needle felting

Charlie’s wedding gift

March 22, 2013 Sam Glanville

My friend Charlie, who I go to scrapbooking with is getting married next month. Her wedding theme is Alice in wonderland so I thought I would needle felt the white rabbit for her based on the latest film. I was very pleased with him but had the urge to make the smoking caterpillar too so I thought I would have a go. The caterpillar turned out okay but in the film he was sat on a toadstool so I thought I would make that too. But picturing it in my head with the caterpillar way up on the toadstool and the little white rabbit underneath I thought how cool would it be to add a few more characters and have them displayed on something. So I spoke very nicely to hubby and he went straight out and cut me a nice log base for it, while I got on with some more felting. So next came Tweedle Dum and the Cheshire Cat with the Mad Hatters hat and a few flowers and lastly Tweedle Dee. This is how it turned out.

Charlie was very pleased with it and said she was going to display it at the wedding. Have a lovely day Charlie and Dan xx

Crafts, general, needle felting, new projects

Needle felted Bunny

March 3, 2013 Sam Glanville

Here is a quick preview of the bunny we will be needle felting at the next class on Thurs 7th March. As the class is full, I will be having another class for the same project on Thurs 14th March. There are still a few spaces left on this one if you would like to book. As with all the needle felting classes, you can do what you like, you don’t have to make whatever the current project is, so if bunnies are not your thing, just do whatever is. For those of you who are doing the bunny you will need wool roving in the colour of your choice and if you want inner ears, paws and face a different colour, then bring two colours. You will need perle in brown for the nose and the claws. Any of you who used to do the beading classes and have any fire line left please bring with you as that is what I used for the whiskers. If you want your bunny to hold a carrot or maybe some spring flowers just bring a small amount of those colours too.

See you at class

Classes, Crafts, needle felting ectra small, needle felting, rabbits

Needle felted giraffe

February 23, 2013 Sam Glanville

Well, it was my daughters 16th birthday on Friday and she is absolutely mad on giraffes. She wanted everything giraffe for her birthday so among other things I bought her a large cuddly toy giraffe, a soft giraffe pencil case, a huge giraffe onesie and I needle felted her a giraffe. She was so excited when she saw him on top of her pile of presents.

She is also a big fan of TOWIE so we had a day in Essex and she met and had photos with so many of them. Joey Essex, Gemma, Debbie, Billie and Sam, Harry, Jess’ mum and even Amy Childs. She had a lovely day.

She’s very lucky( Judging by the screaming teenage girls) to get a photo with Joey Essex

Thanks for reading and please come back soon. There will be more photos from the second bear making workshop and a preview of our next needle felting class on 7th March.

Crafts, general, needle felting

Needle Felting classes

February 19, 2013 Sam Glanville

The classes are still proving to be very popular. We made hedgehogs in January, and in the February class it was make what you like.

We had some lovely hedgehogs by the end of the class and considerably less yelps of pain. In the February class, we had a mixture of felting projects on the go. A needle felted spaniel dog is coming on nicely along with a beautiful owl, a couple of birds, a doll, a westie dog, a couple of bears and a giraffe. Everyone has picked it up so quickly.

The March class is already fully booked but if there is enough demand I may do two classes.

Classes, Crafts, needle felting

Needle Felting Classes

January 21, 2013 Sam Glanville

I’ve been going to Scrapbooking classes at Swanstitch in Deal, run by Anita. You can check out her blog – it’s great! I took some of my needle felting along with me one day and a few people expressed an interest in Needle Felting. Anita, the owner of the shop, asked if I would be interested in teaching a Needle Felting class. After much umming and erring I decided to give it a go thinking it would be fine and that I would probably only have a couple of people there but after advertising the class to her mailing list, Anita soon had a full class of 11 booked for me. Well… to say I was a bit nervous is an understatement, but I went and gave it a go.

The First Class

It was very quiet for the first four minutes as everyone concentrated on stabbing their felting needles into the wool roving and then the first yelp of pain was heard. Stabbing fingers is a hazard of this otherwise enjoyable hobby. If you have ever seen a felting needle with its very long sharp point with barbs on it, you will feel our pain. Anyway, soon everyone had an adorable little face of a teddy bear staring up at them and there was a lot of oohing and ahhhhing as everyone fell in love with their creations. By the end of the 2-part class, everyone had finished their first Needle Felted bear and were very pleased. Since then my needle felting class has become a regular thing.

Future Classes

My next needle felting class is this Thursday evening but is fully booked. I have a few new people coming but my regulars want to make the hedgehog. If you would like to come along to a class, pop in to the shop Swanstitch in Deal and put your name down or give them a ring on 01304 366915.

The class fee is £7 from 7pm-10pm, and includes tea or coffee and biscuits. Bring your own needle felting things with you, or buy them in the shop when you arrive.

I am doing 3 mohair bear workshops during February and March on either a Saturday or Sunday from 9am -5pm The three classes so far are fully booked, but if I get enough people to do another day, I will. If you are interested, pop in to Swanstitch in Deal or phone the shop 01304 366915 and put your name down. The bear we will be making is based on Buttercup.

Bears, Classes, Crafts, needle felting

Experimenting with Needle Felting

January 15, 2013 Sam Glanville

I first tried Needle Felting about 12 years ago and made some cute little bears but haven’t really made any for a few years. After making the little bear for Naomi’s cabinet I remembered my love for needle felting and began to make more. Experimenting with other animals including a hedgehog, a dog, a cat and also a needle felted character doll named George.

I also made a needle felted wedding couple for my friends Anita and Kevin for their anniversary. Anita’s mum supplied me with their wedding photos and I set to work creating a needle felted bride and groom. They are anatomically correct *wink*, and Anita and Kevin have the photos to prove what is under all of those felted clothes! The photos and dolls were passed around at their anniversary party and were a great source of amusement.

If you are interested in trying out this fun craft, have a look at Martha Stewart’s Needle Felted Penguin Tutorial, or come along to one of my classes. Hope to see you there!

needle felting, new projects