owls tree : a little gift for LT

Last week I worked on a special mixed media project for my friends, Kelli & Chris, but it's for their unborn child that they are calling "LT" for Little Taylor until the baby is born. Cute, huh! Anyway, Kelli kept talking about owls to me about my needle-felting. Did you make any owls? How about an owl? So, a few weeks back I went to check out LT's room (it wasn't quite finished, but well on it's cute way). I got some ideas from being in the room and then it wasn't until last week when all of my ideas came together and I was scrambling to get my piece done before their baby shower, which was yesterday.

I had been trying to think of a way to contain my needle-felting into something so that they could be displayed nicely and also to protect them. I had been perusing some of my favorite design blogs and got the idea to contain the piece in a shadowbox. I was on a mission to find the perfect shadowbox. After looking at about five stores I finally found one I liked at IKEA. Good ol' IKEA!

The other thing I really wanted to do with this piece was to experiment with all of the materials that I love to use: paper, wool roving, watercolor paint, polymer clay and of course.... glitter! Although I went easy on the glitter, because Kelli isn't a big glitter sort of girl. :o)

So of course, the main idea was centered around the "owl", so now I can stop hearing about the owl. HA HA! I was really happy with how the little guy turned out. The background I chose is orange, I know not you're typical sky color, but it will work perfectly in LT's color palette of the room.

Usually with every piece, no matter if it's an illustration, painting, needle-felting piece or something I've created in clay, I always include a certificate with it to explain a little more about the piece, but this time I wrote a note to "LT" and adhered it to the back.

Congratulations Kelli & Chris! I had a great time at your shower, probably one of the nicest I've ever been too. And you know Kelli... how I feel about showers. ;o)

I've already got some more sketches in the works for more diorama pieces -- but this time they will go into my Etsy shop. I'm keeping them a secret right now.

But wait there's a little more...

-- On a side note, I had such a great time making the Puppy Love Hand-Stitched Valentine's Day cards that I ordered some fabric and I'm going to try my hand at sewing something to wear for myself. Whoa -- scary task, but it was fun. I ordered some fabulous Amy Butler fabric from her LOVE collection and the Liverpool tunic/dress pattern.

-- Before I forget.... there's still 1 card left in the shop -- hurry Valentine's Day is coming soon! I've reduced the shipping to $.50 for US customers.