Cute Needle Felted Animals & More Dollar Tree Barbie playsets/backdrops

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Bunny outfits, girl or boy?

Needle felted bunny with hand made dress (crocheted bodice, ribbon and crinoline skirt)

 Bunny was looking naked so I made some clothes for him/her.  I've always wanted to try to combine sewing and crochet but hate hand sewing and strongly dislike thread crochet so put it off until I decided to bite the bullet for an entree for my Hogwarts at Ravelry group (we were asked to crochet something that causes us pain...they didn't say it couldn't be a pain in the butt, lol). Anyway, I did this dress as part of the challenge, and I think the bunny looks adorable in it.  Thing is, I kept seeing bunny as a boy as I was making him.

Yesterday I decided to do the pattern again, except
this time, I'd do the entire pattern, not just the
first bit, and I ended up with this cute outfit.                                                                          

Needle felted bunny in crocheted boy outfit

needle felted bunny as boy

                                                                                    Both outfits are cute but I think I like the  little boy outfit the best, even though I generally gravitate more toward frilly things.  My friend Christine suggested that I should make another bunny so I can have both, so I think I'll take her up on it. First I have to give my poor hands a rest.  Between modelling, needle sculpting, crochet, and typing, they get quite sore, especially when I'm retaining water. 

I think I like needle felted bunny as a boy best.  His jointed limbs make posing him easy.

The pattern for the dress bodice and boy outfit can be found at epatterns.com. It's in the book,
Itsy Bitsy Babies and their Bassinet Purses

wool batting

 My friend bought this pretty Corriedale fibre and blue silk and decided she didn't want to do the project she bought it for, so she's selling it to me.  Isn't it pretty?  I especially love the blue silk; it will make pretty doll hair for my crocheted or needle felted critters, I think.

She also told me about a new wool shop in town, that not only sells wool and felting supplies, it also doubles as a coffee shop! Woohoo!  I can't wait to see it!

I've been thinking of dying some of my core batt using kool-aide and the microwave.  I'd have to do it in the basement though, which means bringing my microwave in from storage (in the garage), because my Mom would have fits if I stained her pretty kitchen counters.  Maybe I should just buy some orange and flesh batting (the two colors I really want.)

silk

Tiny dress for little bunny

Needle felted bunny ad carrot, crocheted radish, crocheted and sewn dress, needle felted napkin holder

I made this dress for my bunny today.  I hate crocheting with thread because my eyesight is such that I see things better at a distance and I have to hold the tiny hook and thread so far away that my arms get sore in order to see what I'm doing, lol.  Time for bifocals, I guess :-).

Needle felted bunny with crocheted carrot

 This outfit started out as a little tank top with shorts for a boy bunny but after doing that one row, I decided to sew it on to some ribbon and lace to make a dress.  I've never done that before but have always wanted to try, and I'm pleased with my first attempt.  I probably could have just used the first, short layer of lace to make a "younger" look, but I wanted to see how this would turn out.  I was thinking of crocheting a little hair band, bow, or flower, but wonder if it would be too much considering the large ears?

Needle felted bunny

Needle felted bunny in a teacup

 Here's bunny in a teacup, to show scale.  She's rather small; about the size of a Mommy dollhouse sized doll. I wanted her to be a baby bunny, so she's too big for dollhouse size, but perfect for Barbie size.  I have some plastic canvas Barbie furniture patterns; maybe I'll make a little cradle for her.  Either that or I was thinking I could crochet one bootie and she could use that as a bed.

Needle felted bunny in teacup

She's small enough that I had to line the cup with a handful of wool batting so she wouldn't disappear inside, lol.

I ordered a tutorial for sculpting mini babies out of polymer clay and am disappointed with the tutorial. It's not a real tutorial; more photos showing how someone sculpts their dolls.  That's the trouble with buying online tutorials; there's no way to know the person's writing style before hand.  The lady is a great sculptor and her babies are beautiful, but she's not a good teacher, and she didn't really explain how to sculpt.  I guess it's a good starting off point though.  I also ordered a tutorial for making Little Mo dolls, and that one was wonderful; very detailed and instructive.  I really want to learn how to sculpt; I got a taste for it when I did that little baby mandrake, and the wands, etc., for my Hagrid's Hut.

I used to have a cute tutorial for sculpting a baby fairy but have no idea where it is.  I should have saved it to mediafire.  I wonder if it's on my external harddrive?  I'll have to check.

Well, that's it for today.  Thanks for checking in.  Take care!
Kat

Hermione Crochet Amigurumi

Hermione crochet doll

Here's my version of Hermione in crochet. She has a sweet face, with a little snub nose.  Her hair is very wild and bushy, mainly because this was the only brown yarn I had left, lol.  Poor Hermione looks like she has dreadlocks because the yarn is so thick, lol.

Ron and Hermione crochet

Hermione's has a removable school blazer, shirt, tie, and skirt.  Her knee socks and shoes were made as part of her legs.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione crochet

Here's the golden trio; aren't they cute.  Harry's little legs are too short, so I'm going to eventually remove them and make them longer, but for now he's fine.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione crochet

I sculpted wands and a broom out of clay for my little witch and wizards.  This was such a fun project; they make me smile every time I look at them.  I like the look of Hermione with her jacket off.

Hermione crochet

Hermione Crochet

Hagrid, Harry, Ron, and Hermione crochet

Harry's flying off to practice Quidditch, Ron is goofing around, Hermione is practicing her spells, and Hagrid is inviting them in for rock cakes and tea :-).

Needle Felted Hagrid

Needle Felted Hagrid mini

Good morning!

I love the Harry Potter books and movies, and I love plastic canvas and needle felting and dollhouse miniatures.  I decided to try to make Hagrid's Hut, or my version of it, in plastic canvas, but first, I wanted to try to needle felt myself a Hagrid doll.  I wanted him to be in or close to the 1:12 scale, where one inch equals one foot.  The typical male dolls in that scale are 6 inches tall, but Hagrid is half giant so he needed to be bigger.  I came up with this guy, and I had so much fun making him that I stayed up until 4 AM just to finish him.

Needle felted Hagrid maxi miniature

I made my version of Hagrid with an off white core wool batting, over a thin wire skeleton (what is the word doll people use for that, lol?) and then added details in color. His entire body is pose-able, and he can even stand up by himself on rough surfaces like wool or felt.  I made him at night by lamp light and didn't realize his face and hands were lighter than I thought I was making them until the next day, lol, but I'm still happy with him.  His clothes were made from colored wool batting.  I needle felted the pants and red shirt right on to him, but the vest is removable.

Needle felted Hagrid

Here he is, next to a dollhouse table that is a bit smaller than regular 1:12 inch style (it's from my pink plastic canvas dollhouse kitchen).  Doesn't he look like he wants to step through the computer screen and into his house?  Poor guy needs a home, lol.

Needle felted Hagrid

In the above photo, I played around with lighting so it would look like Harry or Hermione had cast the lumos spell  :-) .

Needle felted Hagrid

Here's Hagrid from the side.  His hair is a little longer than the real Hagrid's but I like it...it's so nice and soft.

Needle Felted Hagrid

 Here's Hagrid standing on my laptop, looking into the screen, wondering what mean witch or wizard cast him out of his home, lol.

Needle felted Hagrid with miniature doll in 1:12 scale

Here's Hagrid next to a Mommy doll in 1:12 scale.  I'm hoping he'll fit in Barbie scale furniture, but he may be too short.  I'm working on a plastic canvas chair in Barbie scale right now, and if that doesn't work, I'll have to create my own plastic canvas furniture patterns for him...either that or make a bigger Hagrid, lol.

Needle felted Hagrid with miniature dolls

Here he is with one of the child sized mini dolls.  I think his scale is good, considering he's half giant and the little doll girl is standing on a table to look at him, lol.  I guess I can always make his legs longer if I want him to be taller.

I find the older plastic canvas patterns don't really follow the modern scales.  The smaller dollhouses are in a variety of scales, but not quite as big as 1-12 scale, and the Barbie patterns also seem to vary.  I made a picnic table that the pattern says is for Barbie sized dolls, but it's way too small for 11 inch dolls, and better fits the 8 inch ones.  The chair I'm making now, also for Barbie sized dolls, seems huge in comparison.  I'll just have to finish it to see what size it will be.

Have a great day!

Needle felted dog from photo, old memories, and the dogs of my life...

Good morning!  I hope everyone is having a nice day.

It was my Mom's birthday yesterday, and after spending half a day trying to wet felt some soap for the first time (I blogged about that yesterday), I moved on to needle felting. I made this little dog.

Needle felted dog from photo

Using this photo:

Pippity and Annie

Years ago, I found this dog as a puppy, half frozen in the snow waaay up north in Moosonee, Ontario  (there are no roads to Moosonee; you have to fly or take the train, the Polar Bear Express, from Cochrane, where the highway ends).

I named her "Pupsicle" while I waited for her owners to claim her.  They never did, so I kept her.  She was a sweet little dog, half dachshund and half black lab, sleek as an otter, and so gentle and good.

The cold in Moosonee didn't kill her, but it almost killed me, so in May, my principal forced me to move home because she didn't want "another of her teachers to die from asthma".  One had died the year before, but they forgot to ask if I had asthma in the interview.  After me, they warned asthmatics that the cold in Moosonee might just kill them.  I didn't want to go home early; it was my first year as a teacher, and i was concerned it would look bad on my resume, but I'd been sick for 10 months straight, had gone from size 9 to size 22 due to high doses of prednisone during that time, and was told by the doctor that if I stayed, I would die...but that's another story.

When I moved home to recover from pneumonia and severe asthma, my Mom was ready to kill me; possibly a bigger threat than Moosonee's climate.  She had her reasons. I came home with  Pupsicle, now almost a year old, and 6 of her pups (no vets in Moosonee at the time, and she wasn't fixed.  A babysitter left her out unsupervised while I was in hospital).  I also had an arctic hare I had rescued from a trapper,  two birds, and a few rodents (hamsters or rats, I can't remember).

My Mom didn't like the dog at first, but by the time I was well enough to move to the Toronto area to teach, she had fallen in love, and wouldn't let me take her.  She renamed her "Pippity Pop" or "Madame", depending on her mood, and I ended up buying an African Grey parrot and a miniature poodle (also another story, lol).

Pippity Pop lived a long and happy life.  My parents took her out to camp (the cottage), fishing, on long walks, and treated her like a queen. Pip was always happy to see me, but I knew she was happy with my parents, happier than she would have been with me, in the big city.

My Mom was devastated when Pip died, even though she'd lived to a nice, old age.  I was back in my hometown, and my Mom stopped off at my place after Pip died to "borrow" my dogs, so she wouldn't have to go home to a dog free house.

She basically stole Annie, and my other little dog, Sandy.

Me and my girls

I kept stealing them back, but would only have them for a week or so before she and my Dad would come to take them again.  We shared custody, but i missed having a dog all the time so I bought my Mac.
Here's a photo of all 3 of them taken the week before their grooming session.  It was Christmas morning, and they were waiting to go to Grandma's house.

Annie,  Sandy, and Mac

My girls are gone now; Sandy from cancer at the age of 12, and Annie from old age at the age of 20.  I almost lost my Mac last spring, and blogged about that.  Thankfully he's doing well now.  I'm praying that the other disc in his neck will stay strong and not give out because he can't get another operation.  So far, so good, thank God.

Here's my little Benji.  I adopted him about 6 years ago.  He's getting old now, poor guy, but he's still happy and active.

Benji in his crocheted sweater

I hope to make felt sculptures of all of my fur babies.  I really hope I'll get better with experience.  I think I'm improving, but i have a long way to go.

I did the Beagle over a year ago, and I think Pip is nicer; a bit more realistic.  Pip used to have a beagle friend named Blue.

Needle felted dogs

Needle felted kittens

I've been busy organizing and packing things up to sell or give away before I move, but I was having crafting withdrawals so I made this needle felted black and white kitten to go with my yellow kitten.  The new kitten isn't quite finished but I wanted to share.

needle felted kittens

needle felted kittens and dog

Kitty in tree

kitten s playing in crocheted tree

needle felted kittens

needle felted kittens

Needle felted pets

needle felted pets

needle felted pets

needle felted kittens with 8 inch Paulinette doll

Tuxedo kitten in progress

I love needle felting; it's so cool to watch a clump of wool turn into a critter.  I want to order some eyes in a variety of sizes.  I have some pretty cat eyes here, but they're way too big . These ones are too small.

I was up early, at 6:30 AM because my body aches from packing and moving heavy items, plus painting the shed.  It was fun, painting, but I'm not used to having to bend down to floor level then reach up over my head, repeatedly.  I have fibromyalgia and my whole body is complaining.

My almost 73 year old father rebuilt one wall of the shed, so I can only imagine how he must feel today...sore, I imagine.  He's a hard worker, always building things, but I felt guilty when he came over yesterday with wood to fix my shed.  The people who built the shed built it right on the ground, with no concrete foundation, so the wood was really rotten.  

My Dad's birthday is on the 23rd of this month; we're taking him out to dinner. He doesn't want a gift.  I'm not sure what to get him....he's hard to buy for.  I'll ask my Mom what he needs.

Well, I'm going to go pour a nice cup of coffee now. I have to list more items for sale.  

Take care!

Needle felting a kitty

I am so happy with my first needle felted kitty!  I've always wanted a little yellow cat but my allergies prevent it...now I can have all of the cat's I want, lol.

Needle felted kitten

I made the kitty without any armature, but she can still do a few poses.  She can sit down, or sit up, with her paws up.

Needle felted kitten

I hope one day I'll be able to make realistic animals, but for now I'm happy to be able to make these little guys.

Needle felted kitten

Here's the kitty looking at the ebook that I used for inspiration... mine is not modeled after any of the cat's in the book, but I did use the pictures for inspiration regarding shapes needed for ears and paws and tails, etc.  I also looked at pictures of real cats to get the slope of the back right.

Needle felted kitten looking at other felted kittens

From behind the kitty doesn't look kitty like but I think she's cute anyway.

Needle felted kitty looking at computer screeen

Needle felted kitty

She's tiny, only 2.5 inches long, but too big to be dollhouse miniature size.  She's the perfect size for my 8 inch dolls though.  I'll have to get a picture later.

I'm really enjoying needle felting and love that I can do it while watching TV!  It's so much fun to watch a lump of wool turn into a little critter.

I still have to glue the kitty's eyes in, and I may add whiskers; I'm not sure.  

Now, what should I name this kitty?  Any suggestions.