Needle Felted Easter Chick!

Happy Easter! I am finally getting around to posting this sweet little chick that I needle felted. I think she has such a sweet face, I love her! I used the Sarafina tutorial on YouTube, which made creating her so easy, I love her tutorials! I did not use the supply pack that she sells because I happened to already have the colors but I do have to say that Sarafina Fiber Art sells the perfect colored wool batt for making chicks that I happened to have already purchased from the Art House at my last visit. Next spring I definitely am purchasing the supply pack (which makes 3 chicks) because these are so cute that I want a whole flock!

 

I hope everyone had a nice Easter, however you celebrate it! Even though we are currently traveling, we still fit in almost everything we usually do for the kids, like an Easter Basket, an egg hunt, decorating eggs, cute crafts and yummy treats. We normally go to a "Breakfast with the Easter Bunny" event at my Alma mater and my youngest daughter was disappointed we would miss it. We did happen to catch the Easter Bunny at the grocery store of all places so they were excited about that! I do think that he gave my daughter a moldy lollipop though! Is that even possible? I never saw a lollipop like that, it was a bit disconcerting! Oh well, we did find bunny shaped frosted donuts at a local bakery so all's well that ends well! Happy Easter!!

Kawaii Needle Felt Fox

I love to do these cute little Kawaii animals because it's fun to start AND finish a project in one evening. I like instant gratification! It keeps you motivated, too! I gave him a really long whimsical tail that wraps around him. I'm actually not that happy with him, but the kids love him so that's all that counts. I think it's cute how much my kids get excited over my needle felting projects, they are great for the ego :)

Needle Felt Latte and Donut!

We recently went to Krispy Kreme for the first time and it was amazing. Besides the yummy donuts, I loved their cute cups and placemats and even the paper sheet thing they grab the donut with, so I had to bring them home to put with all of my other random bits paraphernalia. Oh and the cute paper hat!

When I looked at the cup, I got the idea to needle felt a cute latte with lots of whipped cream on top. Then I had to make a matching donut to go with it!

Now I could really use another donut!

Needle Felt Matryoshka Doll

These are really easy and fun to make, I want to make a bunch more!

They provide an opportunity to use up all that colorful wool in your stash :)

A Picture Perfect Sunday!

Are you ready for some felting?!

A Day on the Farm

We were very lucky to have been invited to visit the farm of a fellow needle felter recently. I met her in the Needle Felting Facebook group and when she heard we would be in the area, she invited us to come for a visit to her beautiful little farm in southern Alabama. She had a beautiful horse named Honey, donkeys, ducks, chickens, and of course, sheep. But the sheep were not wool sheep, they were hair sheep! She uses them for training her Australian Shepherds and Border Collie in herding competitions. The kids had such a fun time! They got to hold baby ducks and see the fish in the pond.

We should have brought our fishing poles!

Some snapshots of her lovely farm!

Such cute animals!

Next she showed me her crafting room which was amazing and had the best southern-facing window to let in some incredible light! Her room was full of wool, tucked here and there, and tons of really nice projects that she had felted.



Possibly my favorite part about the day was that she took pictures of Sunny, my toy poodle who had come along, and then printed them out in three different versions (normal, under-exposed and over-exposed) for me so I could see all the variations in color and where the lines were. Then she looked through all of her beautiful wool and chose colors that matched him perfectly and gave it to me to take home! Now I can needle felt a portrait of Sunny!

This smells so good!

My Sunny

A Make-Your-Own-Sunny Kit!

We had a really nice time and I think I forgot to mention, she made the best peanut butter cookies for the kids! I definitely stole a few for myself ;)

Needle Felted Santa Ornament

I love this little Santa! He is from the ornament kit that Sarafina Fiber Art sells. I already had everything I needed except the glasses so truth be told, I bought the kit just for the tiny spectacles! I know I could order them online but it was a week until Christmas and I hadn't felted anything Christmas-y yet! So since I was going to be in the area of her shop (for a date night with my hubby!), I just bought the kit so I could squeeze in one project before the holiday. Plus it's better to shop local, right? :)

He is really easy and quick to make, and super fun!

I love his round shape!

Here is a link to where I purchased the kit: Sarafina Ornament Supply Pack


Also, I wanted to share this little needle felted Christmas Tree "painting" that my 6 year old daughter made (with my assistance) for her Grammy last year. We used a cookie cutter to get the basic shape. Projects like this are easy and satisfying for kids to do, they just need a little patience and to be careful with the sharp needles.

Merry Christmas!!

Happy Turkey Day!

Hope you had a very happy Thanksgiving! Mine was great, the kids enjoyed playing with their little cousin and we all were fat and happy! Here is a little turkey I made, isn't she cute, with her little bow?

Gobble, gobble!

Needle Felted Owls Using Curly Wool for Wings!

I honestly had no idea how I was going to use these colorful curly locks so I was excited to create these! I wanted to also do a blue one so I had one in each of my three kids' favorite colors but that was the one color that I did not have in the curly wool. I guess some shopping is in order :)

A Tiny Needle Felted Owl

He sits in my kitchen window, hiding behind this pumpkin, and watches me do the dishes, he never offers to help!

My First Needle Felting Projects!

I started needle felting last year and fell in love because I think that it is a fairly easy craft to do. You can make really fun and cute little tchotchkes for your house or as gifts with minimal cost and skill. It is also an easy project to set down and come back to later, which is good for me since my munchkins don't give me much time to craft! So these are my first efforts, I was very proud of them!

First thing I made was this tiny bunny. Not mad for a first try! I would do things differently now but I like her! I also made this pumpkin using some orange roving I had. I used polyfill (like for stuffing pillows and stuffed animals) for the core because I did not have much on hand. I just wadded a ball together, tied string around it to help it keep it's shape and then needle felted as you normally would. A lot of people don't like using poly fill because it is not natural but if you are just starting out, or don't have a lot of money to spend on crafting, I will give you a free pass on polyfill! Then I wrapped the roving vertically all around and I only needle felted the top and bottom. I didn't really know what I was doing and it is very squishy, not firm at all, but again, I like it!

Next, I made these teeny winter friends. I really like making small creations such as these because you can really stretch your stash a long way! I also do not have much room right now for displaying my "friends" as my husband calls them (makes me sound pathetic haha, oh well!) so this size is perfect for me now.

I made this cute little snowman with a scarf and a green hat with a red heart on it!

And this little penguin! I have to go back and fix him, his head is about to fall off!

Hope you enjoyed seeing my very first needle felting projects!

My Favorite Youtube Tutorials

Here is a quick list of my favorite YouTube Channels that offer needle felting tutorials.

Sarafina Fiber Art - My favorite needle felt artist! I love her work! Her YouTube channel is awesome and you can learn a lot. Its great for beginner to advanced needle felters.

Felted Sky Studios - Very lovely nature-inspired creations.

Gypsy Felting - From the basics to advanced tutorials.

Living Felt - Mostly flat felting tutorials.

Felt Alive - How to felt people

Fluff-a-Torium -  She doesn't have too many videos yet but I love this channel! Mostly wet felting.

Maqaroon - She is great! She does cute kawaii style animals.

Flying Mio - More kawaii. She does tutorials for some of the kits you can buy on Etsy.

Kawaii Felting - She is new to the YouTube scene, but her cute creations are super easy to duplicate, awesome for beginners.

Pufftique - Very cute little creations that are easy to do yourself.


That should keep you busy for awhile! Please let me know of any good ones to add to the list!

Learn Needle Felting Basics - My Favorite Beginner Tutorials

Here is a list of my favorite beginner tutorials for those looking to get started in needle felt, or at least wanting to know what it is all about.

Needled Felted Sculpture Tutorials:

This is about the best, in-depth into I have come across!
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=51271.0

Basic Needle Felting Terminology:
https://flippityfelts.wordpress.com/needle-felting-for-beginners/felting-terminology/

This is a super simple 4 minute overview that quickly shows the very basics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU6tihDWHhQ

Here is a very basic tutorial for the beginner:
http://www.lilblueboo.com/2012/02/basic-needle-felting-a-tutorial.html

This site contains many great techniques for making needle felted animals:
http://www.chushka.com/felting_tips.html#fluffy

A small compilation of basic tutorials:
http://thesilverpenny.homestead.com/freeprojectneedlefelting.html

A few intro videos:
http://www.hawthornhandmade.com/needle-felting-tutorials-2/

Here are some more advanced tutorials:
http://needle-felting.deviantart.com/gallery/26595740/Tutorials


Wet Felting Tutorials

This is an awesome beginner wet felting lesson:
http://crafts.tutsplus.com/tutorials/fundamentals-of-wet-felting--cms-20738

An intro lesson:
http://rosiepink.typepad.co.uk/rosiepink/tutorial-wet-felt-making-for-beginners.html

There are no photos here, but its a good basic lesson:
http://www.dharmatrading.com/home/wet-felting-and-nuno-felting.html

Here is an in-depth lesson on wet felting:
https://sarastexturecrafts.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/tutorial-a-guide-to-basic-wet-felt-making/


If you know of any other great resources, please leave a comment so I can add them to the list! Thanks!

Hello there!

Hello! Welcome to my little blog about needle felting! My name is Katie and I am relatively new to creating needle felted toys but I just love it, and feel like this is a crafty thing that I am actually good at! I have a lot to learn but I want to share my creations with you along the way. I love to make 3D animals the most. I am also a homeschooling mom to three munchkins! Thank you for stopping by!