Updates from The Felt Menagerie!

 

It's been quite a while since we've had an update from the Felt Menagerie so I guess I better tell you all the shenanigans we've been getting up to at felt towers! I've been super busy with gallery orders and have added 2 new stockists to my portfolio China Butterfly in Formby and the beautiful Gallery in Masham. We went on a road trip to Masham last week to deliver a pile of birds and sold 3 in our first weekend! 

 

I also got my first gallery order for Christmas from Cambridge Contemporary Crafts and have been felting like the wind to get it finished so I am not in panic mode come the deadline!

 Feltmeupdesigns.co.uk got a make over as did the blog so we are now simple and clean a bit less busy... all those old dead links have been removed and hopefully we make sense! (or at least a bit more sense then we usually do!)

I've been making more big owls to, this long eared owl is my  latest one... he looks quite spooky without a face! I love making these big owls... they take so long but are well worth it and I think I am learnign alot about felting!

 The hardest parts for me are the wings... getting 2 that are the same size and shape and have the same markings is a bit tricky for me. I'm looking forward to displaying a group of these big guys soon!

I'm currently in full on Christmas making mode at the moment, I still find it odd to be thinking of Christmas when the sun is shining but that's what we crafty types need to do to be ready for it! Hopefully forward planning will mean less of a Christmas panic this year... but I doubt it!

The Feltanomicon Closeth...

The feltanomicon is closing... and as such I have reduced all it's felt denizens to bargainalicious prices, when they are gone they really are gone. 

 

It is with a heavy heart and a deeply burdened soul that I admit that I am but one slightly strange and very geek woman and can only do so much... with this in mind I have decided to close the Feltanomicon, lock it in a box, tie it up with chains, lock it in another box, bury it in a cellar, lock the door and hide the key with a warning to future generations that to open is to do so at one's peril!

That said should I find myself haunted by the ghosts of the Feltanomicon I might reopen it... but only if I can give it the time it deserves. So the yetis will be moving over to Feltmeupdesigns shortly as I love them so much and I have a few brain squids I need to finish up and list which will go there too... as will any Feltanomicon designs which happen to sneak back into the world.

 

All my evil felts are reduced now, most £5 or less so hop over there and grab a bargain now!

Origami Dresses

Recently I decided to use up all my old card stock (I don't make cards so why do I have it?) and all my papers that were bought for inkmeup in it's early days before I had got to grips with the gocco format properly. Plus the 15 years worth of randomly collected crafting paraphernalia... which is a lot.

So last week I started making up cards using my maps and music to make origami bows and blossoms... now my attention span is that of a flea so after a week of bows and blossoms I decided I needed another challenge an went for a little trawl around Pinterest for inspiration and came across some beautiful images of origami dresses.

After several hours of interwebs research I found a pattern/ tutorial which gave the kind of dress I was imagining and I had a wee crack at it! I used this lovely Cath Kidston stationary that someone must have bought me as a present (I'm not exactly a Cath Kidston kind of a gal, have you met me? I'm more of a big boots and scarlet hair kind of a gal!)

I'm really chuffed with the results so there shall be some music paper dresses soon as well. This fab tutorial came from the lovely and talented Christy at Inklings and Yarns and it was beautifully photographed and so easy to follow.

It also gave me an excuse to crack open the bag of tiny pegs I randomly bought last week because they were cute! Now I have a lovely washing line of little dresses hanging from my pinboard! Cute as they are I reckon they will need a bit of bling before I turn them into cards... maybe some buttons and bows!

I'm really enjoying playing with paper and making cards but I have now a much increased respect for people who do it for a living as so much work goes into one little card! Although I am thinking how sweet these would look in little box frames! So far my project to use up my papers has cost me about £30 including glues and new scissors... I'm not sure I have got the hang of clearing out yet!