As promised - Felted Flower Tutorial

Hi all,

Better late than never - as promised here is the Felted Flower Tutorial I promised I'd put onto my blog for those of you who would like to make your own flowers out of wool fibres.

You will need:

A Felting needle

Calico

Wool Fibres

Large piece of thick foam (at least 3" thick)

Embroidery hoop

Firstly a word of WARNING - the Felting Needles are very sharp and barbed so please be careful not to stab yourself when making this flower. Always place the hoop onto a table covered with a cutting mat (any solid craft cutting mat will do) - Please DON'T make this flower on your lap..... you will stab yourself if you do this....

Step 1. 

Place the calico inside the Embroidery hoop . Put a small piece 
wool onto the Calico and begin to stab at the wool with the felting needle. Make sure that the foam is underneath the calico as you stab at the wool (make sure the needle goes all the way through and into the foam underneath) Continue to stab a the wool pulling in the sides of the wool with the needle and shaping it into a petal shape as you go.

Step 2.

Add another piece of wool to make a second petal.
Continue to shape the petals as you go. Check underneath the Calico and you will see that the wool goes all the way through. Keep adding wool to make further petals until you have five in total.


Step 3. 

Once you have 5 petals in total, add a second different colour into the centre of the flower and continue to stab (felt) the wool, shaping it into a circle forming the centre of your flower.

Step 4

When you have completed the first flower, you  can make a second flower on another piece of calico then cut the second flower out with scissors and add it to the first flower by felting the two flowers together.  (See the first picture above) 

Place one flower on top of the other and stab through both flowers.  This will join them together at the centre and you will have a three dimensional flower to use either on the calico or to cut out and your flower as an embellishment to a cushion, hat, hairband etc.,

This way of felting is called the Dry Felting method.

There is also another method of felting wool fibres together to make sheets of felt which can be made into all sorts of crafty creations. This method is called the Wet Felting Method using water, soap, heat caused by friction and lots of hard work if making this type of felt by hand.

I'll add some more images of my felted creations on here for you to see  soon......


    

  

More samples made using WoW Powders

WoW - I love these powders......



Free-hand Embossed background using an
 ink pad and powders

  Iv'e spent the morning making samples for "WoW"   to take with me to the NEC tomorrow.  The show is open to the public on Thursday 22nd  until Sunday 25th. There are lots of Demo's, Workshops, some Make and Takes along with all your favourite crafty people selling their lovely products.

  

Iv'e been  using WoW powders with, and also  without stamps, creating some painted backgrounds using nothing but a pigment ink pad and various colours of powders. I love this technique as you really don't know how it's going to turn out until you actually heat the powders.  For the image above, Iv'e added some silhouette figures using Primary Black Powder and birds using the new WoW stamps now on sale the WoW website and on the WoW stand at the NEC  http://www.wowembossingpowder.co.uk/

Here are a few of the other samples which will be on display at the NEC



Fluffy white clouds made with white embossing powders......



You can even emboss onto Driftwood with these powders.....

Inked backgrounds, foils and black embossing powder create a distressed look ...



Red Poppies Card.

Thank you to all the ladies who attended the Demo at the Art Shop in Callington on Saturday and everyone who came to Trago Mills on Sunday to watch the latest DoCrafts product demo.  I hope you all enjoyed yourselves and picked up some new tips and techniques.  Glad you liked all the lovely products.


Poppies made with melted
 Embossing Powders.



As I had lots of requests for instructions on how to create different shaped cards, I'll add some tutorials on here on how to make some of the cards I made at the demo's in the next week or so.  As some of you asked about embossing techniques too  I made a card using melted embossing powders.  "Red Poppies" Card.



Old Picture Frame re-vamped
using Embossing Powders.



I love using Embossing Powders and have been busy making some samples for "WoW" for the show at the NEC this coming week .  



 Iv'e also been preparing for my next blog post for WoW to be scheduled for their blog on  22nd March. Take a look 22nd for an Altered Art/recycled project using something that all of us will probably have at home that we could re-vamp into something new using Embossing Powders. Go to http://wowembossingpowder.blogspot.com/ on 22nd March.  I love recycling and making something new from something old.  This picture frame was made using an old discoloured cardboard frame that used to house one of my school photos. I stamped then embossed the frame and added some embossed embellishments to decorate.  I keep looking around the house now wondering what I can alter next.......

My own Stamp Designs - Created Scene and Embossed Fern

Iv'e been creating even more scenes and using my stamps for single embossed images too.

I love using these stamps - Iv'e created this scene using a variety of stamps from both my first and second sets.

Iv'e incorporated some background scenes from the first set along with the "Trees and Fences" from the second set of stamps.Iv'e  embossed the background with Pastel Purple WoW Embossing Powder - this gave the effect of aerial perspective and a misty mountain background. I then used my corner leaf stamp which Iv'e embossed with Primary Green. The coulds were made using blue paint and I daubed cotton wool soaked in clear pigment ink to make fluffy clouds which I then embossed with white powder.  The foreground rocks and fence were embossed with "Pepper" and "Primary Black Regular" powder.

This image is also one of my stamps taken from the "Flowers and Ferns" range.

I inked the background using ink pads and spritzed paint then embossed the image using Primary Black Embossing Powder.

More images to come using both my stamps and embossing powders.

I'll be up at the NEC on Thursday showing some Embossing Techniques on the "WoW" stand so hope to see you there.

Another Award - Wow they are coming in thick and fast

Thank you to Cliona  http://cliona-at-night-owl.blogspot.com/ for giving me my second award in so many days...

The Green Blend Award.  

Here are the terms and conditions of this award:

This award is for any co-blogging friend who has helped you develop your blog in any and all ways.

This award is for any co-blogging friend who has cheered you along in your blog building, craft advancing career.

This award is for any co-blogging friend who always stops by and is kind to you. You can count on them to always be one of the great comments at the end of your post.

This award is to be given to 3 to 5 people whom you feel meet the listed requirements.

Create a post with the terms of use and publish your fellow bloggers of choice.

Bloggers your choice may copy the award from your blog and proudly post it on theirs.

Bloggers of choice may continue the kindness by issuing this award to keep the circle forever growing

Thank you so much Cliona for the Award. I'll be Awarding on to my fellow bloggers in the next few days.

Nikki and Elaine 2 of my choices have already recieved the Award (not surprised as their blogs are lovely) so I'll send it on to other fellow bloggers who have inspired me with their designs and crafting techniques.

DoCrafts Demo's Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th March

Card made using "Bookprint"
 papers and urban stamps.

I have a busy weekend coming up with 2 Demo's. On Saturday 17th I'll be at The Art Shop in Callington and Sunday 18th at Trago Mills in Newton Abbot.

I'll be showing the latest DoCrafts goodies including some fabulous Michael Powell Stamps, Boofle products including stamps and decoupage, Bookprint papers (which I love) and much, much more.

Please come and join me at the demo's for new and exciting tips and techniques using all the latest DoCrafts products.

Stained Glass Lampshades

As well as crafting with cardstock, making jewellery, making my own silk papers from mulberry silk fibres, painting etc etc, I also like to dabble in Stained Glass. I jumped right in at the deep end with this Stained Glass Lampshade - typical me - never do anything plain and simple but it did test my skills and make me realise that working with glass isn't as easy as it looks.

After I'd applied all the plasters to my fingers I managed to finish the project which is now on display in my living room lighting up my life each night.

I also love to paint - to see some paintings go to http://christinescraftyart.com/ on the main Gallery page.

Lots more craftiness to come - I will show some felt work next and will include a "dry felt tutorial" on how to make a felt flower. All you need is an embroidery hoop, some material, (calico will do),  a felting needle, some wool fibres (which you could comb out from an old jumper with a wire brush if you want a cheap way of doing it to practice) I usually purchase wool fibres for my main projects especially when creating pieces for the wet felt method. More of this to come too.......

Iv'e been very naughty and bought an Embellisher machine now so will be able to show some embellished pieces in the near future. 



 

Blog Award

I have been honoured with a Blog award!!!

Elaine at http://wheelerscraftiness.blogspot.com/ has kindly awarded the Liebster Blog Award to my blog. Thank you Elaine - much appreciated.

The LIEBSTER BLOG AWARD is used to show appreciation of smaller blogs (under 200 followers) and to help spread readership and joy. It comes from the German meaning Dearest or Beloved, but can also mean Favourite. As part of the tradition, the award is to be passed along to five other blogs that have motivated and inspired me.

The other rules are:

The blogs I choose must have less than 200 followers.
I must comment on their blog, so that they know about it.
I must link back to the person who gave me the award and thank them, and post the award on my blog.

I'll be choosing my nominated blogs  from my Followers so watch this space.....

Use Metal for your Crafty Creations

I thought I would show you some of my "Metal Craft" creations. Iv'e made a Wall Hanging using craft metal, wire and beads and also a Journal which I made from my own Hand-made Silk Paper and craft metal.

I stamped both images with Black Alcohol Ink and embossed the images both front and back making the image stand out. I then heated the metal over a naked flame to change it's colour. Embellishments were added to decorate the journal and a wire and bead handle added to the wall hanging.

I'm diversifying now with my crafting. Watch this space for Stained Glass lampshades, paintings, items used with my new Embelllisher, felt work, beading, driftwood sculptures, mosaics  and much, much more....So much to do and so little time.....