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!

Exotic felted flowers by Roltinica

We all get inspired by beautiful flowers. In spring and summer with so many flowers in bloom we get positive energy just by stepping out into a garden or walking in a park. It’s somewhat harder to find flowers in winter though. I’ve recently came across an amazing artists Elena who makes exotic and beautiful felted flowers. She helps us stay surrounded by flowers during cold winter days.



Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Elena and I live in a beautiful city of Naberezhnye Chelny, Russia. I love flowers, nature and bright colors. Our nature is some what reserved and we don’t have exotic flowers and plants growing in our gardens and forests. Felting unique looking flowers is a way for me to compensate for the luck of nature diversity and complexity.



How did you start?
It all started with my daughter Tatiana once coming across a felted purse tutorial on the Internet. The idea of felting a purse was quite inspiring and we ended up making one. That’s how I started hand felting.

Russian traditions of felting date back centuries and these days there are a lot of books and tutorials on how to felt pretty much anything. After experimenting with making a purse and other items I tried to make a flower. The process absorbed me completely and I make mostly flowers ever since.

I felt pretty much every day and experiment with felting a lot. I’ve come up with my own technique of felting flowers so that fluffy wool turns into smooth and soft yet firm flower petals. I try to make my flowers look real and the only thing that makes them different is a lack a scent.



What inspires you?
My family supports and inspires me in everything and I’m very thankful for that. My mom is my most authoritative critic – if she does not like the flower, I will remake it.

Nature and flowers are great sources of inspiration for me. I experiment with felting a lot and new techniques and fibers offer new possibilities and let me create different and unique items. On top of wool silk is another fiber that is great for felting. Mixing wool and silk I make interesting textures that become exotic flowers.



What are your creative plans for the future?
I wish there were more that 24 hours in one day! I plan on writing a master class for flower felting. People are often curious to learn how I make my petals and stamens that look like real. I’ve been experimenting a lot with felting to get to the point where my felted flowers look fresh and live. I’ll be happy to share my knowledge with other felt loving artists.

Thank you, Elena

Deep greens of the summer

With spring bloom almost over we are moving towards a more subtle green summer season. However, greens are not boring! The deep green color of leaves, grass and trees comes in a lot of different hues.

We still can find fresh and young leaves that have this optimistic color of lime. They are tender and fragile and it will take them some time to turn into deep green mid summer leaves.

Don't get upset that all the spring flowers are gone. Take your camera and go for a picture hunt in the green of the summer! I promise you will find lots of cool green objects worth to be displayed on your living room's wall.

Fresh Spring Flowers in Lavender and Violet

I saw those beautiful flowers on a bush near my house. The bush has just started to bloom and is covered with lavender violet colored tender and fragile flowers. It's such a short period when all those flowers are out to make us happy. I try to carry my camera with me all the time.

Flowers inspire me to create earrings, necklaces and bracelets. I like to work with silver plated wire as it enables me to make twisted designs reminiscent of beautiful vintage smith craft and metalwork that one still occasionally come by at an antique shows nowadays.

Bright red spring flowers and jewelry

On my way back home I picked up a few beautiful red flowers. They look a bit like roses but have no scent at all. I just finished creating my new red earrings and those flowers were a great match in terms of color and shape. Assembled next to each other both flowers and my earrings look bright and juicy.

The red clear beads I used for creating the earrings are made in Czech Republic. They are of a very interesting cut and look rather like huge rubies. I totally fell in love with them and will spend next few weeks thinking about other designs I could incorporate them in.

Spring tulips

As daffodils tulips are a spring staple. We are used to yellow and bright red spots of color in city parks and our yards. But as I found out tulips come in a wide variety of colors and shapes.

If we look back at the history of Europe tulips played quite a dramatic role being at some point in the center of Dutch tulip obsession. Although originally cultivated in Ottoman Empire tulips gained extraordinary popularity in Europe with a number of tulip festivals being help in many countries including England and Netherlands.

Nowadays tulips successfully compete with other beautiful spring flowers for prime spots in our gardens.

Virginia Dogwood in bloom

I've never seen a dogwood in bloom prior to moving to Virginia. However, in Richmond, VA dogwoods are everywhere. Beautiful in their simplicity dogwood flowers add color to our backyards. They come in all shades of pink, white and even greenish colors.

April is the dogwood month as all the trees start to bloom. One can see spots of red, pink and white in the otherwise bright green palette of spring forests. In the fall dogwood's bright red berries will be an excellent source of nutrients for birds, rodents and other small animals.

Covered with many large and beautiful flowers dogwood trees look rather like brides waiting for something great to happen in their life. Plant a dogwood in your yard and you will have a fairy bride coming to your yard every spring.

Spring flowers in blue red and yellow

It's so beautiful outside with all the trees, bushes and early spring flowers like daffodils and tulips beginning to bloom. Since I now have a new macro it's the perfect time to try it out and preserve all that spring beauty. Inspired by a few amazing photographers on Etsy I went out for my hunt. Ideally I would love to take pictures of flowers in a wide palette of colors with all possible hues, shades and color combinations. I've started with blues, reds and yellows.

Here are beautiful pale blues with hints of yellow on a greenish background.

Bright reds of a Japanese maple look so fresh and juicy. The flowers are bitten by cold a bit but I'm sure they will survive! The shape of the flower head is very peculiar and unique.

Bright yellow of a daffodil caught my eye. The flower looks like a porcelain with its petals being so fragile and light.

Spring post cards exchange

I've recently received four amazing post cards from my Russian Artists fellow team members. The original idea of the post cards exchange belongs to Albina from AroundBeads. Albina came up with a great idea of writing a few with warm words about spring to a few members of our team. I got beautiful cards from Albina AroundBeads, Lena SFBeads, Lena Lazo, Natalia HansHolzkopf and it was a surprise. Although I expected to get post cards I didn't know where they would come from. Thank you so much for wonderful cards and your sincere and kind words!!!

How to hand dye a flower felted brooch

I continue experimenting with hand dyeing and food coloring. The results are always beautiful and rewarding. To hand dye a felted wool brooch we will need one pack of KoolAid or a similar powder and white hand felted brooch layers. You can read about creating hand felted brooches in my post on How to make felted wool flower brooch
To prepare coloring I mix one tea spoon of powder with a little bit of water in a plastic container. It sometimes makes sense to prepare a few containers with slightly different coloring. You may go with strawberry and cherry for example.

When the coloring solution is ready gently apply color to each layer of the brooch puring it from a tea spoon. I usually start in the middle leaving the edges of the layer intact. It makes sense to use a plastic tray to protect your surfaces and the coloring is quite intense. When all three layers are dyed it's time to put them into a microwave. I normally microwave the whole set for a few minutes. The goal is not to burn the wool. Microwaving helps the wool to absorb the dye. The color will now stay on the fiber.

When the layers are ready I let them dry over night. With hand dyeing one has so much freedom! It's up to you how to apply the color and where to apply it. One can make the brooch bright and vivid by applying concentrated coloring or pale and light by applying just a few drops of color.
The final stage of our process is to actually assmeble the brooch. You can use a hand felted bead, a button or a glass bead to attach in the missle of the brooch. I personally like large felted beads as they make my brooches look more like flowers!

I will definitely continue experimenting with food coloring. My next project is to start mixing different colors! Stay tuned!

Felted flower brooch in peach orange

I continue experimenting with coloring. My favorite coloring solution these days is KoolAid that comes in a few bright colors. I've created my flower brooch hand felting white wool and coloring it with orange KoolAid. The color is very intense and beautiful! Because I color every layer of the brooch separately I can control the process and apply as much color as I think is necessary for each layer. The idea is to apply maximum color to the center of each layer leaving the edges uncolored. It adds volume to the flower and makes every brooch look different and unique. On top of that the brooch smells of oranges and makes me think of spring and summer!

Chained Rose collection by StudioElenus

I came across this wonderful Chained Rose collection by StudioElenus on Etsy one day and completely fell in love with it. All StudioElenus necklaces, rings and brooches look so stylish, well crafted and inspirational. Luckily I got a chance to interview this talented Etsy artist and can now share StudioElenus' creative insights with the whole blogosphere.

Q: Could you please tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Lena and I'm a stay at home homeschooling mom of two. I create my hand sewn jewelry at night when kids go to sleep. It works perfect for me as I can sew my blooming flowers, rings and rose brooches while watching a movie with my hubby or listening to an audio book.
As long as I can remember myself I was making stuff. I tried just about every medium that is out there. I could never stop and my creative nature takes over me all the time. I have a feeling my kids inherited this quality from me:) Art projects go non-stop in our house. They start long before I roll out of my bed in the morning. I wake up to glue and paper cut outs on the dinner table. We live in a creative chaos!
Q: Could you please tell us a bit more about your Chained Rose collection?
For the last half a year I’ve been working on my Chained Rose collection. It features rolled chiffon rosettes wrapped up in chains, and bead embroidered blooming roses. I design statement bibs and day necklaces, bracelets, rings, brooches and hair accessories. I started making jewelry for sale about 2 years ago using chains, semi-precious stones as well as glass beads, and decided to incorporate these materials in my fabric designs. That is how the Chained Rose was born which uniquely combines bohemian chic of vintage inspired fabric rosette and luscious glamour of contemporary jewelry trends. It makes a statement without going overboard, and is light weight and easy to wear unlike most of the statement jewelry.

Q: What are your main sources of inspiration?
I am inspired by many things natural and man made. I recreate color combos I see in the streets and in scrapbook paper, I leave the botanical garden with hundreds of ideas, I look through fashion magazines to make a note of hottest influences to come home and create something that supports some fashionable idea but is unlike anything you will see in stores.
I take pictures of the jewelry during the day in natural lighting. I use shabby chic wooden boxes and boards to create Victorian inspired aura and to emphasize romantic charm and elegance of my designs.

It's always so rewarding to learn more about unique artists and things that inspire them every day!
Lena, Thank you for sharing!
Lena was interviewed by TonyaUtkina

Lotus Nelumbo Nucifera in Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

On my recent visit to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden I was absolutely stunned by these strikingly beautiful and exotic flowers! I had no idea they grow in Virginia. Nelumbo Nucifera commonly known as Lotus is a rather large plant with leaves sometimes measuring as much as 24 inch. in diameter.

Lotuses are apparently edible and very few people actually know about it. For centuries natives of Australia, Japan, and southeast Asia have been using different parts of this plant in their cuisines. According to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden official page lotus leaf stalks are added to salads and their seeds taste like almonds. The flowers' roots are pickled and their stamens are dried and turned into tea.

I personally like the beauty of Nelumbo Nucifera flowers. Large and unusually shaped they are of tender pink and vanilla hues. A dried seed cup looks like an alien spaceship and with no doubt could be turned into a great house decoration.

Etsy EAST treasury Paris in bloom

I was in a romantic mood yesterday and came up with this Paris themed collection of items. It's all about pink airy and light flowers, elegant and beautiful women, streets and rooftops of Paris. I've been to this wonderful city a few times and wish I could return back every year! I just wanted to share a small bit of Paris with you!

The following wonderful fellow Etsians were featured in my Paris in bloom East treasury:
JaneBoFelt, Justlena, Kristybee, AliciaBock, moonbeamwishes, daimblond, CafeSprinkles, JuliaFelt, cushyadornments, Beautyland, afiori, TonyaUtkina, plumprettysugar, wickedpen, VitalTemptation, SucreEtCannelle

I just found out that my Paris in Bloom east treasury was featured on Etsy Front Page. Nice! :)