Now is the time to think about your Halloween decorations and I thought it would be fun to see what the ETSY shop owners are selling for this trick or treat fun holiday.  I was taken in by “Two Left Hand’s Shop” with its smashing array of adorably scary dolls.  Mrs. Two Left Hand’s lives in a little cottage on a little lake in Michigan with her husband and their two adorable dogs. Muffie is a Shitzu and Poker is a Cocker Spaniel. They have three grown kids and nine beautiful grandkids, five boys and four girls. She has been sewing for as long as she can remember and because she has never been good at taking instructions (she always does first and reads later) she never know exactly what she will come up with. She loves doing needlework and experimenting with different embroidery stitches.  Most items are made from wool felt, wool roving, gauze, bead, pearls, glue, floss.  Every holiday is celebrated in this shop, so visit often.

Chrissy lives in California and has an amazing collection of needle felted creatures indigenous to the sea.  I especially love her blowfish! On Chrissy’s Flickr account and her blog she shows you her dying techniques for the blowfish. She has brought a whole new dimension to needle felting.  She has a wonderful imagination and living in California near a sea, must help her develop her realistic looking sea creatures.  I love her octopus, lobster and of course her awesome sushi.  Take some time and visit fried chicken! You will find unexpected creations that I’m sure you will enjoy. You can find Chrissy on her The Flted Chicken blog, her ETSY shop, Flickr and on Facebook. If you are a member of Facebook you will want to become Chrissy’s fan.

Chrissy also is creating a sweet line of (re)Gift Boxes and bags “Pictured” made of a pre-felted fabric called Eco-spun. This is a synthetic felt that is made of 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles.

Chrissy tell us!

I am a scenic sculptor living in West Hollywood. Right now I’m really trying to focus on my new ETSY shop.

Currently I am making many things out of felt. I love the fabric; it reminds me of craft projects I did as a child. My sculptures are 100% hand-felted wool made by Needle-felting. Needle-felting is the process of matting and compressing animal fibers into felt by stabbing a barbed needle into the fibers over and over and over and over again. It is very time-consuming, but also amazingly fulfilling. It allows me to hand sculpt fabric without having to use a sewing machine. It combines many of my favorite things – sculpting & stuffed animals – fine art & toys – innocence & craftsmanship.

Jennifer Pedersen-Giles lives in Arizona and has a blog Wind Rose Fiber Studio and ETSY shop Wind Rose Boutique.  On her blog Wind Rose Fiber Studio she’s offering a free pictorial tutorial on crocheting and felting this beautiful lantern necklace and all you have to do is to select the colors you wish to use. Complete instructions for this project are on Wind Rose Fiber Studio.  Stop by and visit Jennifer and tell her you found her on craft gossip felting.

Jennifer relates:

Today I’m posting the pattern for this cute Felted Lantern Necklace. I originally designed this pattern for a crochet class I used to teach back in Virginia. I love a pattern where every time you make it, you can put your own spin on the design. These days, with the vast variety of beads and fibers in the marketplace, this pendant can take on so many unique looks.

This weekend I’ll go through the pattern step by step in a crochet-along. I’ll take pictures of all of my materials and show you the stitches every step of the way. If you’ve never felted before, this is a great project to introduce you to the fun of machine felting. So dig through that yarn stash and find a little wool and a bead or two and we’re off!

I ran across Janis’s ETSY shop “Kamatrice” and recommended one of her brooches on this next and she sold it. She has some really amazing products in her shop. I am picturing the brooch she sold because I found it to be stunning and the work that went into it had to be intense. She had named the brooch “coral reef” and the person that bought it is really lucky because I was thinking of purchasing it.  Janis has a wonderful philosophy about her crafting, she takes once loved clothing that has been discarded and turns them into beautiful works of art. She also makes special items and little friends by hand with up-cycled and re-purposed materials. Janis owns a bed and breakfast in Central Pennsylvania which fills much of her time, but between visitors she keeps herself busy with her sewing and handiwork. I think you will enjoy browsing through Janis is shop and seeing what can be recycled into stunning new items that we all would love to own.

Janis’ is shop and seeing what can be recycled into stunning new items that we all would love to own.

Janis has an marvelous brooch called “Queen Anne’s Lace” and I love the little narrative she has about this item, as follows:

When Queen Anne was making some lace, she pricked her finger with the needle and a drop of her blood stained the center of the lace. In sympathy for the Queen, the flower now grows with a blood red drop in its center.

Amanda is a felting artist from Finland. She has a blog Felt Finland, a Flickr photo stream that will give you an idea of this amazing woman’s talents. There is no way that I could show you a small fraction of her work, so I selected Easter related items. Amanda has another site she sells from which is called Felt Finland.  One of the things I noticed about a man does sites is that she has written them both in English and in Finnish which allows us that are English-speaking to enjoy her sites. Please take the time to visit Amanda’s sites and see all her stunning felting.

Artist’s statement:

In the autumn of 2005, quite by chance, I discovered the ancient craft of Felting. History will tell us that felt dates back to as early as 6500BC and is one of the oldest forms of fabric. I use felt’s amazing properties to create art in the form of wall hangings, table runners and pictures, using the traditional wet felting method – Soap, hot water and friction (one’s hands usually!) I also use the needle felting method to make 3 dimensional characters and smaller decorations.

I met Sharon Sinclair on Facebook and she founded America Creates in 2005 along with her husband, Larry Hitchcock.  America Creates reflects the diversity of the artists, artisans, co-ops, guilds, galleries, events, art schools and museums represented on their site. As such, they serve many purposes to many people:

Sharon introduced me to the art of JENNIFER GIERKA, a felting artist that mixes felting with other alternate materials. Jennifer’s jewelry has always reflected an interest in simple shapes and organic forms through materials.  As you can see her art is unique and wonderful.  

Jennifer grew up in Albany, NY and studied fine arts at Pratt Munson Williams Proctor in Utica, NY. From there she went on to earn a BFA in jewelry and metalsmithing from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2008. She now lives and works out of her studio in Brooklyn, NY

You can buy Jennifer’s art on America Creates

Or go to her beautiful Gallery.

MaryLynne operates an ETSY shop “Bethany Homecrafts“ and creates the most adorable felted birds.  These little guys would be so cute in a spring arrangement, for Easter or just hang near to cheer you on a dreary day.

MaryLynne is a confirmed crafter and was fashioning handmade gifts when she was ten years old. Her mother made clothes for her, and her grandmother crafted everything and it must be in her genes. When MaryLynne married, her mother-in-law inspired her to make her first braided rug, and she haven’t looked back. She has always been inspired to make new things from the things that make up the fabric of life, the very clothes we wear. So her quilts have been pieced from the scraps of the clothes she has made, and her rugs are recycled coats and skirts.