Wool Dying at Home

The other day we did some wool dying with Anna. We are going to make some wet felted earrings to sell on this years Exit Festival and since I only have natural sheep wool at home,we needed some colors.

We used simple fabric dye for coloring the wool. The trick is,you need to add a table spoon of salt to the water before adding the wool. We cooked every color for about 25 minutes and left the wool soaking in the jars for a whole night.


This is what the colors looked like after cooking.
Now,here is another trick I am going to tell you. After we left the wool soaking the hole night,we washed every color in cold water in wich we added a cup of vinegar.
The vinegar helps preserve the bright colors and they won't wash or fade out from our future projects.
After washing the wool with clear,cold water again I left them out to dry on the sun.


You always need your freshly dyed wool to dry completly before using it for any project.
We used up some older dyed wool to make a few tiny balls wich we will turn in to earrings later.

Here is a before and after picture of the wool.

I did some wet felting the other weekend,the result is two bags,a wallet and a cell phone pouch. These will also be on sale at the Exit Festival.

I promise to show more detailed pictures in my next post.I'm going to work on my crochet bag now.

Cat Collar with Bow

As some of you may know,my Lilly went missing three weeks ago. After two weeks of not knowing where she is I started to loose hope and secretly said goodbye in my heart.
You can imagine how happy I was when she showed up at our door the other morning like nothing even happened. You can see on the pictures how much weight she lost,but don't worry I'm already on it to stuff that belly back to normal.
So as a welcome home gift I made her this cute bow collar.

1.measure around your pets neck (don't forget to make the size confortable)
2.cut out a strip of fabric (in my case red,so the collar would be extra girly for my Lilly)
3.sew the sides together and sew down the sides
4. -this is important- add a piece of elastic to the collar!
5.make a bow from the same fabric (there are tons of cute tutorials out there)
6.add a small bell to the bow
7.sew the bow on the collar and show it to your pet :)

I must say,my Lilly didn't even notice that I changed her collar. But thats because she is used to wearing one. :) Is she cute or what? she reminds me of a grey,skinny but cuter version of Hello Kitty. tee hee

DIY Necklace Displays

I plan to attend more craft fairs this summer,so I needed to update my displays. There are a lot of tutorials out there for boards,picture frame displays and jewelry trees,but I wanted something that makes the necklaces stand out.
So I found this tutorial that is perfect for what I wanted. They have a pattern for it too. Here is my version:

Instead of using fabric I covered the cardboard displays with leftover wallpaper.
Since my bracelet and ring displays are black they will match nicely together.

Front wiew:

And here is how it looks from the back:

It was pretty easy and quick to make, I was done with 2 displays in 2O minutes.
Now I just need to cover my earring board with some black fabric and dye some white tablecloths black or purple and I am ready.

Where am I?

I'v been spending so much time on other peoples blogs that I forgot I had one myself...
Plus I started working so that's not helping either.
However I have plenty of new stuff to show! First of all,I remembered I started an embroidery before Valentines Day (!) and completly forgot about the poor thing. I found it in a paper bag waiting to get finished and sewn in to a pillow case.

Also, my mother found me the cutest toy elephant ever! She was out on the fields working and saw him in a pile of dirt. After I gave the sad fellow a bath he joined the rest of the guys on my shelf and I can see he is very happy to be home. :)
I always believed elephants find me.


Now on to the clay stuff,I made this pendant for Anna as an Easter present.

Lately,as people started noticing my jewelry, I got some odd orders. A pair of doberman earrings wich I didn't make yet and a bracelet with a jumping frog pendant.

The girl who ordered it loved the end result so that makes me even more happy and proud. :)
I figured out a new way to make bracelets with hammered wire and polymer clay beads.


I made only two to see how they sell first.
Also,here is a new method I came up with to make interesting beads and pendants.


I'm planning to make a tutorial on it later on. It's made with vintage buttons,polymer clay and acrylic paint. I'm going to make new pieces for an upcomming craft fair,so check back for the tutorial. :)
Phew...I need to blog more frequently,things add up this way.

Summer Clutch Pattern

Small,elegant clutches are not my thing,so I made up this pattern for when I need a small bag. But I'm sure that if you use a different fabric and maybe add some bling to it this pattern could look elegant too. Or you could just mae one and use it for a make up bag or something.
The original idea was a burlap clutch. I used the part of the coffe sack where the green paint was printed.

I added a strawberry pin made from polymer clay that I got from my friend.

I really liked the way the first one turned out,so I made one from light jeans and added some purple elephant ribbon I got from Melissa.

I made a handle for this one from a thin stripe of fabric so I could carry it around more easily. (plus it is way more easier to hit someone with a bag that has a handle) :)

Before I forget,here is the simple pattern for the clutch.

Cut two pieces from each,plus the lining but you know how this goes. :) If not,just ask me in the comments and I will wright up a more detailed tutorial for it.
Now here is something really cute I wanted to share! a huge pile of baby spiders! eeeek!

I was heading out for the store today and spotted this yellow ball next to our mail box. I was so amazed how tiny they are. Beautiful.

Have fun with the pattern! Off I go to enjoy my yummy tomato and mushroom spaghetti I just cooked up for dinner.

Dreadlock Inspiration

Some of the pictures I'w been saving for inspiration and motivation to wear my dreads differently sometimes.


With all this crazy hair on my head I rarely have the time or motivation to do different hairstyles. I just tie them in a big bun and let them decide what they want. :) Most of the time I sleep with the bun,wake up in the morning and that's the hairdo for the day.
So...when summer comes I get all motivated and try out different stuff with them and these hairtsyles are just amazing. I already tried out the braided style.

My dread journey in a few words:

I ended up with dreads 3 years ago when I got one made ba a friend.And that single little lock lead to the hole head! I needed almost a hole year until I finished my entire head. (I made them myself with a crochet hook)

Then a year ago,I decided I wanted some loose hair,so I outcombed 15 dreadlocks in the front. Beside it beeing painful as hell it was a really bad idea and after a few months I realized how much I miss having a hole head full of them.
So now I am growing them back! I started neglecting my hair two weeks ago and the results are already showing! These are my very first natural locks,I wont be crocheting them at all.

I have baby dreadlings! :) And they are getting along beautifuly with my 3year old dreads.
Oh,and I made some dreadbeads from scraps of polymer clay.Here are the ones I made from wire.

I will be posting some pictures when they start locking up even more.

Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs Tutorial

It's my time to post an Easter related tutorial,so here it goes...

This was always a tradition in our family, my dear bako (Serbian granny) made them every year for the hole family to take home.More then ten years ago my bako passed away and me and my dad took over the tradition.
I made this tutorial with him last year so you could try it out too.


Things you will need:
-a pair of scissors
-nylon pantie hose
-pretty leaves- gather different shapes and sizes of leaves from around the house and garden
-eggs :)
- strong thread or embroidery floss
-plenty of onion skins (or what ever other vegetable or plant you are using)

What you can use for different colors:
onion skin-brown
carrot-orange
beet-purple
spinach-green
Step1.

Gather all the things you will need.
Step2.

Put a leaf on top of the egg.
Step3.

Cut a square from the nylons and put it on the egg.Wrap it around the egg and tie it with a piece of floss.Be sure to make it firm and tight so the dye wont go under the leaf.
Step4.

Do the same with all the eggs.
Step5.

Put the onion skins in a big pot. Don't worry,you don't need as much onion skin,we colored more then 4O eggs with this amounth.
Step6.

Put the eggs on top of the onion skin and fill the pot with water.
Step7.
Cook the eggs this way for 9-15 minutes.
Step8.

Cut the nylons off and peel the leaves from the eggs.Be sure to do this when they are still hot,because after the eggs cool down the leaves will stick to them.
Step9.

To make the eggs nice and shiny, put some oil on a paper towel and rub the eggs with it.

All done. :)
Happy Easter everyone!