Farm Girl Studio

I had meant to post this earlier but like I said I am a bit behind :). We also had a very strong storm move through early yesterday morning that knocked the power out for 12 hours. It is amazing what you can get done when you don't have tv or the internet to distract you. Here is how I spend my Crafty $ in June, needle felted hat "kit" I have wanted to do this for a while now. I am shifting my focus to fall and winter items at the end of this month. I can't wait to give this a try. I purchased this from Living Felt , Marie has a wonder selection of roving and forms. I haven't even look through the whole site yet lol. If needle felting is on your list check out Living Felt and give it a try. My package came the very next day, and wonderful personal follow up e-mails. Have a great day, and create something wonderful.

This is what I have been working one, the first one is for me. I love the colors in this skirt. I will tweek the design a bit for the ones I make to sell. What do you think

Janell is a fellow lampworker along with working in a number of other artistic medias. Her latest creations are vintage t-shirt purses. Here is a link to a picture of one of her purses at the Second Sunday on Main event. I love these and can't wait to get one for myself. Janell sells her one of a kind creations at farmers markets and art shows in the Cincinnati area. The reason that I am doing the farmers markets is because of her, she is very motivating. You can also find her items at her Etsy store and Art fire store. Look for her vintage embroidery patterns that she is adding to her sewn stuff. She is also a fantastic baker, Cake balls, cookies and wonderful jams can be purchased at her booth. Janell has a cute blog , check out what she is up to next.

The weather man was sure we where not going to have any rain on Saturday,, opps wrong again lol. It drizzled for a good part of the morning. Despite that a lot of people came out to the market! I saw so many past customers that stop to buy my new items, along with wonderful new customers I hope to see again. Here are my new gourds, I am loving these and they are a big seller so far This is not a great picture but I hope you can get the idea, silverware wind chimes. I wasn't able to get a picture of the really big one I sold. It was one of the first things I sold in the morning I didn't realize I had not taken a picture until it was too late :( I have to get back in to the habit of taking pictures of everything I make. A vendor/friend and I went for Indian food after the market,, to be honest I didn't even know there was an Indian restaurant in Dubuque. Very yummy! hit the thrift store to see if I could get anything for wind chimes. Found some wooden rolling pins ...

Well since we are getting more rain today, or that's what they say :P We need to get some garden work done. I want to get some of the window screens cleaned so we can open all the windows without worrying about bugs. I did make beads yesterday and the kiln fairies were kind to me, I need to make more today. I will take pictures before I take them to their new home at Galena Beads . Another thing I want to finally work on is my spinning wheel, I have had one for almost a year. I was gifted an Ashford wheel, ... I know I was very touched by the gift ♥ I love fiber and can't wait to get started on project. Here are some links for you to check out if you are interested in spinning wool on a wheel Hands on Spinning Spinning tips Plucky Fluff

Miss Scarlet's School of Patternless Sewing I found out about this book on the podcast CraftSanity , did I mention that I obsessed with podcasts lately :P I have a really long list of books that I want to read or listen too. Some books are great listening ones and some you just need to hold. I believe this is a holding one as it comes with 3 project ideas in the back. This book is written by Kathy Cano-Murillo and her web site is Crafty Chica . Expect to spend a lot of time here. I have not gotten through it yet. This is not her first novel Waking Up in the Land of Glitter: A Crafty Chica is her first book, I can't believe I have never heard of these before. Check out her site, blog and her books.

Yarn Bombing A friend of my turned me on to this! I think it is sooooo awesome, we need an area group :D maybe I will start one. Could there be any thing better than making something pretty that wasn't so to begin with. Thrift store afghans and reclaimed yarn work fantastic and are a great way to recycle.

With gas prices the way they are we are trying very hard not to drive unnecessarily. You know not making "little" runs here and there, so when we do run errands it can be a marathon. Willow has moved from a car seat to a booster seat, and taking a nap in one of those is hard on the neck. I had been looking for a travel pillow I could keep in the truck. I didn't want to pay a ton for one either. I looked online to see what I could make. I not only found something I could made but I could also recycle. This is so cute and it works great too. My model is taking a bath right now or I would have shown you this in action. Betz White has a great blog with lots of refashioning and recycling tutorials. If you remember my felted flower pins,, thats where I got the idea from. Here is the tutorial for the neck roll. This came in very handy on our recent trip to Chicago!

Ah relaxation, who doesn't crave it? A friend of mine said to me the other day, "we are an exhausted culture and are always looking something that promises relaxation" So here is my contribution to relaxation. These pillows can be heated or cooled as needed. Just pop them in the microwave or freezer for a bit. Don't use them hot on your eyes, they don't like that. A cool pillow will not only help with sleep but reduce puffiness and dark circles. I used scraps of fabric I had in cotton, velor, and silk. Any fabric will really work for this project. I filled mine with rice and a couple of drops of lavender oil, but you can use flax seed, lavender flowers or chamomile also. Here is a link so you can make your own eye pillow. Lets try to relax a bit today.

I pulled my old but in pretty good shape bike out of our pole barn. It has been there, never ridden since we moved here 7 years ago :( bad me. I was happy to find that all I need to do before I ride it is replace the tires and tubes. I will be doing a complete tune up just to be safe. Here is a site with lots of photos that show you what should be done when you tune up your bike. Here is a picture of a similar looking bike, I love the vintage look of it and think this basket will be sooooo cute. I think I will make it in pinks and grays though. We have a wonderful walking/bike path in Galena that follows the river and goes through the woods. Willow and I will be regulars this biking season. Have a great day and create something beatiful!

This is a great bracelet design for both girls and guys, looks wonderful with summer clothes too. My friends Jess and Trish found this link from the Rings and Things blog. When we went to the Madison bead show we picked up what we needed to make these. The tutorial calls for 6mm beads but you can change the size, just remember that larger beads are going to be really heavy. I made some single wraped ones, I love the red one so much I may keep it for myself :P. Instead of the leather I used hemp and it worked great too. For the larger beaded ones I used a heavier wax cotton. Give this a try and send me pictures of what you did, I can't wait to see everyones bracelets.

I have been wanting to make these for a couple of months now and finally got a the time. These are great for the garden, but you can even use them in house plants if you want to. Here is just one of the many sites that show you how to make them. This one only shows you how to use spoons but I have had great success with forks also. Try it let me know what you think.

Yesterday I went to Madison with the Bead Diva's of Galena- Jess, Trish and Jan. We started out at Anthology on State Street. Lucky me had won a 20$ gift certificate to this cute store. The store is the cutest thing ever. So many wonderful thing, great t-shirt, aprons, paper, books, jewelry and buttons just to mention a few. I had really thought that I was going to get a t-shirt but the books got me. I found two books that I had been wanting for a long time. A Compendium of Curiosities by Tim Holtz and Sewing Clothes kids Love very very cute kits clothes and this book comes with the patterns too. I can't wait to sit down with these books this week. We could have spent the day on State Street with no problem but we had other places to go lol. A nice lunch at Cosi and then on to Anthropologie This store is so inspirational we walked away with so many great ideas. Look for alot of refashioned clothes in the future. Then on to the Madison Bead Show Just being aroun...

Made these yesterday using this youtube video I think the next time I make them I won't decorate the sides as they are hard to close all the way.

these are for the farmers market

I think these are going to be soooooo cute for the farmers market http://blog.betzwhite.com/2007/07/by-seat-of-my-pants.html

I have been interested in getting back into sewing for some time now. I have a couple of regular sewing machines but really wanted a serger. I was a really good girl last year so I got one for the Holiday. YEAH ME lol. Well this week was the first week I have been able to really sit down and work with it. It is amazing how finished your seems are, I am loving it. I am working on an apron for my mom's birthday at the end of Febuary. Pictures will be coming soon. Here is a cool site for serger projects, check it out. Serger Projects

I finished the gourds and am very happy with them. I have listed them on Etsy and hope to have some for the farmers market in May. I painted them and embellished them with Vintaj Natural Brass. Love them

My friend Rose is an awesome artist and she has a wonderful thing going on her blog. She is going to create art every day this year! Isn't that great. Check her out here

I have a cabinet full of things to make soap, lip balm and lotions so since we are in Buy Nothing and Use what you've got challenge I made body butter yesterday. Citrus Mango body butter