wooly wednesday: gifted hearts
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Tag Archives: hearts
Doilies?
I have a collection of doilies, some that are crocheted by my mother (who will be 90-years-old on Feb 9th) and others (some mass-produced) that I have accumulated over time. I was ‘inspired’ to DO something with them. I often sharing quickie projects that are easily accomplished by beginners, both children and adults.
This little cutie (found on pinterest) has always tickled my fancy! It is a lovely ‘project’ on its own merit. They are very sweet simply hanging in a window or gathered together in a sheepy garland!
image via
But, since I have an overflow of farm-raised wool fleece at my fingertips, I came up with the idea of sandwiching (is that a word?) a crocheted doily between layers of wool and then wet felting them together. The wool and crochet lace/yarn provides another interesting facet and layer of texture. And you know I’m all about texture!!
I think I’m most fond of the black-faced sheep.
Naturally, you may embellish to your heart’s content… whatever little trinkets you have on hand in your stash/junk drawer. Buttons, ribbon, found jewelry bits, rusted hearts, beads, notions and so on and on. You may use felt for the face and legs detail, or needle felt a 3-D head for some sheep?
This time, I actually used a little clay to sculpt a head and hand-painted them with a little art paint. I stitched a vintage button to the ‘body’ and then glued the clay head to the button. But, you decide… they are your creations!
What a sweet gift for someone special on St. Valentine’s Day?? I love ewe sheep (with needle felted heart danglers)!?
Perhaps, a flock of colorful/hand dyed wool and locks would make a fun decoration for the sheepy-themed Easter tree?? Better get busy now!!
Happy fiber’n!
wooly wednesday: sheep love
dance with your sweetheart…
Hearts to you!
Share the love.
A quickie little project to decorate your home with love this Valentine’s Day.
I made this wee little heart pennant bunting to grace my light over the kitchen table. I’m nutz about this ‘holiday’.
How-To:
I cut little pennants from an old book page… a romance novel to be exact (hee hee). You could use ANY decorative paper, gift wrap, tissue paper – even colorful fabric scraps! Then, I used a heart punch to cut-out little hearts into each paper pennant (this may be difficult w/fabric). Next, I used a decorative tape (have you seen the large assortment in the crafts store scrapbook section?) to secure each paper pennant to a bit of baker’s twine – or yarn, or string… whatever you have on hand. You could also use a dab of glue. The idea is no fuss! Keep in mind, the scale of your project when you choose your twine.
Last, I added a quick brush-stroke of water color ( I ♥ water color paint) to ‘pretty’ the pennants. Ta Da! Perhaps you can get the kids involved to help!
This would be sweet to send to a friend in a love-note (via old-fashioned snail mail) to brighten their day… don’t you think?
Happy Sunday!
Scrappy Sheep Ornie
Anyone who visits, knows that I have a ‘thing’ for my sheepies. In all fairness, I love my goaties just as much – and really need to do MORE STUFF with a goat theme! lol
I don’t know where this week has gone? Just kind of flew by… I’ve been busy, but don’t seem to have much to show for it! (I’ve been working on another 3 dozen ‘soap in sheep’s clothing’ (aka felted soap!).
I’m hoping, even if you don’t have a ‘thing’ for sheep, you might take away some ideas/inspiration and apply it to your own ‘thing-y’ WHATEVER that may be?!
I’ve been hopelessly smitten by St. Valentine’s Day bUg since our XMas decorations came down. I made a few more ♥-shaped ornies.
You don’t have to be a serious scrap-booker to make these ornies. I was actually re-organizing a drawer of bits when I found some wood heart cut-outs (available at most craft stores). You could make ANY shape ornie from card stock.
I decided to use book pages from an old romance novel (it seemed apropos) and stained/aged them with coffee. (To give a vintage look to paper, spritz with a strong solution of instant coffee; place the paper on parchment paper in the oven on the lowest setting to dry. Once dry, you can iron the paper if you’re planning on running it through the printer.) Or, you could use sheet music or any decorative craft/wrapping paper.
Trace the heart onto the paper and cut it out… I also stamped a sheep onto the paper. Next, apply a coat of Mod Podge or dilute white craft glue to the wood heart and neatly place the paper onto the surface. Carefully smooth and remove any air bubbles. Apply another thin coat to the surface of the paper to seal.
Now comes the fun part… you can decorate with trim, lace, bits of this and that, buttons, glitter! Whatever suits your fancy. I used tissue paper hearts, bits of paper lace doily, pink sequins, ribbon and vintage lace. (I decorated front & back.)
I used ‘letters’ cut out from old magazines for little messages: love, ewe, bliss, etc. Some I cut and pasted; others, I used packaging tape to transfer the ink image from a magazine page onto my ornie.
I wanted simple & prim: ornie, gift tag, garland… for the sheep lover & fiber enthusiast.
I drilled a hole at the top and added a piece of twine to hang! I think this would be a fun project for the kids too!
Catch-up today
It’s been a busy weekend, more than usual. Matt was home for the weekend, Superbowl Party at my sister’s house, Mom’s 86th bday…besides cooking, cleaning, baking, Matt’s laundry, and all the regular barnyard chores…there’s little room (or energy) for anything else.
Since Matt was home, he mentioned he had a ‘little’ hole in the pocket of his wool coat. Little? It was a total blow-out…I suppose the result of stuffing a pencil in his pocket.
Oh well. Nothing that a little wool heart patch, a few hand-stitches and Fabri-Tac can’t handle! Besides, it’s not visible from the outside…hee hee!
I think I’ve just about exhausted my heart projects for February. Here’s a few hearts I made by simply bending some wire ~ into any size you desire ~ and covering/wrapping the wire with crape paper/paper streamers and finally applying a thin layer of Mod Podge.
A whole bunch hanging in the window would be sweet…sweet and simple! Well, I thought I was done with hearts…???
Idea notebook
I think I’ve mentioned once or twice ~ in the recent past ~ that I L-O-V-E St. Valentine’s Day! Perhaps it’s the helpless romantic in me…
The past week(s), we (Katie and I), have been displaying more that the usual ‘hearts’ around the house ~ including the window cling-on thingy’s that I’ve had since ‘my babies’ were babies!
For example…
a small heart-shaped dried artemisia wreath,
another artemisia wreath with tin heart hanger,
a heart pocket stitched from vintage velvet amongst some bobbins,
Cinnamon scented dough hearts hanging from my kids’ hand-dipped beeswax candles,
vintage tin heart cookie cutters…
I have so many more heart-felt projects in the works! Ahhhh…topiaries…
here’s the makings of heart-themed topiaries! Any ‘vessel’ or repurposed base will do. RE-think electric fence insulator, a fav stoneware pitcher, cinnamon stick, styrofoam heart form, hand-stitched heart…you know…dive into your stash…
I LOVE this idea from my herb hero, Emelie Tolley, Gifts from the Herb Garden. I’ve made lots of these over the years…OR…
a live topiary made with fresh flowers from your local florist. I just love the ‘topiary’ form! Re-purpose a bowl/pitcher, carve a piece of oasis to fit, add a few long-stemmed flowers (use a dowel if necessary to stabilize) and wrap the stems with pretty ribbon. Add moss at the base! Don’t forget to water! Simply sweet!
Embellish a live topiary with cut-out hearts or hand-made stitched/woolies!
Still more ideas…I love this page I saved from an old issue of Country Living.
The cake toppers are too sweet! Paper/felt hearts, wooden skewers, beads…more lavender sachets, re-decorated heart-shaped candy boxes!
Here’s something I just finished working on…
I made several mini-polymer clay hearts for embellishing hand-mades (I’ll probably list on etsy)! Want a closer look?
Oh, YOU like the sheepie!??? I actually made these in my kiln a few years ago for a project…
I should make more of these itty bitty sheep…
I hope this inspires you to make some hearts for – or with – your special loved ones!
Now, I better get back to work!!!
I’ve got that lovin’ feelin’
Photo by FindStuff2
Don’t ya think this world could use a little (O.K. a lot) more of that lovin’ feelin’ ??!!
So, today’s heart project is…
Ta da…. a small heart pinkeep stitched from recycled wool and embellished with needle felted sheep and heart dangler…AND
…a small 3-D needle felted wool heart. I added seed beads to thin floral wire and attached it to the heart as a hanger. Then I stamped ‘LOVE’ on a bit of paper and attached a vintage button.
I like the idea that you can hang it over a knob or something. A sweet little token of one’s l o v e!
But wait, that’s not all…
I finished this red ditty bag – RED is my fav color – and I’m soooo trying NOT to needle felt a sheep on it!!!!!!
Then, I modified my hang tag on my sachet from yesterday…it was tooooo big! Did ya know I’m a stamp collector~~~ postage stamps that is??? I’ve been saving cancelled postage stamps since FOR-EVER! They’re beautiful little works of art, not to mention all the stamps I’ve collected from foreign countries that I would dream of visiting some day.
I found the perfect L-O-V-E stamp!!! Well, what else were you expecting???
I’ve been think’n about offering a class to make the 3-D needle felted heart! A simple Make ‘N Take. Think what fun it would be to embellish…to your hearts desire!!! hee hee
Sheepy Hollow Farm 