Felted Easter Bunny

My inspirations for this little bunny were eggs and jelly beans.

I'm picturing a bunch of these in all different colors bright spring colors and sizes too. Maybe for next year I'll have a bunch.

Giveaway: Needle Felted Snowman

So for my final blogiversary giveaway I thought it'd be nice to say Thank You to those of you who subscribe to my blog by giving away something that I made.

This little needle felted snowman.

He's about 6 1/4 inches tall, doesn't have a name yet, and is looking for a good home. (Note: Since needle felting can be delicate and small pieces could come off- this a decorative item only. It's not suitable as a children's toy.)

I appreciate that you all chose to follow this blog. The comments and emails I get on posts honestly brighten my day.

So this giveaway is simple. If you follow my blog and live in either the US or Canada (sorry other international readers- I'm unsure about shipping wool through customs) just leave me a comment and you're entered to win.

If you're email and name aren't in your profile- be sure to leave an email address in your comment.

The Giveaway is open from Feb 4th 2013 to Feb 8th 2013 11:59 pm EST.

I'll pick a random comment on Saturday Feb 9th 2013 and announce the winner in a new post, and contact them by email.

Good Luck and Thank You for reading this blog!

Needle Felted Cookie Cutter Hearts

I've been making some needle felted hearts using cookie cutters to get the shape.

There are lots of cute things you could make with these:

• Ornaments
• Attach a pin backing or barrette and you have a cute Valentine's Day pin or hair accessory 
• Use it to make a card
• You could felt this to a sweater... and wear your heart literally on your sleeve.
• Sew or felt two of them together and make a cute little pouch to hold a special Valentine's Day gift

What am I going to do with them... well you'll just have to wait and see. : )

And don't forget my GiVEAWAY for a fantastic book all about felting is still going on. It's open until Friday!

Giveaway: Signed Copy of Uniquely Felt

Today's giveaway is for a signed copy of a fantastic book all about wet felting. It was provided by my favorite felting store New England Felting Supply. When I told NEFS how many questions and comments I get from beginners or people interested in felting for the first time they suggested this book for the giveaway.

I'm lucky in that NEFS is local for me- but if you're not in New England don't worry- they have an online store too! (Update: And an Etsy Shop that I just noticed!!)

Uniquely Felt by Christine White is really one of The. Books. On. Felting. If you are at all interested in learning to felt or expanding your wet felting knowledge, trust me when I say that you want a copy of this book! It has everything from information on tools and types of wool, to techniques and projects. It's the perfect thing to have by your side regardless of if you're just starting out or already have some felting experience.

New England Felting Supply is a fantastic place. I think it's the only store completely dedicated to felting in the U.S.- so I thought it'd be fun to show you around.

It's full of gorgeous wool in more shades than you can count.

They have a large selection of tools, and offer a variety of classes. And as if that wasn't enough, they also carry felted items made by some very talented fiber artists.

If you live within driving distance of the store I encourage you to make a trip (it's so worth it)! But if they're too far away for an in person visit, they have a wonderful online shop where you can find tons of wool and other felting supplies.

And thanks to NEFS One Lucky Winner will receive a Signed Soft Cover Copy of Uniquely Felt.

The giveaway is open readers in the US and Canada and runs from January 28th to February 1st 2013 at 11:59pm EST.

There are two ways to Enter: This Giveaway Is Closed

• Leave a comment on this post- good for one entry.

If your name and email address aren't in your profile, please include it in your comment. If I can't contact you, sorry but your entry will be disqualified.

• If you are a follower or become a follower, leave me a separate comment letting me know. That's good for an additional entry. (Any method of following counts- i.e. GFC, Google Reader, email subscription).

Winner Selection and Notification: 

The winning comment will be randomly drawn on Saturday Feb 2nd 2013. The winner will be announced in a new post and notified by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond by email, or another winner may be drawn.

A big Thank You goes out to New England Felting Supply for sponsoring this giveaway.  I encourage you to visit their website and check out the online store- it's really a one-of-a-kind place.

(And don't forget there's still one more giveaway to go- I'll be hosting my 4th and final anniversary giveaway starting February 4th.)

Good Luck Everyone!

Felted Wool Santa

Now that the holidays are over and all the crafty gifts have been handed out, I can share the felted Santa Claus I made for my MIL to add to her Santa collection.

I used both needle and wet felting techniques. Which seems like the perfect mix of speed and detail- so it's become my favorite way of making larger pieces (Santa stands about 10 inches tall I think).

My favorite part was the beard. I love using the wool locks, but haven't found much use for them other than a Santa beard.

This was my first attempt at needle felting a human face. It wasn't as horrible as I imagined... but let's just say I'm glad there was a large beard covering most of it up, because there was a lot less pressure on me to get the features and proportions perfect.

Felted Spiders

Thought I'd give you a little peek at what I'm working on....

This felted spider turned out to have a wicked temper, just look at those mean green eyes and horns!

Lovable Felted Snowman

First up, just a reminder that I've got a giveaway going on right now to celebrate my 3 year blogiversary. If you haven't entered to win the Simply Screen Custom Silk Screen Kit from Plaid then click over to this post and simply leave a comment to enter!

Now after all my complaining and struggling with felting white wool and finally making a snowball, I thought you should see what I created with it.

Meet my snowman.

He's kinda warm and snuggly for someone who's supposed to be made from snow... but it's probably because he's got a big heart.

And a warm scarf.

I made him by using a combination of wet felting and needle felting. That's why he's much larger than a normal needle felted piece (at just over 9 inches tall). I also wove the scarf from scrap yarn and felted that too.

When I first started the snowballs this was the project I had in mind. As I struggled with the white wool I thought "if this actually works it will be the only snowman I make because this is too hard to felt" but now that he's all done I kinda want to make him some friends.

Giveaway Winner and Showing the Wool Who's Boss

First let me announce the winner of the Pantone Book giveaway-

Pam from Gingerbread Snowflakes had the lucky randomly drawn comment.

Congratulations Pam!

If you didn't win- don't worry, you'll have another chance at a fabulous prize. Because on Monday I'll be hosting another giveaway to celebrate my 3 year blogiversary. Be sure to check back next week and see what I'm giving away- trust me you don't want to miss it.

(On a side note- I just love giveaways, they make me feel like a game show host or the girl that pulls the winning lottery numbers. Ok, ok, back to crafting.)

You might remember that lately I've been having a bit of an issue with felting a white snowball. The wool was acting all weird. Clumping, not felting completely, and probably most frustrating of all- not sticking to itself when it did felt.

I figured this was either because- A. White wool is typically harder to felt than other colors. B. Wool is just plain evil and has a mind of it's own. Or C. Despite having felted this way many times before, I was just doing something wrong.

So this past weekend I went to the felting store seeking answers, and a bit more wool.

They tried to be super helpful...

First suggesting rolling the ball inside a scrap of tulle (which they were also sweet enough to offer to give me). But once they found out I was already rolling it in nylon there isn't much of a difference, so that idea was out.

Then they asked if I was using hot water, enough soap, and had been working the wool long enough? I appreciate that they wanted to cover the basics, it's always a good first step in diagnosing a problem. The answers were- scalding, yes (probably too much at this point), and it felt like an eternity plus my hands got all red from the rolling and wrinkly from the water, so it was probably enough.

We talked about using some sort of hand tool that had teeth on it for extra "agitation power" (my idea... basically just scrubbing the heck out of it). But they didn't think that was the way to go.

The only other suggestion they had for me was maybe rolling on a stick mat for some extra "fulling power", which was something I'd been considering anyway, so I picked one up.

Stick mat in hand the very last bit of advice I got was to "go home and show the wool who's boss".

So yesterday I sat down, unrolled my new mat, got the water, got the wool, got my nylon, and calmly decided that it was going to felt because that's what I wanted it to do.

And you know what- it worked!

That's right wool- who's your mama now.

Felonious Fiber

I think anyone who knits (and probably crochet too) knows that yarn has a mind of it's own. We all pretend we're in control of things like gauge, finishing, and blocking while secretly crossing our fingers that the yarn will behave itself. But in truth all it takes is one rouge skein to ruin an entire project.

On the other hand- good-natured, wholesome, unspun fiber has always behaved itself. I've never had a problem with wet or needle felting projects. Wool has always been a pleasure to work with, never trying to pull anything sneaky (unlike it's offspring, yarn).

I've often thought something happens when you twist loose fiber into yarn. All that twisting makes some yarn go bad.

And don't even get me started on projects that are knit then felted... I know the goal is to agitate the yarn, but throwing badly behaved yarn into the washing machine just seems to make it angry!

But I'm posting today to tell you that the problem goes much deeper my friends. In fact all the way to the source.

Turns out that fiber is really the criminal mastermind!

That's the only way I can explain how a simple wet felted "snowball" can go so horribly, horribly wrong.

It's lumpy, bumpy and somehow the previously snow white fiber shows dark grey lines once felted. And some parts of it actually refused to felt to the others!

It's now obvious to me that wool can be evil to the core.

Do you think these problems could be traced all the way back to ill-tempered sheep?

Use Cookie Cutters to make Needle Felted Ornaments

I said I'd be done on with my Crafty Christmas Tree by the 15th, so it's getting down to the wire!

If you remember my felted garland turned out to be too short. After I lengthened it I ended up having some extra wool... which I definitely didn't want it to go to waste. So I used it and a cookie cutter I already had to make these cute little mitten ornaments.

I started with the mitten shaped cookie cutter, my needle felting needles, and mat.

Stuffed the cookie cutter full of wool.

Then needle felted until the shape started to hold together.

Once the wool starts to hold it's shape, pick up the cookie cutter and the wool, then flip it over and needle felt the other side.

When I was done felting I had a perfect little mitten!

Then made another so I had a pair.

Once I had a bunch of mittens, I decorated them by needle felting scraps of wool yarn onto the front.

The last step was to attach a piece of yarn between the pair and hang them over a branch on the tree.

You can use cookie cutters to needle felt lots of shapes. I've made starts and circles for banners before and they've turn out super cute!

These ornaments would also make great decorations for gift packages too! Just tie them around the bow and the recipient gets the gift plus a nice keepsake ornament.

I spent $5.00 on wool. That includes the extra I needed for the garland, the leftovers I used to make these mittens, plus a little bit of red wool I bought specifically to make the red pair. (I just had to have a classic pair of red mittens one the tree!)

So that leaves me with $5.27! And just a few more days to finish.

Budget Blues: The Tree is Up- The Garland is Short.

First of all I hope if you live in U.S. I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving. I took a break from blogging last week to enjoy family, cook a giant meal, and take it easy.

But now I'm back to my usual crafting and I have a great week planned for posts! The tree went up this weekend and I'm more excited than ever to be doing the Crafty Christmas Tree Challenge.

Except... that I've hit a bit of a bump in the road and I think it's going to take a bite out of the $10.27 I have left in the budget.

I was definitely winging it on the garland length. I knew that. But I based it on garlands I've bought for the tree before. I thought those were either 9 or 12 ft but since the ornaments were packed away with the tree I couldn't exactly check.

When I got my handmade garland to 9ft it seemed huge- HUGE. Definitely long enough to go around a mere 6ft tree. But I hedged my bets, bought some more wool, and left an extra 3ft of string on the end just incase I needed to make it longer.

Once the tree went up I checked the garland I usually put on the tree and I was wrong- it's not 9ft, or 12ft, it's 15ft! Then just because reality (and math) weren't really sinking in I wrapped my 9ft garland around the tree.

It only reached a little more than halfway around.

I'm making more felted balls. I think I'm going to double the length. But that means I'm going to have to be REALLY creative with the rest of the budget because this is going to take a big 4 dollar-ish shaped bite out of it!

But on a good note- I love how the garland looks on the tree. Now I just have to remember that while I'm felting all those little balls.

Felted Garland

OK so here it is- my first ornament of the Crafty Christmas Tree Challenge. I'm so excited about it because the colors of this garland are going to tie my whole tree together.

It's made from about 82 felted balls. And for those of you who've made felted wool balls who are groaning at the prospect of making over 80 of them- surprisingly this was quick and easy.

I had a completed garland after only three afternoons! (2 of felting and 1 of stringing.)

For the little teal colored balls I needle felted.

For the larger green and white ones I used a hybrid method to make them. I started by needle felting them into rough spheres.

Then used the plastic container method (I blogged about here) to finish them.

In the picture below you can see the before after side by side. Just needle felting on the left and after wet felting on the right.

The result was a ball that felted very quickly (quicker than if I had used just one of those methods alone) but remained lighter and fluffier than if it had only been needle felted. Perfect for a garland!

Once they were dry I strung them together using red embroidery floss, a yarn needle, and some fabric glue.

Poking the needle through the center was easy- to my surprise I was even able to use a plastic needle.

As I strung them into place I found I wanted a bit of space between the felt to allow the red string to show. So I used a dab of fabric glue to secure each ball in place.

On both ends of the garland I made a loop with the floss. This should help secure the beginning and end of the garland onto the tree branches.

The entire garland is about 9 ft. long. I used $5.25 worth of wool (There's a bit of extra wool included in there if I need to make the garland longer). The embroidery floss was bought with a 40% off coupon so it was only $1.01. (I also have extra of that which I'll be using on some other ornaments).

Grand total was $6.26 which means I have $13.74 left in my $20 budget.

Although that's a pretty big chunk of my budget, I think it's ok because to me this garland is the foundation of my tree. It's a big punch of color and I think it's going to tie everything else together. (At least I'm crossing my fingers that's what it'll do)

If you want to join me on this Crafty Christmas Tree Challenge there's still time! Click over to this post and leave me a comment OR just send me an email.

$13.74 and a lot more ornaments to go!

Ideas for Acorns

So yesterday Jan left a comment on my felted wool ball tutorial asking if I'd post how to make felted acorns. I didn't have any acorns so this morning Lucy and I went to the park to find some.

While I collected them Lucy sniffed around, and pulled on her leash whenever she saw something interesting, like oh say a squirrel- also collecting acorns (which I think resulted in me dropping more than I ended up taking home).

Nevertheless I collected a nice little pile.

It had been a long time since I'd collected acorns and on the drive home I started remembering how much fun I had crafting with them when I was a kid. That got me thinking about what else I do with them besides felting.

But first, I'll show you how to make the felted ones with the little wool balls I showed you how to make last week.

You only need acorn caps for this project. Add a little glue around the edge of the cap and attach it to a wool ball.

Pretty simple but boy do they look cute. Especially when you get a lot of them piled into a jar or bowl!

I also painted some of the acorns teal using craft paint. Once the paint was dry I sealed them with an acrylic matt finish. Bright green and teal are two of my favorite colors...

but they don't really say autumn.

I wanted something that would feel more autumnal but still match the teal, cream and brown in the living room. I have a lot of silver accents in there too, so I thought silver acorns might be nice. This time I used a sharpie paint marker, which I have to tell you was much quicker than using craft paint and a brush.

The last idea I had was to try decoupaging them. I had a tiny little oak leaf punch that I thought would be perfect! The acorns I collected were a mottled greenish brown so the first step was to paint them a deep chestnut color. Once the brown was dry I painted them with a basecoat of Mod Podge and let that dry. Then I podged the little leaves (which were punched out of a metallic copper paper) all the way around each acorn.

Finally I added another coat of Mod Podge to seal.

As much as I love bright colors I think these ones turned out to be my favorites.