Giveaway Red Berry hand felted mini bag

To celebrate this beautiful autumn I'm hosting my first giveaway this year. One lucky giveaway participant selected by True Random Number Generator will win my hand felted Red Berry mini bag. I hand felted this mini bag of wool in white, red, burgundy, green and brown. No glues, dyes or artificial materials were used. To read more about the mini bag please go to my CityCrochet shop.



The winner will be announced next Friday, September 28th.

To enter:
Please visit my CityCrochet shop and leave a comment here about any item(s) you really like. Don't forget to leave your contact information (e-mail address, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest) so I can contact you in case you win. Your info will NEVER be used for any other purposes!!!

Extra entries:
Please leave one separate comment for each extra entry. (So if it is 2 extra entries for example, please leave 2 comments, etc.)

1 entry - follow my blog with Google friend connect

1 entry - Like my Facebook page

1 entry - Like this post (just press the Like button under this post)

1 entry - follow me on Twitter TonyaUtkina

1 entry - follow me on Pinterest

1 entry - repin this post (just press "Pin It" button under this post)

2 entries - grab my button and put it on your blog

No purchase is neccessary, but if you happen to buy something from my shop you will get extra 5 entries.

Open to US and Canada only. Winner will be chosen by online random generator. Winner will be notified by Friday, September 29th and will have 3 days to reply or another winner will be chosen.

Good luck!:)

Autumn butterfly

Autumn is upon us! With very few bushes still in bloom we see less and less of beautiful butterflies. They will be all gone pretty soon. I took a picture of this beautiful butterfly in our front yard. It will help me remember warm days and beautiful colors of autumn!

DIY How to make a maple leaf brooch

Let us make a felted brooch in a shape of a maple tree leaf. Autumn will be here before we know it. Fall inspired accessories will look great on our coats and outerwear. The maple leaf brooch is relatively easy to make. You will need a table to put a piece of bubbled wrap paper. It's great if the table's surface can endure water and soap as with felting you will get your table wet.



You will need felting wool in red, burgundy and brown. For felting you will need soap, water and bubbled wrap paper.



On a piece of bubbles paper arrange five pieces of burgundy red felting wool. They will be our maple leaves. In the middle add a piece of brown wool. To add color put a few small pieces of bright red wool here and there. I suggest you experiment with colors and add a bit of green, black, dark brown or ever blue. Colors will add volume to the leaf and make it look bright.



Once the leaf is arranged wet it with soapy water and cover with another piece of bubbled wrap. Start gently rubbing the plastic paper. The leaf is felted when all the wool fibers stay intact and attached to each other.



The brooch is almost ready. Rinse it well in water and let it dry. Attach a safe pin at the back of the leaf to turn it into a brooch. You can wear this brooch with pretty much any outfit. It will look great on winter coats and outerwear.

Flowers in lilac and purple

Flowers are beautiful. They are so fragile and exquisite! Every flower is different and there is no way one can find two similar ones! They come in different colors and shapes. It's amazing how creative nature can be! My favorite Fall flower colors this season are lilac, purple and yellow.
Fall colors tend to be warm.
They remind us of the last sunny days before winter strikes. This feast of colors is our last chance to picture all these yellow, purple, red shades and hues before we enter a monochrome world of winter.
Don't forget about animals, insects and birds of the sunny Summer and Fall days! Some of them are as vivid as any flower or brightly colored Fall leaf. Some damselflies, dragonflies and butterflies remind us of flowers and some look more like exotic aliens from different planets but they all add beauty to our everyday life.

My First Fall GIVEAWAY results

Thank you for participating in my Red Berry handmade earrings Giveaway. Believe it or not but the number generated by Random Generator was 66!

Let us congratulate Lee who won Red Berry handmade earrings today!!! Congratulations Lee!!!

Tutorial how to make felted wool acorns

Have you ever thought about hanging acorns on either a Christmas tree or next to your computer in your cubicle? I have!

A sunny Fall day is ideal for a stroll in a park. That's what we frequently do on weekends when our family goes to one of many wonderful parks in Richmond, VA. Every such stroll normally ends up with a whole collection of stones, acorns and sticks picked up by my kids. With plenty of acorns in every corner of my house I suddenly realized that I can actually turn them into something bright and vivid. Felted wool acorns are beautiful, durable and could be used in many ways. They add color and style to one's house and make it look cozy and friendly.

So where do we start?
First of all we need a few good acorns. They can be picked up in pretty much any park these days. It's acorns' season!

Next we will need a bit of wool suitable for wet felting, soap and hot water. I usually try to use wool of as many colors as I can find as it helps to create a whole array of multicolored, bright and vivid acorns. For wet felting I normally take a small piece of wool make it into a soft ball, wet it with hot water and add some soap to it. After squeezing and later rolling this ball between my palms for good 10 to 15 minutes wetting it and adding soap from time to time I get a felted firm ball that could be gently squeezed into an oval to look like an acorn.

The last step is to connect our acorn heads to felted wool ovals. I use a mercerized cotton thread to sew them together. This type of thread is very strong. Chances are slim it will ever tear apart. The thread enables us to hang acorns anywhere we like.

I personally like acorns to be of different shapes and sizes. They look genuine as they pretty much are. Bright wool colors make them look festive and jolly. They are a perfect gift for anyone you love or care about!

GIVEAWAY: Red Berry Earrings

Fall is a lovely season with so much vivid and beautiful colors around us. It will be followed by a rather colorless winter so let's enjoy this feast of color while it lasts! I handmade this juicy Red Berry earrings of bright Czech glass and silver plated wire. They are absolutely unique and each piece is carefully crafted in an eco-friendly and inspiring surroundings.
I'm hosting my first Fall giveaway! One lucky giveaway participant selected by True Random Number Generator will win my handmade Red Berry earrings next Thursday, October 14, 2010.

To enter:

Please visit my Etsy shop TonyaUtkina and leave a comment about your favorite item in my Etsy shop. Don't forget to leave your e-mail address so I can contact you in case you win. Your e-mail info will NEVER be used for any other purposes!!!

Extra entries:

Please leave one separate comment for each entry. (So if it is 2 extra entries for example, leave 2 comments, etc.)

1 entry - follow my blog with Google friend connect

1 entry - follow me on Twitter TonyaUtkina

1 entry - like my Facebook Fan page TonyaUtkina Jewelry

1 entry per day - retweet the following message and post a comment about it (just copy and paste the following into the twitter window). Can be done daily:
RT @tonyautkina GIVEAWAY Red Berry Earrings! Visit my blog http://tonyautkina.blogspot.com/2010/10/giveaway-red-berry-earrings.html

2 entries - grab my button and put it on your blog

3 entries - blog about this giveaway

No purchase is neccessary, but if you happen to buy something you will get extra 5 entries .

Open to US and Canada only. Winner will be chosen by online random generator. Winner will be notified by e-mail on Thursday, October 14, 2010 and will have 3 days to reply or another winner will be chosen.

Good luck!:)