Needle felted toys, mini birds and animals by Natasha Belova

Amazing needle felted miniature birds and animals by Natasha Belova. Each felted animal is a brooch and could be pinned to a jacket or a coat. The colors are amazing and the craftsmanship is of the highest order. All these pins and brooches could be great small gifts for your loved ones. In addition to pins Natasha makes toys. Each toy is needle felted of wool and other natural fibers and has a personality of its own.



Could you please tell us a bit about yourself?

My name is Natasha and I live in a small city Zhukovsky in Russia. I work as a graphic designer in a local company. I've always loved to create with my hands. When I was in my twenties I used to sew and paint. I've discovered the magical world of felting many years ago and have been experimenting with felting ever since. I've started hand making small needle felted toys and pins about three years ago. They were small gifts for dear friends at first. Later, I began selling my felted animals at shows and through local shops.



In 2014 I've finally decided to open my Etsy shop znmystery. When I have free time (mostly after work) I make miniature bird and animal pins and brooches.



What are your main sources of inspiration?

I always get inspired by nature that offers such a wide variety of species in all shapes and colors. Nothing can compare to the world around us! My owls, finches, hedgehogs, rabbits have all been modeled on amazing birds and animals that live in nature. I try to spend as such time outside as possible. I love to travel, to take strolls in local forests and parks. I'm into mushroom picking that is quite popular in my region. I use only natural and organic materials for my pins, brooches and toys. Wool, silk, cotton, linen are an integral part of nature. By using them I try to pass a small part of nature on to whoever buys my birds and animals.

Giveaway Tree of Life felted wool brooch

I'm hosting my new Autumn giveaway. One lucky giveaway participant selected by a random number generator will win my Tree of Life felted wool brooch. I hand felted this brooch of white wool and hand embroidered it with my own design. I used cotton brown thread and glass beads to decorate the brooch. To read more about the brooch please go to my CityCrochet shop.



The giveaway ends on Friday, October 26th. The winner will be announced on Monday, October 29th.

To enter: Please visit my CityCrochet shop and leave a comment below 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 following the instructions below.

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

Thank you and Good luck!:)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Colorful hand made bird brooches by Moloco

From time to time I come across amazing artists who make unique and special hand made items. This time bright and colorful birds of different shapes and sizes caught my eye. They are so happy and positive that it's impossible to ignore them. Colorful birdies turned out to be felted brooches created by a talented artist Marina of Moloco.



Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

My name is Marina and I'm from Kiev, Ukraine. I work as an architect and designer but my true passion is hand making. I sew and stitch in my spare time creating different accessories out of natural fibers. To decorate I add embroidery of my own design.



I've been creating my little birds for some time now and have accumulated many birds of different designs and colors. At some point I've decided I have to share all my little birdies with the world and opened my own on-line shop. My birds are for people who love and appreciate unique handmade things just as I appreciate handmade creations by so many talented artists around me.



Many items that surround us in our everyday life inspire me. I find my inspiration in architecture, landscapes, beautiful interiors and traditional embroidery.
My favorite fibers are felt, wood and cotton. Natural fibers are the best to work with. They are so pleasant to touch and beautiful to look at!

DIY How to recycle wool scraps

I felt a lot of scarves, bags, brooches and, thus, I have a huge bag of wool scraps. The bag sits on my shelf. It's not heavy but takes a lot of my space! To somehow use all these bright and cool scraps I came up with an idea to turn them into felted wool brooches. Scraps will serve as an organic filler to make my brooches nice and puffy.



I have many scraps of different colors as I felt scarves in different techniques using different types of felting wool. Wool scraps are very nice to touch and they are totally eco friendly. I first decided to separate them into small piles by their color.



To make a wool felted brooch I cover a handful of wool scraps with felting wool and felt it in soapy warm water. As a result I get a base for my brooch that pretty much looks like a white pebble stone.



Once the brooch base is ready, I let it dry. Now it's time to turn it into something unique and beautiful. I embroidered a tree of life design adding small glass beads in blue, red and green. It's a great opportunity to use your imagination and come up with something totally different and special!

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.

Ginkgo hand felted yellow leaf brooch

Ginkgo tree is an amazing plant. It is a true living fossil which means that its fossils date back 270 million years. The plant survived all major planet Earth's cataclysms and extinction events. At some point of its history Ginkgo trees were widespread all over our planet. In our times they have long been cultivated in Asia where its seeds are widely used in local cuisine.

Ginkgo leaves are of a very peculiar shape. They look like fans with veins pointing towards an edge of a leaf. During the summer leaves are of a regular green color but in the fall leaves turn canary yellow making Ginkgo trees excellent ornamental yard and street plants.

Ginkgo leaves have long been used in medicine. Some studies suggest that extracts of Ginkgo leaves improve blood flow and enhance memory. Seeds of Ginkgo trees are considered by some Asian nations to have aphrodisiac properties and are sometimes offered at special occasions such as Chinese New Year or weddings.

A unique shape and bright yellow color of Ginkgo leaves in the fall are very inspirational. I always wanted to create a brooch that would remind me of these canary yellow fans. There is something really ancient and pre-historic in the way these beautiful leaves look.

According to The Sibley Guide to Trees "four Ginkgo trees about a mile from the 1945 atomic blast at Hiroshima, Japan, were among the very few living things that survived, and soon regained their full health".

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.

Bright canary brooch hand crocheted from jude

I'm currently experimenting with different materials and techniques. The new material I recently discovered is jute which is a yarn made of natural and vegetable fibers. It's pretty sturdy and rough but looks great when combined with elegant and light lace or soft and cozy wool.

The neutral color of jute works well with bright and vivid yellow, orange and blue colors. The brooch I created is an ideal accessory for spring and summer so I'll definitely keep experimenting with combining jute with other materials.

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!

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.

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!

Sakura felted berry brooch in cherry and gray

My newest creation is a felted berry brooch in red and gray. The color of the felted beads reminds me of cherry. I was inspired by Sakura Japanese cherry trees in blossom. The brooch in simple and minimalist yet very vivid and eye catching. It has a safe pin attached to its back and can be worn on pretty much any outfit.
The brooch will look perfect on any business suit or a matching dress.

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!

Red Berry hand felted brooch

Brooches are excellent for adding color and style for one's outfits. A bright brooch can completely change the way a dress or a suit looks. Red, raspberry and cranberry colors and hues work especially well with pretty much any attire. Even the outdoor clothing can be decorated with a pin. Just think about a brown or charcoal grey coat with a bright red pin attached to it. It will look so much better!

I always wear all my brooches and that's much fun as people always pay attention and take a notice. With a unique and beautiful brooch one will always stand out from the crowd.

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!