A little more felting ...

I've been busy felting since my last post!  I decided that my first little robin needed a little friend and here he is ... 

Needle felt robin

This time I thought that he deserved a pair of legs which are made from black wire (I will get round to giving the first one a pair of legs as well ... just in case you were thinking of reporting me to the RSPB!). 

Here are the little birds are waiting to be hung on my Christmas tree which goes up this weekend!

Hmm, something makes me think that we might actually have a family of robins by the time Christmas arrives as I just can't stop making them. 

I've also been busy felting Christmas stockings for the girls to hang out for Santa and here are the finished results ...

Finally ... I made a little felted bag which was supposed to be my 'Work in Progress' bag for my current projects ... like my sock knitting.  The only trouble is that before I could claim it as mine Mia decided that she likes it so much she would like me to give it to her for Christmas!  Amy then decided that she should have one as well and has placed an order for another one in a different colour.

I think I might be busy for a while!

Handmade Christmas decorations ...



handmade decorations



Did you all watch Kirsties Handmade Britain recently?  Just when I thought I could not squeeze anymore crafting into my life there she is tempting me with another Craft that I just MUST have a go at in order to make my life complete!

I was so inspired by the lady on the show who created the felt Robin that I wanted to get my needle felting out immediately and this is the result ...



needle felted robin



I wanted to create something that I could hang on my tree rather than a solid bird so instead of felting 2 pieces and then sewing together as Kirstie did on the show, my bird is a solid piece of needle felting without any sewing or stuffing. 

One problem was that I could not find any beads suitable for the eyes.  I knew that I wanted the eyes to still look 'glassy' when finished but just could not find them anywhere.  Then I had my Eureka moment...  I took some self adhesive amber gemstones (which had been in my shop all along) stuck them to the robin with a strong glue and coloured the amber part with a black permanent marker.  The result is a black glassy eye but with an undertone of bronzey/gold.  Just what I wanted all along!!



handmade decorations

If you are planning on making some handmade decorations to adorn your tree this year then here are a couple of other ideas which we made during a Christmas class here at the workshop when we had a day of nothing but Christmas crafting (and one or two mince pies!!). 

Seasons Greetings ...

How did we get to the 2nd of December already? 

I have always found that getting into Christmas as a family has always been a little last minute for us as I start Christmas in July at the shop and get so caught up with Christmas workshops that quite often I do not have any time and energy left to decorate the house and plan family celebrations in the way that I would like. 

This year I am trying to make a big effort and create a handmade Christmas as far as I can.  I was even going to make the crackers for Christmas lunch (I think that idea has been surpassed by the fact that the local supermarket had a Christmas cracker deal that I could not resist and so I bought them!  never mind - hopefully this will mean that I have more time to prepare elsewhere!).

Yesterday the Advent calender went up!



The girls thought it was wonderful as each day holds a little paper bag containing a pressie!  I was quite pleased with the final result which is good as it took such a long time to make it.  I had planned to create a little calico sack to attach to the back of each house but I ran out of time, hence the paper bag.  I will try to get the sacks done in the new year before I put the calendar away.

Let's just say that this is definitely one calendar that had better be used for a good few years yet! 

Hope you are enjoying the start of the festivities.  I' ve got some more projects to share with you so I'll be back again soon!

Happy crafting
Teresa
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