Featuring...

I am so incredibly flattered to be the featured seller on Etsy today. When I got the news I giggled the entire day. This is a big thing, I'm not generally a giggler. A smirker, sure, but not so much a giggler.

I've been working hard for the past few weeks to get some items made for the shop while keeping up with life and keeping my feature a secret. Not easy, on both counts. I'm excited the big day is here though and want to thank everyone for putting up with busy self during this time.

I'm a huge fan of Etsy, of its community, and of the handmade ideal. If you're not familiar with Etsy, please go check it out and support the thousands of people trying to carve out their creative niche in the world.

Something new

I was working on an ornament project last night, something that had been in my head for some time now, when all of a sudden the project turned into something different. I love when that happens! (I believe in happy accidents) So what had started out as ornament has turned into brooches and I have to say I'm pretty excited about them. They're so..so..me. Ok, so anything with moss and nature is pretty much me, but nonetheless... It feels good to be excited about a new project.

What I've done is made a nest from a piece of felted sweater and sewn in some bead eggs and attached it to a bed of "moss" (wool locks) and sewn in some teeny tiny wool leaves that I made, also of felted sweater. I sewed the moss and nest onto a backing and added a pinback.

I hope to get these in my Etsy shop this week, but am quite certain I'll be making one for myself in the meantime. :D

Wordless Wednesday

Something new

I'm a little short on time to do my Sunday window shopping post today (boo!) but I thought I'd show you what I made this weekend. I guess I was feeling Christmassy when I made up these holly ornaments.

The leaves are reclaimed leather from a thrifted coat. They're a wonderful aged green, and I did a little bit of machine embellishment on them. The berries are vintage buttons from my collection, in a mix of red and gold. I had a hard time letting a few of these go, but they looked so right on the ornament that I eventually convinced myself to give them up. I sewed these ornaments together, without glue, so as not to damage the buttons. The hanging loop is a narrow length of red satin ribbon.

They're a new venture for me, and one I'll likely try again. I hope you like.

holly by golly - ornaments of reclaimed materials - set of 3

Wordless Wednesday

Busy busy busy

Whew! What a couple of weeks it's been around here. Busy, busy, busy, and it doesn't look like my schedule is going to clear up anytime soon. It may be a bit before I get back to "normal" but I wanted to pop in and let you know what I've been working on.

Today was acorn day. I prepared gobs of wool for felting and did indeed get some felting done. I had gathered more acorn caps the other day when our weather was nice, and they've been cleaned and ready to go. I have a few projects in the works that are a slight departure from my standard acorns, and I can't wait to get them finished so I can share them with you.

I was also able to get two felted scarves made this weekend, something I truly enjoy. Yesterday it was a bit colder and the suds from the felting process froze to my work surface. Yikes! I'll get the finished products photographed soon.

I hope you're all enjoying your own projects and busy lives. As a parting shot, here is a photo of my pre-felted acorns on my workbench. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

Brrrrrr

It's a chilly day here in Minnesota. It's almost noon and we haven't quite hit 25 degrees yet. It's a day for staying in and sewing, and that's exactly what I'm doing. Off to stoke the woodstove and make some hot chocolate and then cozy up to my sewing bowl.

The view from my back door.

Working on the weekend

I spent some time this morning organizing the studio area. It's been largely unusable since this spring's floodings. My work tables were piled high with materials of every imagineable type in an effort to save them from the water so I've been doing all of my working in the living area of the house (much to my hubby's chagrin). I got down there early today and started to make it a usable space again and I can't wait until it's finished.

As a reward for my hard work, I treated myself to some sewing time and some of hubby's fresh from the oven soft pretzels (with mustard, naturally). I'm working on some teeny owl brooches today out of felted wool sweater material. They're each about 2" tall and have little vintage mother of pearl buttons for eyes.

What are you working on today?

Treasure

I had to sort through one of my (many) unsorted boxes of vintage buttons today, in search of a specific type of button. I told myself I would go in there, find said buttons, and then put the box away. This never happens, but I was hopeful. Alas, as usual I got caught up, running the buttons through my hands and marveling at some of the more unusual. I'm always excited when I find "non-buttons" in these unsorted boxes. I've found everything from old keys, rings, very old marbles, dog tax tags from 1917, and doodads and oddities of every nature. Today I found a red enameled metal rose, a mother of pearl belt buckle, something that may have been a belt piece, and a little three-pronged doodad that says "victor" on it. TREASURE! I guess it's the small things in life, huh? If I can't go diving for treasure in the deep blue sea, I guess I'll be happy diving for treasure amidst old buttons.

Wordless Wednesday

Night owls

Last night was a rough one. The little ones are coming down with colds and were up most of the night, in tag-team fashion. That means I was sneaking bits of sleep on the couch in between calls of "mommmmy" and demands for water and cuddles. I did get a chuckle around 2am when my youngest, who was sleeping on my lap, yelled out "mailbox!". What on earth was he dreaming about?

It was a really clear night and the moon was still nearly full, illuminating the woods in a beautiful glow. The stars were out and the dipper was sitting right in front of my window. Without the interruption of city lights, the stars are really something to see in my neck of the woods.

I had hoped to see some activity, owls swooping for prey, coyotes checking out the compost pile, acrobatic flying squirrels, something, but all was quiet and still. Except of course, for my little night owls.

felted wool owl ornaments I recently finished, of recycled sweater wool with vintage button eyes

Wordless Wednesday

Virtual home show

***WE HAVE A WINNER OF MY VIRTUAL HOME SHOW DOOR PRIZE***

PLEASE GIVE IT UP FOR:

Catnip Studio!

Catnip, I've sent you an email with details. Thanks so much, everyone who stopped by.

We’ve gathered together some fabulous ladies who make some of the sweetest hand crafts around. We’re bringing our very best creations from our homes to yours in this unique two day online shopping experience. Plus, we’re giving away door prizes so don’t forget to leave a comment on each blog to enter. It’s not too early to think about shopping for those special folks on your Christmas list so please keep them in mind as you browse these fabulous offerings:

Notebooks: Sue Bleiweiss
Gadget Cozies: Ginny Harvey
Toys: Felicia Haywood
Felted Items: Lisa Jordan
Needlebooks & Sewing: Jenn Maruska
Pottery: Julie Thomas
Tags: Karen Wittkop

As you look around on this stop on the virtual home show, you'll notice that you're surrounded by the woods. That is where much of the inspiration comes from for my creations.

Hi y'all, I'm Lisa Jordan, resident crafter, artist, designer, creator, and dreamer behind Lil Fish Studios. Join me for a batch of cookies and a nice cuppa coffee, will ya?


Living here in the woods of central Minnesota, it's hard not to be moved by the colors and textures that abound in nature.



I'm moved to do my part to live responsibly and abide by the three R's...reduce, reuse, recycle. As a result you'll see many recycled or repurposed materials in my craftwork. Using the wool from wool sweaters for felting is one of my favorite pursuits.




Aside from crafting, I'm a mom of 3 busy boys (with a new baby on the way), wife to a brilliant husband, and supervisor of two English Bulldogs, 3 chickens, and 1 fat goldfish. My little guys love to craft with mama and I try to engage them in crafty activities while I'm working, but the bulk of my creative endeavors take place while they're sleeping. Because seriously, toddlers can demolish a work in progress in 3 seconds flat. I also enjoy cooking, especially with the food we grow in our large garden, hiking in the surrounding woods, fiddling with various power tools, and getting my hands dirty in general.

As my thank you for stopping by, I'm offering up a door prize of an assortment of 6 wool heart ornaments, made from felted wool sweater material. All you have to do is leave a comment letting me know you were here and I'll enter your name in the drawing. Hurry, the home show ends on Nov. 4th and the winner will be drawn on the morning of Nov. 5th and announced here on the blog.

Thank you so much for attending this Virtual Etsy Home Show! I’d like to invite you to the next stop on your tour:



Jenn Maruska who has mad sewing skills and makes the most incredible needlebooks.

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.

Happy Halloween!

Ah, it's my favorite holiday, Halloween. Time to get dressed up and beg the neighbors for candy.

The weather looks to be beautiful here in Minnesota and the whole family is looking forward to going out tonight. (unlike last year when it was 15 degrees)

If you're not quite up to hiking around with a bag of sugar, here are a few treats that I've had my eye on that will be a bit easier on the dental work. Enjoy!

This super cool piece of woollen art was made by Woollyfabulous. It's made from felted wool sweater material and is utterly amazing.

Felt brooch

One of my favorite indulgences is this wonderful sugar scrub by Skinandtonic. Her scents are amazing and the quality of her products is comparable to your high end department stores. This is the treat to pick if your poor skin is suffering from dryness. You'll love it.

Not Yer Average Hipster Sugar Scrub 8 oz

These magical little pumpkins are the perfect seasonal decorations, by tizib. Lovingly needlefelted they look at once earthly and ethereal. I can see these on a nature table from fall through Thanksgiving.

Magic Pumpkin

Small things

There are "small things" we can each do in our lives to live a thriftier, more earth-healthy life. In looking at my own habits, I've identified some things that while not earth-shattering, have simply become a way of doing things for me. I thought perhaps I'd share some of these things weekly and hope in turn you'll share some with me.

Today's small thing is... re-thinking tissue paper. I haven't used tissue paper in a few years, that is, of the traditional sort. I happened upon the idea of using the tissue from sewing patterns while browsing my local thrift store. I like the way they look, they allow me to reuse, and I can find them affordably.

The extra paper from the pattern is used for envelopes, cards, and tags, with the excess paper being used to create handmade paper.

I'm sure there are other great ways out there to wrap without using new, bleached tissue paper. Perhaps small bits of fabric would be an option? Newsprint? Magazine pages?

What else are you crafty beings doing out there? I'd love to hear.

Wordless Wednesday

Small things

There are "small things" we can each do in our lives to live a thriftier, more earth-healthy life. In looking at my own habits, I've identified some things that while not earth-shattering, have simply become a way of doing things for me. I thought perhaps I'd share some of these things weekly and hope in turn you'll share some with me.

Today's small thing is... making your own stuffing. I work a lot with felted wool sweater material and after I've cut my designs, I'm always left over with small bits and odd shapes of wool. Some of these are large enough to save but there are invariably bits that are just not big enough to reuse. I cut these bits into even smaller bits and use them to stuff all of my stuffed projects. The wool makes a fine stuffing for projects large and small - even though large projects get a little heavy (great if you want to win a pillow fight the dirty way).

By using what we have, we eliminate the need to buy new and also help cut down, literally, on some of that inevitable "crafter's clutter".

You all have crafters clutter too, right? :D

Wordless Wednesday