Drawing in black and white

I get a great deal of satisfaction drawing my orchids. They truly do float high above their roots and leaves. Although each blossom only has five petals, they are quite intricate to draw. I like to challenge the pencil, find out what it can do, what I can do. I don't have photo shop so what you see is pretty well it.

Links are fixed

After literally spending hours trying to fix the link to my web-site and losing most of my hair, I finally stumbled onto the solution and I do believe it is working now. http://www.shannonann.com/home Let me know if you have any trouble with it.

This and That

Today was one of those days filled with little projects. One of those projects was making paper pots. There are several ways to make them but I like the origami method the best. It does take a bit of time but the end result is too cool!

This video is the best one that I found on youtube. Enjoy!

Can't you just feel the spark?

I love the look and feel of fabric. It doesn't matter if it is a crisp new fabric or soft and cuddly like a well loved t-shirt. It always makes me wonder, "What can I make with this? How will it feel against my skin?" This fabric is 100 percent cotton and the colours are bright and fun.

I feel some aprons a brewing!

Beautiful Colours

While we are waiting for warmer weather here in the deep-freeze I thought I would share some more colourful pictures of felted soaps and boxes.

For some colour of a different note, here are some delightful glass works by Urve Manuel http://astonesthrowglass.blogspot.com She is doing some wonderful things in her new studio. Check it out. Here are some of her birds for the garden. They are called Jigglies. I can't wait for the weather to be warm enough to put them in the garden.

On a technical note: I am having trouble with the link to my web-site. Hopefully I'll have that sorted out today or tomorrow for those of you who have been wondering what's up with that.

Little Treasures and Bigger Ones Too!

It has been cold and rainy here in Newfoundland the last few days. A good time to stay indoors and do some felting. I used the wet-felt technique and I'm starting to get consistent results. There seems to be something very comforting when working with fiber, a grounding of sorts.

I love these treasure boxes with the matching soaps. The accent yarn on this box and soap set were hand-spun on the drop spindle. It was my very first successful attempt using a drop spindle. Thanks go to Shawn and Krista and Niki.

There is an element of surprise while wet felting these boxes because the wool moves around a bit and nothing is exactly the way it was put down. I find that to be delightful. You never know what might come through.

Felted soaps are truly little treasures. You take it in the shower with you and use it like a washcloth. The wool is a gentle exfoliator and leaves your skin feeling smooth and clean. Once the soap is finished you can either cut the remaining felt open and make a little change purse, or you can fill it with small slivers of soap, or just use it as a scrubby. I have given lots of these soaps away. They make great gifts.

All in all I had a really fun day and to top it off I received some pictures of my friend Colby wearing his special birthday apron. Colby's favorite thing to bake is banana bread. Yum!

Birthdays, Aprons and Felted Things

It all started with an apron I made for my wonderfully wild, one of a kind, little friend, Sage. Her mother, Niki, (awesome in her own right) liked the apron so much I thought mmm, maybe I should make some more of these and so I did. Just about everyone I know with Birthdays in March and April received one-of-a-kind aprons. This particular beauty is for Hopie. It is completely reversible with pockets on both sides. The fabric is 100 percent cotton and it has a nice feel and weight to it without being bulky.

But that's not all.

I had already started making small felted treasure boxes during the winter months and I thought if I made a box big enough for an apron how cool would that be! I then felted two matching gentle goatsmilk soaps for her. She'll never guess there is so much in that box!