Felted Wool Snowmen and Snow-women Pins

Last week I was having to die-cut many leaves for unfinished  felted wool flower pins I found in a box.  Apparently, last year I tried to finish many new flower felted wool pins for my last craft show of the year, but ran out of time.  I never finished them.... probably because after my last craft show last December, our family went on a Disney family vacation.  Thankfully, while doing some re-organizing (I seem to continually do that!) I found a box full of unfinished flowers.  That was a wonderful surprise because with a little more work like adding leaves, minor details and pin backs, I had a fresh new batch of felted wool flower pins.  These will be ready and available for my upcoming craft shows and .... well, I have a surprise but I will wait until Wednesday to tell you about that.

So, long story short, I found myself doing more than die-cutting leaves last week.  I found my snowman sizzix die which I have never used before.  I decided it was time to use it.  So I cut lots of felted wool snowmen shapes.  Of course, I wanted them to have a vintage feel to them so I looked through my vintage lace, buttons and crochet doilies to see what I could come up with.  They took some time to create, mostly because I have a hard time deciding which materials to use and in what combination.  Once I decided on a style and materials, it became easier.  To make my pins sturdier, I glued two layers of felted wool snowmen shapes together...that way, they can "stand up" straighter.

So, here are my latest Snow people pins!

Vintage Mini Glass Ornaments

When I go estate sale shopping I never know what I will find.  I generally have an idea of the type of items available for sale based on information listed such as description of items and photos for a particular sale; but there is generally much more than what is listed/photographed.   Lately, I have been lucky to find some special finds like vintage Christmas light bulbs, a box full of vintage hankies, tons of crochet doilies, yards and yards of vintage lace.  I was hoping to find a box or two of mini glass ornaments but had not succeeded...until last week.  Last week, in a basement I found a box full of mini glass ornaments.  It took me 3 seconds to grab the entire box and hoped Victoria would give me a price break if I purchased the entire box rather than just a few boxes of mini ornaments.  Victoria did not disappoint... I got a good deal on all these boxes....35 Boxes!

  What am I going to do with all these vintage ornaments?  I will keep some and  plan on selling many of them.  I just have to figure out a price for them and have them ready to sell by next week. 

Made in Japan

Love all the colors and sizes!

Bottle Brush Tree - Vintage Look

When the kids got home last week, they asked, "what is that smell?"  Bleach is just not pleasant.   I had the windows opened but the smell seemed to linger.  I have been wanting to bleach bottle brush trees for what seems like forever.   I loved the results of bleaching the green color away of Christmas bottle brush trees.  I had to continue with this experiment, tinting the trees.  After I tinted the bottle brush trees is several colors, I then added silver German glass Glitter and Vintage Mica.  Oh, I also replaced the white plastic base on most of the trees with wood bases.  This was definitely a project with many steps and some patience but I am happy with the results.   I love the vintage look to these trees.

Dress-form Pins --Felted Wool & Vintage Findings

I just created a new batch of Dress-form Pins.  Using the Tim Holtz Sizzix die, I created the dress-form shapes from felted wool.  I then "dressed" the dress-forms with a various vintage findings like crochet doilies, lace, rhinestones and buttons.  Each is different and unique.

Photo A - Blue, Pink, Yellow

Photo B - Pin Ruffle, Pink Puffy, Pink Flowers

Photo C - Green, Red, Yellow

Photo D - Purple, Green with Pink, Blue

Photo E - Red with Rose, Lace, Red with Rhinestones

Photo F - Lace with Rhinestone, Pink, Lace Flower/Button

Photo G - Purple with Button, Pink Necklace, Purple with Lace

Christmas Mix Media House

This is one of my new favorite Christmas mix media houses.  The paper is from one of my favorite paper companies, My Minds Eye.  I love this particular line by Rhonna Farrer's All is Bright.  I love the vintage look of the paper along with the mix media collage style papers.  I added my favorite, silver German Glass glitter, a bleached bottle tree style wreath with a little tiny snowman!  This is also a box so it makes this a versatile Christmas decoration.  Here is a closeup of one of the 3 houses I created using the All is Bright paper line.

41st Annual Friends Craft Fair

I had been looking forward to the 41st Annual Friends Craft Fair  tomorrow but now with the Colorado weather, the Texas girl in me is not so sure.  The forecast is we will wake up to snow...not a lot, more like snow flurries but nonetheless the grass will be wet (and COLD)!   The high is expected to be in the 40's, low 40's!  I will dress in layers and hope to be  prepared to keep dry which will help  keep me warm.    This is a rain or shine type of craft show and since we (the vendors) will be there, I hope the customers are there too.  We shall see.

UPDATE:  OCTOBER 7, 2012

I've got to say, I am impressed with how many people were at the 41st Annual Friends Craft Fair in Littleton.  Everyone was bundled up and although I did not expect to see many people attending due to our inclement weather (it was really cold!), many did.  Some customers said, they have not missed one show and this year was no different.

Anyway, I did manage to create a few Christmas Mix Media Houses and even bleached Christmas bottle trees.  Even managed to get a few trees sprinkled with silver German Glass Glitter and Vintage Mica.  I will show more closeup photos next week.  Here is a preview:

Vintage Crochet Tote Published!

Two of my vintage crochet shopping totes just got published in the Autumn 2012 issue of Haute Handbags (Published by Stampington & Company).   Having my work published again makes me feel that my creative journey is on a good path.   This really means so much to me.  Here are pictures of the cover and pages inside.