Weekend surprises

Christie Adams, jewelry designer extraordinaire!
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

I went to the Kanapaha Garden Festival this weekend and ran into another artist I know, Christie Adams. I had totally forgotten that she normally has a booth at that show.

As usual, I was blown away by her booth -- both by the display itself with all of its retro accents, and of course by her individual creations, which are always so unique. I took a few photos that offer a glimpse of her crafty goodness.

Just look at all the great rickrack projects! Be still my heart. I do have such a weakness for rickrack. Who knew that you could make such fun accessories out of old rickrack?









Perhaps surprisingly, I didn't buy one of her rickrack pieces. Instead, I just couldn't resist the pincushion corsage. It reminded me a lot of the big felted flowers I make, but at the same time totally unique. Gotta love Christie and the things she comes up with!



If you want to see Christie's creations firsthand in Gainesville, you can also catch her at the O'Connell Center craft show in December. And she usually has a few pieces at Beads by Avalon in the Millhopper Shopping Center. Or if you're in the Jacksonville area, check out her booth at Fans and Stoves antique mall in the Five Points neighborhood. And of course, you can always email her at evonsmuse1@yahoo.com.

Winter Warm Fuzzies

Whew! It's been a busy month, for me and I'm sure for many of you. My apoogies for not posting sooner.

The three craft shows I did in December all went well. If you're interested, check out the photos from the Holiday Art Market, Handmade Holiday Bazaar, and Atomic Holiday Bazaar.

And now, on to a quick crafty project to keep you warm since it's now officially winter! I saw this cute set of Lucky Brand Jeans winter accessories on the Macy's site and thought they were darling. Of course, the first words out my sassy and crafty little mouth were, "I could make that!" In fact, you could too.

1. Start with a felted wool sweater (get tips on felting here).
2. For the scarf, just cut a few long strips. For the hat, cut about six pie-shaped pieces that taper down again at the "crust" edge.
3. Then whip-stitch the pieces together with a contrasting yarn and then add extra yarn as shown to make decorative tassels. How easy can that be? You don't even need a sewing machine!
4. Use the sleeves of the sweater to make arm warmers. Just hack the sleeves off at a good length, then add a small stitch about 1/2 inch from one edge of the cuff to separate the finger area from the thumb area. You can then add decorative whip stitching to make them even cuter.

Depending on how much your sweater shrinks during felting, you may not be able to make all of the accessories shown in the photo. But hey, even two of the three would look great and help keep you warm.

If you'd like additional inspiration on working with felted sweaters, check out Sweater Surgery by Stefanie Girard (which features a few of my projects) and of course, Warm Fuzzies by the darling Betz White.

Happy Holidays everyone!