FREE Hand Made Felt Tags or Labels Printable

Do you create handmade felt?

Are you a needle felter or wool felt maker?

Grab these totally FREE printable tags or labels for your needle felted or wet felted items!

Printable tags especially for the felter or feltmaker. Whether you needle felt or wet felt wool or a combination of both techniques, these "Hand Made Felt" tags have an adorable little sheep that will look nice hanging on your hand crafted woolen gifts or craft show items. Simply click on the link below to download the printable tags file for your personal use.

A Little Sheepy Reminder

A Woolly Little Sheep on My Shelf 

a small framed photo from a craft show long ago

Many years ago now (at least 7 years ago, maybe more), I participated in one of my very first craft shows. If I remember correctly, it was a local show in the Kansas City area when my husband and I lived there for a while. I had created a lot of crafts over the years for myself and others, but just recently started to make items through traditional feltmaking for a profit. I hadn't sold my items in public much before and had recently started selling on Etsy with moderate success.

I am ashamed to admit that I can't remember the name of the photographer in the booth next to mine, but she was a very nice, young woman - there with her dad helping her unpack and set up, unwrapping each photo one at a time to display. She had a lot of photos of local sites like the Plaza light display at Christmas time and Kauffman Stadium. My husband and I chatted with her off and on and purchased a few small local attraction photos including a Plaza print. We had to be careful not to spend all of our craft sales earnings for the day, but honestly, we usually did and then some when we attended shows - way too many great artists concentrated in one place not to be tempted.

At the end of the show, I was very touched when the young photographer gave me the little sheep photo above already in a beautiful silver frame. It was larger, prettier and more expensive than the few 4x6 black and white photos we purchased from her. I was surprised and honored that she'd hand it over so freely. She hadn't sold much that day, and I could tell it was a bit disappointing to her. Yet, the same way she unpacked everything so carefully, she packed up everything again for another show on another day. I never saw her again.

I have carried the little framed sheep through a few big moves and shuffled it from wall to shelf and occasionally tucked away in a closet, but I always remember the kindness from a fellow artist that surrounds it. The encouragement that it embodies. The photo is more about remembering where I came from and who I am today because of it rather than the framed sheep itself. 

Today, I don't remember her name or even her face anymore, just her youthfulness and hopefulness about what she loved to do. I also remember the meaning and the feeling of encouragement that is imprinted on the framed photo. Other than craft supplies, I'm not much of a hoarder of material or deeply sentimental things. There are, however, exceptions - like my sheep.

Do have an object that embodies a feeling for you? Or an encouragement in the form of something tangible?

Cute Baa Baa Black Sheep Free Printable Download

Super Cute Baa Baa Black Sheep Poster

A FREE Digital Download by Mr. Printables for Fiber and Wool Lovers

So I came across this adorable free printable by Mr. Printables on Pinterest a couple weeks ago and just had to share. If you are a fiber fanatic like myself, then you can appreciate the cute illustration and rhyme. I think it would be adorable framed on a shelf or wall and plan to do that soon. You could even decoupage it onto a canvas or make an iron-on out of it for putting on fabric. Download the freebie at mrprintables.com and be sure to share it with your fiber lovin' friends!

For more digital freebies, check out my Pinterest board. There's a bunch of fun and funky fonts, social media icons, printables, backgrounds and other odds and ends to browse.

Midwest Fiber Crafts - a NEW Blog and Facebook fan page for promoting fiber events and activities across the Midwestern United States

I've established another blog for posting fiber events and activities across the Midwest.  It is called Midwest Fiber Crafts.  The goal of MFC is to freely promote Midwest fiber events of all kinds as well as provide a good information source for Midwestern fiber enthusiasts.  If you know of any fiber event or activity happening in the Midwest this year, please submit it to MFC for posting.  MFC also has a facebook fan page that I hope you will follow.  You can freely post your events directly to the wall there and upload photos as well as start discussions.  

Other than some sponsorship ads, this is mainly a labor of love.  My husband and I really enjoy attending fiber event.  (I think we'd go to one every weekend if we could find them!)  I hope this new blog helps others to find great fiber events to attend and support fiber farmers and other fiber business people.

Please take a minute to pass along this new blog and fan page to your fiber loving friends and family.  I would sincerely appreciate it!

Gotta love cute, fuzzy sheep! doing a little sheep farm research and came across a great video series on Understanding and Raising Sheep

My husband and I have been joking, dreaming, and just talking about starting a sheep farm for a long, long time. It is just recently that we've thought our fiber farming aspirations could become a reality. I guess the joking and just dreaming initially stopped when we watched a great video by MVKnits on Etsy's Blog about her sheep farm experience. It was extremely inspiring and made me and my husband think that we might really be able to sustain ourselves as sheep farmers. Since then, we've talked about it a lot, checked out many library books on the subject, and surfed the web for any information that we could find. We're in the process of researching what all is involved in owning and maintaining a successful small sheep farm. I know that there is nothing like experiencing something, but for now, we'll continue learning as much as we can through all the resources that we find.

Yesterday I came across a great video series called Understanding & Raising Sheep on YouTube. It was originally from the website ExpertVillage.com which has some interesting instructional videos. This particular series includes very short clips on the basics of sheep. It is presented by a naturalist from the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Drumlin Farm. Each short video is only a few minutes long, but they are very informative and interesting if you are a novice to sheep and sheep farming. Oh, and they also have the most adorable sheep! It is worth watching a few video clips just for that.

**I, the funky felter, am not affiliated nor do I endorse the above resource information. I'm just sharing some nifty info and cute, fuzzy sheep.
**The image is a screen shot from YouTube.com

Sheep Shearing at the Iowa Sheep & Wool Festival

I attended the Iowa Sheep & Wool Festival a few weeks ago. It was held in Adel Iowa and sponsored by the Iowa Sheep Industry Association. There were many fabulous vendors as well as some great demonstrations. I thought that I'd share a few photos of the sheep shearing demonstration by Rocky Anderson. I was really surprised by the docile nature of the sheep as they were being sheared. Although the shearer had many years of experience, the sheep also seemed to be well versed in what they had to do. They were all very still and just assumed the positions for shearing. It was quite a site to see and very interesting.

Heart of America Fiber Festival

Last Saturday, my husband and I attended the Heart of America Sheep Show and Fiber Fest in Sedalia, Missouri. It is held every year about this time at the Missouri State Fair Grounds. We have wanted to go for the last couple of years, but something else has always come up, and we've missed it. Now that my husband is more interested in fiber arts, particularly the animal end of it (sheep, goats, alpacas, etc.), he volunteers to go to these events and doesn't have to be dragged to them. He has always been very supportive of my fiber art passion, but now he has a passion of his own which is very nice for both of us!

While at the festival, I was particularly interested in the vendors. Of course, I always head to where the wool roving is first and look at everything else later. And of course, I always end up buying some fiber! There were many vendors with quality fiber, but I tend to buy from the friendly ones that are helpful and not overbearing. I really dislike it when I'm totally ignored by a vendor which did happen a few times, and I didn't leave with any of their roving either. On the other hand, there were several very nice vendors that I did purchase from.

I bought several ounces of a turquoise, purple, and dark blue mix roving from "A Loom With a View" from Hermann, MO. It is the large roll on the left in the photo. I also bought a few ounces of colorful roving from Morning Sun Fiber Barn from Wapello, IA. It is the two smaller balls of roving in the photo. Both vendors were lovely women with a nice presentation and great quality fiber.


Besides buying wool roving, I also bought some dyed locks. The way I understand it, several women from Louisiana set up a booth together as one vendor. They had a large variety of rovings and equipment among other fiber art related items. They were all very sweet, helpful, and lovely to talk to. I bought some gorgeous Mohair locks from Nightsong Farms, one of the ladies' farms. It is the bright turquoise colored locks in the photo. I also bought some wool locks from Marsh Mellow Meadows, another ladies' farm. On the bag of these particular locks, it even gave the names of the sheep that the wool came from - Lulu and Lillie! I thought that was adorable. You can see Lulu's and Lillie's wool in the pale blue and orange colored locks. You can find out more about all of their southwestern Louisiana fiber farms here.

Next weekend, I think that my husband and I are going to attend the Iowa Sheep and Wool Festival in Adel, Iowa. We both enjoy these festivals so much, and I get super excited about purchasing a sampling of roving to work with! I'm not sure what I'll do with all of it yet, but I have some ideas.