Birthday sleeve

This is a reusable coffee cup cozie/sleeve that I made for my friend's birthday. It's made of felt and embroidered all the way around with a little monogram J stitched in just for fun.

She is a fan of coffee and she's the one who got me into stamping, so I feel a little weird not giving her something stamped. BUT, I'm very hopeful she'll appreciate the effort and friendship that I stitched into this project. And while this isn't a stamping projects, I used the Big Shot and Daisies die to cut the felt. It was so, so EASY. All the flowers came out beautifully! I can't imagine cutting out all those petals from felt. Although felt doesn't ravel, it can kind of fuzz/fray if you tug on the edges of a cut piece, too much.

Below are the shots of each of the flowers that I sewed on and their accompanying embroidery. I can totally see how I could incorporate this into a very special card, but if possible, this takes me longer than making a stamped project! However, you may get to see a few more projects like this, at least while football season is going on. I like watching football, but have trouble just sitting there watching, so this has been keeping my hands busy while I watch.

Some French knots ... aren't they cute? And easy, easy to do!

The little orange center is kind of "pooched" up in the middle; it feels especially nice to the touch. :)

A close up of the J. On this one, the orange circle behind it kind of flares up around the edges giving it even more dimension.

On this one I stitched across the circle/center and then layered French knots over the top.

More little French knot seeds in the flower center ...

And then, kind of a corset-looking closure to keep the girliness going. I also lined the inside of this cup holder with another piece of felt to cover up all my stitches. It ended up feeling very cozy and soft to the touch. Perfect for a hot beverage holder.