felt!

I have a confession. 
I've been having a mini love affair with felt this summer.  It's the real reason I haven't finished knitting that sweater I wrote about... that, or possibly the fact that after chasing two kids all day my craft-time has been relegated to 10 or 15 minutes stolen here and there.  I cant always knit, right?
So I've really been making a dent in the giant stack of felt I impulse bought last fall.
And I've been making Christmas ornaments.  In summer.  That's right.
You gotta get an early jump on this business when you have small kids.
I started with these (Christmas present spoiler if you happen to be one of my nieces or nephews, and can read, read no further!)

 

I wanted to make the kids a Christmas ornament every year so that when they grew up they would have a unique, handmade set of ornaments imbued with all their magical Christmas memories to put on their own tree.  I also want ornaments that are unbreakable and wonderfully soft and textured.

sooooo..made these little wool felt friends and they were so cute I decided all the kids in the family are getting one for Christmas this year...

I wont put pictures of them all yet... because I haven't finished making them.  I got side tracked in July with this birthday crown (okay, technically, it's a tiara) for my big.

 This might also be a new birthday tradition for nieces and nephews. 

Then I got side-tracked again with these fun matryoshka dolls to depict the seasons.  This has been a collaborative effort between Sadie and I.  She is picking out all the felt and thread colors for me.  I like her taste, I must say!

so far we have done summer and autumn.

 

Now the pressure is on to finish up winter and spring.  Sadie is worried I might not get them done in time for Christmas. She has her felt all stacked up and ready to go, and my embroidery floss is all in a tangled pile, or as Sadie says, "all raveled up."  As you can see, my embroidery skills, are um, rudimentary.  But I'm learning as I go.  And my audience is very forgiving.

 my two favorite little sewing helpers.  They keep things lively for me, that's for sure!

 

homemade/handmade...goodies/treasures

Just finished up making a batch of this peppermint bark that many of the blogs I follow rave about. I have to say, it's good.  And pretty.

And I couldn't resist sharing these sweet little ornaments my mom made us.

Aren't they awesome? She made them with felted thrift store wool. Sadie loves these.  And its okay for her to love on these ornaments, because they are very unbreakable. 

Also, check out the coffee cup cozies she made out of up-cycled wool sweaters:

Add these to your list of great things you can do with wool from the thrift store!  Thanks for the Christmas treasures mom!

Whirled Peas--Christmas Ornament Giveaway

I've already confessed how I have a new obsession for needle felting.

 and I just can't stop myself from making a bazillion of these felted pea-in-the-pod ornaments. (I got the idea from this awesome blog)

They are everything I love... quirky, whimsical, natural, made from all biodegradable materials, and they remind me that inside every dried up seed pod is a little kernel of life, just waiting for spring to return.

 and, naturally, they lend themselves to all kinds of puns.

But really, the world could use a little more peas during the holidays. Don't you think? 

If you you need some whirled peas to deck your halls, leave me a comment below--tell me what you will do to bring more peace (or peas) into the world in 2012.

I will randomly select a winner on December 1st. 

Needle Felting

Gosh...I keep meaning to post some follow up pictures of the awesome storm we had, but I have been busy and distracted this week, coming up with some new life-schemes.  To make matters worse, I got a miniature needle felting kit in the mail today.  Now all I want to do is make these:

This is what you will all be receiving for Christmas this year.  Sorry.

I'm not even kidding.