Meet Frank

I found a tutorial for this adorable mouse and when I showed it to L she just had to make it!

While I was doing another project she spent the afternoon felting up the head.  She felted the nose and eyes and I helped with the ears and tiny paw.  

L was thrilled to have this little guy as a new addition to her room.  A relatively simple needle felting project for a Sunday afternoon and so effective.

I you would like to try it yourself the tutorial is from Pip's Poppies.  While you're there take some time to check out her other amazing creations.  Truly inspiring.

Jen's Felted Jems

 

I am so excited to introduce you to my latest project which has been taking up quite a bit of my time lately.  I fell in love with needle felting several years ago and loved to make things for the children.  I had so many people ask if I sold them that I decided to try my hand at opening up my own Etsy shop.

So here it is

Jen's Felted Jems

As some of you may have already discovered you can visit the shop by going to the Etsy button on the right sidebar of my blog or you can go directly to https://www.etsy.com/shop/JensFeltedJems

 

You can also find more pics and information on my Jen's Felted Jems Facebook Page.

 

 

Giveaway coming soon!!

Merry Christmas!

L learning to needle felt

I usually do all of my needle felting at night when L is in bed but I finished up the gnome home for the giveaway in the afternoon.  L saw me needle felting and of course wanted to try.  I was really reluctant at first and explained to her that the needle is super sharp but she still wanted to try.

I set her up with my foam on her knees.  She chose a cookie cutter and then filled it with some of my wool scraps.  I told her to keep her other hand on the couch or holding on to the foam.  She forgot early on, held on to the cookie cutter and poked her finger.  There were a few tears but it didn't deter her and she carried on.  I'm really glad it happened so she is aware now of how sharp the needle really is and is more careful.

 First she did this butterfly and felted on the string to fly it around.  It kind of blends into the flowers here but I love the colors and how it turned out.

 She was so excited about her creation that she wanted to make another one.  She chose this bunny cookie cutter.  I helped her to start with joining on the tail and the eye because you have to hold the wool while you poke but she did 99% of it herself.

I LOVE how these turned out and the fact that L made them by herself (under constant supervision). They now have pride of place on our nature table.  L is going to make some more to give to her teachers for a thank you at the end of the year.

If you like what you see don't forget to enter the giveaway for the gnome home!

Gnome Village and Giveaway

L and I were walking in the Fairy Woods the other day when we came upon this tiny gnome village!

These little gnome homes were actually what I made for the recent Waldorf Nature Table swap organised by One Hook Wonder.  I was inspired after seeing these guys at the Felted Fern

I love seeing them all together and imagining all of the little creatures who live in them.  They've now been sent off and will be soon arriving at their new homes.

Giveaway now closed.

I enjoyed making them so much that I decided to make a larger one for a giveaway! If you find these little gnome homes enchanting and would like to enter to win this larger one just leave a comment below.

You will get extra entries if you let me know you follow my blog or if you blog about this giveaway!

I will randomly pick the winner on Monday May 30th and will send the little home anywhere around the world.

Good Luck!

Winter scene and Christmas Needle Felting

Unfortunately we had to do away with our nature table while our house is on the market : (

I did manage to make this magical little winter scene though.  I hoped to make so many more things for it but just haven't had the time yet.

I saw these awesome paper trees on a blog somewhere and can't for the life of me remember where.  The idea came from Martha Stewart though.  Here is the tutorial.  I used the skewer for the one in the middle and the rest I just glued the pieces together.

The snow is made from quilt batting.

A lot of my needle felting this Christmas has been inspired and some downright copied from the amazing fibre artist Daria Ivovsky.  She is truly amazing!
I originally made this mother and daughter as gifts but when I finished I just couldn't part with them.

This cute little bendy Christmas elf was made for my sister.  She's currently hanging on L's advent calendar.

When I saw the gorgeous ballerina on Daria's Flicker page I knew I wanted to attempt one for a little friend of ours who loves dancing!

You can bend her in all sorts of positions.

I've also been doing some teeny tiny needle felting which I will post about tomorrow : )

September nature table/playscape

It's almost October and I realised I haven't posted our September nature table.  For this month I decided to do something different and make a needle felted playscape for the nature table.

So here it is. 

 All of the woodland creatures who live in the tree stump can move in and out of holes and up the little staircase.

 When I finally finished it and put it on the table L looked at it in awe and asked "can I play with it?"

It was a nice feeling to be able to say yes!

I'm contemplating selling some of my needle felting but I'm not sure if there would be a market for it?

Oh also if you like this sort of thing then check out this link to see some amazing nature tables and playscapes!

Giveaway!

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

So I was going to do a giveaway when I got to 100 followers but I was just too excited and couldn't wait that long!

So here it is.  All you have to do is choose one of these cute little felted creations and if you win I will send it to you!

So you have the choice of

Flopsy Bunny

This cute little penguin that L is holding

or this whole little felted family

There are a few things you can do to enter:

1. Follow Montessori Beginnings-just leave a comment with your choice and let me know you are a follower

2.  Blog/Twitter or Facebook about this giveaway

3.  Let me know what your favorite childrens book is(I saw this on Chasing Marcus and thought it was a great idea)

Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

I will ship to anywhere in the world so the giveaway is open to everyone.

The giveaway will close at midnight Friday May 28th and I will announce the winner on Saturday.  The winner will then have 48 hours to contact me with their email address.

Good luck!

March nature table (kind of...)

This month our nature table is more of an indulgence for me than a specific nature table :p After seeing several needle felted toadstool houses on the Internet I was desperate to make one. I finally got the wool and did some research on Google Images using my favorite bits from a number of other people's creations. Some of my favorites were from Fairy Folk and there is a tutorial on how to make one here.

L and I collected all of the other bits for the toadstool family's home during our daily excursions.

February nature table

Our February nature table. My mom was desperate for us to do a spring one but it is only February so we compromised on this beach scene. I needle felted the seagulls and star fish and the other things were collected from our local beach.

L is obsessed with collecting rocks every time we leave the house so I'm sure it will be full by the end of the month!

Needle Felting

Okay for those of you who are interested this is all I know about needle felting :)

The first needle felting creations I saw were on Mari-Ann's blog and I instantly fell in love. I then Googled needle felting and decided I really wanted to try it. Here is a totally amazing site.

I went to my local wool shop and they had needle felting kits that contained wool, needles and instructions on how to make a gnome. I just followed the step by step instructions and in about an hour and a half had myself a gnome that looked very similar to the picture. It was easy! I then looked on the Internet for more inspiration and stayed up half the night to make my first lady on our nature table. I just winged it.

The next day I started on the monkey. I looked at this raccoon tutorial to help me along. I've basically just made all the others up as I went along. The final products look intimidating but it's really not that hard once you start. Just pushing the needle into the wool and sculpting your figure. It's also really forgiving. My advice would be just go to the wool store get some wool and needles or a kit and give it a go!
WARNING: Needle felting is very addictive!!

Here is another great web page with some wonderful tutorials. Even one on how to make a toadstool house!! That's going to be my next project once I get the wool.

Here is my latest project. A little fairy who decided to grace us with her presence.

So that's about it. I've only been doing it for less than a month have just learned by the Internet and trial and error. Go for it!!

Thanks also to everyone for the good wishes. Still not sure what is going on but actually managed to do first sound sorts with L today from the couch!

Nature table and my new love(obsession!)

One of the things I was looking forward to when we moved to Canada was starting a nature table. I've seen so many beautiful ones on people's blogs and I was excited to make one of our own. This is the perfect place because we are surrounded by nature here.
These are all things we've collected on our walks in the woods and along the beach.

You may have noticed the little figures hanging out there as well. Thanks to Mari-Ann I have a new love, OK obsession! That's right it's needle felting. I'm in love!(swoon)
I took my inspiration for the mother from here and the little girl and baby in the cot from The Magic Onions Etsy shop.
I used pipe cleaners for their arms so they can hold the baby.

I made these ones for L and she loves them, although I have to admit that after I made them I didn't really want to give them to her! They've held up quite well though and it teaches her to be gentle.

I also couldn't resist making this little monkey who can now be found climbing all over the house!

Since I've fallen in love with everything I've made so far I'm afraid that my future creations will probably be showing up here on my blog from time to time. If you don't have any interest in needle felting please bear with me as I'm sure the obsession will subside eventually!