Needle Felted Penguin in a Sweater

 My goodness gracious. I have been SO busy, and I get to count this blog post right here as a break, then I'm back to work. I am sharing this wee needle felted penguin wearing a colorful winter sweater.

 I was in another Craftster Swap (I'm swearing off of these for a few months, I need a break) and one of my partner's holiday themes was "Penguins in Colorful Clothing." If you know me, you can guess why I'd want to pick THAT theme. So for one of the items (more penguin items to come soon), I needle felted this penguin using beautiful wool sent to me by the lovely Belladune of SpinHeartSpin.

 His little jacket-vest is cut from a felted sweater I picked up at a thrift store fill-a-bag sale. I love those.

 And the clothing...is...optional... Tee hee. This is what penguin looks like au natural, sweater removed.

Meep meep meep (this is the sound that I imagine penguins make). He says "Merry Christmas."

Also, before I wrap up this blog post, I want to give a HUGE
THANK YOU
and several digital imaginary hugs to everyone who has taken time to leave me a kind comment or word of love or encouragement. It seems like tons of very happy or very sad or very busy things have come at me all at once lately, and I've been hanging on for dear life, getting by day by day. I haven't found the time to comment back to each of you, but please know that I have much much much love and appreciation for you guys.

Four Calling Birds Mini-Envelope Book

Sparkle, sparkle! I made this envelope book... do you get the reference? 4 Calling Birds, birds and phones. I love Christmas, and I am so glad. I love having my Christmas tree up, and even though it's completely encrusted in ornaments and other glittery nonsense, I thought it could use another little book among its branches.

And hey, guess who the 4 calling birds are calling? Santa. Each of the pages (which are envelopes) have a tag that pulls out to reveal Santa on the other line. I used the Santa on the Telephone Collage Sheet for those. The birds are from the Robin Red Breast Collage Sheet. I added a little glitter glue for extra sparklies.

 I used all sorts of different ribbons and fibers and embellishments from Alpha Stamps. My favorite are the little sparkly flowers I made using metallic crinkle wire in pink, copper and red.

To make those little flowers, you take a piece of crinkle wire about 8 inches long and wrap it around your finger. Take the wrapped circle and then twist the center twice so you have a sort of bunch. Then you delicately separate and arrange the loops, and voila! A sparkly little flower ready to glue onto whatever needs some shine.

And boooonus! I made a 4 calling birds ATC using the Parrots collage sheet. There will be more 12 days of Christmas ATCs showing up day by day in the Alpha Stamps Gallery :) 

In case you see anything that you want to stuff your stocking with, here's the full product list for the envelope book:

Just Saying Hi Clear Stamp Set

Telephone Background Rubber Stamp

Mini Kraft Envelopes - End Flap

12 New Christmas Colors of Distress Stains 

Numero Clear Stamp Set

Medium Manila Tags

Blue Zig Zag Dresden Borders

Gold Fleur de Lys Dresden Borders

Gold Oval Dresden Halos

2mm Silk Ribbons - Light Moss Green

Variegated Silk Ribbons

Purple Fiber Set

Teal Fiber Set

Small Christmas Bulb Garland (8mm)

Crinkle Wire (Repro Bouillon) 

  (Copper, Red & Pink)

Robin Red Breast Collage Sheet 

Santa on the Telephone Collage Sheet

Blue Dresden Rosettes

Iridescent Ribbons with Edge Stitching - Olive/Turquoise

Pearlized Mica Fragments

Christmas Challenge at Unique Crafters

It's December! That means a new challenge over at the Unique Crafters Challenge Blog. This month is sponsored by Cedar Chest Designs.

For this month's Christmas challenge, I made this Santa Claus card, wishing you a very merry Christmas.

Ho ho ho, jinglebells, pointsettias, holly and whatnot.

Go check out the challenge at Unique Crafters! :)