Ho Ho Ho!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday! Here are just a few little Santa's, all needle felted.

Wood carved abuela

I used a piece of cottonwood that we found by the Rio Embudo. The knots in the wood really told me where the bun of hair and arm were supposed to go. I carved some things out of choke cherry and ouch, it made my hands so sore (hard, hard wood). I learned that aspen or cottonwood is a much better choice.

Face Class at EVFAC

I taught a Needle felting class on faces! There was 5 students, 3 of which had some beginning experience. I used a lightly needle felted wool batting as the "canvas" but, one could use recycled sweaters or blanket as well. It was a 4 hour class and could have been a bit longer. But, we did accomplish completing the basic structure of the face. I gave out a hand out on some tricks to getting facial proportions correct which should is good reference to have. Each student seemed eager to take their new friend home and embellish them at there leisure. The second photo was taken at the end of the class. The first photo is the face I needle felted and then wet felted to use as an example. I choose doing these as a relief because it seems many of the fiber arts competitions and galleries are not set up for sculpture and don't know what to do with things that don't hang on walls. So, this was an experiment to create a hanging sculpture.

baby dragon

I got this pattern for $6 Pdf download from
http://www.anniesattic.com

My son loves this dragon!
It was surprisingly simple and easy to read pattern and didn't take as long as I thought it would.

Acorn Satchel

I made this little nature satchel for a friend of my sons for his birthday. It was a proto-type so to speak, I am still working on my sons version. There are so many cute things for girls, I figured it wasn't fair. This "purse" or satchel is perfect for collecting sticks, rocks, and leaves! My friend was so happy to have this for her son because she was tired of carrying a bunch of rocks back home after their hikes and he loves having a special place to put his treasures.

A Home for Gnomes

The tree house is not made of wool, but all good gnomes and faeries need a home. This was inspired by the tree houses I have seen in catalogs. I made each piece a little at a time and it probably took about 6 months to finish it and well it still isn't finished. My hope is that when my sons interest and skills build we can engineer together to make a whole village. Being in the southwest it was a bit more work to find the wood. I lived by the beach in the Pacific Northwest for years and at times was longing for the driftwood. But alas, nature provided us with almost everything. I wish I could have cut the platform rounds myself, but I will on the next ones? This tree house brings so magic into the house and will be a heirloom. I loved making it instead of buying it and a added bonus was there isn't too many removable parts to trip on in the night.

Home Made Tree House

I made this tree house last year for my sons Christmas or rather Santa commissioned it. I was pregnant at the time and didn't feel comfortable using the chain saw or saws all. So I just bought the pine rounds from the hardware store that are used for making lazy susans and used natural cut wood slices that are used for wood burning and for sale in the craft stores. All the other wood including cherry, apricot, pine, cedar root, aspen, cottonwood, and willow I found while hiking and exploring. I used hemp twine to knot together the rope ladders. Hopefully this Christmas we'll add a pully (which you can get at hardware store, used for blinds) and maybe a hammock. This tree house is so sturdy and my son can climb it and I am not worried. It was a great way to save a couple hundred bucks and make something way better!

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Advent Calendar

I finished sewing all the pockets of the back of the calendar. Here are the Gnomes we made in our hand work circle in there proper places. Still need a few more, but there is still time. It is looking so magical!

Advent Calendar

With some sparks of ideas from my sons pre-kindergarten teacher, I created this Advent Calendar. I wet felted a big piece of wool batting to use as the "canvass" and then needle felted the design. I cut 24 slits in the wool and sewed squares on the back to create pockets. Then we had a hand work circle with some of the parents and they learned how to needle felt little gnomes that will go in each pocket. Every child from the class will take one home before the holidays. This was so fun and got me inspired to make one for our home to. My sons teacher told wonderful stories of making a Advent Calendar every year, each one different, each one special. The possibilities are endless and so are the possible materials that can be used. After getting started on this project I received my Living Craft Magazine in the mail and right on the cover 'Felted Advent Calendar'! Talk about tuning in " May the fleece be with you". It is such a wonderful thing when people join together as one flock of birds and create, especially when it is for children.

Spring Goddess

This doll won third place and president choice awards in the doll category at the Fiber Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM this last spring. She is a solid wool Needle Felted doll and bares some resemblance to my friend Rosemary Crawford (the playwright and organic farmer).

Etsy Site is up and going!

Ok, I started my etsy site awhile back and then alas got preggers and spaced out on putting it on vacation. So even though it says I haven't been on vacation I actually have. And now that my little ones are getting a bit bigger, I am back and running. Today I posted two items and will post 2 every couple of days from here on out!
I crocheted this little acorn hat so that it will have a strong beginning, just like my boys.

http://www.lanaencantada.etsy.com

Dixon Studio Tour

Another sucessful year at the Dixon Studio Tour! Always the first weekend in November.

I had a booth again at the Dixon Elementary school (The Mercado). I loved seeing all the local artists/crafters and all the visiting tourists. Maybe next year I'll attempt to do it at my house, but out in my yard.... we'll see.

www.dixonarts.org

Beginning Needle Felting

Pumpkin Gnomes! Wonderful class I taught at the Fiber Arts center in Espanola, NM. Four hours gave us all enough time to get used to the needle and make new friends. Great new skills for the the four students to enter into the gift giving season. Now they are making some one of a kind cherished wool gnomes for their special loved ones. The Intermediate/Advanced class is coming up Saturday Dec. 5th 10-2pm, where we will create a wool face relief, so we can just focus on sculpting wool facial features.

http://www.evfac.org