Hoops!

Look at these beauties from Lilac Saloon!

How Kate like!

Good thing she is coming back tomorrow...Right Kate?

You're coming back?

Kate Worthy Felt

Friday Finds on Wednesday!

Take a look at the beautiful creations of Melissa Davison.

Look at those sunny colours, layered with creative embroidery to create wonderful texture.

If you love her work like I do then check out her shop and her blog too!

this picture tells 3 tales

Just the other day I saw this lovely post over at Freckled Nest where Leigh Ann put up one picture and told three different stories associated with it. I thought I'd join in on the fun (I am always up for new blog post ideas) and do the same! Let's go!


1. I originally made a felt Totoro brooch during my "mini break crafting" posts while I was away on a cruise. The first pin was such a hit that it sold almost immediately after listing it! Hooray! Last week I got an etsy message asking if I would make another one for her Totoro loving daughter and (always eager to please) I did! I even made two spares to sell just in case someone else needs a little hand-stitched Studio Ghibili fix.

2. To fill my upper level non-science credits in university I took Geography 390 "Selected regions of geography - Japan." I signed up for the class because one of my BA friends told me the prof was fun and there were no pre-requisites! Yay! Ever since I have been spouting off random facts about Japan and often get questions if I've lived there. (No, I haven't, but I do love their animation style and the Totoro film!)

3. I made the Totoro pins out of hand pressed wool felt I bought from my favourite yarn shop in Victoria (Knotty by Nature). Although you can't find such amazing felt squares in my town, I recently found out that my crafty pal Caroline is opening up her very own wool shop in Kamloops this September! She has even asked me to make a few wool themed illustrated goodies to sell in her shop (which I am so excited for)! Yipee! More consignment selling opportunities and inspiration for a new line of products!

Speaking of Kamloops...if you're in town come pop by the Artisan's Square at the Farmers Market today between 8 and 12 and say Hi! I'll be there peddling my wares and always love to see some friendly faces! Oh and what did you think about the three tales post? Do you have one to share?

To market to market!

Hooray! I managed to snap a few pictures of my last minute craft adventure to show you. Check it out:


Yup! Colourful felt + ribbon + sticks + wide set eye smiles = super cute magic wands! Aren't they fun? I've been meaning to make these for a while (and subtly hinted about it when I showed you my sketchbook a while back) and success! I did it! Craft project complete! and with three fabulous shapes to chose from too! We have:

1) Hearts (girly, pink, and lovely)


2) Flowers (still girly but less so. Jim says they look like planets or molecules...)


and 3) Stars (magical and slightly less girly in case some little boy gets jealous of his sister's new wand)


These were totally a blast to create and let me use some of my most favourite crafting supplies. I didn't make an enormous amount of them since I only had one day to make them from start to finish but we'll see how they sell to see if I will be making any more any time soon. Let's take one more peek at my 12 new lovely smiling creations:


So what do you think? Know any little kiddos that will beg their parents for handmade wands? Yes? Well bring them down to the Artisan Square Market today! I'd love to see you! Wish me luck!

What I've been up to...

As my crafty to do list grows and grows I am happy to say that I finally got to cross off a few items! Woo hoo! Item number one? A Totoro key chain for Sarra:


Isn't he sweet? I picked up some new white felt last time I was in Victoria too so he was a treat to work on! I've never done a key chain before (I tend to stick to brooches) but I figured a little ribbon and a key ring would do the trick! She was also lucky enough to pick up my soot sprite magnets too! Look at the Studio Ghibli goodies all together:


Aren't they cute? I haven't been listing my left over mini break crafts because of the postal strike but now that Canada Post is back in action I'll try harder to get them in the shop! Of course the soot sprites won't make it there (since Sarra snatched them up) and neither did my avocado brooch (since my friend Jordan claimed that one). Perhaps one of these days I will get to making more of those items for the shop, but chances are I'll be too busy preparing for the summer farmer's market!

And speaking of the Artisan's Market...I got around to making a whole bunch of photo clips to sell there:


Oh aren't they fun! Now for the weather to clear up so my table won't be a rained out windy mess this Saturday. Wish me luck!

Three things.

The Purl Bee does it again with yet another inspirational project including three of my favourite things - citrus fruit, felt crafting, and coasters! Oh my! Take a peek:


What a bundle of summery wonderfulness those are! I have never even thought about making felt coasters (and I do love a good hand stitching project)! Ah! Revolutionary light bulb moment! Ok, perhaps I am being a big enthusiastic about the idea...but I do think they'd be fun! How about you? What do you think?

Mini Break Crafting! Day 12 of 11?

What's this? In all my frantic crafting preparation for you to see while I'm on vacation I somehow managed to miscalculate and make 12 crafts instead of 11...oh well! Bonus Kate vacation craft for you! Behold - French kitty brooch:



Ho ho! Isn't he a handsome devil? I really love my mustache cat buttons and thought it would be fun to make another kitty since the sophisticat one I made for brooch week sold really quickly! Take a closer look at him:


When I was at my last craft show a woman bought one of the French cat mirrors of mine because she claimed to would "help land her a man!" Not sure if I can put that on the description for this guy, but I'm sure you'd get some gorgeous hunks of male with this brooch! Happy bonus day of craftyness! Hopefully I'll be rested and ready to give you some trip highlights soon!

Oh - and I'm not totally sure what happened with day 9 of the crafts but it somehow went from "published" to "scheduled" in my posts so in case you missed it look back at the wee cactus too! Happy crafting!

Mini Break Crafting! Day 11 of 11

Day 11 of 11 has finally arrived and we'll finish off the week with another geometric triangle felt brooch! I loved the first one I came up with during brooch week and am just loving all the geometry and shapes in the crafting world right now. I went for a green scheme this time with some rainbow hints thrown in there for good measure. Check it out:


Hooray! I gem was super time consuming and was particularly stressful since I frantically whipped it up about an hour before we left for our cruise! Let's take another boo:


It certainly had a bit of a different feel than my firsts creation but it is nice to make some non cutesy pins once in a while. What do you think of it? What was your favourite craft from the last 11 days? Have you been enjoying the 100% original content marathon? Hope so! I'm arriving home tonight and can't wait to read about what everyone has been up to for the last while! Hooray!

Mini Break Crafting! Day 10 of 11

My mini break is almost over and we've just got two days left of crafts to show you. I reallly racked my brains in quick projects to whip up to show you so I brought on yet another felt brooch set! This time I'm reaching out to the colorful dog lovers out there with felt wiener pup:


I really enjoy the stitching on the dog's back and his little feet! I couldn't really decide on which colour to make so I made 3 to chose from! I really like the teal one myself:


Aha! What do you think? Which one to you like best?

Mini Break Crafting! Day 9 of 11

If you're a regular blogs reader of mine then I'm sure you know all about my love for plants and cacti! A while back when I visited my sister we had a great time making little sculpy charms and magnets and I made my mom a cute little cactus in a pot magnet! I liked him so much I thought i'd make a cactus brooch for the vacation crafts as well! Take a peek:


What a cutie! I really liked embroidering the little flower on there and I enjoy the colours of the pin. Of course, she's sporting some adorable wide set eye smile for added fun! What do you think?

Mini Break Crafting! Day 8 of 11

Holy crap this vacation of mine seems to be flying by! Today's craft is a felt take on my ever popular Albi the racist dragon magnets. Let me introduce you to the Albi and his friends the badly burned Albainian boy from the day before and the dragon tear turned rainbow jelly bean that put an end to racism:

Pretty fun hey? I've run out of my polymer clay magnets and am not sure when I'll get to making more. I do love sculpting but the painting is super time consuming..not that these felt guys were a quic k project (all that hand stitching takes time), but they were a blast to make. Take a looksie at the set with their friends from Flight of the Conchords:



What fun! And if you are't familiar with the characters I urge you to check out the short video where you meet them! What do you think?

Mini Break Crafting! Day 7 of 11

Day 7 of my vacation and yet another felt brooch for my mini break craft-a-thon! I'll be sure to post off my items in my shop when I get back from the US and hopefully everyone is enjoying my week of crafty blog posts! Today's project is an ode to Fraser's favourite animal, the fox:


Hello fox! I really like how this one turned out and that orange/red felt is just gorgeous! The pictures look a little saturated but the lighting wasn't ideal when I tried to take pictures of this guy. I really want to finish making that light box I've been putting off for a while and hopefully once we're back from vacation I'll be rested and ready to take on some big projects! In the meantime check out the close up of fox:


Oh I just love him! I really like how the colours pop on the background green too! What do you think? What's your favourite craft I've done for the mini break blog marathon?

Mini Break Crafting! Day 6 of 11

Well it looks like we're over halfway finished the cruise (and the mini break crafting marathon) so it's time to show you one of my favourite creations - squid brooch!


Hehe! Isn't he adorable? I do love me some wide set eye smiles and I am really fond of the nice rusty orange/red wool felt Fraser picked out in Victoria. I didn't have any embroidery cotton that was an exact match with the orange but because I was so pressed for time I decided to go with some thread that was a tinge lighter. I sort of like how it makes the handstitching stand out though. Take a closer look:


What do you think of him? Are you a fan of squid?

Mini Break Crafting! Day 5 of 11

The week continues with more felt brooches! I guess I'm a little predictable when it comes to "new exciting crafts I want to make". Alas. I've been dreaming about whales a lot lately and decided to make one to celebrate! Oh, except this little dude had a crown and mustache (so is a royal whale in disguise):


Not too bad for a pattern-less project if you ask me. The day before we left for vacation I was still frantically making projects to share with all of you and decided I'd wing a whale pin to throw in the batch. I definitely want to experiment with more whale designs in the future but for the time being I need your help! What do you think whale should be named?

Mini Break Crafting! Day 2 of 11

Hooray! Mini break crafting continues with day two's project - a totoro felt brooch! I absolutely love the little soot sprite pom pom friends I made a few weeks ago and thought I'd stick with the adorable fun of Studio Ghibili and make one of my favourite characters - Totoro! Take a peek:


Hehe! Isn't he a charming little bunny/cat thing? I sure think so! Just check out this close up:


Woo hoo! What a cutie with widely spaced eyes and everything! Stay tuned for more crafting fun tomorrow!

Mini Break Crafting! Day 1 of 11

Welcome to a wonderful week and a half of crafting adventures while I am away on my mini break cruising up the coast of California (woo hoo for both of us!). We'll start off with day 1 of Kate crafts with an awesome felt avocado brooch:


Yum! I love avocados and my sister recommended me make an avocado craft when I was asking her for inspiring suggestions. Fraser picked me up some more wool felt squares when he was in Victoria last week and I just couldn't wait to use the bright colours be picked out! Just check out that bright green/yellow pop with this close up pic:


Hooray! I'll be listing this brooch up in my etsy shop at some point (but perhaps when we get back if I can't get a reliable internet source). I also really enjoy the fact that I tried to open my vacation crafts up to all items beyond felt brooches but ended up making a ton of felt brooches anyways...can't mess with success right? Something like that...what do you think of him?

all the preparation!

As many of you may recall, after a mad last minute rush for my last big craft show I swore off crafting procrastination and promised myself I would be prepared for my next show a good week in advance! Well...that was a great idea in theory...but it didn't really turn out how I'd like it to. It is a mere three days until the big show (which I hope you are all coming to if you can) and I'm still tying together all the finishing pieces! I am much better off than I have been for previous shows (thanks to my hardcore crafting every spare moment since january) but I have learned one very important thing - you can never really be fully prepared for a craft sale! I've come to the sad realization that I cannot predict the future and actually have no idea how to be completely prepared for the unknown! What an unrealistic goal I set for myself. Alas. But let's focus on the positive here - I have managed to whip up a huge assortment of handcrafted goodies and will have a well stocked table for the spring sale! Hooray! Let's take a peek at a few felt items I made this past week:

1.) felt flower brooches! I originally made a few of these for xmas presents back in '09 and had such overwhelmingly positive feedback that I decided to break them into craft shows too! I whipped up 20 of these babies back in april for my very first craft show and...they didn't sell at all. Seriously - I think I sold a total of three over the last year. Rats. At my last fabulous finds show I ended up consignment selling all of my carefully handcrafted brooches to the super awesome shop funktional. I figured it was a good idea to whip up a new batch of these brooches since (list time):

a) brooches are back! And this time I'm not the only one saying it for the last two years. They are popping up all over the place and are totally due for a fashion comeback!

b) it's spring! and spring is all about pops of colour and flowers!

and

c) the super trendy kelowna shoppers will have spotted my felt brooches at funktional and will want to get the crafter direct sale price for these babies!

Hooray! Take a peek at the fabulous fresh spring colours they're available in:


Yay! But not to worry - I made a whole slew of flowers (in loads of colours) just in case they are a giant hit:


2) felt flower hair clips! I hinted about these last tuesday and luckily they turned even better than I was expecting! I really wanted to have a few items that were more spring and summer appropriate than all the tweed bags I had for my last show and figured wool felt hair clips were it! After all, I think they are awesome (always a good place to start right?) and I just bought a ton of wool felt squares from etsy (which, by the way, was an absolutely fantastic experience I totally recommend to any felt crafters)! Bring on the stacked felt flowers:


Here's a peek at the back of the clip too (notice my sneaky snap clip concealing) :


Hooray! And (of course) I made a ton of hair clips in an assortment of fun colours:


Woo! Now to figure out how much to price them at! What do you think?

3) felt flower hairbands! When I was looking for hair clips to use for my felt flowers I impulse bought a package of elastic hairbands and after watching 3 hours of petticoat junction followed by countless hours of elvis (can you believe I own 10 elvis movies?) I thought I'd whip up some higher price point hair accessories just in case they are a hit. Take a looksie:


What do you think? Certainly a springy bold accessory for the fashion forward right! As always I made an assortment to chose from:


I had a ton of fun making all the felt flower goodies and I really hope I get a good reaction for them at the show! I figure if they are a flop I will just have to become well known around town as "that girl who has 31 felt flower hair clips and 8 flower hairbands"! Perfect plan right?

Whew! I can't believe how much product I whipped up this past week! Now I just need to figure out how I want to showcase the items at my table and work on packaging! Oh and pricing! What do you think I should sell them for?

Friday Find: mayicarles

Yet another week has come where I find amazingly fabulous felt goodies to share with you! Etsy just seems to be an unlimited source for supremely awesome inspiration and products I totally drool over! Check out the fantastic felt goodness of mayicarles:


Oh my! I want every single item in her shop! The rich jewel tone (and eco friendly) felt is to die for! I'm not actually sure I'd be able to pull off some of the bold hairbands - but throw some of those flowers on a brooch and you've got me. She's even for some DIY kits for the crafters out there and a wicked blog for added projects and inspiration! Mayicarles' shop has also convinced me that I need to get my hands on some sweet high quality felt squares like the ones she uses for my next felt adventure! Anyone know any good felt sources?