"So Impressive!"

My 5-year-old granddaughter Chloe and her 2 1/2 year old sister Anastasia called me yesterday, upon receipt of their shopping bag full of Felt Food!.

Chloe called me right away and said, "Grandma, it is so impressive!" (yes, that's really how she speaks!) It's great to be appreciated. My son and his wife are careful about toys coming to stay in their home - no Chinese plastic permitted, not too many pieces ( Legos are an exception...) and no junk. But he knows I've figured out how to get around the limits - this gift is NOT plastic, reinforces healthy eating and it's handmade. They have to keep it!

They loved the sushi and the cookies and the veggies.

And the pretzels.

I used an expandable onion bag, added a fun-felt collar and drawstring so they have a usable holder for the small items.

I also made a shopping bag from old plastic grocery sacks, fused together with an iron. (Be sure to sandwich the plastic sheets between paper before ironing!!)

All in all, a great result from my Felt Food experiments. I'll be teaching how to do this type of Felt Food at classes offered at Eclectics Gallery - an artists' cooperative in Kansas City. Students will get hands-on experience, will make some food in class and receive a set of patterns for a wide variety of fruits, veggies and other yumies.

Felt Food - Another new obsession

Well, actually, I don't think making felt food is new - just new to me. Just gotta love blogging and reading other peoples' blogs. Great ideas going on out there. So, why felt food? Many of today's parents are understandably disenchanted with plastic toys - for lots of reasons. This group includes my own son and daughter-in-law, and greatly affects how I shop for my 3 granddaughters.....thoughtfully. This is a good thing.

So, when I found pictures, ideas and a couple free tutorials for felt food - ideal for playing house if you are ages 2-6 as my grands are - I was inspired.

 

So this weekend I spent hand-stitching and machine stitching a variety of delights. Here's a few cake doughnuts, including one I couldn't resist.

I really liked how my banana turned out - it doesn't come apart, but is oh so peel-able.

The free tute from American Felt for a cut-up-able carrot was fun, but I like the more realistic whole carrots too.

I plan to make more whole veggies - so the girls can pretend shop and fill their grocery bags with healthy stuff, just like Mother. My eggplant turned out great - sure glad I found the purple felt a the bottom of my felt box.

I also made a fried egg, and tried for a hard-boiled egg - though it's not realistic enough for my taste. I'm sure the girls won't care.

My favorites are the strawberries and the soda crackers, also from American Felt. They turned out pretty realistic. Thanks to a blog by Kari called UCreate

 

Next on my list - whole wheat bread slices for sandwiches, zucchini, and pasta.Check out One Inch World. She's got great ideas and more tutorials for felt food, including needle-felted food. I've been resisting needle felting, but now I must try it, just so I can make felt tomato slices.

Heart Felt Valentine Showcase

See handmade items from local Kansas City artists at Eclectics Gallery's Heart Felt Valentine Showcase. Friday, January 29, 2010, from 5-8 pm at 7015 Oak Street, Kansas City, Missouri. (Just off the corner of Oak and Gregory). Check out Eclectics' blog and join the mailing list there.

This gallery features only hand made artisan pieces, mostly from local artists. We have 12 members and a large bunch of consignors and you are sure to find something for your special someone here.

My display includes my signature peyote scalloped bead bracelet, including this triple-wide amber and teal lovely.

Also have a double hand-ful of peyote rings in various sizes. These mostly larger sizes, designed to be worn on your thumb or first finger. They are very sturdy - I have been wearing on on each hand continuously for weeks and they survive showers, washing dishes and much more.

Also for sale at Eclectics is an elaborate necklace of hammered steel wire, filled with jasper, crystals and pearls on a long mutli-strand seed bead necklace.

Soon to come - faerie doors, faerie garden gates and who know what else!

Eclectics Gallery in Kansas City

I've just joined a new gallery in Kansas City called Eclectics, which is so exciting. Eclectics is NOT a new gallery, but has been around for 19 years. But they graciously accepted me in via their jury process and we're getting ready for the new year re-opening on Monday, January 18 -- a great fresh new start for the new decade.

In 2009 I became a member of another KC gallery - Images Art Gallery - where I learned about the local art scene, met loads of talented people and made a bunch of friends. Painters are a breed apart ! They need vans just to carry their art around, while I can put my complete gallery jewelry display into a couple large shopping bags. Somehow I'm not at all drawn to painting myself for some reason - perhaps because my muse needs a more tactile medium....topic for another post sometime.

Anyway, I am very grateful to Images Gallery for accepting me into their midst and also for graciously saying goodbye.

More about Eclectics soon - I don't know much yet and am still retagging my stuff for Monday's opening.

My Copper Charm Necklace

Earlier, I posted a pic of all the great copper charms I received from our Kansas City PMC Guild copper charm exchange. When I went to put my charms onto a chain, my inner chaos broke out, and I just felt that a basic "charms on a chain" bracelet or necklace wasn't right for me. Here's what I did instead....

Read more about it on the KCPMC Guild blog here.