wordless Wednesday

Heart - Felt Holidays - a giveaway!

Heart-Felt Holidays: 40 Festive Felt Projects to Celebrate the Seasons

The name says it all!  I'm so excited to have been a small part of this book by the wonderful folks at Lark.  I've worked with them before and it's always such a pleasure.  This one is chock-full of cute projects (bowling elves? love it!) for Valentine's Day, Father's Day, Martin Luther King Day...they're all covered.

The book is arranged so that it starts with New Year's and ends with Kwanzaa (with Birthdays and Baby Showers too!).  There's a great variety of projects included and since working with felt is so fun (and forgiving) it should keep you busy and full of handmade happiness throughout the year.

I have contributed four projects to this book to celebrate Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving, and Teacher's Appreciation Day.  All of my projects work with felted garment wool, but they'd work just fine with regular sheet felt too.

And because they're awesome, Lark has given me an extra copy of the book to share.

This giveaway is now closed.

If you'd like a chance to win

please leave a comment on this post telling me what holiday you think would be fun to craft for.

My youngest helper will draw a winner on Monday April 30th.

One entry per person please.  Please be sure I have some way to contact you should you win.  I'll ship worldwide, so play along, one and all!

Just in case you're not feeling lucky, you can always buy your own copy.  It's under $10 on Amazon!  A steal!  Steal I say!

Good luck, everyone.

mushrooms and flower brooches from felted stones

Since I shared my tutorial for making felted wool stones the other day, I thought I'd also share some ideas for using those stones that don't turn out exactly as you like.  Maybe the color isn't what you like or it it didn't turn out quite as smooth as you'd hoped, there's still lots of opportunity in that wool.

For this first one I've liberated the stone by making a cross cut through the bottom of the wool.

I needled the flaps down until I have a little cap.

I had a piece of felted "rope" on hand already so I cut off a piece, tucked it into the cap, and grabbed some roving.

I used the handle of my felting needle to tuck in a good layer between the stem and the cap, then needled it in place, being careful not to poke all the way to the outside of the cap.  That would make the white wool show on the outside of the cap and it wouldn't look very nice.

I needled on a few white spots and just like that I have a cute toadstool.

Another idea is to use the wool in a flower brooch.  You can see I've cut open the bottoms of the smaller stones but cut the wool off the long rock into two somewhat equal pieces.

I flattened the green piece and sewn through it to act as a leaf.  I've left the open end alone for now but once it's sewn to the other pieces, the open end will be sewn shut on the underside of the flower.

I took the two blue pieces, cut a few slits for the petals of the flowers, and turned the pieces inside out which causes it to flare out a bit.  I rounded the petals a little then sewed over them with a blanket stitch.

I cut the smallest piece with a fringe.

After stacking all of the flower pieces onto the leaf, I tucked a wool bead in the middle and sewed them all together down through the center of the flower.  I took a few extra stitches through the open end of the leaf and attached it securely to the underside of the flower. 

Stitch on a pinback and you have yourself a brooch, or sew it to a headband, or you could tie it to a present...

The best part is that you still have those rocks to work with again.

I keep a set of stones on hand just for this purpose.  You can make cute little pouches this way, or finger puppets, or the projects I've just covered...so much possibility!  So the next time your rocks don't turn out as you wanted, don't think of them as mistakes.  Rock your mistakes instead!  (I know, I'm such a nerd)

Have fun, everyone!

apple and pear ornament tutorial

I'm trying something new, friends.

I've begun writing some pdf tutorials, starting with my little apple and pear ornaments, and am offering them for sale in my Etsy shop.  This one is geared towards the beginner and intermediate sewist.  For those of you that may not have easy access to felted garment wool, or who want to be spared the trouble of felting and preparing this yummy wool, I'll soon be offering a materials kit as well.



(apple and pear ornaments - make us!)

While writing tutorials is not new to me, (I've written several for various books and offer some free here on my blog), writing them to sell is new to me.  I'm hoping that by sharing my techniques I'll help more people fall in love with making things by hand, appreciate the beauty of using repurposed materials, and compensate myself (even if modestly) in the process.

As I mentioned the tutorials and kits will be found in my etsy shop, however my other completed works will continue to be in my big cartel shop.

Speaking of which... I have a few new pieces nearing completion and I'll be having my next shop update sometime in the last week of November, after the whole Black Friday craziness is over, and blood pressures return to normal.  Normalish?  I hope you'll find something for the art-lover on your list.

Have a good start to the week, everyone. 

Stash Happy: Felt - a giveaway!

A few months ago I contributed a couple of projects to Lark's new book, Stash Happy: Felt.  I love the concept of this book, as it looks for ways to use up some of the scraps we as crafters inevitably end up with,and if you're anything like me, hold on to because there just has to be a project out there for them...

I show how to make a penny rug bouquet and a felted mushroom terrarium using scraps, but there are so many adorable projects in this book!  It's really such a delightful book to flip through and many of these projects are on my list to make for the holidays this year.

I think you all would enjoy it too, and the kind folks at Lark have given me an extra copy to share!

If you'd like a chance to win, just leave me a comment on this post. 

Tell me what handmade gifts you have in the works, or tell me what kind of craft book you'd like to see written, or just say hello. 

Please be sure I have some way to contact you, should you win.  One entry per person, please.

I'll ship worldwide and will announce the winner on Monday, October 24.

Good luck!

This giveaway is now closed.  Thanks to all who entered!

Wordless Wednesday

More Mushrooms

I must have fungus on the brain.  Here is what I've been working on this week.

Mushrooms for your desk...a wool terrarium scene planted in a blue mason jar.

Mushrooms for your lapel...brooches made of recycled sweater wool.

And a flower brooch.  Not a mushroom.  Just to shake things up.  Also made of felted wool sweater and an awesome vintage mother of pearl button.

I hope to get some more work done this weekend. I feel like I'm on a roll right now, creatively, and want to ride it out and see where it goes.  Whether you're in the studio or in front of the TV this weekend, I hope you all have a great one.

Happy Holidays To You

Our dream of a white Christmas is here.  We have 7" of new snow on the ground with the promise of more tonight.  We'll be cuddled in front the fire celebrating the baby's 1st birthday, and eagerly awaiting the arrival of the man in red.

Wishing all of you a wonderful holiday season, however you choose to celebrate it, and lots of warmth, happiness, creativity, and joy for the coming year.

The very best wishes to you and yours.

xo Lisa

Princes and Princesses

I did some holiday crafting this weekend and whipped up some presents for my nieces and nephews and my two youngest sons.  Last year I made them all superhero capes, but this year I decided they should get wool crowns.  I didn't have a pattern to work from, just a vague idea of what I wanted them to look like so I drew a template on a piece of paper, grabbed a pile of felted coat wool, and started winging it. 

I handsewed the details, but machine sewed the crown together.  Let me tell ya, me and the machine...we don't see eye to eye...  but I managed to get everything sewn together anyway.  I added a few different button holes so the crowns are adjustable.   Elastic would work perfectly, but I didn't have any on hand so I dove into my button stash instead.

My 3 year old requested a yellow bird on his, and I still have to make one for my 4 year old who has very stringent directions for me....ocean, blue, beach, 1 palm tree, a starfish, green fish only, and sparkles.  Alrighty... 

I'm hoping the kiddies like them as much as I do.   What handmade goodies are you giving this year?