Oak Leaf Handmade Out Of Copper

Copper Oak Leaf Incense Cone Burner Decoration
Copper Oak Leaf Incense Cone Burner Decoration     Copper Oak Leaf Incense Cone Burner Decoration

This sculpture of an oak leaf is designed to be decorative as-is or used as an incense cone burner. I made it by hand by cutting an oak leaf shape out of sheet copper, carefully bending the leaf a bit and then I soldered on a wire stem. Each time I make one they get a little better. I am looking forward to making more!

Alice in Wonderland Hollow Book

Vintage Alice in Wonderland Hollow Book   Vintage Alice in Wonderland Hollow Book

Vintage Alice in Wonderland Hollow Book

This blue vintage copy of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll has been transformed into a hollow book box – a superior stash spot for things important enough to keep tucked away. If I could keep it myself, I would, but it’s my job to pass all of these awesome things on. I dearly love Alice in Wonderland. Did you know that it’s available to read for free online? This time around I added textured, decorative paper to the bottom of the stash spot that really accents the vintage blue cover of the book. It’s really been around, but hopefully soon it will find a new home with someone who will enjoy it as a box for a long time. View the listing for this in my Etsy shop.

An Even Ten

Hollow Books
Custom order of 10 hollow book boxes for groomsmen!

Here is the awesome feedback I received about this set from the customer:

We are using these books as groomsmen gifts and know they will add the unique touch we were looking for. She really made an effort to seek out each book to connect with each of their personalities/interests. The books are beautifully crafted and overall a great idea. Her communication throughout the process was much appreciated–overall a great experience and purchase! 🙂

To see more information about my book sets check out this section of my Etsy shop.

First Owl With Button Eyes

Happy New Year! I’m so thankful for more time to do art 🙂

So far the most notably new thing I want to share is this needle felted owl. I make owls regularly, have for a couple years now, but I usually use glass beads for the eyes. This time I gave vintage buttons a try and I like the outcome.

Needle Felted Owl With Button Eyes
(available in my Etsy shop here.)

I’m definitely setting aside a lot of time this year to try new things. Watch out!

Tried My Hand At It : Felt Cat Bed

It was a challenge but turned out great!

Wool Felt Cat Bed

What is it?.. It is a cat (or other small animal) bed made out of wool that is seamless, padded, made of an eco friendly material, easily washed and it’s great for going into or pressing it down and laying on top. I’m daydreaming of making a large one for myself..

Wool Felt Cat Bed

Wool

How was it made?.. I laid wool fibers on top of a wet XL cloth covered volleyball about 17″ in diameter in many layers – thick – all the way around, then wrapped it in tulle fabric and wrapped it with string to keep the tulle against the wool, then wet felted it by getting it wet and soapy and rubbing it a lot. Once it was sufficiently felted (which takes awhile) I cut a hole, deflated the ball and removed it through the hole. I rinsed it clean, threw it on the counter top a few times to felt it more, stretched it into shape and set it to dry in front of a fan overnight.

Wool Felt Cat Bed

I have been felting around my water bottle to make can cozys for some time now so this was not a new concept to me but the size of the ball once covered in my many layers of wool was pretty impressively large and hard to work with since the wool kept wanting to fall off the sides. Here it is with the wool all on there and rubbed while dry a little bit:

Wool

When I cut the hole, I cut it smaller than I thought it would need to be since it stretches larger when you continue to felt and rinse it. When I made my very first small one around a basketball I cut the hole a bit big so to avoid that with this one I cut a pretty small hole just big enough to get the ball out. Later on I ended up cutting the hole bigger so that a clearly well fed kitty could fit!

Group Of Owls

I made up a group of owls in time for Christmas. Having so many around at once was a lot of fun. It is hard to choose a favorite!
Needle Felt Owls

Rounding Out Another Year

Happy Holiday season! It’s a busy time of year and I love it. There have been many things going on in my little corner of the world, many artsy things and some darn good food things too. I’ve been stocking the freezer with homemade no-bake cookies (dark chocolate + nuts) on a regular basis, roasted a few seasonal squash (even a new one I had not had before), had the crock pot going with batches of beans for many days, and I believe I have mastered the art of stir frying broccoli in many different flavor variations (I love cayenne pepper flakes + powder, spicy hot!) so that I never tire of it and my meat loving companion says the same thing. That’s how I know I really succeeded. Some nights I am busy crafting so I don’t cook as much as I would like but that’s OK.. I have even more fun making things that don’t get gobbled up!

One of the projects that I wiggled in between other must-do projects was something I have been wanting to do for over a year…. A hollow book with a stash spot cut for a whiskey flask:

Hollow Book With Flask     Hollow Book With Flask

A few months earlier I ordered an 8oz flask and had it sitting in plain view so it was on my mind frequently. I figured the book titled “The Encyclopedia of Modern American Humor” would be appropriate to contain a flask and it is one of my favorite books to cut up.  I chose to cut the bottom square and round the top so the flask would fit in there snug. AND HOW! Oh man! I did not think about it when I started so when I finished I was extra pleased, the natural angle that happens when cutting the books by hand keeps the flask inside without any other restraints! It pops out with your fingers and it’s easy to put back in too. I must say that I’m very proud of this one and will be looking forward to creating many more!

Humor Hollow Book With Flask

Besides the flask book I have been doing a few others.. The Goblet of Fire into an eReader case, Neverending Story, Pet Sematary, Dracula, and more..

Goblet Of Fire eReader Case

Neverending Story Hollow Book Box

Pet Sematary Hollow Book Box

Needle felting continues as well, here are a few things I’ve made recently.. I love them all :

Needle Felted Snowmen

Needle Felt Snowman   Needle Felt Snowman

Blue Felted Turtle

Needle Felt Wool Mouse

And I started making pins out of single felt flowers!

Felt Flower Brooch Pin   Felt Flower Brooch Pin

2012 has been great but I am really gunning for 2013! The peaceful calm of January will be GREAT for starting new projects… and the summer ahead is sure to be one of the best ever.

New Handmade Felt Fashion Scarves

I have been very inspired lately! Here are a few of the beautiful new scarves I have created. Check their availability in the Scarf section of my Etsy shop.

Black Ruffle Scarf With Red Flowers Berries Leaves

Coffee Lovers Scarf – Silk hand dyed using coffee! Design of wool is of coffee beans and froth. Perfect gift for a java guzzler.
Coffee Scarf

Red Felt Flower Necklace     Orange Felt Flower Necklace

Scarves with adorable owls on them!
Owl Scarf
Felt Owl Scarf
Owl Scarf - Finished

Vampire bite!
Vampire Bite Scarf

And now, my favorites!
Black and White Nuno Felt Scarf - Handmade One Of A Kind Art Scarf!
Turquoise and Black Handmade Nuno Felt Scarf

Purple Berry Nuno Felt Scarf

Eee! I wish I could keep them all, sport them around town to the post office and back home! hehe. More are done but not yet photographed, a beautiful one is on my felting table right now and many more are on my to-do list. My goal is to make about 20 new scarves. I have so many designs in my head, I want to get them out. I know many will be going to people as gifts during the holidays so that is very motivational.. ’tis the season for scarves with a chill in the air!

Soap Gone Rancid

Sometimes things go wrong… terribly wrong! All I can do is laugh a little, whine about it a little, learn a lot and maybe have somethin’ to blog about. Hopefully though I will not end up with a whole category titled “Soap Gone Rancid”. This is my first big experience with my soap getting messed up and, of course, it was the largest amount I had dared to make and mix together at once so far.

Shredded Soap ~ Batch Gone Rancid

What I learned is that I will never mix different batches of soap together again. As you can see, the soap shreds (which happened by hand, whew!) are two different colors because it is two different batches of cold process soap that I mixed up, cured and then shredded together. I’m thinking that one of the bottles of vegetable oil that I used was far from its peak of freshness.

Shredded Soap ~ Batch Gone Rancid

My intention with the shreds was to re-melt them down when I wanted to make small batches of soap with other various additives like essential oil or oatmeal. I still intend to make some wonderful soaps for this season and won’t let this 6.5 pound box of “failure” keep me down. It can still be used for clothes washing… perhaps I’ll make a local thrifty person happy and give it away!