click here to check out some images of how other crafters embroidered their ornaments. So cute!

Exciting news! I’m super happy to announce that I’ve opened a temporary Etsy shop where I’m currently selling a batch of samples of some of my recent handmade goods from this year’s projects. It’s a VERY limited edition collection of projects handmade by me, mostly for my Design Sponge Sewing 101 column, and also for publication in Interweave Stitch Gifts magazine (as well as one lonely – but beautiful – crochet wrap that appeared in Vogue Knitting On The Go).

So if any of my recent projects have caught your eye, this is your chance to snag them for yourself, all nice and finished, without having to actually make anything!

Click here to visit my Etsy Sample Sale Pop-Up Shop, and shop away! Hurry before things get snatched up – and your item(s) will have plenty of time to get to you before the holidays. Fifi says:

I thought I’d share some great DIY ideas I’ve come across recently on Pinterest. So many ideas, so little time! Here goes:
Wrap Japanese washi tape around simple candies for instant adorableness! (I recently went on a washi splurge at cutetape.com and I do not regret it. Washi tape is like fancy stickers for grown-ups. And by grown-ups I mean those of us who act like eight-year-olds.)

Love this for large-scale, cheap DIY art. Just paint a bunch of canvasses white, add some stripes (heck, maybe with the washi tape you just bought), and you’re done. Classy!

This is a toy horse spray-painted glossy white! What what! How can it look so good? I want to spray-paint a whole menagerie for my credenza. Then maybe cover them in glitter too. (DIY for the white horse shown here at DreamGreenDIY.)

More easy large-scale artwork. Just make some big circles on the wall and paint them in. Love it.

How cute would these be for small holiday gifts, party favors, or just party treats? Just fill plastic spoons with tempered chocolate then arrange pretty candies on top. I love this so much. Just picking out the candies alone would be so fun. (from DeliciousDeliciousDelicious)

Are you on Pinterest? If so let’s be friends! Follow me here. xoxo

I’ve been remiss in posting my recent Design Sponge Sewing 101 projects here, but I’ve got several new posts up over there, so check em out for easy, free step-by-step sewing how-to’s!

Above is a knotted fringe table runner, wherein you’ll learn how to make your own knotted fringe (which is a great technique to use for a variety of crafts, especially for fringe on knit and crochet projects).

Or perhaps you would like to make a tote with handles made of branches! This is a fun bag for the fall season and it’s very sturdy, so you could even adapt the pattern and make it into a log-carrying camping bag or something outdoorsy like that. Gift idea!

Or, make a zippered case for your electronics! This tutorial will teach you how to install a zipper around curves, which is a neat trick.

Luggage tag to get geared up for holiday travel, anyone? I also like these for gift tags–and let the recipient know the tag can be repurposed for their luggage.

And finally, I wanted to re-share this wool throw project from last year, just because I had to report back and let you all know that this blanket has become my favorite, most-used project I’ve ever sewn. It’s just the perfect weight, and so cozy–I literally use it every day.

So if you’re looking for super quick and easy gifts to make this holiday, I highly recommend a wool throw. All you need is a couple yards of nice wool, which you hem, then add trim. It literally takes less than a couple hours, and makes a gorgeous, luxurious gift. (Throws like this sell for well over a hundred bucks in stores.) Seriously, this project gets my vote for all-time favorite easy sewing project.

Head on over to Design Sponge to snag the free instructions for all of these projects, complete will full step-by-step photos for the entire process for each one. And get those gifts started early–you’ll be glad you did!

Have you seen the friendship bracelet trend that’s exploded out of nowhere this summer? It seemed like I blinked and all of a sudden everyone online was making friendship bracelets. So naturally I wanted to make some too.

When I received a package of beautiful Anna Maria Horner embroidery floss and pearl cotton from my friends at Anchor, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it!

Anna Maria Horner is a talented fabric designer – she’s got amazing color sense, so of course embroidery floss colors selected by her are mouth-wateringly pretty.

This is my first bracelet, currently still in progress. It’s funny, I totally remember friendship bracelets from my childhood, yet I have absolutely no memory of ever making them. Which is strange because I’m sure I must have made them. Anyway, there’s an excellent tutorial on The Purl Bee that shows you how to make several different patterns of bracelets – they’re super easy! And very satisfyingly mindless to work on. I guess the traditional way to make them is to pin the thread to the knee of your jeans while you work, but I pinned mine to a sturdy pillow from my sofa, and that worked well.

I just want to eat these flosses.*

*eating embroidery floss is not recommended.