Archive for March 17th, 2009

I’ve always loved felt. I’m not sure why exactly except maybe it reminds me of being little and doing crafts. It just comes in such pretty colors and it’s so soft. I’ve recently discovered needle felting. I’m tempted to try to learn how to do it, but while I’m contemplating that, I’ve found some artists who do wonderful work with it.

So what is needle felting? From what I can gather (and this might not be much), you use a piece of felted wool as the base and then another bunch of wool yarn as the design and you use felting needles (which are like little barbs) to felt the pieces together. You just push the needles into the pieces, up and down, a thousand times. The top part becomes kind of fuzzy and three-dimensional. People swear it’s not hard to learn and I just adore the look of the finished pieces. But anything you have to do a thousand times… and I may be exaggerating a little but I know it’s a lot of times… doesn’t hold a ton of appeal to me. You can do lots of neat things with this technique and they are all so cute. Don’t take my word for it. Look at what my friend Kay is selling over at her shop on etsy.

This is her little Woodland Terrarium. It’s all made by hand and comes in a little glass jar. Love, love, love it!

Look at this fawn! I don’t how they do this kind of detail but it’s really amazing. Most items are made without a pattern but with a lot of imagination. This is so great for anyone who collects deer or just as a cute shelf sitter. I personally adore this little deer because she looks like Clarisse from Rudolph. And since this is my husband’s favorite movie and the only one I’ve ever seen make him cry (the Land of Misfit Toys gets him every year), I think I may have to snatch this one up for a gift for him.

I also love these sweet felted beads. My little princess would surely love these made into a bracelet. But they look good enough to eat, and she probably would try that, so maybe I’ll just keep them for myself.

Kay’s store is called Finger Stuck Felts. Kay is a mom of two (both under 4!) and is a self-taught artist. She has a lot of other really neat things over in her shop. She also has a stained glass store on etsy. Obviously a woman of many talents! So jealous….

Check her out!