Burlap and felt art, take two...

Hi Everyone!  I know it's winter, but it is SOOOOO cold up here on the hill.  The wind blew all last night which of course made it even colder!  I wish I had gone with the snowbirds south for the winter.... someday...maybe...  Okay, enough with the pity party.  And on to take two of yesterday's flower and burlap project.

So, let's recap, shall we.  I started out by stapling burlap to a canvas I had left over from another project.

 And then this is what I put together with felt flowers and a red bird that I had.  But I didn't like it and couldn't decide what to do next with it.  So I left it alone.

 I came back to it today and this is what I did with it.

 I put this together and set it carefully on the easel, took the picture and then proceeded to knock it off the easel.  I put it back together without looking at my camera and it wasn't until I uploaded the pics did I realize I had put the flowers on in a different order.

 Not that the order of the color matters, I just wanted to explain why the flowers looked different from the first picture to the last.  I sewed three black glass beads to the center of each flower which I think really helped the way the flowers looked.  The stem is made from a piece of jute that I lightly stained because the original color was too light.  Then I glued them all to the burlap. 

 And of course you can't forget the red bird.

 The picture doesn't do the jute stem justice.  It looks much better in person. 

I think it looks much better than the original.  I don't know what I was thinking on take one.  I must of had some vision of something, or maybe I lost my mind.  Who knows!  What would you have done with them?

Well, now I need to get cracking on the other projects I started yesterday.  Hope your weekend is restful and productive.  Thanks for stopping by.

 Linking to
 http://thetatteredtag.blogspot.com/2012/01/kiss-33.html
http://www.uncommondesignsonline.com/2012/01/trish-and-i-are-so-excited-to-be.html
http://my1929charmerblog.com/sundays-best-15-par-tay/
http://boogieboardcottage.blogspot.com/2012/01/welcome-to-56th-masterpiece-monday.html
http://craftomaniac.blogspot.com/2012/01/craftomaniac-monday.html

Baby it's cold outside and more felt...

Hi Everyone!  I wanted to start by saying it's COLD out.  Although it's not as bad today as it's been, it's still too cold to work out in the shop.  And even though I do have a furnace out there, it's not as air tight of a building as it would need to be in this kind of weather.  Plus the furnace is old and I don't think it could keep up.  And there's nothing worse than standing on a cold concrete floor when the air around you is cool.  So that being said, unless I bring it inside, there won't be much building going on this weekend.  And I'm really itching to build something.  So we'll see what happens.

It's a great weekend to stay inside and cuddle up to a fireplace (wishing I had one-I'll take this one) with a good book or some movies and loved ones.  I do have a book I'd like to read and my dogs would love to cuddle together with me on the couch...so maybe I'll just have to try to fit that in.

 courtesy of Country Living

I want to show you what I started working on last night.  I'm not sure where I'm going with it yet.

 I found this canvas in my stash of goodies that I hadn't used yet.  I can't even remember what I originally bought it for, but it might have been a left over one since they come several to a pack.  I painted it Country Tan so that the white wouldn't peek through the fabric.  I decided to cover it in burlap.

So far easy and I liked where it was going.

 So continuing with my addiction, I got out my extra felt flowers. There are actually three different shades going on here, a white, a light cream and a beige color.  I arranged them on the board. 

 I thought about adding stems made out of jute....but are there too many flowers???

So I pulled out one of my red felt birds and added that.  It definitely needs a bit of color.  So this is when I got stuck and decided to put it away.  Maybe it I turn it long ways....What would you do with it?  Any ideas?  Anyone...I'm going to take another pass at it either today or tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by.

An addiction...

Hi Everyone.  My name is Holly and I have an addiction....

 to these little felt birds and frames....

 I knew I had an addiction to building benches...of which I need to make one....

 but I never thought this would become an addiction for me....

then of course I had to change it up by replacing one of the cream birds with a red one... 

 and I couldn't stop taking pictures...

 does anyone know of a support group for this....

if so can you tell me where to find it? 

I'm not really addicted, but I do think they are cute.  I think this one is going up on my wall.  I love the burlap background.  And I think the birds are so sweet.  I promise to get over this soon.  But they are so cute....I have some in blue that I haven't used yet...but I'm going to put them away....maybe...Thanks for stopping by.

Fall Wreath....

Hi Everyone!  I wanted to show you the fall wreath I made.  I took it to the Essex Labor Day Market, but it didn't sell.  So I'll be taking it this weekend to the craft fair.  I made it to show off the wreath stands I made.  I have found that if you have a wreath stand and no wreath on it, people just don't know what to do with it.  I always try to make sure and have at least one wreath.  So this is the one I made.

 I used a grapevine wreath as my base.  And added a multi-colored pip berry garland to it.  But it seemed a bit dark.  So I added some 12" pip berry picks that had some of the same colors as the multi-colored ones but also had cream ones in it to lighten it up.

 Then I added these rusty metal maple leaf picks to it.

 And painted this metal welcome sign and wired it on.

 Next I took this rusty metal dragonfly.  It too was a bit dark so I added a touch of red to the wings and face to help it stand out.

 And I added some pine cones and the burlap to hang the wreath by.

 And a group of acorns.

And there you have it.  A simple fall wreath.  And if it doesn't sell, I'll be perfectly happy to hang it on my door.  Well, thanks for stopping by.

Burlap and Sheet Music Paper Flower Wreath..

Happy Friday Everyone!  I wanted to share with you the very simple, yet sweet burlap wreath I made the other night.  I had one of those straw wreaths that I've been eyeing and wondering what to make with it.  I started out by wrapping it in a cream colored cloth, but everything I put next to it just looked dull and a little boring.  So I decided to try the burlap.  The burlap added some much needed texture and made for a nicer background for everything I placed on top of it.

 I pulled out my trusty hot glue gun and glued the sheet music paper flowers to it.

I then thought it needed a touch of color.  But the question was what to put with it.  Flowers were out since I was already using paper flowers on it.  Should I put some greenery on it?  No, that looked weird.  Then I remembered I had some wooden red birds.

The red birds were just right.  I used the cream colored fabric to make the holder at the top.  Now the question is, Does it need something else?  I have a rusty Welcome sign that might be just the right thing...What do you think? 

I just pinned the welcome sign onto the wreath to see what it would look like.  I like the Welcome sign, but now I'm wondering if it needs to be painted cream or red to match the birds.  What do you think?  Thanks for stopping by.