Needle Felted Brooch

Welcome to Stamping Grandma's crafting space, how's your day going so far ?  Just for a change it's pouring with rain in my part of Cornwall and it's very windy.  I'm so very grateful that I don't live right on the coast as there is some pretty nasty weather forecast for today.  Here's hoping that all those in the danger areas manage to stay safe during this stormy weather.  I do feel so sorry for people living in areas where flooding is a major problem.  I do hope the rain stops soon !

Today I've a needle felted project to share with you.  Recently I attended a workshop in a local village, which was great fun, here's what I made:

We started by cutting a piece of pre-felt into the shape we wanted, I chose to make mine heart-shaped.  Then it was on to choosing a colour theme, selecting wool tops in our chosen colours and laying down the base colour onto the pre-felt shape by stabbing it with the (very sharp) barbed felting needle. 

As you can see, my chosen colours were shades of purple and I added in various bits and pieces of thread and yarn as I developed my design. 

Finally I created the central element by cutting out a scrap of lacy fabric, felted a round button shape and stitched on a pretty bead to finish off the design.  I stitched a brooch pin on the back and called it done. 

I had dabbled a little with needle felting previously but learned a few tricks and techniques at the workshop so it was well worth attending.

I hope you've enjoyed today's project, thanks so much for stopping by today.

4 Crafty Chicks

Today's project is an entry for a challenge I haven't come across before, but a couple of my crafting pals had links on their blogs to 4 Crafty Chicks and I just had to check it out.  This week their challenge #126 has Buttons as the theme and here's the card I'm entering.

When I went to the Crafts4Crafters show at Exeter Westpoint last thursday, there were a number of exhibitors selling materials and tools for Needle Felting.  Now this is one craft I haven't tried (yes there are still some !) and despite being attracted by the gorgeous colours of woolly fleece on offer, I studiously ignored them all as I need to get hooked on another new craft like I need a hole in the head ! 

All was well during the day but when I met up with my pals for a coffee towards the end of our stay, I noticed there was one exhibitor (New Forest Mohair) who was offering free Needle Felting taster sessions.  Again, I was able to resist temptation....... right up to the moment a couple of my pals went over to the stand and sat down to have a 'play'. 

Well, you can guess the rest right ?  Yes, of course I HAD to have a go myself and OF COURSE I wanted to do some more after I'd finished my taster session.  You've guessed it, I ended up buying a starter kit, which was actually quite a reasonable price at just £4.50.   I'm such a 'pushover' for anything new...ha..ha..

Here's a pic of my handiwork from the taster session - can you see the picture I created ?  Well, in my world it is a seascape, sand at the bottom, waves, horizon, sky with clouds and the sun shining brightly as you move to the top.  Can't see it ? - just humour me !

 

Here's the starter kit I purchased, see what a bargain it was ?  After all if I'd booked on any of the workshops running throughout the day it would have cost £6 or more and this taster session was FREE (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it)

 

 

OK, back to my card and how I created it.  I cut a small square of the pre-felt (the base fabric you needle felt the fleece on to) and added the dyed fleece in stripes diagonally using all the colours from the starter pack.  I sewed a purple button in the centre then glued it to a square of cardstock with two of the corners rounded.  Finally I added a sentiment, using stamps from a Kaiser Craft set of words and definitions which I also bought at Westpoint, using Memento Sweet Plum ink. 

 

WARNING !  it's going to get a bit 'deep' from here on folks. 

 

I selected this particular word and definition for my sentiment as I felt it perfectly describes the creative process of designing my card and I love the shape of the word on the stamp - yeah I have been told I'm weird on more than one occasion.  Do I care ?  I took it as a compliment ! 

 

JOURNEY

travelling from one place to another; 

passage or progress from one stage to another;

the journey to success.

 

In creating the needle felted square the base materials travelled/progressed from one form/stage to another before emerging as the finished item.  Let's hope my challenge entry is on a journey to success !

 

Hope you've enjoyed seeing something a little different today and thanks for taking the time to visit.