DIY: Needle-Felted Decor, Part 1

Might we please have a lil confession time up in here? Cuz I need to unpack some stuff and I don't mean those boxes that have been in my garage since we moved seven years ago (real talk: those boxes ain't never gonna see the light of day, y'all, let's just be honest). 

Confession Numero Uno: Not only am I crummy housekeeper, I'm also pretty sucktastic at that whole decorating thingie too. You can't be good at everything, y'all (hair flip). And I most def have a big fat hairy list of items at which I am no bueno: cooking, cleaning, yard maintenance and, you guessed it, decorating. I mean, I can decorate  an art room like nobody's biznatch but working on our house has me all...

I just can't even. I don't even know where to start. In fact, we've got this one room that normal folk be calling a bonus room which I've dubbed the BOGUS room. It's just one more space for me to not clean and not decorate. I did attempt bedazzling it when we first moved in and painted up these round paintings which have that lovely early-2000's color palette...

AND that's pretty much all I ever did to that room. In fact, every time I wandered into the bonus room with a lil decorating on my mind, I'd take one look around and be all...

Now I know I sound totes ungrateful as many folk don't have a surplus of space. And lately, I've been working on a Super Top Secret Project (details to come!) in which the bonus room has become a great place to stretch out and work. For that reason, I'm really putting my heart into making this space one that I love to come to and work in. And I decided my first order of business was updating those horrible round painting thingies. 

 Now if you've been hanging around this here blog for a hawt minute then you know I love all things Mary Blair. I've created paintings inspired by her, made necklaces, you name it. So I decided I wanted to Mary Blair-ize the bonus room! But I wasn't feeling very certain I wanted to invest a ton o' time into it if I wasn't gonna love it. So I uprooted these white and gold plate/frame thingies I found for cheap at TJMaxx several months ago and decided to create some wee needle felted sketches! The above is what my sewing table looked like before...

And then after. Now imagine that as MY ENTIRE HOUSE and you've pretty much got the picture. Say a lil prayer and light a candle for my hubs, would ya?

After a little bit of playing around, I came up with this! I was super pleased. Y'all know I'm a big fan of needle felting as it's just about the most easiest thing in the world. In fact, I always find myself needle felting to excess in the winter months. Check out last week's DIY! 

 Just a lil closer look. 

I wasn't as in love with this one but I figured, eh, it's just a sketch. I'm sure to change it up quite a bit when I design the larger format circle. 

 I like needle felting on patchworked pieces of fabric. One of my first wall pieces from needle felting was done that way. I like how it adds just another layer to the design. 

Even though I still had one more little needle felted sketch to complete, I decided to dive right in to the making of my first large wall hanging. Mostly cuz I knew I'd have the help of this bad boy...

What you see here is not a sewing machine but something far more magical: a needle felting machine! That's right, y'all, like a rare rainbow farting unicorn, they do exist! The hubs got it for me for Christmas for not too much dinero on el Amazons. 

I love the thing. All I had to do was just tack some of the roving into place and slide it under the half dozen needles on that machine, hit the pedal and let the machine do the stabbing. It isn't great for detail work so I do resort to my trusty Clover needle felting pen for that. 

 But it's fab at blocking in large areas for me and look!

 One down! Only two more to go!

 C'mon, man! How about a lil power of positive thinkerin'?!

Okay, confession numero dos: this is pretty much how I feel. However, I'm determined-ish to follow this through and have at least one room in our house that looks decorated and finished. I'll keep all y'all posted. 

Until then, y'all!

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DIY: Have Yourself a DIY Christmas

Oh, look, it's just how I paint: sitting at my easel lookin' all 1950's glam with my puppy assistant. Except instead of a gown, I'm usually painting in my sweatpants (yes, I own one pair) and in place of a cute pup, I have an obese kitty who walks through my paint. But one can dream.

 As Christmas approaches, I'm coming to terms with a few issues I have. Well, okay, I have many an issue but for now, let's just chat about the ones concerning the holidays. So far, I've come up with these:

1. I have a penchant for phoney-baloney pre-lit dwarf-sized Christmas trees. And if they are tinsel tress in some tacky color like pink, green or gold, I love them all the more.
2. I have to make the majority of my Christmas decor. I can't buy it because that somehow feels like cheating . So at Christmas my house looks like some 4-H fair craft display. And I kinda like it.
3. Once I start decorating for Christmas, I Just. Can't. Stop.

 

I created these paintings last year. The larger green painting I based off of a vintage Christmas card. I had picked up this little wooden house shape years ago at the thrift store. After painting the green canvas, I painted this little house to go with it. This sits in the front room of our house on my decked out easel.

For that over-decorating reason, I don't have any brand spanking new DIY's this week. So I thought I'd share with you a peak around my pad at DIY's of Christmas past. I'll just be giving a brief description of each as I still have more decorating and cleaning to do before the hub's work party goes down here on Friday night. On top of that, I've got a Tacky Christmas Sweater to whip up and the awards for the Tacky Christmas Sweater Contest we're having at school tomorrow. Whew! It really is the most insanely busy (and wonderful!) time of the year.

Enjoy! And if you have any questions about these DIY's, please feel free to ask.

I scored my first pre-lit tree of the year on Black Friday. I planted it inside of a paper suitcase that my mother-in-law gave me for my birthday last year. I created the paper chains years ago and they make an appearance every year, much to hubs dismay. He's not a fan of el paper chain-o.

 I created these hot air balloons ornaments with light bulbs, vintage fabric, Modge Podge and a bottle cap.

Despite the fact that this pre-lit tree is only partially lit (which is exactly how I like to spend my holidays), I still adore it. It sits in my living room surrounded by a couple of Rudolph paintings I created two winters back.

My favorite Christmas special has always been Rudolph. I used my Golden Book from childhood as the inspiration for these canvas board paintings.

 Favorite scene from Rudolph where Rudolph befriends fellow-misfit wanna-be dentist elf Hermey:

Hermey: Hey, what do you say we both be independent together, huh?
Rudolph : You wouldn't mind my - red nose?
Hermey : Not if you don't mind me being a dentist.
Rudolph : [shaking hands with Hermey] It's a deal.

I scored this pre-lit tree for cheap at Goodwill just this week. I added my paper doll collection as well as some vintage sewing notions.

This tree has everything I want for Christmas on it: gorgeous vintage dresses!

Last Christmas, I discovered pinterest and my life was never the same. I created that wreath with my collection of vintage glass ornaments. I began by yarn wrapping the wreath and then hot gluing the ornaments onto it. I then picked up tulle in the same colors and cut that into strips. I tied the strips of tulle onto a string of white Christmas lights.

Ya'll might remember my pink cuckoo clock tree from this post. My dream tree is a real vintage pink aluminum one. But for now, this one next to my mantle in the living room will have to do.

If only my Christmas shopping were so glamorous. I'm usually just clicking away on amazon in the wee hours of the morn. I painted this long painting right before painting the green one at the beginning of this post. These paintings remind me that I've not picked up a paint brush in some time. I need to do that. If I could step away from the sewing machine long enough.

Just a little close up.I have found that adding candy cane stripes to the edge does a great job of hiding smudges of paint and mistakes.

 Thanks for dropping by. I do hope your holidays are shaping up to be just plain fabulous!

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