an autumnal shop update

There are a few woolies in my shop tonight.  Some acorns for your autumn table, naturally-dyed fairies, and some brooches to spruce up your fall wardrobe.

I'd be delighted if you'd stop by and have a look.

MY SHOP

rainbows after rain

We had a heck of a storm blow through this morning.

I stopped counting at 19 trees down in our yard.

My little ones made it safely to school and though we're all a little shaken up, all is well.

After that I needed a rainbow and since mother Nature wasn't providing it, I made one of my own.

Take care everyone, and I hope you have a great day.

found! acorns

While looking in my supply closet yesterday I found a few baggies of wool acorns and acorn ornaments that I forgot to list.  How did I do that?

I'll be adding them to the shop sometime this morning.  If you wanted some but weren't able to get any, here's your chance as I won't have any more this year.  Unless of course, I find some in the other supply closet...

Happy Wednesday all!

acorn season

 

 There will be a few new sets of wool acorns in the shop today.

'Tis that time of year.

  

I hope everyone enjoys the long holiday weekend.

chasing the rainbow

The kids and I will be headed out on a trip next week, leaving the husband behind to hug the duck and mail the packages so if you order something from my shop, know it will be shipped promptly by his manly hands.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

See you soon.

very fancy

 

I've been putting together some little wool acorn ornaments for an event I'm doing later this month, and when I fit the wool bead into its cap, I nip off just a little of it to make it fit snugly.  My youngest  took those nipped off bits and strung them up to wear.

 

She's very fancy with her new necklace and her "Mary" dress. 

 (we're reading the Little House on the Prairie series and she thinks this is her calico, and since she has golden curls, she thinks she's Mary.  Though I know she's far more like Laura than Mary)

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

wool acorns and guineas

 

I woke to 50 degree weather this morning.  I can feel autumn approaching and I think it's more than wishful thinking on my part.  I love autumn.  If I could live in a place that was autumn all year long, I would.

 

I noticed the other day that my favorite oak started dropping her acorns.  She's a very little oak but she has big beautiful acorn caps and I had to make some wool acorns to go in them.

 

I took them outside this morning to photograph them, naturally attracting the attention of the flock.  Anytime "the feeder" leaves the house with something in her hand is cause for excitement.

 

Even the guineas came to check it out.

 

They have beautiful feathers but a face only a near-sighted mother could love.  They eat ticks for us so in that regard they're gorgeous.   But I digress.

 

I made a few acorns for me and a few for you too, if you'd like them.  They're in my shop now.

I've been working on a few other pieces and will be adding them to the shop next week sometime as well.

I hope you have a great weekend, everyone.

focusing the muse

I mentioned in my last post that my muse is feeling a little unfocused.  She's still feeling creative, just not in the way I'd like her to be.  Not knowing exactly how to focus this side of me, I decided to revisit a project I had done in the past, the "mother nature's palette" brooch you see here.  I thought maybe if I could work on a familiar project it might make the transition from bagels to brooches a little easier.

I sewed up one, reflected a while, then made another.  It seems to have worked a little bit as there are the beginnings of a toadstool and a piece of cedar on my table today, signs of creativity returning...

I've put the two brooches in my shop this morning, along with the last two acorn ornaments I'll be making until I can gather more of the right caps this fall.

Speaking of caps, these teeny tiny acorn caps on the brooch just kill me.  I find them on the French Rapids trail by the Mississippi river and make a trip there every fall just to gather them.  The entire acorn, minus the stem, is only as big as my pinky fingernail.  So cute!

Hope your week is off to a good start, everybody.

Wordless Wednesday

Sweet Feature

A few weeks ago a few of my wool acorns went on an adventure to the twin cities to take part in a photo shoot for Mpls. St. Paul magazine. 

Shauna Younge of Shauna Younge Dessert Tables was doing an autumn-themed table and wanted to include my acorns in her design.  How cool!  The issue dropped yesterday and she was kind enough to share it with me.  Isn't it fabulous? 

I really love the colors she worked with and the natural elements and textures she included.  If you can tear your eyes away from all of the mouth-watering goodies and look closely you'll see my acorns adorning the favor bags. 

You'll also see some great faux bois cupcake toppers there too, and bonus!  Shauna recently posted the tutorial on her blog.  Check it out.

Thanks Shauna for including me in your work, it was fun and the table is gorgeous.

(now who else is craving cupcakes?)

Wordless Wednesday

Just For Grins

I made this little punkin/acorn today for a friend who needs a little smile.

I hope it does the trick.

Checking in on the Acorn Rainbow - October 2009

A month ago I started my little acorn project. I made a small offering upon a moss-covered oak stump in order to watch its progress. I checked in on my little circular rainbow of wool acorns on this rainy October morning and saw more change than I had expected.

I'm not sure what has been moving the acorns, likely a squirrel or other nosy-body animal, but I'm curious how they managed to arrange the acorns in a line. I'm also curious whether they've eaten the blue and yellow acorns or if they're lining a nest somewhere. Maybe they were hauled off by a curious furry visitor who just had to show his friends what he found in the woods today. "Dude! Check this thing out."

The orange acorn appeared to have tumbled off the edge of the stump and lays partially covered by moss and leaves but the yellow and blue are nowhere to be seen.

I can't wait to see how this progresses.

See you in a month, little acorns.

Time To Play!

It's been a busy week here. Lots and lots of acorn-making was done, several hundred in fact, and now I'm taking a wee break. I'll see you all soon!

Acorns at Walker Art Center

My felted wool acorns can now be found in the shop at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis! Could I be more excited? No. No, I don't think so.

For those of you not familiar, please check out Walker's website or if you're in the area stop in and have a look around. (psst...and buy an acorn...) :D

Wordless Wednesday

A shop update

Whew! I just updated my shop and am excited by how much color is in there. Check it out if you're so inclined. There are a few bouquets, brooches, acorns, and more. I'm hoping to do another update in two weeks with some totally new ideas I've been working on so stay tuned....

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Happy crafting!

Gearing up

Now that Halloween has passed, I feel myself gearing up for the Christmas season. I realized when I listed these new acorns in my shop this morning that my mind is already in frantic get-everything-done-before-Christmas mode.

Felted wool acorns - set of 3 - holly

I have a number of handmade gifts to complete this year. OK, well, start and then complete. On my list this year are new blankets for each of the boys, a couple of thumb pianos that I started last year but never completed, more felted worms, and super hero capes. I hope I'm able to summon up the energy to get all of these things done! For the time being I'll need to stop accepting new custom orders in my shop and focus on these projects and the custom orders I've already accepted. So if any of you out there know how to squeeze a couple extra hours into the day, I'm all ears.