Shabby Rose Fairies/Santa Ornaments

I’ve posted these many times over the years, to show you what I’m offering for Christmas sales. I won’t be posting all the fairies here, but I’ll show you two examples of this years versions. I made 24 for this season, half of them are wearing beaded slippers, the other half are wearing ice skates. Below are the Felt Santa ornaments. There are 12 of them, but I’ll just post two samples here.

The Artisans Show/Sale starts this Saturday and runs through Dec.14th. The times and location are on the main page of my website. Enjoy  

A Mash Up to End the Year

I’ve been working on a number of things and am well behind in posting here. I’ve made ornaments for the gallery, a small commission and some things for my own holiday decor. A bit of a long post, but better that than complaints that I post too often..?? Oh well…

First up at these Winter Rose Fairies. They are an adaption of the Shabby Rose Fairies I usually make. I made little snow globes for them to hold, and nice warm hats and scarves for those winter winds.

Next are the 12 Days of Christmas. These designs are made using the patterns from Larissa over on MMMCrafts. CLICK HERE.  Larissa has used the traditional way of numbering the ornament (who knew there was a different version of numbering them), so if you decide to make them, be aware that you will have to change the numbering if you want the version that is more widely known.

Along with the 12 Days of Christmas, Larissa included 3 bonus designs. One with the Partridge, one with the Geese a Layin and the last with the Lords a Leapin. So there is an egg, a heart and a pear. These ones are on my tree. They are so easy to make and a great way to use up those felt scraps that build up in a basket if you’re like me and love working with felt. ;o)

Another project I did for our Christmas decor. are these cute little Snowman coasters and Candle Mat. This is a design by Penny Lane Primitives. CLICK HERE. There are some really nice designs there suitable for many occasions. This set only took me a few days to do. I wasn’t at it non stop, but it’s very quick stitching you can do while watching tv.

The next thing is a stocking. I had one for hubby and one for the cat (of course), and just finished this one for me this year.The inside is lined with a pretty cotton print covered in male and female cardinals. The pattern does not call for lining, but I’m a detail person and just had to line them. Cheswick Company has a wonderful collection of stocking patterns. You don’t even need to fill them (they are between 18” and 22” long), that would take a lot of stuffing. ;o) But Cathy has tons of ornaments, tree skirts, prim dolls and more for all seasons. CLICK HERE

And the last picture is that of a small doll ornament. A couple bought one of my Tiny Dancers and after leaving the gallery, realized they should have bought something for the other granddaughter. So they contacted me and gave me some details of what they had in mind. This granddaughter loves basketball, has brown eyes and brown hair. So how to make this work. I had wanted to get a mini basketball for the doll to hold under her arm. Not enough notice or time for that, so I came up with a different idea.

I would have her sitting on a basketball. I found a soft foamy kind of ball at the $$ store and it worked out just great. I made some basketball shoes suitable for an 11 year old little girl and a little added bling. I also added a Santa Hat. When they came, they said I captured her just perfectly, so yay…good news. The End….

5 Gold Rings

Well, in this case, 2. I’m a bit out of order making these 12 days of Christmas ornaments, but I was intrigued with how Larissa designed the pattern pieces to go together for this ornament. She’s a very clever designer for sure. 

I think most of us would have drawn a circle on double thickness fabric and called it a ring. ;o) But not Larissa, she made it a creative challenge to make these, not hard at all, just very clever.  I’ve added a charm to each as well that is in the shape of 5 gold rings.

I’ve decided to focus on a collection of gift type items for the shop and not so much in the way of dolls. I will make one set of dolls, but very simple ones. I wanted to change things up this year and see what the response is to smaller things that would be good stocking stuffers or even just for themselves, and things that are functional as well as decorative.

So from now until we decorate the shop, that’s what I’ll be doing, then finish my last order of the year. More pictures coming soon, I do have more made, but am trying to space things out a little…

The Partridge and the Pear

Here we go with more ornaments. and there will be lots more coming.  This post is to show you the Partridge and the Pear. These are from MMM Designs on Etsy.  Larissa is adding to the 12 days of Christmas set over time. Hopefully by fall, she will be at #6 and that’s probably all she’ll be doing for this year.

I will be making two of each for the tea shop and when I’m all done with Christmas doings, one of each for our tree.

Here you go. I love making these felt ornaments, you can mix and match the colours, they don’t have to be matchy matchy as Heidi Klum would say. ;o)) I changed the eyes in the first one to seed beads. Somehow the french knot eyes just disappeared, so I brought them back with seed beads. You can compare the two photo’s and see what you think.

I’ve added matching charms to each one as well…

Enjoy, and I’ll be back soon with more.

Winter Blossoms & Wind Flowers

During the last couple of weeks I’ve been planting some fall/winter veggies. Fortunately our climate is such, that we can get a few things to grow over the colder temps. because we don’t get as cold as the rest of Canada. I was able to put in a couple of types of broccoli, 2 types of onions, some chard and a variety of lettuce and of course the miracle greens, Kale.

For those who like kale, I’ve been growing Russian Red kale, it’s milder than the rest and good either raw or steamed.  Even when we do get a bit of snow, they still survive because the temperature warms up just enough.

We’re kind of protected in this little spot. That’s not to say, I wouldn’t love to have that white stuff fall from the sky a little bit and some colder temps. to keep us humble. We’ve been know to mow lawns in early December. I know, it sounds awful to those who suffer for 6 months or more during cold seasons, but I have no control over the weather, and just extremely grateful to live where I do.

And so it begins, the Christmas crush has begun. I’ve gone into my head down mode from now until December. Other than one order for the end of this month, everything else I’m working on is Christmas.

The first thing I wanted to get done to get me in the mood, are these oh so pretty felt ornaments. The designs are by American Homestead. If there is time after everything else is done, I will make more of these. They are really eye catching and I’m not lacking tons of colour options of felt.

I used buttons in the center (who doesn’t have tons of buttons) and I added a little Christmas charm to each one. Instead of French knots, I substituted beads. Aren’t these pretty, I just have to make more now that I’m seeing them posted. ;o) Except for the last one which is traditional Christmas type colours, the rest I wanted to experiment with bright and bold colours, and I’m liking them.

This is a very short post today, but I’ll have more to show soon.