duckling pond

Happy Tuesday!

My newest needle-felting project is called "Duckling Pond." A bright yellow, rose-cheeked, Mommy duck and her fuzzy-headed duckling, swimming on a light blue felt waterlily pond. The mommy duck is embellished with a cute, black and white polka-dot grosgrain ribbon around her neck, and an orange button. Each needle-felting collectible has a tag on the bottom with the date, collectible name and my logo. Duckling pond is now available in my Etsy store for purchase and will come packed in a white gift box, stuffed with tissue for comfort and tied with a satin ribbon.

And don't forget Etsy shoppers, I have 8 more free gifts to give. One surprise free gift per person with purchase!

Franklin's Picnic

I took new photos of my first needle felting project "Franklin's Picnic.

Cherub's L-O-V-E

I'm very excited to post my newest needle felting collectible piece, "Cherub's L-O-V-E" just in time for Valentine's Day. Since each piece takes many hours to complete all of the tiny details, each one is very near and dear to my heart by the time I have completed them. This piece is 7 3/4" tall and at the base she's 4" wide. She's adorned with a light pink felt dress and embellished with white buttons, dark pink collar, matching belt, and chocolate brown mary janes with black buttons on the sides. Her base is also the same color as her dress collar with a velvet light pink trim at the base. Her crafting table is made of wood and was then painted to give it a stained finish. Tiny details such as the scissors are made from polymer clay and acrylic paint. She is a collectible piece and there will only be 1 made of her kind. She is not movable, nor can her clothing be removed. She is attached to her base. She is not recommended for playtime but, can be admired on a lovely shelf in a child's room.

I'm still working out the details for packaging, and she will soon be listed in my Cheryl Oz Designs Etsy store for the Valentine's Day!

Something new...

Did you ever stumble upon something and think, this is really something for me? Well, I just recently did, and that thing for me is felting. After reading the felting book in my last post, and experimenting with the wool a little bit, I discovered that it's something that I really enjoy and could very well become part of my artistic repertoire.

The process itself reminds me a little bit like working with clay but instead it's fiber. The fiber is needle felted until you get it to the desired shape and size. You must have patience though, the felting process isn't immediate. Keep in mind when you check out my first piece that it all starts with wool roving and everything is handmade. The bear itself is made from wool roving, stuffing, wire, beads and thread. The base is constructed from a wood plaque, that was then covered in more stuffing and felt. The tiny details are made from various handmade items such as paper flowers, polymer clay that has been baked and sewn felt. My first project took about 20 total hours to make, and throughout the process I think of how I might embellish my project and what to name the piece. This one is "Franklin's Picnic."

Currently I'm thinking about packaging ideas and once I have that squared away I'll begin listing them on my Etsy shop.

Wool roving

"Franklin's Picnic" - wool felted bear and embellishments

happy two thousand nine!

First and foremost I'd like to wish everyone a happy 2009! This past month has been crazy busy --- as I'm sure it has been for everyone else with the holidays. We had a wonderful holiday with our families and friends. We've had lots of snow too, which makes Christmas complete.

Over the holidays I hosted "arts & crafts day" at my house with a few friends. Amanda worked on her fabulous clay creations, Christine worked on a few watercolor paintings and worked with craft felt, and I did a watercolor illustration and prepared us a hearty lunch of grilled cheese & roasted tomato soup. We worked diligently while chit-chatting and admiring each other's work. It was fun to get together and have some company while we made art. We're hoping to make "arts & crafts day" a regular occasion, maybe even once a month. I can't wait till the next one!

During "arts and crafts day," I borrowed a craft book called "Sweet Needle Felts" by Jenn Docherty and I was so inspired by the authors creations that I knew I had to try a few things myself, order the book too! The book is about felting. Basically, felting is made with wool roving, needles and embellishments. I'll explain more about the process later.

My first felting project was a felted ball choker-style necklace. Puffy, black balls with shimmery gray seed beads. The balls of felt turned out perfect, but having never made any sort of jewelry before I did not compensate for the length of the necklace, so the necklace had to fit a very small neck. My Mom tried the necklace on and it fit her perfectly, but it really wasn't her style. My Aunt came over this weekend and it she loved it so I gave it to her. I didn't get a chance to snap a photo of my first creation but, she wants earrings to match so, I'll be sure to take a photos of those when I'm finished. Off to the bead store I go...

My second creation is a small bear. I'm still in the process of creating the bear, so I'll be posting him soon. I had a difficult time finding the wool roving in my area, so I placed an order online. My shipment is coming from California, so I hope it arrives soon! I'm close to finishing the bear, but I need the wool in a few other colors that I ordered to make him complete. By the way, his name is Franklin.