Toys under the tree

I wanted to make toys that I felt were timeless and would be nostalgic for viewers of all ages.

The circus train has a masonite base, with painted wooden dowels for the bars, that is covered in hand dyed wool felt with embroidered details. All of the animals are needle felted and then stitched in place.

The wagon filled with building blocks was made with felt covered foam blocks and a felt covered coroplast base for the wagon. Each of the blocks is removable so they can be stacked and rearranged.

The toy oven door opens and inside is a tray of chocolate chip cookies.

The knobs on the Etch A Sketch turn.

Christmas Tree

I have finally finished the project that I have been working on all year.

I was asked to make the "Founder's Tree" for this year's Festival of Trees fundraiser for the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia. The tree will be auctioned off on November 28th. Fingers crossed it makes lots of money for the charity!

I painstakingly stripped an artificial tree of all its needles to use as the base. I used hand dyed wool felt fringe wrapped around each branch and then anchored with wire to create felt needles. I decorated the tree with "glass" ornaments based on vintage designs, yarn tinsel and twisted "metal" icicles.

Domus Opus

My 2 coworkers and I had a show at the Anna Leonowens Gallery here in Halifax, Nova Scotia that opened July 20th.

Jesse's pearl covered work boots, Dianne's metal pillows, quilts and rug and my felt alarm clock, hair curlers, iron and sewing machine

To the left Jesse's hammer and saw, miniature pink anvils and pearl covered work boots

Dianne's metal quilts on the wall

My kitchen scales and radio

My alarm clock and hair curlers alongside Dianne's pillows

My digital alarm clock on a nightstand

Haircurlers

Sewing Machine

Iron

Hair Curlers

These vintage Clairol hair curlers were calling out to me at a recent Value Village visit. They proved to be a really big challenge. I was really hoping to have the lid open so that you could remove the curlers but I couldn't find a vinyl strong enough that could hold it's shape on its own. In the end I had to sew the lid closed and the curlers give the lid its shape. I'm a little obsessed with power cords these days, I love adding them to all my pieces.




Funnily enough last week I picked up a 1975 copy of the Eaton's Catalogue and inside were the exact curlers!

Felt Music

My felt microphone was used for an advertisement for Felt Music in Campaign magazine published 7th November 2008. It was so exciting to see my work full page in a magazine!

Gaming Magazines

I've been without a scanner for about a year now so I've had work piling up to be scanned. Thanks to Dianne and Shawn I have a scanner again finally, so here's some older stuff that I've been wanting to share.

The following are some gaming magazines that featured my felt Nintendo system:

Games Master May 2008

GEE July/August 2008

Nintendo Power June 2009

New Smith Corona Typewriter

Before our big move I made a different Smith-Corona typewriter. For some reason I've always steered clear of using purple. It wasn't a dislike of the colour, more a fear of it for some strange reason. I'm really glad I did it, I love how the colour turned out, you can call me cured!

printcutsew.com

It's been far too long since I've updated this blog. I blame a broken scanner and buying my first home with my boyfriend Spencer. I'm also insanely busy working on a really large piece that I'll be letting you know more about later. 

Back in February the lovely Michelle SaintOnge (who you may have seen on Martha!) interviewed me for her website printcutsew. If you're interested in screen printing she has some amazing tutorials including how to build your own screens on her site. My interview is here.

You can also check out a tutorial I made to create a monster brooch.

Michelle also has a great interview with Roisin Fagan of Bespoke Uprising with lots of tips for any of you interested in selling your work at large craft fairs.