More fun with felt

I had so much fun playing with felt in my Lawrence Arts Center class and making brooches in our Tending to the Pilot Light Classes a couple of weeks ago that I keep making more schtuff.  C. gave me this cute magazine(thanks!)  which was the inspiration for the brooches:

Here are the brooches I made last night...

a close up of the hair...with teensy weensy felt rosettes and beads

and some of the poppy hair bling ...

These are fun and simple to make and use up all those leetle bits of felt left over from more medium sized projects!

Have a great weekend

Liza

TTTPL - Vignette Jewelry

This week at Tending to the Pilot Light, we worked with beads and charms and felt and embroidery threads to make these sweet little "Vignette Jewelry" pieces from an article in Cloth Paper Scissors.

Many were completed and some are "in progress".  I will post the pics when my lovely students bring them back for show and tell!  The results of this exercise are so sweet and intricate, I can't wait to see the final versions!

A warm welcome to first time students Dottie and Lisa!

Sign up for my email invitation list to receive your coupon for a free session during your birthday month!!

We do sometimes have a rebel among the group members and tonight she chose to make this beautiful little purse instead of the medallion... isn't it precious?!

Here is the finished piece! ~Gorgeous!

Here are the two I completed... one more in progress...

Here is one more I completed after Thursday's class"

Important news....

This weekend is the Fifth Annual Valentine Making Open House here at MacKomics Studios...10am to 6pm both days... don't miss it!  Here is a link to last year's photos.

Next week we will be making hand crafted gift bags.  Here is a sneak peak!

I hope you have a great week! And.. a few more projects have been completed and photographed... check out TTTPL Illuminations and TTTPL New Year's Visual Reinforcement/Reminders/Validation/2012 Journey Map.... for new photographs.

I hope you have a great week, and if you haven't gone to see "The Artist" yet... make plans now! It is a great homage to silent films, romance, Gene Kelly, and so much more.

Sincerely

Liza

Tending to the Pilot Light: More Plushies!

Last week was (king) soopers busy! in addition to the Thrifty Gifter Yarn Wrapped Wreaths workshop held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, I squeezed in one last TTTPL session on Wednesday night.  We made some really cute little pieces and since it is post-Christmas morning, I can show pictures of the pieces my daughter made for cousins and family as well as the crazy stuff I made for her!

Here's a handmade pattern being cut out to make a cute little unicorn!

Here is the unicorn with all its fringe and pipe cleaner horn and a sweet contrasting blanket stitch around the edges.

This cute Kitty Toy has a jingle bell hidden inside!

Here are the amazing little big-eared creatures my daughter made for family member's stockings... each with its own character.

Here is the GIANT plushie chibi-head doll I made my daughter... tape dispenser shows scale.  It has a wire frame inside and a cute little crochet dress and scarf

Here's a closeup of the eye... I used these Teddy bear eyes I had bought on speculation once while trying to beef up a craft supplies order without bumping up the shipping expense. 

I got the idea for overlapping fleece eyelids from these amazing creatures at the Wonderfair Gallery.

Here's the plushie breakfast plate special I made for my daughter's stocking...can you see the butter melting?!

All in all, I am totally mad for plushies! I even saw a couple of books dedicated to them in the library in my favorite stacks...the 730's to 750's... I could just live back there!

I hope you all had a lovely holiday vacation and am looking forward to lots of creativity in the new year!

Check back often on my new "page" on this blog as I'm going to post a dress-a-day for 2012.

Also, I am bound and determined to finish the year of dresses for the Dress-up Challenge and have just one left to do.  I am not sure why everyone dropped out soon after I took up the hosting of the challenge, but, just for my own sense of accomplishment, I'll make one more post tomorrow with the last two challenge submissions to make an even 12 dresses for the year.  If anyone has any feedback or knows why this project petered out... please leave me a comment below.

Cheers, I'm off to catch some of Lawrence's Final Friday Artwalk tonight - see you there?

Liza

Yarn Wrapped Wreaths at the Lawrence Public Library

On December 20th and 22nd, the Lawrence Public Library had its last session of the brand new Thrifty Gifter Series... Yarn Wrapped Wreaths!  We had about 20 people each evening and everyone went home with a beautiful handmade one-of-a-kind wreath.  Thanks goes out to my incredibly helpful assistants Sarah and William... I truly could not have taught the class without all their help setting up, demonstrating methods, answering questions and all the breakdown and cleanup!

I started the class with an explanation of the project and demonstration of a few types of felt flower styles.  I showed the participants the most efficient way to wrap their wreaths (hold wreath between knees and circulate ball of yarn 4 or 4 times before sliding strands together), and reminded them that the process was split into two sections... the more meditative, mindful section where they could practice patience and get to know their neighbors, and the second section which would be much more active and stimulating with all the decorations to choose from.

To aid with the instruction, I quickly doodled a step by step process page and color coordinated our felt samples to the colors on the page:

Sarah and William folded and rolled the pieces along with me at strategic positions along the table to give participants a closer view of how we were manipulating the felt.

Here is what the place looked like just as people started to arrive on Tuesday evening:

Thanks to Stepping Stones Ranch for all this great yarn!! My daughter's horseback riding teacher was having a fabulous garage sale and we scooped these up for the Library.

The following pictures are a mix of both evenings with process first and happy finished products at the end.

 

I was amazed to see how many different styles and interpretations people created...! We had a broad spectrum of ages and even a healthy sprinkling of menfolk... The time went quickly, however almost everyone completed or nearly completed their project.

This was so much fun I loved teaching such a large group of people and am so glad the Library was able to create this fabulous series of creative sessions... If you enjoyed the Thrifty Gifter Series, be sure to let the Lawrence Public Library know your opinion... maybe we can make a Lawrence Holiday Tradition!

Thanks to all the great participants, Sarah and William, and of course to Rachel who organized the entire event!

Happy New Year!

xxoo

Liza