Felted Soap Stones

What is a person to do when it is cold outside? Play around on the computer.  Clearly a one handed gif is a little wobbly but you get the picture.

As promised weeks ago I am going to share a quick little project I squeezed in, in between cleanings and house viewings.  These soap stones are not new to the crafting world but they are alot of fun to make and I love trying to replicate the felt roving strands to look as much like a beach stone as possible.

I have many little soaps I have received as gifts that I could never use up.  My dad also brought me some lovely lavender soap from the south of France on one of his cycling trips.  I have tons of the stone coloured roving around that I bought when our local knitting shop closed down.  Helana used to make them for her pet pebbles.  Combine them all and you have a little stone of soap ready to use or gift to a friend.

The oval soaps make a really authentic beach stone.  The little eggs look so cute as little pebbles.

The centre image in each photo shows how you can just wrap up the stones loosely in the roving before their hot water treatment.

1 - supplies at hand including a small felting needle (optional) soaps and roving - grey, brown and    natural
2 - loosely wrap the soap with grey first, then a few strands of the light brown and finally strips of the natural to create the veining.
3 - I ran some very hot water over my creation just to get an idea of how the placement is working
4 - all that fluffy roving attaches itself to the soap with a few dunkings.
5 - to really pack it down I put them in nylon sockettes and rubbed them
6 - I let them drain at the bottom of the kitchen sink

They make a nice little hostess gift.  I'm thinking they might look good piled on in a bowl in our new powder room.  I have about a year to plan that so I'll have to tuck these away in the pile of boxes that are amassing themselves all over the house.  

Keep warm and toasty!

Flea Market Tea Cups - Glitterfied!

Truth be told - I don't really work on projects with anyone else.  Except for classes, and one evening of making scented bath salts for friends, my craft projects are, for the most part, solitary endeavours.  So when my dear friend Tiffany Pratt asked me to spend an afternoon playing around with a auction score of hers, how could I resist?!

You may recall I made Tiffany  a Glitter Pie Bracelet, as a guest post, for her Glitter Pie Blog.  I had seen bits and pieces of her home in pictures and let me say it did not disappoint.  With a white back drop, she has layered projects, gifts, art supplies, flea market scores (this list goes on) to create a dreamy, ethereal space that can only but fuel a creative soul.

Tiffany loves to work with recycled supplies in her projects so we started by using up her candle remnants.  I was a little worried about heating it all up, but she had it under control and expertly poured all the cups with melted wax that had been made from some isolated white bits, orange bits and pink pits.  

The fun came when we dipped into our crafty supplies, some from me, some from her, and added glitter, flowers and paint to make them unique and unexpected.

I loved them set out down the centre of the table - I think it would look great as a centrepiece for a brunch, shower or mother's day tea party - the guests could take their own candle home after the party.

We customized each candle, according to the cup, keeping some simple and "ms. glitter pieing" others like the one top left.  Tiffany made that for me and I got to take it home!

I made this one for Tiffany.  She loves daschunds and I used the same sticky clear sheet I did for my chevron dish.  With a daschund silhouette drawn and cut from the sheet, I applied my dog to the floral area of the cup and painted over the area, creating a reverse stencil when I removed the sticker.

You might think, it wasn't the greatest idea to spend a hot summer afternoon in an space without air conditioning, heating up wax, but guess what? ... it was :) 

Thanks Tiffany, for a wonderful afternoon!