Silly Goose

Yay, Im so excited! I have this morning finished my first Silly Goose bag! I know I started it a couple of weeks ago, but with one thing and another after the first day whan I actually felted the bag I just didnt get chance to carry on with it. This project has held lots of `firsts` for me.

My goosey is an inlay. I cut him out of a spare piece of white felt, rummaged round till I found scraps of yellow & orange for his beak & feet, and laid them in position on top of the fibre that I had already laid out...then felted it all together. His bandly legs, the flowers & grass are embroidered on by hand once the bag was dry, as is the `silly goose` slogan at the top. This is the first time Ive used an inlay in a project - Ive played a little before with using inlays on felted soaps, but this was much more fun.

A while ago I had been thinking about bag linings... then later that day I considered the different resists I have used in my bag making... and it suddenly occured to me how when I used a calico resist the fibres felted to the resist so strongly. I started wondering how it would work to sew a simple bag lining first - then felt onto it. The more I thought about it the more I couldnt wait to try it out. So I did & it worked really well. Its such an obvious evolution Im sure many other felters are sure to have worked this out long ago :o) but Im thrilled to bits that its worked so nicely. I sewed a zippy pocket seperately & hand stitched that into the bag, along with...

My own label :o) As I dont have a website, but do have this blog & a couple of online shops I thought the best point of contact to put on the label was my blog (just hope that doesnt seem odd / unprofessional) as it has links to other places to find / contact me.

There is a very interesting post in Shalana The Funk Felters blog about labeling, and she very kindly gives instructions for making your own labels. I have followed Shalanas `how-to` with my labels & Im really happy with them - thank you Shalana :o) I used the Avery dark t-shirt transfer paper onto calico; the labels, now that they are well washed, feel & look rather like kid leather! The colours changed slightly with the heat from the iron (maybe I had it too hot) I think that was a happy accident though - I prefer the colours as they are now.

The sheepy on the label is a stamp that I carved myself - based on my trademark sheepy from my Feelin Sheepish range. Im using him to make my own note paper for when I ship orders & stamping on the packaging just for fun

Oh yes, nearly forgot, I made the button too! I had a morning playing with fimo clay making buttons last week - this is one of `em. I`ll try & remember to take photos of the rest & post that ?tomorow... or this week at any rate :o)

I`m having a couple of really lovely days! Yesterday my friend Clare came to visit Clare is a fellow fibre addict :o) we had a lovely girly day AND a visit to a wool shop!

And then I got my lovely little car back from the garage :o) Somebody drove into me a couple days before Christmas, he didnt want to go through his insurance & said he would pay for the repair, unfortunately he then proved to be a real pain. All the stress really got to me and made me quite ill (another reason why I havent been very productive) but yesterday afternoon I got my Suky (how sad - I named my car :o) back all mended, bright & shiny and good as new! The garage valeted it beautifully - so Im a relaxed and happy bunny again now ;o)

On that bright & cheery note Im going to dash off and make some prefelt for the inlays for my next Silly Goose bags... xxx

Charity Auction

Hiya :o)

I want to help my friend Keiara Wells spread the word about the charity auction she has going on at the moment.

Keiara is an extremely talented lampwork artistist and is auctioning some of her beautifull creations, to help a friend in serious need. The auction ends on Sunday evening. You can read more about this on Keiaras blog.

Thanks

x

Cutest little bear

Hiya, I just wanted to show off this ADORABLE little needlefelted bear! He was a gift from my friend Linda at 8MuddyFeet and I love him to bits :o) Ive named him Button, cos he`s as cute as one & he is tiny; only a couple of inches tall (dread to think how many times I would of poked my fingers needlefelting something this small!).

Linda was the first ever person to own one of my Feelin` Sheepish bags. Button is sitting on the bookshelf in my living room, with 2 of my cloth faeries who are reading him their favourite miniature book... A Midsummer Nights Dream. Isnt he lovely?! His arms, legs & head all move; he is usually sitting down but I stood him up a little so you could see him better.

Linda recently opened a new shop, she is going it alone - please go along and look at her lovely creations. Here are a couple of my favourites to wet your appetite :o)

miniature cheshire cat

racoon & birdie icefishing

Shes also got a needlefelting kit with everything you need to make a really cute spotty puppy dog; I brought this kit for my mom for Christmas, shes working on it right now & loving every minute - she is planning all sorts of needlefelted critters now. Its lovely to see mom inspired to take up a new craft, its been a while! Thank you for that Linda, and of course for my lovely little Button bear :o)

Anyway, time to run - got to crochet a cloche hat for mom-in-laws birthday on Saturday

TTFN
xxx

Bring it on!

I dont do New Years resolutions :o) never was any good at `em... BUT my mission this year is to:

• Increase my sales& promote my brand
• Work on a new range of bags that have been in my head for 6 months
• PLUS some other fun, artsy stuff that I`ll tell you about when I get to do it

Im in the process of setting up shop over on Folksy (like Etsy but UK based). Ive made a start - Im up to 2 items! If you fancy taking a gander Im FeltersJourney over there too. Im not sure whether they have any link buttons, like the Etsy mini - shall have to work that out. Im hoping the new shop does well - got everything crossed hoping it does!

Im making sew in tags to go in my bags & purses & on scarves... really pleased with how theyre coming on - will post a photo later.

And Ive actually started working on the new bag range... well the first one anyway. They are called Silly Goose - and thats all Im saying for now ;o)

And thats it, for now. Have had a bit of not so pleasant running round keeping me busy... getting quotes to repair the damage somebody did when they bumped my car a couple of days before Christmas :( And tests at the Doctors...

Still its 2010 (how sci-fi) lets make it a good year!

Kids are back at school so mom can play - yay

Well this has seemed a very long Christmas Break with the extra snowdays tagged on to the end of it! I was 16 last time we had this much snow (20 years ago yikes that makes me feel old) a whole generation could of had a sled and never got to use it in that time!

We had a lovely family Christmas & New Year - family get-togethers & parties were good - then 1 week of wonderfull isolation, just the 4 of us & the 2 dogs, doing whatever we wanted whenever we wanted.

New Years Eve hubby had come down with the nasty cold I had before Christmas so we had a very mellow time at home with the kids. It was quite magical actually; sunset was brilliant, then the full moon was huge & low & misty and fabulous. At midnight we were on the back porch watching the fireworks and had a fleet of Chinese lanterns (not sure where they were released) racing magnificently over us - they were absolutely beautiful.

The kids are finally back at school today - after MUCH complaining that their schools werent on the mile long list of todays closures. Ive finally caught up on email, & online stuff that needed doing & now Im off to do some felting :o)

Ooo before I go... a couple of days before Christmas I decided I really needed some little gift boxes for putting small felted gifts in, so I learned how to make origami boxes with lids.

I was thrilled to bits with these & plan to make lots more for my jewellery to go in. They are SO easy! I followed this tutorial on Youtube once & bingo I can make them easily now. I tied them with some nice rustic linen string & a hangtag - they were just what I wanted & everyone loved `em. I recyled an old magazine with nice pictures & text and pretty thick paper.

Anyhoo the fibre is calling me away.... :o)