Felting Fun

I have sculpted in earthen clay, porcelain, paper mache, polymer clay, and even in salt dough and cornstarch clay. My favorite medium of all time, of course, is paper clay. But recently Jenn Docherty's AWESOME book has inspired me to try sculpting with something a little different.... Wool!!! :-)

Pictured below is a little bear using needle felting techniques I learned from reading her book Sweet Needle Felts: 25 projects to Wear, Give and Hug. (The cupcake that this sweetie is presenting was made from polymer clay a-la that fantastic You Tube tutorial posted a few weeks back).
The lovely lady whose birthday it was is a beginning sewer, so I thought I'd make this birthday party bear into a pincushion to make it more functional.

It was refreshing to work with a new material, and I have to say that wool is a a lot more portable than paper clay. Perfect for those business trips that leave me stranded in a hotel at night with my hands itching to do something creative.

Below is the birthday card that accompanied it.

The card was a used 1940's gem picked up in my last flea market trip. I was able to strategically cut it apart, and with the addition of a little scrapbook paper, fashion into something new, yet vintage... my "giftee" loved it!

Sigh.... I just love the graphics on this beauty. And the dimension on the little umbrella. So pretty!


Happy weekend everyone!!!

Land of Enchantment

All's quiet on the blog front here, thanks to some busy work related travel. On a business trip, I recently had the opportunity to explore a bit of lovely southern New Mexico. We only had a bit of free time one evening, but I was able to snap a few shots of the gorgeous Old Mesilla, an area of Las Cruces that seems untouched by time...

This gorgeous old adobe theater plays art films.... check out the color of that sky!


I love "Day of the Dead" Folk Art...

Unfortunately, at this time of evening, most of these shops were closed, but still it was a pleasure to view the murals...

I wonder what treasures I could have acquired in here... my bank account was happy that this shop was closed!!!
I would have loved to have explored this studio...
Both art and architecture are abundant here...

More inspiring Folk Art
Lovely Ladies!
Thanks again for your well wishes and continued prayers for our family. I'll be back in a few days with some photos of some new Pixie stuff. :-) I'm off to catch up on some of my blog reading.

Look what I won..... and I am so blessed

I was so lucky to have won this absolutely sweet doll from the super talented Michelle of Gingham World. Please run over to her fabulous blog and take a peak at all of her wonderful handmade goodness. Not being a very adept sewer myself, I am always impressed by those with awesome sewing talents like Michelle.

I want to say thank you again. I cannot express enough how much our family has blessed by your prayers over the past few weeks. My sweet sister in law is doing well. In fact, the oncologist re-staged the cancer from a stage 3 to a stage 2b. That slight difference in staging has lifted all of our spirits. Chemo starts for her next week, and treatment will be very aggressive, so please do continue to keep her in your prayers, as well as my husband and son, who are having a hard time dealing. I usually don't like to get too personal on my blog, and debated for a long time before I decided to share what's been happening in our family. After receiving so many supportive comments I am really glad that I did.

We are looking forward to a wonderful weekend with my husband's 37th birthday and his father's 67th! All of the in-laws will be coming up from a broiling hot Phoenix to our wonderfully cool 70 degree weather here in Northern Arizona.

The picture below is of my husband's family at a big birthday celebration for his grandma taken about 10 years ago. Marrying my spouse at the young age of 19, his "familia" has become very much my family as well. You can probably guess which one I am here (polka dot dress may give it away)... only redhead amongst all that gorgeous glossy black hair.


In anticipation of this weekend's family birthday celebration, my kitchen will go from spotless to covered in a giant mess of tomatoes, tortillas and chili peppers as my mother in law prepares her mouth-watering tacos for the birthday celebration. I can't wait to see (and taste!)the evidence of all that overflowing love.

Love and (((hugs))) to all of you too. :-)

New stuff available at Spooky Time Jingles and PFATT

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for your sweet comments about my sweet sister in law. Your prayers and good thoughts have uplifted our spirits!!!!

I have tons of stuff to update everyone on, but in the meanwhile, just wanted to let you know that I have a few new items available in both my PFATT and my SpookyTime Jingles shop.




I'll be back on Thursday with updates. Thank you again for all of your continued support and prayers.

((((hugs)))))

Jenny