Black and Blue BRUISE Necklace

I finally attempted several things in this necklace that I have been picturing in my head for awhile:

1) I used a navy on navy seersucker to make fabric flowers and not just felt.  I looked up some ideas but ended up just winging it.

c) I used beads AND buttons! I sewed beads through the centers of the flowers, like I have done for brooches and magnets with buttons.  The effect with beads is more delicate, which I like =)

6) I used netting!!! I slipped a little black netting in between the flowers and felt backing and must say, it's niiiiice!

This necklace is huge... and I am obsessed! 

 

Finn's Fine Threads

Here are a handful of onesies I have done, with varying techniques.... the snowman one is with cut out felt circles that I glued on, the vest is from a template I did by hand and ironed on with Wonder Under (and with real buttons!), the Kentucky one was ironed on, too, but has "Y'ALL" hand embroidered through it, and finally, the skull (MY FAVORITE) was from a clipart that was cut out, traced, ironed on, and then embroidered for the imperfect look I was going for!

Checkout my step by step DIY instructions for the snoman at jarofvintagebuttons.blogspot.com

Don't mind if I do!

It's official, I got paid for making something PURTY! My own mother hired me to make her dear friend, Anne, that I have known fondly since I was little, a rose brooch.  Having never made one, but having lots of ideas in my head, I used her request of purple and blue and went from there.... here is the end result.  Moreover, it is one of my most structurally sound items to date! I hope Anne is impressed with the package and what's inside.  She has great taste, so I am especially humbled by the request to make something just for her!

By the way, did I mention I have already decided how to "dress" my packages when I sell them?? (during a session of tossing and turning before falling asleep).  Get it???? HEARTFELT!

ROCK a bye

This is my first (and possibly only) attempt at a machine applique shirt for Finnster.  I found a clipart for a guitar, cut each section out, and traced it onto felt backed with Wonder Under that I had already ironed on.  I ironed on the smallest details first, then the whole thing onto a red t-shirt.  It seems that Wonder Under and I have not been getting along lately, because it does NOT like holding felt permanently onto fabric.  This is where my idea to do a simple machine stitch around the design came in, which may have worked if I was more skilled at figuring out the basics of my sewing machine a wee bit better.  I did end up using a grey embroidery thread by hand to put in a couple of funky guitar strings!  All in all, it looks pretty decent, but next time I would rather stitch it all by hand and give it a more "rough and tough" look for my little bruiser =)

Big, ol' necklace

It seems this flower thing is my, well, thing... Although I have tried different varieties, I keep coming back to this rose one and LOVE it.  I see wreaths, necklaces, magnets, pins, hair things, and possibly even frame adornments in my near future. 

I bought Finn baby legs (another thing on my to do list, all it requires is a pair of tube socks) at a craft show this weekend, and they happened to come tied up nicely in grey ribbons.  I sewed them onto each end of a piece of light grey felt in the same color of the flowers (then threw in one lone charcoal grey and some white flowers), attached the flowers to felt backing and each other... and VOILA: super cool jewelry that is adjustable in length, can be worn off to the side or centered, and is hopefully one Finn cannot snap in half since the ribbon is on there pretty darn good.

 

"Let's make a WREATH!"

Does anyone remember the Radio Shack commercial from years ago?? Guy wants satellite radio so he's explaining to his wife that it has a Martha Stewart channel and that they can learn to make wreaths. "Yeah. Let's make a wreath!"

So I got this wreath idea out of Parents magazine in their December issue where they had TONS of good holiday crafts.  I basically followed their directions, using floral pins to attach sheet moss to a foam wreath (I got the biggest one I could find since it had to look substantial above my fireplace).  The part I didn't like was their directions for the felt flowers... having to cut five 3 inch circles, hot gluing them in half, then in half again, and then more 1/2 inch circles........ my mind lost track of the directions at that point and I decided to look elsewhere. I found some good DIY stuff for felt flowers on various blogs.  I liked the idea of adding berries and happened to have these blue, glittery winter looking ones in my closet (they are, by the way, the only berries I had in my closet).  I just stuck 'em into the foam wreath, added a red ribbon to the top, and finished it off with some spray snow! 

Finn's First Fingerpainting!

 

 A little hesitant at first...

 ....now he is loving it! I was surprised he only tried to eat it once.

Framed and ready to welcome home dada from his two week long trip in Germany and France, his longest to date since Finn was born! I like to think it looks abstract, much like the rest of my own art I have hanging in the rest of the house. 

WHEW!

Within the last month, all of my creativity has suddenly come gushing forth from some tiny part of my brain that had almost been forgotten about... I have made numerous onesies for handsome, little Finn, a wreath, and a pillow.  The common ingredient among all of these creations is FELT.  (Hence my blog name!)  Hopefully, I can get pictures up of all of the things I have whipped up sometime soon as well as simple directions for each of them.  I have all sorts of new ideas, too (you guessed it: with felt ;)