Winter flower

I found this simple flower walking by my house on a snow day. The color combination chocolate brown flower on white snow caught my eyes. I simply couldn't walk by:)

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!

Water lily felted flower brooch in purple violet

Flowers come in different shapes and colors. The diversity of nature always inspires me. This time I've decided to make a felted flower brooch that will look like a water lily.

First of all I hand felted a large number of purple colored wool pieces in shapes of flower petals. I tried to make my petals long and somewhat narrow. At first I planned on making two-colored flower brooch and hand felted pieces of white wool as well. Later I changed my mind and created a purple colored brooch adding a few white shiny beads instead.

After my wool petals dried up I started arranging them into different patterns to find the one I liked the most. It's easy to do it while they are not yet attached and turned into an actual brooch. It's always fun to lay out different designs with different pieces of felted wool.

After a while I figured out what exactly I wanted to do with my wool. I attached all my numerous purple colored felted wool pieces to a hand crocheted base. To accent the color I added tiny white beads that look like small flower stamen.
The brooch is ready to wear now!

Blue and chocolate felted flower brooch

I continue experimenting with hand dyeing. It's such a fun process and I just love the colors that turn out at the end. To create my chocolate blue flower felted brooch I first hand felted flower petals in white and dark brown. I had all three types of wool available at home.

To add color to my brooch I hand dyed each felted petal with blue drink mix which contains food coloring. As the result my petals have spots of bright blue to contrast their dark brown color and they smell like raspberry. My pieces of hand felted wool look so different now. Bright blue color makes them vivid and summer-like.

After assembling all my hand dyed pieces into a flower and attaching petals to a hand crocheted jute base I've got an exotic flower brooch in blue, dark brown and white. It will go well with any neutral or white outfit and will add color to a business casual dress.

Flower brooch hand dyed in burgundy

I keep experimenting with hand dyeing. It's such a rewarding and inspiring process. So many new ideas come to life when one starts mixing colors. The end result is always a surprise and the whole process is much fun!

I hand felted many many wool petals for my flower brooches and dyed them in my freshest color mix. The final dye color is more like a burgundy with hints of red and even yellow. It's such an interesting color that is not eye popping bright but rather stylish and elegant.

I've assembled my petals into a flower brooch with a hand crocheted jute base that I had made earlier. The brooch looks like a flower and will no doubt decorate any outfit. It will go well with any office neutral colors especially the ones with hues of light green, dusty pink and pale blue.

How to dye with a bright blue Kool Aid drink mix

I finally found the bright blue drink mix I was looking for. The Kool Aid drink mix in blue raspberry has exactly the color I needed to create happy blue items for my on-line shop. It's not easy to get by in local supermarkets. For some reason stores normally don't carry this particular color. However, one can always buy it on the Internet.

To dye with blue drink mix you will need to create felted wool layers first. We will felt white wool and dye it later. To learn about felting you are always welcome to read my earlier post on how to hand dye a flower brooch. When the layers are ready just pour water in a plastic container with blue drink mix and stir it well. Place all your layers in the container and microwave until it starts boiling.

Let your bright blue felted wool layers cool as they are extremely hot in the beginning and gently squeeze the wool until somewhat dry. I usually let my wool dry overnight.
When our bright blue layers are ready we can use them to create a brooch. I personally like to mix colors so to create my brooch I added a few layers of dark blue hand felted wool. The result is a bright and vivid brooch that will go well with happy colors of the summer.

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.

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!

Spring Post Cards Exchange

One of our Russian Artists team members Albina Manning came up with a great idea of a spring post cards exchange. All participating team members exchanged mailing addresses and will now mail three spring post cards to three Russian Artists team members.

The idea of the post card exchange is to celebrate spring and to do something nice to a fellow team member. Everything is done anonymously and nobody knows where the post card will come from. As our team members are scattered all over the world I won't be surprised to see a post card arriving from Australia or Israel for example.

I decided to create my three post cards myself. I love flowers and there are always fresh flowers at my home. It's just a matter of spending some time taking pictures and turning them into postcards. I'm into hand made business myself and love items created by someone's hands rather than mass produced in hundreds of copies.

I'm super excited to get my three spring post cards from secret senders. I simply love that post card exchange idea! Thank you Albina!

Felted flower pin in wine and fuchsia

Felted flower brooches and pins are my favorites. I create them in my spare time when my kids go to beg at night. They don't take too long to create and yet such brooches can completely change the way one looks. If you wear a neutral or gray colored sweater to work one day and add a brightly colored felted flower brooch to the very same sweater the next day your colleagues will notice the difference! Brooches are wonderful accessories and they make a huge difference in the way one looks!

Crocheted flower brooch in blue

I stopped by a supplies store last week and picked up some really cool yarn in blue and its different shades and hues. The yarn is very pleasant to touch, soft and stylish. As a result I crocheted a flower brooch in blue with white hand felted bead in the middle. It looks great of lightly colored outfits. The brooch can be worn on outdoor coats as it's rather durable.

Crocheted earrings in white and beige

I've created white crocheted earrings as my last nod to this season's winter. Cold weather and chilly winds are still around but we are inevitably approaching spring with its burst of colors, warm sun and positive attitudes.
Although I'm really looking to the spring season, winter has its own beauty. I'm celebrating it now while white landscapes are still around.

Red Rose Brooch for Valentine's Day

I've recently came up with an idea of creating a rose brooch for Valentine's day. It's made of red felted wool and wire. The idea is to celebrate a wonderful day of love, passion and upcoming spring. Bright red and fuchsia hues will be seen everywhere as we approach Valentine's day! Let's celebrate!

Felted Berry Brooch in Chocolate Blue

I keep experimenting with colors and shapes. My new version of a felted berry brooch comes in chocolate and blue. It's a very vivid and beautiful combination of colors that goes well with pretty much any outdoor and indoor outfits and attires. Unique shapes of my berry brooches make them standout. I get a lot of feedback from clients about how they get noticed everywhere they go wearing my brooch. It's so rewarding to know that!
The colors of the brooch make me think about chocolate and cotton candy ice cream that is pretty good by the way! The combination of tilted blue and dark brown is very rewarding and stylish.

Felted brooch in robin egg blue

I hand felted this flower brooch in a shade of robin egg blue, sky, green and white. Those are perfect winter colors that will cheer us up during monochrome days of winter.
For me blue is a color of magic and fairy tales. It is airy and light and has some mystery to it. Blue will go well with pretty much any dress and outfit. It's such an appreciative color!

Felted flower web brooch in white red gray

With all the holidays approaching we will need a lot of accessories to spice up our outfits. The same nice top could be worn to a few occasions and yet it will look different every time. Just add a new brooch or pin every time you go out! It's amazing how much even a small brooch can do to a dress.

Brooches are fun as they are easy to wear and usually not expensive. Made from felt they are durable as well. One can pile them up in one's store room and they won't take much space. Yet brooches add so much style and color to our outfits. I have a whole bunch of them in different colors and shapes. It's nice just to look at them. All those colors and shapes make me feel happy somehow!

Hand felted wool flower brooches

I discovered a few really cute buttons in a store and bought them without any particular purpose. They were so lovely that I just desperately wanted to attach them somewhere. Finally I found a place that fits them perfectly. Hand felted flower brooches with multiple layers of felt in different colors look nice with a large vivid spot in the middle. That's where my buttons belong from now on.
The key is to match the color of a button with a color of the felt flower. It's hard to find nice looking buttons but relativery easy to buy wool of diffferent colors and types. So here is the rule: Start with the button!