Wet Felting (or Mashing Fluff)

Yesterday a group of us went on a course by All Things Crafty, to have a go at wet felting. It was so much fun, and now I need to get myself a rolling mat / blind so I can do some more!

Here are some photos from the course:

 Layed out fluff, ready to be felted

Slightly felted fluff 

Finished felt, with needle felt on petals and leaves

Something New

I needed to make a birthday card for my friend, which is always problematic because she is very creative and makes beautiful cards! No pressure, then. 

We both sell cards at work, and last week she joked that I'd give her one of her own cards for her birthday, or maybe give her one of my old cards that has been at the back of the display for ages because nobody wants to buy it...

Anyway, we were due to go on a wet felting course the day after her birthday, and had been talking about trying out felting for a while, so I thought I'd have a go at a small piece of felting for a card. I tried to follow an online tutorial, but I had to try to roll up the felt in bits of cardboard because I didn't have anything to use as a rolling mat. It sort of worked, but probably only because it was such a small piece of felt!

I added beads and some metallic embroidery thread on the flowers, and used green eyelash yarn for the stems. Here's what I came up with:

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Cupcake Craft Challenges - Make a Scene

Paper Pretties - Try a New Technique

The Paper Shelter - Anything Goes

Fairies & Glitter

I got a few new Lavinia stamps recently - I'm still so obsessed with Lavinia stuff! Here are a couple of cards I made with my new stamps:

I'm entering this in the following challenges:
By the Cute and Girly Challenges: Cute and Girly
Divas By Design: Make it Girly

I'm entering the last one in Crafts and Me: Something New

Card for a Lake District Mountain Rescue search dog handler

I was asked to make a card for one of the brave mountain rescue dog handlers in the Lake District. She wanted a card with trees, and preferably a black labrador. I haven't got a stamp for a lab, so I printed off a lab silhouette, and then used Lavinia stamps and ink dusters to create the rest of the card. This is what I came up with, before layering it on a card:

I sent the pic to my friend, to see if it was the sort of thing she wanted, and she loved it! But then she said... would it be possible for the dog to have a rescue dog jacket on?

After the initial panic of how to do this, I found a photo of a rescue dog wearing a jacket, and printed it off at the right size for the lab silhouette. Here's the dog with his coat on:

I layered the image on charcoal card and then onto a a green card that matched the green ink. I forgot to take a photo of the finished card, but my friend said she was very pleased with it. I hope her Mountain Rescue friend will like it :)

I'm entering this in the following challenges:
The Crazy Challenge: Without Design Paper
The Squirrel & The Fox: Anything Goes
Tip Top Tuesday: Fur or Feathers