Upcycled Wearables in GreenCraft Magazine

I just received the latest issue, Winter 2010, of GreenCraft Magazine in the mail today. It's full of creative ideas for repurposeing everything from junk mail to old leather jackets!

A couple of my repurposed, felted wool sweater projects are featured in the Green Craft Walking section on page 96.

The model is holding one of my Emily mini-totes and wearing one of my felted flower brooches.

You can follow the instructions in the issue to try your hand at making your own felted flower brooch. Or have a look at the many choices of flower styles and colors available in my shop, FeltSewGood.

I find GreenCraft Magazine and other Stampington Publications at my local Barnes and Noble and at craft stores like Jo-Ann. Or they can be ordered online.

Work in Progress

Yesterday I set up my dining room table as my cutting table and organized and cut out enough projects to keep me busy sewing for a while! Here are a few photos of what I am working on today.

Several new handbags should be complete and listed in the shop
next week.

I'll also have some new zippered pouches, including a new design, if all goes well!

I've been wanting to incorporate some leather and/or suede into my felted wool purse designs, so I've been experimenting with pieces of a repurposed suede skirt. I purchased sewing machine needles made specifically for sewing leather but so far I've just done a few tests.

And I found a few brightly colored wool sweaters in what I thought would be great flower colors, so I've started a new batch of felted flower brooches. All these projects will definitely keep me occupied for the next few days!

Snowflakes!

Snowflakes - by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Out of the bosom of the Air,

Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,

Over the woodlands brown and bare,

Over the harvest-fields forsaken,

Silent, and soft, and slow

Descends the snow.

A fresh coat of snow overnight was the inspiration for my search of "snowflakes" on Etsy. Here is a simple collage of a few of my favorite items with a snowflake theme. Clockwise from the upper left photo:

a collage sheet of real snowflake photos from 1900, from piddix

child size felted wool mittens with snowflake pattern from my own shop, FeltSewGood

vintage snowflake brooch, from DesiredSimplicity

snowflake motif wedding invitations, from rgbcolor

Have a look at these items and more in the shops of these Etsy artisans and sellers!

Hearts for Your Valentine!

I've been working on some new Valentine and heart themed goodies for my Etsy shop. As I've mentioned before, hearts are one of my favorites shapes to work with and I've come up with a few new ways to incorporate them in my felted wool projects.

I'll have a shop update on Monday, January 25th with new Heart Felt brooches in Valentine colors and some other new Heart Felt items.

Craftivism for Haiti

Some very generous organizers, artists and crafters have come together to raise money to help the people of Haiti. They've organized online auctions and opened Etsy shops with donated handcrafted items with proceeds from the sales going to Doctors Without Borders, Red Cross International Response Fund and other relief organizations. I wanted to share what I'm sure are just a few of these online groups. There's more information on Etsy artists Craftivism on Etsy's Handmade Blog, the Storque.

This photo of a woman in Haiti, taken before the disastrous earthquake, is from the Etsy shop HelpHaiti. All the proceeds from this shop go to Project 81.

Hearts for Haiti is an Etsy collective of donated items from hundreds of Etsy shops to raise money to rebuild Haiti. Proceeds from this shop go to Doctors Without Borders.


Craft Hope is another Etsy shop full of beautiful donated items from the crafting community. Proceeds from the Craft Hope Etsy shop go to Doctors Without Borders. You can find out more from the Craft Hope website.

Indie Fixx is holding a silent auction of items that have been donated by indie crafters, artists and designers. Proceeds go to the Red Cross International Response Fund. More details on the Indie Fixx website.

In just a few days these shops and auction have already raised a lot of money. Be sure to check out these sites for more info or to purchase or donate an item. And I'd love to know about other efforts you are a part of, or know about!

Featured from the Etsy Bloggers Team : : Nico Designs

The Featured Blogger, from the Etsy Bloggers Team, for the month of January is Nico Designs! Erika loves to sew and features handbags and accessories in her Etsy shop. And new to her shop are some art dolls and home accessories. Here are a few of my favorites:

a pretty envelope clutch in pinks and magenta,

Love Pears, plush pears in red prints would make a cute Valentine's Day gift,

Savannah, the Horse Lover art doll,

and a graphic black and white tote bag

And of course, being a member of the Etsy Bloggers Team, Erika has a lovely blog of her own. On her blog, Designs by Nico, she blogs about her craft, and the business of handmade, and has shared lots of great tutorials. Be sure to stop by and say hello!

Stay Warm and Cozy!

It looks like winter is going to stick around for a while, so to help keep you warm, I've listed some new warm and cozy scarves and mittens in the shop!

All my mittens are made from felted, upcycled wool sweaters. Felting, or fulling, the wool makes it more dense so these cute mittens should help keep your hands warm!

And they come in adult sizes and kid sizes.

Let me know if you are looking for a certain color - I love custom orders!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

We've been experienceing very cold temperatures here in Indiana, and today we got some snow to go along with the winter chill.

I love it when the snow sticks to the tree branches and turns everything into a winter wonderland!

A view down the street.

The garden covered in snow.

My butterfly bush looks like it has cotton balls stuck to the frozen leaves.

The snow looks pretty for a while, but I really don't like the cold. Is it too early to be wishing for a Spring thaw?!

Refresh and Reorganize!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Everything is just about back to normal around here. I was a little under the weather last week but, now I'm finally getting all the Christmas decor packed away until next year, and doing a little cleaning and reorganizing along the way. I thought it would feel good to start the new year (and new decade!) with cleaner closets, drawers and cabinets. I'm not done, mind you! I've just gotten a good start.

I've also been sewing and trying to restock my Etsy shop after the holiday shopping, so I started with some craft reorganizing.

I started with my craft closet and sewing cabinet, organizing thread, sweaters and fabric by color. Now I've moved on to some filing of paperwork and magazines that I had put off far too long. Our home office is starting to look better and I can use the desk top again!

Next I need to work on my clothes closet. It will be great to start out the new year refreshed and reorganized. I found great organizing tips and solutions at MarthaStewart.com/organizing. You can even sign up for an organizing tip-of-the-day!