Saturday 9 February 2013

A little bit of love

Good evening lovely people!! I can't believe we're well and truly into the month of February! The first 9 days of the month have flown by and it's only now that I find the time to come and say a quick "hello".
I've been a busy bee! Lots of things going on at work and so my much loved hobby time has been dramatically reduced!
Everything is good though, as I have had a little time to fit in a lovely little valentines project. A project which thrills me bucket loads!
Want to see what I've been working on?
Here, I'll show you:


I've been making some felted hearts! SUCH FUN!
It's the first time I have ever tried needle felting and I have enjoyed it immensely! I decided to give it a whirl after I received some gorgeously vibrant felting wool for my Birthday last year.


I wasn't really sure what to do with felting wool, but after a google search I discovered that it could be felted and formed into many things with the help of a very lethal needle!


I say "lethal" as I have stabbed myself a few too many times whilst working on this project. These needles REALLY hurt when going into your finger! Not only sharp and pointed, but barbed as well!!! OUCH!

As this was my first time needle felting, I read that it would be easier to get a better shape and less stab wounds by using a cookie cutter to help form the desired shape. 
I had seen in a recent issue of "Mollie makes magazine" some very cute felted hearts and decided to also to make hearts. 



The actual felting process was extrmely simple. Tear of a lump of wool and place it into the heart shaped cookie cutter.


Gently stab at the wool until it starts to fit to the cookie cutter shape.
I was gentle at first but once the wool was a little felted I was able to be a little rougher. Great stress relief stabbing at the wool! Stab, stab, stab until the wool was nicely shaped and pretty dense.


Cute huh!


I had a lot of fun playing around with lots of different colours and sizes.  However, in the end I decided to stick mainly to traditional valentines pinks and reds.


Once I had made an assortment of hearts I raided my bead collection for some happy beads to jazz up my little project!


Some little bells for a finishing touch


and pretty embroidery thread to join everything together!


Here's what I made! Cute little Valentines ornaments, ready to hang and send to friends I hold close to my heart.






I added buttons to a couple of them, just for an extra special touch.



This one is for a very special friend of mine, It's my favourite :-)

I'm going to post it off to her and keep my fingers crossed that it arrives by Valentines Day. I hope that when she receives it, it will brighten up her day!


Cute and fun little ornaments to spread a little bit of love!

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70 comments:

  1. Well done with the felting Matt, your hearts look absolutely lovely ! Such a special gift for loved ones.

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  2. I hope it brightens your friend's day, it would brighten mine. Have a wonderful week. You are so talented.

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  3. Beautiful - really lovely. You should sell them; do you have an etsy shop? Mummyhen xx

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  4. What a lively way to spread the love. I had a quick go at needle felting last year but the equiptment was tres expensive. I will look out for your needle though. Looks far less serious than the needle thingymbob I was looking at x

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  5. Definitely feeling the love for those cuties! x

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  6. They are so cute, definitely going to make these in the next week or so. Will be great for my littlest for the "love" day. Love your blog by the way, and your neck a dark, wow you picked up knitting fast :)

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  7. I can see why you love this project so much! It's very lovely and I found myself with the wants! Great work, Matt!
    Hugs and love.
    And also, happy valentine's day!

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  8. Beautiful! So dainty and soft looking. You have such a gift for decoration!

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  9. Lovely Matt, I've just had a go at making my own little needle felt heart......so addictive! :) x

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  10. Those are so cute!! I've never tried that craft, but I have to ask Is it faster that crocheting??

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  11. They are lovely

    I love the flowers too it´s my favorit
    tulips = in danish tulipan

    my blog name is tulipan-hygge

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  12. how lovely Matt. I have a little stash of felting yarn but haven't tried it yet. I might just have to now!

    your heart decorations are fabulous!!!

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  13. Never tried this but these are gorgeous... Am now inspired to give needle felting a go at some point this year! Matt, you are just too clever. :)

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  14. Well it would certainly brighten mine xxx

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  15. They are gorgeous!AriadnefromGreece!

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  16. Lovely!

    Ever seen Miranda on tv? When you write 'such fun' it's totally that programme!!!

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  17. Wow, these are so lovely - probably my favourite valentines crafting I've seen this year!
    Maria x

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  18. These are so beautiful, thanks for sharing. They will certainly be on my list of 'to do's'.

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  19. This is so lovely! I haven't needle felted so far ....

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  20. cute little things, I will remember the tip for the cookie cutters :)
    have a great weekend
    greetings
    Miss Mustache

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  21. They are really lovely Matt! I am sure they will put a smile on the receivers faces. Just looking at your pictures made me smile already.

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  22. Matt, your little hearts are adoreable, I love them !! :-) xxx
    And what a fantastic idea to use the cookie cutter !

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  23. Me gusta mucho tu blog y sobre todo me gusta el color que tiene todos tus trabajos.
    felicidades
    Luisa

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  24. Beautiful ... and full of love!!! xxx

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  25. Truely lovely - they made my little heart sing x x

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  26. What a lovely and unusual Valentines idea Matt, I love the photo of them all lined up in a row!
    Happy Valentines Day!
    Angie x

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  27. WOW! soooooooooo cute!!!! Have never tried needle feling. How long does it take to make each heart? and you use the fiber dry, not wet??? Hmmmm.......

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  28. Hola Matt!! ya te extrañaba! que bien que estas de vuelta, nunca habia visto la lana de fieltro es linda y por lo que veo has hecho maravillas con ella! esos corazones te han quedado de lujo estoy segura que la persona que los reciba estará muy complacida, y si en verdad febrero se está llendo muy rapido es fantastico porque ya viene la primavera!! recibe un calido abrazo desde Chihuahua Mexico.

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  29. Very cute, creative and thoughtful to give as love-gifts, Matt. Not to mention adorable decorations dangling from your tree; trees are appropriate for indoor decorating all year round.

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  30. How adorable are those! I might just have to try needle felting now because I don't think I can survive much longer without one of those precious ornaments in my life!!

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  31. Oh I've recently discovered needle felting too, I made a cookie cutter heart and then had a go at a robin which I was delighted with! But oh boy those needles the pain my friend the pain!!!!!!

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  32. Hi Matt,

    They are really amazing!!! What a great idea.
    Who wouldn't love one of them for Valentines Day, or any other time of the year really.
    Well done you.

    Love

    Chris Xx

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  33. Gorgeous, I saw this project too and I'm itching to give it a go.

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  34. These are adorable little hearts (but the way to make them looks lethal!). I feel sorry for your poor little fingers. Hope you had plenty of sticking plasters at the ready x

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  35. You had me with needle felting - but then you added buttons! Love at first sight! Your friend is lucky indeed.

    Thanks for sharing!

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  36. Oh my GOODNESS!! I loved all those photos and your hearts, but the one with them all hanging together across the screen was aMAYzing!! Whoever is getting that gift is lucky. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  37. Those are adorable! Love them. Now I'm tempted to try some felting, though, that needle looks super scary... ~Katy

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  38. these are so sweet! I need to find a little corner of my house to decorate with little things like this.

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  39. Oh how cute! I would love to try this too but I'm a little hesitant because of that scary poker thing!

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  40. Those are so cute, love them!

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  41. These hearts are really, really cute! And I'm sure they make the receivers very happy, especially in this very cold and colourless month!
    I didn't try needlefelting for ages, but this is a nice idea!
    (Although... didn't it feel strange to stab into the hearts???? *LOL*)

    Thanks for sharing, I love your blog!
    Lucy

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  42. Your ornaments are so sweet! I have never tried felting, I should give it a shot. But that needle does look really scary!

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  43. Olá Matt, meu nome é Marta, sou do Brasil.Encontrei seu blog e me apaixonei, tudo lindo, por isso estou te seguindo. Não entendo o inglês perfeitamente, mas uso o tradutor do google chrome para entender melhor. Já te sigo e também coloquei na minha lista lateral de blogs para poder te acompanhar melhor e voltar aqui mais vezes. Ótima semana para vocês.


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  44. it's beautiful, Matt! Love the colors and combination with beads !Great idea!
    Happy Valentine's day to you!
    Anna

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  45. Hi, How cute is that??!!!! I love the pictures of a whole lot of them hanging together and the ones hanging in the twig tree!! Nice idea for Easter and Xmas as well!! Thanks
    Love
    AMarie

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  46. I am very envious, they look absolutely gorgeous. You are one very talented young man! Nicky

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  47. Lovely little project.

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  48. Lindo, muito criativo!!!
    Alias como todos seus projetos.
    Continuo apaixonada.
    Bjus.

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  49. These are gorgeous! Something else for me to try. Where can you buy the wool and needle? What do you have under the felt and cookie cutter when stabbing?

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  50. SOOOO awesome! Thanks for giving me the inspiration for my valentine's gift-exchange (that I'm going to be terribly late for!)

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  51. They are adorable Matt! Such a lovely and great idea! Your friend is very lucky!
    One question: did you put anything ie. a hard surface or board or a sponge under the wool/cookie shape when you were using the needle? Hugs from London!! Pati x

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  52. I haven't tried felting (yet!)but it was lovely watching this develop. I'm sure your friend will be thrilled x Jane

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  53. Thank you so much Matt - I LOVE IT! thank you for my beautiful little package - it made my day, my week and my year xxxxx

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  54. love your felted hearts: I was shown how to do this by a lady at a craft fair in Christchurch priory (Dorset) and always meant to have a go but you have inspired me(and not for the first time) to be active and get on with it! x
    A happy valentines day to you and Dennis x

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  55. What a lovely felted hearts garlands! It´s very nice!
    happy valentines greetings from lindevrouw from www.lindevrouwsweb.blogspot.com

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  56. I invite you to visit my blog http://www.crochettogether.blogspot.nl/ and become a co-author of this blog. It´s a blog for different authors from over the world. I just started this blog. If you like this , please send me your email address ad i will sent you a link love from HOlland

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  57. Hi Matt,

    The needle felting is going great!!!
    The friends who will receive your gifts will, for sure, feel the love you put into it!!!

    You have made some lovely wooden boxes a while ago,... i have those too and i put them full of foam. so now i have my needle felting box, and i can felt as deep as i like without breaking the needle on the hard surface underneath! IDEA ???

    I hope you and Dennis had a lovely Valentines day!!!!

    Hedwig

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  58. Oooh these look fab! I've done some needle felting before but never used a cookie cutter as a template - I'll have to give it a go!
    Anna
    thedustyatticblog.blogspot.com

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  59. Muy bonito, me gusta todo lo que creas... un saludo desde España

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  60. So pretty, and a wonderful idea. I've not tried needle felting yet, but I think I might have to give it a go now.

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