Felted Zoo

Last Sunday, a few of my friends and I met up at Timothy's for an afternoon of crafting. (Thank you to all the indulgent staff who allowed us to occupy one of their tables for 4 hours. We were definitely a source of curiosity and entertainment for the other customers.)

My friends decided to try their hand at felting so I pulled out my stash of unworked wool and needles. After teaching them the basics, we spent 4 hours stabbing at our little balls of fluff, coaxing them into shape. I was delighted to discover that this is a great get-together-and-learn-something- new activity because the basic skills are easy to pick up, its not messy, and the results look good even if you are a beginner.

That happy whale up above was the handiwork of my friend, Emily. Have a look at some in-progress pictures:

First, the body is formed.

It is taking shape.

The white blended smoothly into the blue layer so the smile doesn't look tacked on.

There were four of us and so we each worked on our own project. You can see Emily's whale on the bottom left. The tiny, adorable elephant in the middle bottom is Allison's creation. The fluffy sheep on the bottom right is my friend Maria's handiwork. The unfinished, eye-less giraffe in the back is mine.

This is probably a better picture of our work but it also reveals the remains of our lunch in the back. However, this is the first time that I did crafting in a coffee shop and I can see why it is so appealing.

So again in September, gals? :)

Baby Showers! So Cute...

Two weeks ago, a friend had a baby shower. My sister and I bought her a plush giraffe with a matching blanket. We found out from my friend’s sister-in-law that the gift would match their nursery which had a large giraffe sticker on the wall. Well, to make it a complete matching set,  of course I had to make a giraffe card to go with it!

I copied the giraffe from a baby shower card I saw on the internet. Animals and pastel colours are the staple of baby-related paraphernalia. I can see why: the combination is so adorable!  The next time I draw a cartoon for a card though, I'll be sure to use a thicker pen for the outlines. I used a thin line sharpie the first time and then tried to thicken things with a brush pen. I have mixed feelings about the result. I coloured the giraffe in with coloured pencil and keenly felt my lack of practise. The finished image was not as smooth as I would have liked however, I do like the blended colours. Overall, I am quite pleased with how cute he is. I added a stamped sprig of leaves to balance things out.

I used Disney font for the words and freehanded them. If I had planned things out a little better, I would have left a wider yellow strip on the left. Luckily, I could still get everything to fit properly on the card. Lesson learned: plan out card before gluing any of the elements down.

I am fond of cards that open horizontally. 

A stamped element inside the card livens things up doesn't it?

The previous two pictures were scanned but these two were taken by my camera.

I think my card looks a little better in the photos than the scans because you cannot see the subtle imperfections. (Ah, the wonders of a little lack of clarity ; P)

Materials: Pastel yellow cardstock, white cardstock, green with white polka dots acid free paper from the amy tangerine® American Crafts™ paper pad,

Tools:  scissors, ruler, Exacto knife, Recollections™ clear stamps, coloured pencils, Martha Stewart Crafts™ stamps

Time to Make: 2.5 hours

I had not pulled out my card making supplies in a while and so I was a little surprised to see how much I had. I really should not be since I bought it all *grin*. Clearly, this is a sign I really need to craft more to bring down my stash.