Ook the Needle Felted Snowy Owl

I designed a new needle felted owl…. a snowy owl!
Or rather.. “inspired by a snowy owl”. He’s not bright white but more of a light grey, his beak and feet are gold instead of black… and he has ears and “hair”. But WHATEVER. He’s adorable!

Needle Felted "Snowy Owl"

Kind of like Hedwig from Harry Potter! If you’re into that kinda thing, check out this site that I was reading that tells all about Hedwig. It says that one snowy owl, “Gizmo”, played all the main parts but that he had two other snowy owl stunt doubles.. “Ook” and “Sprout”. The name Ook is way too cute and perfect so I’m borrowing it for this owl! I always name the original design.

Needle Felted "Snowy Owl"
Needle Felted "Snowy Owl"

I wish he would fly a valentine card to my friend in MN for me. One can dream!

My First Mannequin! & Paper Mache Mannequin

Hello and welcome to this weeks episode of whatever this is 😉 First off I want to share with you the fact that I got a beautiful mannequin in early January – my first one ever! After doing some research on mannequins (all the different styles, materials, cost) I decided on what I truly wanted and budgeted appropriately. I searched high and low throughout the internet and was super lucky to find an ad on craigslist with EXACTLY what I wanted, at even a lower price than I thought possible WITH the option to go pick it up in person. Two days later I was in the car with a friend, on our way up to Kansas City to look at the mannequin. It was located in this place called the Super Flea … which turned out to be quite an experience/adventure. When I found the mannequin inside it was exactly perfect and so I paid the guy happily and strolled out with her in a box on top of my head.

Meet Isabella!
New Mannequin Owl Scarf Custom Vampire Bite Scarf

But hey, if you have one mannequin… why not have two?
Why not MAKE another?
So that’s what I did! I covered Isabella up with lots of plastic bags, plastic wrap and tape to protect her body and jersey fabric covering and then I did paper mache (Papier-mâché!) around her. When I thought it was thick enough and completely dry, I carefully cut open one side and peeled the paper mache off of Isabella and painted it black with basic acrylic paint. Newspaper, brown paper bags, water, white flour and all-purpose glue and black acrylic paint where all the supplies I used. It was messy and took a little time/energy but what isn’t that is worth it? Now I have a super light and “I don’t care if it breaks I can just make another one” BLACK mannequin. (Un-named. Hmm…)

Paper Mache Mannequin     Paper Mache Mannequin with Peacock Scarf

Check this photo out.. you can see that the newspaper has a little ad printed that says “recycle this newspaper”. I actually tore that out and put it on just as it is without even paying attention until my boyfriend said something to me about it! It was meant to be.

Paper Mache Mannequin

Felted Wool Butterfly! My First One!

Light, colorful and 3D! Made by wet felting and needle felting techniques. Very hands-on free form sculpting using wool. My first ever felted wool butterfly!

Felted Wool Butterfly
Felted Wool Butterfly
I’m going to make a lot more in different colors and attach them to felted scarves and other projects. This success has me jumping up and down excited 🙂

Made From Scratch Art Boutique – 2011 Grand Season Opening

Join us as we open for the 2011 season!

Saturday June 4 …. 10am – 5pm
Sunday June 5 …… 12pm – 5pm
* Open the first weekend of each month June – November
Or by appointment throughout the season!
Art by:
Charlene Paulson
Ginger Halverson
Darnell and Mary Halverson
Jesse Halverson
Carmen Halverson
Dean Johnson

Including but not limited to… Stained glass, jewelry, ceramics, scarves, floral arrangements, copper scupture, wool sculpture, soap, leather, woodworking, deer antler lamps…

Studio Tour — Refreshments served just down a beautiful path through the woods at the Charlene Paulson studio! A once a year treat.

For more information, directions, etc.please leave a comment, email or call.

2011 Made From Scratch Art Boutique Poster - Season Opener

Handmade Hollow Book Making

The first step is to find cool books to hollow out. I like antiques or ones with interesting titles, nice colors, textures and high quality pages. I prefer ones with all of said attributes the most. I’ve found a few good ones so far and see many more in my future.
Handmade Hollow Book Handmade Hollow Book

Cut, cut, cut…
Hollow Book Making

Hollow Book Making

Glue, dry, paint, dry, add finishing touches…
Handmade Hollow Book

Handmade Hollow Book Handmade Hollow Book

Handmade Hollow Book

I’m really enjoying making hollow book secret stash box safes! My favorite parts are finding the right books and choosing the paint colors and decorative paper, and finishing the overall look. Cutting the pages out hurts my fingers after awhile and I go through a lot of razor knife blades.

Another favorite thing is taking photos, editing and listing on Etsy. This is my hollow book section to see what I currently have in stock:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Virtualdistortion?section_id=7959789

Postcards I sent for DIY Postcard Swap

Have I said before that mail is very entertaining I’ve been having fun on Flickr too because of the 10 postcard swap I completed this past week. I posted my entries in the group photo pool and found some other very interesting folks because of it. Here are the ones I sent out for the swap.
The photos on the cards are MY photography. ^_^

Post Cards

Post Cards Post Cards Post Cards

The drawing of the berries was cut out of a book about fairies.

Post Cards Post Cards

I wish I could show off the backs! I made them with pretty paper and filled them all out with different colored markers. I took one photo of the back of the orchid card. I filled the other ones out too fast… I was excited once I got my list of addresses to send them to.

Post Cards Post Cards

Post Cards

Post Cards Post Cards

I also have been practicing painting on post cards with acrylic paint. These are bloodroot flowers:

Post Cards

Daisy flowers!  I sent this one to my best friend Jackie. She got ME for the swap!  so I sent her back… she is my #11!  (But really my #1 penpal.  She is also to thank for getting me into this wonderful hobby. *Hugs!*)
Post Cards

I really look forward to getting to my mailbox each time I go (it’s a small hike) either because I’m sending or receiving interesting mail. I don’t have any paper bills that show up to get me down and I really enjoy starting fires with the (seemingly) mandatory local advertisement paper that shows up once a week.

I sent out 2 cards using postcrossing.com too…