Make Mum’s Cuppa Special on Mother’s Day

Question:
What do you get when you cross some tea bags, a pair of pinking shears, a stapler and your old clothing?

Answer:
A fantastic Mother’s Day gift that will go on giving her warm fuzzies for months.

Here’s how to personalise Mum’s cuppa.

1. Buy a box of Mum’s favourite brand of tea and gently tear the tags off all the bags.
2. Get the kids to do lots of little drawings of a similar size to the tags.
3. Staple the new tags onto the string of each tea bag.

We bought a box of 100 tea bags, so that the treat would last for a few months, however 100 tiny drawings was a bit much to expect of my little artists.

I made up the short-fall by cutting up scraps of clean pretty fabric with pinking shears in Mum’s favourite colour (blue).

My scraps were purposely chosen, from clothing that each of us has worn in the past, to evoke lots of wonderful loving memories.

Tips:

• One thing I have learnt from doing this is that is impossible to put teabags back in their box neatly. So I’d suggest you look into getting a little gift box to scatter yours in.

• If you have problems stapling your tags onto the string, try glue instead. - or just tie the string around a scrap of fabric.

• Ideas for tag materials:
  • scrapbooking paper
  • magazine pictures
  • photos of family members
  • ribbons or woollen bows
  • crochet hearts or flowers
  • beads and buttons

Wishing you all a warm & loving Mother’s Day this year.

Free Crochet Pattern: Amigurumi Hearts

Wren & the Bump absolutely loved these little smiling hearts when I made them the other week, and I’ve already got one tucked away as a gift for my mother for Mother’s Day next month.
{but don’t tell her}

Remember, this is only my second try at writing out a pattern, so if I’ve been unclear about anything, please let me know so that I can fix it up!
With your help, I’ll improve as I go along…

If you need help with the magic circle, I posted a great video about it here.
It should also jog your memory if you’ve crocheted before but forgotten how.

Stitch Key

sc ~ single chain stitch
2sc into each sc ~ stitch 2 sc  into each sc of the previous round (row)
sc2tog ~ decrease stitch

1st circle

Magic circle with 6sc
2sc into each sc  (12)
2sc into 1st sc, then 1sc into next sc * repeat for entire round  (18)
2sc into 1st sc, then 1sc into next 2 sc * repeat for entire round  (24)
sc entire round
Finish off circle, leaving 3in tail.

2nd circle

Magic circle with 6sc
2sc into each sc  (12)
2sc into 1st sc, then 1sc into next sc * repeat for entire round  (18)
2sc into 1st sc, then 1sc into next 2 sc * repeat for entire round  (24)
sc entire round
Do not finish off circle, and place a marker (even a wire bread tie will do) around the last stitch.

Joining

Lay circles on top of each other, with right sides facing inwards.
Using tail from 1st circle, sew through 4 stitches and secure firmly.

Make sure that the direction of stitches on your 2nd circle is moving towards the join, with at least 2sc to be done before you crochet across the join.
Unfold the joined circles, so that you can now crochet around both as shown below.

‘Body’ of the heart

sc entire round for 5 rows

sc2 together, sc 5 * repeat for entire round
sc entire round
sc2 together, sc 4 * repeat for entire round
sc entire round
sc2 together, sc 3 * repeat for entire round

Attach dolls’ eyes. These look best positioned on the first row, where you began decreasing (sc2 together)

Sew a little smile between and just below the eyes in a contrasting red, pink or black.

sc entire round
sc2 together, sc 2 * repeat for entire round
sc entire round
sc2 together for entire round
finish off, leaving a tail long enough to sew through each stitch & close the hole.

Stuff your heart very firmly & sew the hole closed, working the end inside.

Note:

The red & green hearts in the picture were made from 8ply crepe yarn, using a size 3 crochet hook, while the little blue heart was made from4ply wool, using a size 2 crochet hook.

Need help with hook sizes? Here’s a handy-dandy conversion chart.

Let me know how you go, I’d love to share the pictures of your finished work!