Upcoming Valentine's Day Arts and Crafts Show at the Westport Flea Market in Kansas City Missouri Features Handmade Creations for your Sweetheart!

I will be a vendor at this local upcoming event.  Join myself and several other handmade artisans at the Westport Flea Market on Saturday, February 13th, from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M.  It is the ideal place to buy something for those that you love or just a little something special for yourself!  I will be selling my handmade needle felted heart jewelry there as well as my needle felting kits and new line of note cards and tags.  There will also be some of my nuno felted scarves and other fashion accessories available.  Click here for driving directions, a list of vendors, and complete event details.  I hope to see you there!

I'm very proud to now be a part of 1000Markets!

If you are an artist or crafter, you may have already heard of the online site 1000Markets. It is an extraordinary online sales venue for high quality, handcrafted items from art to jewelry to wearables to food, and so on. It is also a juried site with an amazing design layout that represents top quality artists. I am beyond thrilled to have been accepted there as one of their artisans! My new 1000Markets shop just opened today. It will house my couture lines of hand felted scarves, jewelry, and other wearable pieces. I have great expectations for 1000Markets and am extremely excited to be part of the site and the community there. Please visit my new shop often as I will be adding handcrafted products weekly.

Stripes, Dots, Swirls, and Solids - A Big Variety of Handmade Felted Wool Beads

I just finished this batch of round felted wool beads over the weekend. I created them individually through a combination of both needle felting and wet felting so quite a lot of time went into the almost 100 beads seen in the photo. There's a big variety of black and white beads that have swirls, stripes, and dots. I also made some matching solid colored beads. I think the polka dot style in both black and white are my personal favorite. It is very tempting to keep all of them and just display them in a big glass bowl, but most likely, some will be sold for supplies in my Etsy shop once it reopens after the baby is born. I will probably use some in my own jewelry creations as well. For now, they certainly make a pretty picture! (At least I think so.....)

Sea Urchin Eye Candy for Friday

Yesterday while browsing Etsy, I saw a beautiful sea urchin necklace on the front page by staroftheeast. (Honestly, I don't remember the exact necklace so the link is to a random one from staroftheeast's shop.) I'd never really thought of sea urchins as being objects of beauty to be treasured, but this piece of jewelry certainly was. I am not really one to wear jewelry either; yet, I knew that I'd happily wear that piece. It is stunning and unique. After that encounter, I searched Etsy to see what I could find with a sea urchin theme. Above, you can see a few of the lovely items that I came across. It almost makes me wish that I lived near the ocean so that I could search for natural beach treasures to include in my works.

The Funky Felter is sponsoring a giveaway contest at PoshMama.com! It is your chance to win a set of felted hearts (ring, pendant, and hairpins)!

Capitolagirl on Etsy contacted me last week to be a giveaway sponsor for a site that she moderates and writes for called PoshMama. I thought it would be a great way to introduce myself to the PoshMama community so I was happy to fulfill her request. The giveaway item is a felted heart set. It is a complete jewelry set of turquoise needle felted hearts. You can see them in the photo above. If you are interested in participating in the contest, click here and follow the instructions at the end of the "Friday Finds" article. Please don't leave your comments here to enter, you need to visit the PoshMama site to do that. Also, if you don't already have an account with PoshMama, there is a simple signup process to go through, but I think that a chance at winning my felted heart set is worth the signup time!

Funky's Fiber Artist Spotlight on Art Mind! A fellow artist and Etsy seller!

I've resolved to start highlighting some of my fellow fiber artists on a regular basis. There are just so many talented feltmakers that I've come across during my time on the internet. It would be a shame not to share some of them with you along with their wonderful shop links.

If you need a sassy little felted necklace, just check out Art Mind's Etsy shop. It is an eclectic mix of felted jewelry, coasters, and greeting cards. This Belgium based artisan has a lot to offer with their simple modern style. If you'd like to know more about Art Mind, check out their blog. And, of course, go browse their Etsy shop too and buy a thing or two.

*The images are screen shots from artmind.etsy.com.

**If you'd like to submit a fiber artist (or yourself) for a funky felter spotlight article, you can leave a comment, email me via my website, or scroll to the bottom of the page and use my contact form - just get in touch! And, be on the lookout for upcoming spotlight articles!

Chickadees and Bunnies if you please! My latest needle felted wool pendants!

This chicky and bunny are the latest little additions to my line of needle felted wool pendants. They're super soft, lightweight, and a bit fuzzy too! I will be adding a couple more colors of bunnies next week so check the animals section of my Etsy shop for new listings. You can also find more photos of these on my flickr photo gallery.

I think that these cuties are ideal for Spring and Easter. What a nice handcrafted accessory for the kid in your life or the adult who is a kid at heart.

So I'm stuck on these fiber art pendants - needle felting adventures continued!

With my limited time, now that my teaching semester has begun, these little fiber art pendants are the ideal artistic gratification for me right now. Although they are small, I create each one as if it is an independent piece of free form art. It is very satisfying for me to work on these. I really create them from scratch with no preconceived ideas - just seeing where the wool and glass cabochons take me.

I guess that I'm a little stuck on making these pendants right now, but that's okay. It is quite fun. If you'd like to see more of needle felted and mixed media pendants, please check the jewelry section of my Etsy shop or take a peak at my flickr account.

Adventures in Needle Felting; yet more experiments with Fiber Art Pendants

Well, I'm stuck on making Fiber Art pendants for now. They are like tiny little works of art to me, and I can't seem to put my needle felting needle down! I just keep whipping out new ones - some better than others. I thought that I'd share a few more photos of my latest little jewelry creations. I haven't listed them yet for sale in my Etsy shop, and I may not list all of them. I might just keep a couple for myself to wear this time. You can see more photos of these in my flickr photos.

Dabbling in Fiber Art Pendants - my little needle felted works of art

My latest felting craze has been the creation of one-of-a-kind fiber art pendants through the process of needle felting. Some of my pendants are mixed media including lovely handmade glass cabochons by CombustionBeads on Etsy . Although these pendants are relatively small (anywhere from 1 inch to 2.5 inches in height), I feel as though they are really little miniature pieces of artwork. I design each abstract piece with much thought put into their colors and the layout of shapes involved. Perhaps some day, I will concentrate these artistic efforts on some wall hangings and sculptural pieces.


You can find several of my hand felted fiber art pendants for sale in my Etsy shop .

For your Crafting and Jewelry making . . .

I'm now offering custom color felted wool beads! You can choose from 20 color choices and customize the beads for your project needs. Currently I have two listings in quantities of 10 and quantities of 20, but I also offer larger quantities upon request and price discounts on orders of 50 or more beads. Simply contact me with your custom requests.

Summer Sale - Week of 6/10 - 6/16

Don't miss out on this week's featured Summer Sale at my Etsy shop! It's bright. It's summery. Gotta love that orange! Therefore, any item with the color orange in it is being discounted this week by 20%. This includes jewelry, supplies, pins, etc. - anything with a little or a lotta orange in it!



Here's all the important info for you:
SALE FOR THE WEEK OF JUNE 10TH - 16TH:
Any items with the color ORANGE in them are 20% OFF! Please put "Summer Sale - Orange" in the notes to seller at checkout and wait for an updated paypal invoice BEFORE paying.

NEW Yarn and Bead Kits!

It seems that I have a bit of insomnia tonight - okay, a lot of insomnia! Therefore, I've decided to be productive and go ahead with an announcement that I had planned for tomorrow's blog entry.

I'm introducing my new Yarn and Bead Kits which is very exciting for me. I've combined my hand felted wool beads with matching handspun wool yarn to form a spectacular new embellishment kit. Since I've started spinning yarn on my new drop spindle, I couldn't resist making some matching sets of yarn and beads.

What crafty thing can you use this for? Well, I would suggest using it as embellishment or trim. It would be great for adding some decorative touches to a handmade purse, scarf, sweater, and the list goes on. The beads make great buttons, whether whole or cut in half. It is also nice for scrapbook lovers who want a touch of unique embellishment on their pages. The yarn and beads can be crafted into cards or jewelry too. They could even be used in paper making or book binding. Really, the skies the limit when it comes to crafting possibilities!

You can find several color schemes and combinations of these new Yarn and Bead Kits in my Etsy shop. I also have one available on Mintd. Here are some examples of what's currently available or will be available very soon.

Yay! I made Etsy's front page!!

I just realized that my little needle felted butterfly pendant made it to the front page of Etsy tonight. Of course, I had to share it with everyone! I've only been on their front page one other time so it is a rare and special occasion worth celebrating.

Woolly beads galore!

In those little bits of time that I have, I make wool beads. It is usually in moments that I know I won't be able to complete larger projects or that I don't feel particularly creative. I make beads as I watch television or am riding in the car or talking on the phone. Occasionally I use pieces of left over wool from other felt making projects or my new spinning obsession, but I usually just set aside color combinations or batts of wool that I like. I always try to have a little wool handy to felt a bead here and there. It is sometimes surprising to me just how many of these little woolly beads that I can produce over the span of a couple of weeks just in my spare time.

My way of making beads usually includes a mixture of felt making techniques, but the rest of the details are my little secret . . . I'm picky about my beads and want them to be as nice to the touch and evenly proportioned as possible so I've developed a certain way that I make them to achieve these goals. I know that they are just beads, but I always aim for quality in all my handmade treasures. In the case of beads, quality and quantity tend to go hand in hand as the woolly balls add up quickly when making them one by one.

I'm not sure what I'll do with all of them yet. I have several more to complete the final processes on. Perhaps I will bag some to sell as supplies and incorporate some into my own art, jewelry, and wearables. It seems that wool beads are very trendy in all sorts of arts and crafts right now. I've noticed that they've become quite a popular thing to sell on Etsy by fiber artists and felters and just about anyone who's somewhat crafty - probably because they are fairly easy to make and soothing to work on. I'm obsessed with keeping busy, and thankful that these little woollies help my hands stay occupied between more involved crafty endeavors.

Soaps & Swirls

I finally got around to taking photos of a bunch of my finished items. They've been done for a while now (oh, let's say at least two weeks), but I've just been so busy with other things that I just now got to taking photos. I felted several bars of cherry almond scented, all-natural olive oil soap. They're felted with a lovely purple and white merino blend roving and smell awesome. I wish our computers had "smellivision" - mmm yummy scented soaps!



I've also completed some new jewelry in a brand new style to my usual line of items. I like to call it "Swirls" - at least for now. There are rings, hair pins, and bracelets, availabe in many different color combinations. I also plan on doing some pendants and brooches. I really love the color combinations in these and the swirling design. They are very fresh and modern for spring. They're also a blast to make! Be on the look out for my "Swirls" collection of items and my felted soaps in my online shops.



I did this card holder / wallet a long time ago, but just now got around to the photos as well. I like the colors on this one too. I guess that I like bright colors right now because they make me think of spring, flowers, and sunshine!

Well, my parents are coming in for a visit today and staying through the weekend - woohoo! I can't wait to see them!! It is hard to get them to come to the "big city" and see my husband, dog, rabbit, and I. They live in the same small town that I grew up in (which I love), and I think Kansas City is a little overwhelming for them. We're going to remodel our bathroom while they're here (another big woohoo!) as my parents are ever so handy when it comes to that sort of thing. And, of course, I'll have to show off my new felted creations to mom and dad. They really like to see what I have in the works.