Baby Felt Slippers in Use

I posted about the little felt slippers I made for little Clara (the new addition to Piano Nobile)....and I just like to show you some photos of adorable Clara wearing them!
Me holding her as Clara poses in her sleep...
I love how she was totally fine with us messing with her while she's sound a sleep. I was even tempted to draw some mustache on her, too...but we decided not to go there....she might grow up hating me. :P

The making of a Fedora...felt magic!

We all know about L&G fascination with felt... and we're of course suckers for "how it's made videos"
So, let the two collide here in a great little video on the making of a felt fedora. Enjoy:

Soulland // Making the Adler Fedora from Soulland on Vimeo.

via selectism

Today's Forcast is Sunny with a Chance of Baby Shower...

Our friends from Piano Nobile just recently added wonderful new member to the group! They just had their baby girl, Clara!! Although she'll take some training to do some printing and welding for them, but soon enough she'll be able to do incredible work just like Isabelle and Nick!
For Isabelle's baby shower, I ended up making a felt baby gift similar to the needle felted pillow I made awhile back.
I wanted to make something for them that they can keep even if Clara gets older.
The stuffed cloud can be hung above the crib and also doubles as a rattle toy....you know so little Clara can play with it or drool on it or watch it float above her head!

And since I'm so felt obsessed anyways, I also made her a pair of high-top felt & leather booty...
with the top folded down...for a more casual look.
the leather bottom & lace
All wrapped up for little Clara!

I'll have more photos of the little one actually wearing the boots soon!

Needle Felting Fun!

So I did a needle felting project finally! Lauren's needle felted bowls inspired me to use the felting supplies I had for a couple of years but never really touched till now!
But I made a pillow out of lambs wool blanket and loose wool fiber of various colors in which I used a felting needle to make the face....pretty simple process for the most part, just shape the wool and poke the needle through the surfaces up and down and the fibers weave in and out of the main piece. The challenging part was coming up with the face.As you can see up close the level of detail and craftsmanship that is required for something as complicated as the sleepy face is very difficult to achieve. It requires meticulous planning, advance color theory knowledge, multiple calculated measurements, and countless facial studies of people of every race. One may see this and think its a master piece and work of art....but I say...no, this is just something I do and have a passion for. But mostly it's because I "felt" like making it.......pause....silence.......waiting for laughter.....I FELT like it? get it? you know...since I needle "FELTed" it?
yeah...there's the laugh that I've been waiting for. Let's all LOL....in which under Dylan's definition=Laugh On Line....which I have to agree it makes sense.

I Heart Everyone!

I received some great neat gifts from people for my birthday awhile ago and forgot to mention it. There's a previous post about other great gifts I've received as well. Sorry everyone! But just wanted to let y'all know that I really am thankful for all the great lovely gifts!! I LOVE THEM ALL! (^.^)

Here's where they live in my home, now....
My first Heath ceramic from Terri! I was totally psyched to get this as a gift, since I've always wanted something from Heath Ceramics. I especially love their series of bud vases, it's such a soft humble form that feels very warm and satisfying.
Quirky creature from Terri. I cracked up when I saw this funny thing! it's so cute! I don't know what's front or back...but that's what cute about it, it could go either way. the brown thing could be a nose or a tail!Tea towels from Chika. I was also super psyched about these since I've been eying on these forever! These are designed and made by Skinny La Minx , all the way from South Africa. The designs are charming and beautiful. Close up of the beautiful printed towels. 100% cotton and made in South Africa.
Needle felted bowls handmade by Lauren. Aren't they sweet? I didn't know you can needle felt things like that! I wanna have a felting party now! who's in!?
Also made by Lauren are these sweet fabric covered tacks. I love the colors and the patterns. Those will definitely be useful for my studio, can't wait to use them!

THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!

DIY Felt CD case

So this is one of the first craft project of the year that I made for my close friend, Noal, who moved away to L.A. last Friday. I'm super bummed about him moving away, since we've been friends for 6 some years now. We'd watch indie/foreign films, drink tea or coffee, shop at the farmers market, go on art walks, ride on scary rides at Seattle Center, go thrift store shopping, and try new restaurants, etc. We pretty much do everything together....second to Dylan.
But I suppose now this gives me an excuse to go visit him in L.A.!! I need some sun light soon.

So as his going away gift, I made him a CD case that fits 8 CDs with CDs such as The Darjeeling limited sound track, The new Shins, Nick Drake, El Perro Del Mar, Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, The New Rilo Kiley, Toya (pre -Benyonce booty shaking music), Flight of the Conchords, and Thom Yorke.

I round up things I had in my apt/work studio (chikabird Inc.), and came up with using felt (red and tan), poka-dot ribbon, vintage buttons (that I've been waiting to use!) and a vintage heavy duty zig-zag scissor (one of my prized finds during my recent shopping for L&G.)
The format is like a folding accordion folding book with pockets on both sides that can fit 8 CDs.
Materials needed:
Main Piece: 5.5" tall X 28" wide
Pocket: 6" tall X 22.5" wide (cut both long edges with zig-zag cutter)
Cover Flap: 4" X 5.5" wide (cut one side of the long edge with zig-zag cutter)
Ribbon: Roughly 15" long
2 Buttons

First, fold the pocket piece in half the long way, and iron it flat.
At the fold, insert the main piece so then the pocket sandwich the main piece in between.
then mark lines 5.5” apart with 1/8” in between. Then in one continuous stich, sew down the pockets. as shown in the drawing below with red dotted line.


Take the ribbon and stitch down the center of the back. Then with the front of cover facing the back of the main piece, line the flat edge of cover with the top edge of main piece, stitch it down, and fold it over and top stitch it. Then the last step is to pick out your buttons and sew it, and you done!! TA-DA!!

you can make bunch of different variations depending on the fabric, ribbon and buttons you use. Also if you want more pockets, just add 5" 5/8 to the length for each additional CD slot, then you can fit as many CDs as you want! EASY!!
-Jean