Tip: Easy way to make felted balls.

I've been seeing tons of projects for felted acorns again this year.

Here's and easy way to make the felted balls you need for that project. And it's great to do with kids. They love the "magic" that happens during the felting process and this technique contains the soapy water mess.

Get a small plastic container. Fluff your wool a little by pulling it apart. (You can use just one color of blend a few together)

Add a drop or two of dish soap that been watered down (50/50). But you really only need a drop or two or it will get way too soapy!

Also a little warm water from your tap. Then seal the container.

And shake.... and shake.... and shake. In all directions, side to side, up and down. Round and round.

Soon you'll see the wool getting smaller and forming a little ball.

When your wool ball feels firm and all the fibers have come together your done. Rise and let dry.

Once they are dry they are ready for felted acorns, or any other projects you can think of!

The scattered struggles of finding my new self.

Lately I've been feeling like there are a million directions that I could go in, or things I could do and that I'm getting nowhere fast with any of them.

I don't usually blog about this stuff but I'm starting to think I need to lay all my cards out on the table. If for nothing else than to give myself the room and perspective taking something outside your own head often brings.

I've mentioned a few times in passing that I haven't been feeling well off and on for a while. But the truth is I haven't been feeling well for over a year. One day I started getting dizzy spells, soon those spells turned into dizzy days and those days turned into weeks with no cause readily available.

With over a year of being dizzy, at least a few times each day, I had to make some adjustments to my life.

I left my job. Not only was the stress not good for me but I just couldn't make it there everyday and do what was expected as part of my job.

I don't travel alone much anymore. And by travel I mean more than 30-40 minutes away from home if I'm alone feels beyond my limit. If I'm alone I need to know that I can either wait out a dizzy spell or easily grab a cab home.

I don't do a lot of the things I used to- and if I still do them it's in some sort of an adjusted way to compensate for being dizzy.

I'm often tired and don't have the energy I used to. Being tired often leads to being more dizzy. Sort of a vicious chicken and egg situation. Someone described it to me best by saying that being dizzy makes you tired because your brain is working overtime to compensate for it's mixed signals. The more tired you are the less your brain can compensate.

I'm not used to not working and feel like I need to do something- no matter how small. Problem is I don't really know what my limit is. The best compromise is to try and do something that's for myself, creative, enjoyable, not very high-pressure. And very part time/flexible, so that I can work around how I feel on any given day.

So I've been exploring some of those options- but I'm afraid my blogging has been taking a bit of a hit.

I hate that in these past few weeks the combination of trying to figure out "whats next" and me feeling very dizzy has meant that the blog has gone without frequent posting. It's also the Halloween season and I'm feeling the pressure that posting on both blogs is going to bring.

But I love them both and do not want to give them up!

I've been very hesitant to mention this on the blog- it could all be a huge fail because I may not have the energy it takes to do even a small very part time business. I just don't know!

I figure coming clean about all this will not only help me by giving all these thoughts some space outside my head but I might also regain the ability to post about the crafty things I'm working on. Which until now have been "secret" since I'd been working on all of this stuff "behind the scenes".

So there you go- the confessions/ramblings of this crafter. And an explanation for the recent posting dry spell.