around the world with needle felting, a new book

i've seen a lot of japanese needle felting books, and i really believe this one deserves to be shared. it's called 'small world trip-encircled by felted wool,' and beside the wonderful idea of a world encircled in felt, i love this idea of organizing a series of projects based on the cultures of different countries. this leads to a nice mixture of animals, scenes, and other small motifs.

here are the projects from holland: a girl, wooden shows, and a little windmill scene.
koalas from australia,
and pandas from china.

there a full flickr set here, and the book is in my shop too.

mini craft books

recently, i have been loving little japanese craft books, almost more like booklets. as you can guess they are smaller than regular craft books, but can have some adorable and useful projects in them, nonetheless! this one is about making felt flowers using needle felting.
it has simple instructions (with photos, patterns, and diagrams of course) showing how to make the petal shapes for different flowers, and how to then put the flowers together. flickr set here.

this little book is full of patterns for hand carved stamps, which are quite a popular craft in japan.the designs are all simple, but they are very cute. flickr set here.
and this little book is a glossary of crochet stitches (don't be fooled by the english word knitting on the cover), including symbols, photos, and how-to diagrams for 60 stitches. so useful when i was trying to learn beginning crochet and japanese charting at the same time! flickr set here.

i just added these 3 little books to my shop. although the stamp design one has sold out, more copies will be on their way, and as always i can reserve one just for you.

current inspiration-needle felting embroidery book

i am so inspired by this book. maybe it's just my recent fascination with embroidery combined with my long love of felt, but i think the combination is brilliant. just added to the shop.

i've tried something similar on my own several years ago, but this method (these are the how-to photos from the book) show a very precise process of needlefelting directly onto the fabric, and then applying some soap and water to get a more smoothly felted surface...
and then the final details and touches with the felting needle.

there are so many detailed and colorful projects; there's a full flickr set here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/feltcafe/sets/72157622847355110/
i want to try this technique as soon as possible, maybe on something with a holiday theme...

to ward off vampires

9784579112609 100 felt mascots, originally uploaded by feltcafe.

happy halloween!

these little needle felted garlic guys are from this book, which is perfect for anyone is newcomer to needle felting. i really love this book!

updated to add: i fixed the link, so now you can actually see the book i'm talking about.

gnome sweet gnome needlefelted by lucky nielson

this lovely needlefelted gnome girl was made by lucky nielson, and is available in her etsy shop. impressive felting, indeed!

new japanese needle felting books

the first new needle felting book i want to share with you is this one, 'small dogs' isbn 9784277563185.
these puppies are seriously cute, and tiny.
a full flickr set of all the dogs is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/feltcafe/sets/72157622476425018/

this is a new japanese needle felting book-'cute small felt animal friends', isbn 9784529047579.
it's filled with sweet original wee needle felted characters.


the full flickr set for 'cute small felt animal friends' is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/feltcafe/sets/72157622505047064/


this next book, 'small animals made of felt' isbn 9784072689035,
is a reprinting of this book which is now out of print, isbn 9784277563130. the 2 books have the same projects, just a new cover for the new version.

the full flickr set for 'small animals made of felt' is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/feltcafe/sets/72157622380074705/

this book, 'cute animals' isbn 9784072689103, is also a new reissue of this book:animal mascots, small animal mascots made of wool', isbn 9784277563109.

this book is also the same projects as the now out of print version, with just a new cover.


the full flickr set of 'cute animals' is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/feltcafe/sets/72157622504256810/

these books are all available in my shop, and my flickr needle felting book collection is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/feltcafe/collections/72157613869153430/

royal eggs by asherjasper

vicky of asherjasper makes adorable felt creations, like these fairy tale royalty. her etsy shop is on mini vacation right now, but hopefully these and other goodies will be available there soon. in the meantime you can see more of her fabulous work on flickr.

old boar and baby wild boar

old boar, originally uploaded by vriad_lee.

i discovered this spectacular needle felted boar by flickr user vriad lee via craft. more work by this artist can be seen here.

here's another photo of our local boar, and one of the new baby wild boars that's about a week old. it's a little hard to make out, the baby is in the lower left corner.

yet another adorable needle felted animals book

i finally got to this book, which has some really cute animals made by needle felting.
i think the most special part of this book, is that it includes all the wee pastries and fruits that go along with the whimsical animal characters, many who have little shops!
and, it shows how to make all the little accessories...
and of course the animals themselves! the instructions are very clear, and this book would be good for a beginner to intermediate felter, and an advanced needle felter could also get inspired by the cute characters.
there's a full set of photos on flickr , and the book is in my etsy shop.

needle felted japanese sweets book

oh my, all the adorable japanese craft books are a little overwhelming! this one is all about japanese sweets, made by needle felting. and it is really really cute.

little bunny mochi
and strawberry chocolates
and look at this leaf around the sakura mochi! they are all just so sweet and realistic. and really they don't look very hard at all. more photos in the flickr set here, and the book is in my shop.

happy valentines day

My heart is yours!!!, originally uploaded by hine.

this overly literal cat, from flickr user hine, is one of my favorites from the CRAFT pool tagged for the valentine's craft challenge. so clever.

(updated to add: CRAFT picked this one as a winner too!)

and on a sad note, you've probably heard by now that CRAFT magazine will stop producing their print magazine after the current (#10) issue. thankfully, they will continue to exist online at http://craftzine.com.

CRAFT is dead, long live CRAFT!

valentine's felted conversation hearts part II

more needle felted valentine's conversation hearts!and for those of you looking for supplies, i've put together a kit of supplies if you want to try making them yourself at home. it's over in my shop.
for step by step instructions, check out my previous post.