Thrift Store Score

I went thrifting this weekend in St. Cloud and made quite a haul. I'm completely excited about it. I got some 100% wool coats for felting, one of which is vintage and has great buttons. They also have some nice quality satin linings which I'll use in a project of some sort. I got some leather pants and a vintage coat for crafting. Again, the coat has some cool vintage buttons which I'm sure I'll put to use. I also picked up a silver teapot and container for planting succulents in, an apothecary jar for making a little terrarium, and lots of other odds and ends; crayons for the kids, moulds, old clothes pegs, etc. Fun stuff!

I also picked up this little handpainted brooch for my coat.

All of this fun cost me $68. Woo hoo! Now I can't wait to dig into these new supplies and see what I can make. Hooray for thrifting!

Growing

On Earth Day the boys each painted up an old terra cotta pot and planted some beans from the cupboard. I wasn't expecting much, but look at how they've grown!

The first day planted, April 22nd.

A week later, April 29th.

Just two days later, May 1st.

At this rate, we'll be reaching the giant's castle in no time!

We plan to make a kids' garden this year and I think given the success of these little sprouts, beans will have a prominent spot in their little green patch. I can see it now...pintos, navy, great northern, green beans, wax beans....

Working on it

Just a glimpse at what I'm working on today. I've had very little time to craft lately, but in the snippets of free time I do get, I'm dividing my time between some woolly sewing, and this project. This particular project has been in my head for quite a while and I'm excited to have a start on it. More glimpses to come...

Wordless Wednesday

A Happy Day

Yesterday found us wandering the woods and planting seeds in celebration of Earth Day. We turned off the computer and TV for the day and entertained ourselves with nature. The wee ones painted up some flower pots and planted bean seeds and they are eagerly awaiting the little sprouts. The boys also made "best friends" with the worms we found in the compost pile. The baby enjoyed her first hike. We all picked up trash, and the boys and I made a nesting ball for the birds out of burlap and scraps of yarn and raffia. We heard the grouse, some Sandhill Cranes, watched some woodpeckers quarrelling, petted the dogs, watched bugs crawl around, and just generally had a great time together. The 3 year old also spontaneously hugged a tree which I found to be very fitting given the occasion. I hope you and yours had an equally fun day, and if not, there's always today.

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day everyone!

I'm shutting off the computer today and the wee ones and I have a full day of outside activities planned. We'll be picking up trash by the roadside, sprucing up the compost pile, and planting a few trees.

Enjoy the day!

Bridal

the bride's bouquet
Originally uploaded by lilfishstudios

I just completed an order for a wedding party that I wanted to share. The bouquets , bouttonieres, and corsages are made entirely of vintage buttons in black, royal blue, silver, and white , and reclaimed leather. A very cool color combo, in my opinion. I hope she loves it.

Blog Love

Hooray! One of my favorite blogs, Crafting A Green World, included some photos of my uses for sewing pattern tissue paper in today's post. Check it out here. There are some great ideas there from some really talented people.

If you're using patterns, don't forget the instruction sheets are great too. I use them for making tiny envelopes but I'm sure there are a myriad of uses for them.

Yay for repurposing!

Unexpected

Unexpected beauty. This morning I awoke to find a singular white bloom on a rogue angel trumpet plant tucked in a potted plant in our dining room. The seeds had wandered there either by chance or by toddler, not sure which. We noticed a new plant growing in the pot and didn't give it much thought as weeds commonly pop up in our greenery (we set them outside whenever the weather permits and they gather hitchhikers), and then this morning there she was, a beauty in white. A very fine way to start the day.

A bitty buggy break

I took a break yesterday from the general hullabaloo that is my life and made a little woolly caterpillar for the wee lass, baby E. I used wool roving to make the body segments, each is a little felted ball, and then sewed them all together securely, knotting them between each segment. I presented the little grub to E and she immediately hoisted it to her mouth and gummed him half to death. nom nom nom

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Felt a' flying

So I've been on a bit of a bird kick lately. It seems that almost all of my latest crafting has featured a flying friend of one type or another. Today's is a wee little barn owl brooch. I made him of wool that I felted from an old sweater and backed him with some of that felted coat wool I talked about in my previous post. His eyes are the coolest black glass vintage buttons. All in all, kind of cute.

Speaking of birds, yesterday as I was driving to town a Bald Eagle swooped down right next to the road, flew alongside me for a second and then dove for something in the grass of a field. It was the first Eagle I've seen all winter and I've yet to lose that feeling of awe when I see them. I hope I never take it for granted because they really are spectacular animals.

Enjoy your Sunday, everyone. If you have any birds in the works, let me know, I'd love to see them.

Wordless Wednesday

A wooly giveaway

I've been spring cleaning lately, going through the studio and putting excess supplies in my "extras" shop, and through the closets and donating bags of unworn clothing. I found, tucked away in a closet, my wool dress coat. It is several sizes too small (sadly), and not really my style anymore but holding it in my hands it was clear that it wanted to be useful to me somehow. It was begging to be cut up and used for crafting, and that's just what I did.




Because the weave of the coat was so dense, there wasn't really any felting that needed to be done. I cut it up at the seams, pulled out the liner and cut off the buttons, and washed it on hot for two cycles to make sure it was clean. After it dried and I ironed it out, it was a beautiful pile of felt - 2 and a half pounds worth - that was remarkably similar to commercial 3mm wool felt. Making your own wool felt is remarkably easy and if you're a wool lover I encourage you to try it. I'm so pleased with how it turned out that I'm offering a small giveaway to celebrate and share the recycled wool love.



I'm offering a small stack of recycled wool pieces and a little blackbird brooch made from the wool to one random reader. All you have to do is comment here and make sure I have a way to contact you should you be the winner. I'll be randomly drawing a name on Monday and will post the winner here.

Good luck!

Fun with felt

It's been a felty day here. I photographed my latest set of felted stones which, by the way, are my favorite yet; and I finished preparing my new felt made out of my old coat. I'll have that story and pictures this weekend. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a photo of my new stones and a wish that everyone is doing well and finding time to create as well.

Just a little bit

This is my wee project for the week. These little bitty hearts take just a little bit of time using just a little bit of wool but I like them a lot.

I use felted sweater material a lot in my crafting and inevitably end up with lots of scrap pieces, of all shapes and sizes. The teeniest pieces of scrap that can't be easily used in another project are cut up and made into stuffing, but the smallish pieces are sometimes made into these little hearts. (and then stuffed with the teeniest pieces of scrap)

I imagine them being surreptitiously slipped into your loved ones' pockets as a surprise "I love you!".

Wordless Wednesday

Slowly

I've struggled with finding the time to craft since the new baby arrived, so I decided that convenience would be my friend. I've kept a bowl of stones and batts of roving near the sink so that when I have a minute, I'll make up a felted stone and I've also kept a bowl of cut-out hearts and all the neccessary supplies to make ornaments on my desk. By having these little (but satisfying) project pieces ready to go, I've been able to make enough in the past two weeks to actually add them to my Etsy shop. Hooray!

It seems funny considering that pre-baby I was able to whip out full sets of stones and multiple sets of hearts in any given day, but I'll take it. It's a slow road, but that's OK.