Merry Christmas

Hi Folks

Hope you are all doing well and enjoying the build up to the silly season! I've been working far too much at the 'day 'job and not getting enough of my 'good for the soul' job done! So I don't have much to show you at the moment but I can't wait to get lots done in January as it's holidays!

I made a couple of ornaments for my workmates (or primped up some plain balls from last year, whatever! lol) They look pretty good so here's some pics!

I've already started on my first holidays bear so looking forward to finishing him. I hope to be studing toward my Bachelor of Teaching degree next year so not sure how much of this I will get done after Febuary!

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all, enjoy your holidays no matter how long or short they may be! Enjoy your friends and family and take some time out for yourself. It's so good for you to sit back and just soak up the love and happiness around you at this time of year!

Much love to all

Liza

It's almost Christmas!

Hi Everyone!

Well the day job is very much getting in the way of my creative juices! I have some pics to show you of my last 2 creations, but they were made ages ago and I just hadn't had time to upload them for you!

Binky Bunny is needle felted from a gorgeous multi plum coloured romney wool
He has pink toes and a polymer clay nose which I painted to match! :o)

Delilah took forever to make, she ended up rather big and was felted from merino x batts which I find take a lot longer to felt down!

I'm really pleased with how she turned out tho, the Living Felt batts come in such great colours, I used them for her toe pads etc too!

She is about 4.5 inches tall, rather big for me, but she feels so great to hold, a nice chunky bear! I'm really pleased with her. The colouring isn't nearly as bright as the pictures suggest, it's a much deeper colour!

So apart from these fine creations, I have done 1 christmas decoration and one santa head decoration. And I have yet to take pics of the little bear I made while sitting on my tush at the last show! Must do that!

I'm heading into withdrawal territory as I am not home much at the moment and I'm itching to get my hands on something new and wonderful. But should really be planning my creations for presents, don't feel like plannin, feel like freelancin! lol

Hope you are all enjoying the build up to christmas. If I weren't in retail I might enjoy it more, but we don't get much time to think this time of year, earning extra money but no time to spend it! Guess it's late night shopping for me! Catch you again soon!

Tauranga Show

Ok, so the show was not that great. Unfortunately there were no bear people there, I'm not sure if it was due to the advertising and the fact that 'bear' was not in the title of the show which was called the Tauranga Dolls and Collectibles Fair. There were not many people through the doors at all from what I could see, which made for a rather long day! I thought the table looked great tho!

Here's me, at the table!
This is the Left end of the table

Middle of the table

More of the middle including xmas decos and Abner in his fancy chair!

My sister Sarah at the left end of the table!

While we didn't do very well in sales, it was a great experience for me as I had to do my first real drive out of town, and up a fairly decent mountain as well! The car did well, so did my nerves in the end! So now it's time to list lots of bears on ebay, check out *little*handfuls* on ebay to see what's there and pick up something marked down just in time for christmas!

Tiddles the Cat

Now who wouldn't love a sweet little kittie like this one if he came mewing at your door? :o)

Tiddles turned up smooching around the feet of some of my bears the other day and I couldn't help but take him in! He is felted from the most gorgeous mix of autumn colours!

He has cute pink toes and a big round belly
I love his little nose and whiskers!

Isn't he sweet?

I think Tiddles can stay for a while, at least until the next show which is just in a few weeks! I hope you enjoyed meeting him! :o)

Bearbits is having a Giveaway!

Check out this gorgeous little bear, she is being given away on the BearBits blog, go and check it out!

http://bearbits.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-fall-giveaway.html

A fuzzy new bear has arrived!

Hi Everyone!

Today I wanted to introduce you to a rather rare addition to the Little Handfuls Hug. Lewis is one of the very few furry bears I have ever made and he is a true one of a kind little fellow! Along with his furry coat, he is also weighted with steel shot and is larger than many of my other bears at 5 inches tall!

Lewis is felted from a gorgeous NZ dyed corriedale in dusky blue

He feels so sweet to hold!

Look at those toes! They turned out great!

He has lovely big eyes and shaded accents help give him his unique look.
My daughter Amber was home and wanted to get in on the shoot! (usually it's a dog or a cat that tries to steal the show! lol) Amber is 8 and I can say quite happily that she truly loves my little bears!

Dip your Tootsies in the Little Handfuls pool!

Hi Everyone!

How are you all? I hope everyone in the cold is keeping warm, and all those in the heat are keeping cool! :o) As for me, I'm in the wet and trying to keep dry! lol

I've been spending far too much time at my 'real job' lately and haven't gotten anything finished in ages! (peace felt doesn't count as I pretty much finished it a month ago!) This little bear was started weeks ago and because it was such slow going working with this ultra fine merino I put it aside and was not tempted to finish it in my rare spare moments!

I finally got it done tho and I'm really pleased with the results! Here is Tootsie!

Yup, those are tootsies! :o)

Don't you love that little face.
Keeping the fibre amounts in scale was really tricky, so the feet ended up rather large! Now who's to say that's a mistake!!

Such a thoughtful little bear!

I hope you enjoyed visiting Tootsie and thank you so much for dropping by!

Peace Felt

Hi Everyone

Some of you may have heard about the Peace Felt project which has been running for the last month or so. Today/yesterday (depending on your timezone) was the official day of Peace and felters from around the world have been creating works from their hearts and souls with the vision of peace being their inspiration.

These wonderful pieces of art are then posted forward, to someone they have never met! In this way it is a circle of giving with no comparisons or disappointment, just giving and receiving with the peaceful spirit of sharing as it was intended.

I have really enjoyed making my piece. What I wanted to do was to create something that embodied peace in two ways, World Peace and Peace Within. I guess this is because, for myself, finding my inner peace is often difficult! I am always dashing about, thinking of the next thing I am doing, and worrying about everything all the time. This figure epitomises inner peace for me, and I hope that the lady I am posting it to will feel some of that also!

Here you can see Australia and New Zealand along with my tag.

I tried to get a few other countries on there too, as close to their shapes as I could!

Thanks so much for dropping by!

Midnight the Moon Fairy Bear

Hi Everyone!

Well It's been nose back to the grind stone for me! I have so many orders at the moment I'm having trouble keeping up! But this little fellow was rather tempting and I got rather 'in the zone' with him and just kept working and working until he was done! So thanks to my lovely repeat customers for giving me these inspirational pieces to create! This one is therefore made to order so he is already sold! (awwwwwww sorry folks! lol)

Midnight is needle felted from black alpaca fibre which I blended together with some gorgeous, sparkly glitz fibres!

I attached these lovely polymer clay wings to his back which were made by a friend of mine!

Midnight has lovely 'gems' for his toepads with the bigger one being a heart shape!

Don't you just love this little eyes! I used a metallic thread in silver for his nose and other features!

Hope his new Mum will like him, he was inspired by the water fairy I did recently too apparently! So if you like the idea of a unique fairy just drop me a line at littlehandfuls@ihug.co.nz and let me know what tickles your fancy! :o)

Happy crafting all!

Liza

And the winner is.......

Hi Folks

Well I did the drawing for our winner tonight so I have a name for you. And I wanted to let you all know what the mystery fibre is too!

As I mentioned no one was getting it right, until we had one post from Jemma who got it right! The mystery fibre is..............

Rayon!

I had thought it was incredible when I found it but had no idea no one else had seen such a fibre before either! It really feels like merino, but it does felt up a bit differently, more like cotton! Actually that's what the little coloured bits are too, cotton!

Cindy was the next closest when she guessed Plastic, so well done to both of you!!

Ok

So the winner of Peaches is.......

Samantha Cummings

Samantha, I am pleased to send you my little bear! I also loved the comment that Samantha made in one of her posts: I'm going to say I think Peaches is made of magic!

I got a few other comments like this which I thought were so fun.

Laura thought she was made of cotton candy
GemZ said she was made of 'wool and dreams of my childhood'!
And Angelique sent in a lovely message which was a joy to read, she also said that her guess was Fairy Dusted Angel Hair! lol

So I hope you all had fun, I certainly did and I loved hearing from you all! I intend to run another giveaway and perhaps have a few extra little prizes next time so I hope you will all keep checking back and following my work!

Many, many thanks to all of you for your time and support!

Liza

Attention class, please make Laney feel welcome!

Hi Everyone!
Well the giveaway is now closed, I hope to collate everyones entries and make the drawing before the end of the week so stay tuned for that! In the mean time please meet the gorgeous little ballet student I created for my daughters ballet teacher!

Laney is wearing her correct dance uniform of burgandy leotard, pink socks and ballet slippers! Her hair is in a neat bun with a burgandy ribbon. She stands on her wooden dance floor, just like the real one!

She was needle felted over many, many hours in corriedale and merino wools

Her hair is a gorgeous merino/silk fibre with a soft fringe.
Just look at her little pink cheeks!


Here you can see her little bun, her feet are in 'first position' so her legs are jointed in a unique way as this position requires her heels to meet!

Laney can also do the splits!

She is over 4 inches tall and probably my most ambitious works for a long time!

I hope you enjoyed meeting her as much as her teacher is enjoying having her in class! lol

Giveaway Closing Soon!

Hi Everyone! Just a quick reminder that the giveaway for Peaches will be ending on 22 August! I have received so many posts and guesses about what she could be made of! I have to say that only one person has guessed right, so I have withheld that post to tempt you all to keep guessing! Wow, I did say it was a mystery fibre but I didn't realise how much of a mystery it would be! I will give you one clue, it is NOT an animal fibre!!

So happy guessing to all and I will let you know when the drawing is done for our winner!

Introducing a gorgeous new bear! Suki!

Hi everyone!
Yes, I have another bear to show you. This little sweetie is Suki. She is felted from a lovely pastel, hand dyed corriedale wool which turned out so nicely! The purple is a lovely warm shade which I found so hard to get in just the right shade!

She has lovely big eyes and a perfect little magenta coloured nose and features.

Not sure how I ended up with a bow this colour but it just worked for her!

Check out that cute little face!

Could she look any more innocent? :o)

This time it wasn't the cat who decided he needed to sit with me. This is my 10 yr old girl Bonnie and she is very jealous of all the beary attention! What a poser! hehe

Hope you enjoyed seeing my new little friend!

Happy crafting!!

Liza

Meet Castello

Hi all, hope life is treating you well!

I just wanted to quickly introduce you to one of my new bears, this is Castello! He is needle felted from two gorgeous purply wools!

The darker colour is a lovely merino/silk blend and I just love his big toes

His nose is embroidered in a random dyed silk which really suits him!

Bye bye, thanks for visiting Castello! :o)