Room for 10 more entries!!!

If you are still thinking about entering the Felting Challenge - do it fast!  I have decided to limit the challenge to 20 entries - that means I have room for 10 more entries.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

A winner and a felting challenge!

Mary was the lucky winner of the giveaway - I will be sending your fabric glue shortly!

Now for the Felting Challenge!!!  I don't believe you should ever stop learning new crafts, so I have entered a felting challenge over at - My life under the bus - The premise of the challenge is to make something based on the Felt Wee Folk book by Salley Mavor.  It does include felting, but I am not familiar with making the adorable fairies and dolls.  I have an idea in my head and I hope it translates well!  I will post pictures once the challenge is finished.

This inspired me to do a Felting Challenge of my own.  No previous felting experience needed - I will even provide the materials!!!  I have been tossing around the idea of a felting kit in my head and I have decided on the little felted sheep. 

They are so fun to make and easy for beginners.

Here is how it works:

1.  I have opened this up to 20 entries, so you must be become a follower on this blog or have commented leave a comment on my Farm blog if you would like to participate.  If you have always wanted to try needle felting - here is your opportunity!

2.  Leave a comment saying that you would like to participate.  I will contact you and find out where to send your felting kit. 
 

 

Here is what you will get!  A piece of felting foam, 2 felting needles, 2 colors of Jacob wool, 2 beads for eyes, yarn, and instructions. All you need is a little bit of glue.

3.  Send me a picture of your completed item - everyone will be starting with the same project, but they will be judged on creativity.  You can photograph your sheep with a prop or at a fun location, add an accessory, turn it into something else - a hanging ornament, a mobile, etc., let your imagination go wild!!!

4.  The contest will end February 5th at noon - please have your picture to me by then.

5.  I will post the pictures on both of my blogs on the 6th and they will be judged by the people :)  I will close judging on Sunday, the 10th at noon and announce the winner.

6.  The winner will recieve one of my Fabric and Felt totes with colorful wool inside!

Good Luck!

Fab Glue

Fab stands for fabric and fabulous!

I found this little gem at the fabric store while I was shopping for fabric for Christmas gifts.

The uses include - basting seams and matching plaids, positioning ribbons, trims, and appliques, basting hems and zippers, and tack down seam allowances to keep them from moving or flipping over when sewing.

AWESOME!!!

No more ironing and pinning hems :)

I started making bags that are a combination of felt and fabric and the beautiful thing about felt is that you don't have to hem the edges! It's not that ironing and pinning is difficult, it just doesn't excite me!

You use it just like a regular glue stick - rub on area...

and fold hem over. I was amazed at how well it worked!

You can sew right through it and it washes out.

Here is the finished project.

If you want your very own stick of this fabulous glue, then leave a comment and I will put you in a drawing for one. Drawing to close noon on January 8th!

Yarn, Buttons, and a new hair cut!

I have been such a bad blogger! I have been busy crafting and hope to share some of my new projects very soon. For now I am going to share my new hat that I made with some of my Christmas presents.

I am not one to get my hair cut very often - once or twice a year - and the last couple of times I have just had my husband cut some off the bottom :) He has done a very good job, but it just isn't the same.

So, while my son was gone for a few days last week, I decided to take advantage of the time alone and go get my hair cut. Unfortunately, the gal who usually cuts it had an emergency and had to leave right before I got there, so someone else was able to fit me in. The result is a very cute, but very short hair cut. I don't have a pony tail anymore!!! I love my ponytail and living on the farm it is a very practical hairstyle. It was quite a shock!

My mom gave me a really cute hat for Christmas and I got a couple skeins of alpaca yarn from a friend...

and some very fun buttons from my dad from a recent trip to Alaska...

throw them all together and I have a new hat :)

The hats have been helping me cope with the hair in my eyes!

My 6-year-old son took this picture - I see a future photographer in the making :)

I made this hat using the Knifty Knitter. If you aren't familiar with this product, it is a circle loom and so easy to use. There are numerous YouTube videos showing you how to use it and a ton of projects online.

Happy New Year to all!

Thanks, Joan!

I received an award from Joan over at Mudranch awhile ago…and I have been so busy creating that I am just now blogging about it! If you also follow my farm blog, then you may be thinking that you are seeing double! I was lucky to be awarded this award by two very creative ladies within a couple days of each other - thanks!

I already posted who my favorite authors are on my other blog, so I am posting 7 of my favorite felting/fiber books on this blog...

1. Uniquely Felt by Christine White

2. Felt by Robyn Steel-Stickland

3. In Sheep's Clothing by Nola Fournier and Jane Fournier

4. Wool Pets by Laurie Sharp and Kevin Sharp

5. Felted Bags, Boots & Other Things by Cendrine Armani

6. Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts: Fuzzy Felted Friends by Saori Yamazaki

7. How to Raise Sheep by Philip Hasheider (features some of my pictures!)

Now for the 7 blogs I would like to award…

1. Mud Ranch's Mercantile

2. Meridian Jacobs

3. Felting in Fibrespace

4. Thistle Downs Wool Design

5. Ben McFuzzylugs

6. Skylar's Candy Clips

7. The Funky Felter

and now for those that would like to see what I have been busy creating!

The dogs are custom orders and the others are for the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival that is sneaking up REALLY fast :)

My love affair with Vistaprint continues...

I ordered my first business cards through Vistaprint last year and have been back several times for more business cards, rack cards, postcards, tote bags, t-shirts, and small/large signs. I have been really happy with all of the products and if you sign up for their e-mail exclusive offers then you can get a lot of the items for free - just pay for shipping!!!

While I was at the dog show a few weeks ago, I was approached by a vendor asking where I got the bag that I was carrying around? I told her that I made it and showed her several others that I had with me (I was delivering a few). She was over the top excited about carrying them in her booth along with her Custom Kagaroo Show Leads. What an opportunity! She has a few of my bags as samples and will be taking orders. I needed to get some tags for the bags and a sign. Vistaprint, here I come :)

My items came today and once again I am thrilled with the results!

Here is the sign that I ordered. They have a LOT of designs and you can order multiple items with the same design to create some branding for your company. I love the combination of blue and flowers in this design!

I ordered business cards to use as price tags. I put care and cleaning instructions on the back.

This is a re-order of the rack cards for my studio.

Just for fun and for wearing at the fiber shows I got to, I ordered a couple t-shirsts. I was a little concerned about how the quality was going to be, but they are awesome. This was the first design I picked...

and this is the second design. I really like both of them - but this one is my favorite!

A little ugly for some pretty!

I have been on a mission to find a really good wet felting soap. I have used Dawn in the past, but I have switched to rubbing a bar of soap over the wool to begin with and this works really well. The problem with most bars of soap I have tried is the amount of suds it creates - mountains and mountains!!! My mom reps for a line of French soaps and I recently ordered some Olive oil soap.

Another wet felter calls these big blocks of soap the 'ugly' soap. They certainly aren't small and delicate.


They are a traditional marseille cube made with 72% olive oil. They are unscented and pure - making them perfect for anyone with sensitive skin. Wikipedia had some very interesting information regarding this soap - Traditionally, the soap is made by mixing sea water from the Mediterranean Sea, olive oil, and the alkaline chemicals soda ash (sodium carbonate) and lye (sodium hydroxide) together in a large cauldron (usually making about 8 tons). This mixture is then heated for several days, stirred constantly. The mixture is then allowed to sit, and once ready, it is poured into the mould, and allowed to set slightly. While still soft, it is cut into bars and stamped, and left to completely harden. The whole process can take up to a month from the start before the soap is ready to use.

Even more interesting is that this soap has been made around Marseille, France, for about 600 years, the first recorded soapmaker in the area in about 1370. By 1688, Louis XIV introduced regulations limiting the use of the name savon de Marseille to soaps made in and around the Marseille area, and only from olive oil. Today this law still stands (although the regulations now allow other vegetable oils to be used).

The felting results are fantastic!!! It suds nicely, but not too much. I used it to make the backgrounds for the following two wall hangings.


This is Gretchen...

and this is Edda.

A very lucky lady had a friend and husband order these wall hangings for her birthday. These are her two favorite dogs and they wanted them on a mossy green background. I am thrilled with the results and I hope she is too!