How did he get those cheeky cheeks? :)

Have you been trying to needle felt some cute bunnies but just can't get those cheeky cheeks right?  Here's a quite little 'how to' for you!

After you've felted the ball for his head, pull and mix the fibre for both cheeks.  Once mixed split into two balls and work back and forth, felting them down to the same size.

Here I've shown you how much the ball has shrunk as I've felted to give you an idea how much fibre to use for the cheeks.  It does shrink down a lot.  Don't felt them too hard though, just firm.

To attach the balls hold them both in place and 'tack' them on with a few deep pokes to check you are happy with placement.  If they look ok carry on.  Work slowly 

I'm happy with the placement so change down to a finer needle to keep working the cheeks until they are firmer and well attached.  As you work, keep the needle on the angle above, like you are felting one ball into the other.  This way you won't end up with a gap between them.

Want to needle a nose too?  Just take a smaller amount of fibre, felt into a firm ball and then attach, poking downward so that it sits snugly on the cheeks with no gaps.

I just love the way these turn out, they are also great for other animals like cats and dogs!

I hope you enjoyed this quick 'how to'. Stay tuned for more and feel free to make a request if you need help with anything.

You can also join our subscriber group over on facebook at just $10usd a month.  Live classes, and lots of fun.  Click here to visit my fb page  for more info.

 

Handfuls of Handfuls! :o)

Hi Everyone! Hope all is well in your world!! Sun is shining, birds are singing, kids are behaving (none of the above? Sounds like my world then! lol)

We are right into winter now, it's always very wet where we live, notorious for wet winters, damp, windy springs, humid summers and stormy autums! Sound fab to you? Lets do a houseswap then!! :) I'm soooooooo over it!!

So while I'm pouring cough syrups down my 8 yr old and trying to keep socks on my 4 yr old I've somehow managed to do some bears as well! (I've given up telling my 11 yr old what to do, he apparently is the most hard done by kid in the world, fancy not getting to play computer games all day, oh the horror!!)

But I digress!!

Here is Kenneth! He is felted from a very interesting Alpaca fibre, it's much coarser than my lighter coloured alpacas but it's a nice teddy colour!

He's well dressed in his vest and 'tie'

I've realised I should photograph my bears in hand slightly differently, looks good!
This is Max, he is felted in a neat romney hand dyed blend!

I do love my unique hand dyed wools!

CandyFly is felted for an order, not sure if she is up to the customers expectations yet, but she has turned out ok.

Very girly isn't she?

Ben is my current favourite. If felted him in Ashfords new Spice coloured merino/silk.

I did his head nice and round and it gives him a neat little teddy look!



Hope you enjoyed visiting my latest furry friends! I have something very cheerful and fun on the way soon (touch wood) so hope to show you that very shortly!

New Friends

Hi Everyone! Time to share some new work with you all! Winter is settling in and we are in for frosty mornings, ice on the windscreen and lots of blankies at night!

I HATE WINTER!!

So I will pretend it's not here as much as I can, and sit creating some friendly folk to keep me company! :o)

Meet some of my new friends:

This is Squeekers! My first felted rat! He has lovely long limbs and a long pink tail!

Pippin is felted in a gorgeous imported wool blend, its really different!

Magnus was created during my last felting class, the girls did really well with their creations too. Magnus was sold as soon as class finished to one of the school locals! :o) He is the best standing bear I have made and I hope his name sake will love him!

This little fellow is very bright in Living Felt Merino batts!

Ashley is felted in a natural wool, I loved the random cream and brown ash colouring!

Well, that's it from me this week! I do have some more Momiji/Kokeshi dolls to share tho! Stay tuned for those!

Happy crafting,

Liza

It's Hippo time!!

Hi all! Hey, is anyone else getting loads of Anonymous comments on their blog? They are driving me MAD, keep thinking I'm getting a nice comment from someone and it's just a spammer! Know how to stop it?? I would love to find out!!

On a far nicer note, we have some new additions in the Little Handfuls Den. Please welcome Henrietta, she is my first ever Hippo and I am so pleased with how she has turned out. I wasn't sure what accessories she needed when she was made, she sat 'naked' on my desk for a few days and then it struck me! She is a perfect little Ballerina and I do hope you all like her!!

Then we have Lacey, she was created for the up coming Doll and Bear show as they have a Lavender and Lace theme this year! I made her little hat and coat from a pattern which was supposed to be enlarged for a much bigger bear! :o) Worked out really well.

So I hope you enjoy checking them out and I always look forward to hearing from you!

Kindest regards

Liza

Henrietta is felted from a gorgeous hand dyed Merino

She is so nicely sculpted!

Lacey is felted from a Merino/silk blend with lavender embroidery

New Baby Panda

Please welcome our latest addition to the Little Handfuls Den!!

Penny Panda

Penny is felted in gorgeous merino/alpaca. It is lovely to work with and gives a very good finish.

She is wearing her little diaper and bonnet, has a heart belly button and her little pacifier is tied around her wee wrist!

She has the most expressive eyes and is one of my bigger creations at 4 inches tall.

Penny is just adorable and will probably stay in the den a long time! lol

Hope you enjoyed visiting her!

Happy New Year to all!!