Horror Kokeshi dolls

Sometimes I have a cutie overload and have to break out with something a little darker

Dobie

I do love black and tan dogs

Scottie

Just for comparison here is the westie and scottie together

Some feedback

I have been working on dolls house sized dogs for a wee while now. Mainly to challenge myself, the more detail you can put in a small piece the better the bigger dogs will be.
I just thought I would share this lovely feedback I got from a lovely lady who has 3 of my dolls house pets

Perfect for everyone who, as myself, are really frustrated not being able to find decent pets for their dollhouse. After you try these you'll never go back to poor resin and ceramic copies. These ones are fluffy, tender, posable, realistic: will bring life to any dollhouse
it's awesome how these animals are tiny and realistic at the same time

It is so nice when people take the time to give you lovely feedback like that.

Spirit hound

I have always been interested in the history of Boudica

What is not to love, a woman who led the revolt against Rome in Britan and burned to the ground their capitol city and at least two other cities

Pretty amazing lady



I have been reading the Manda Scot series of books on Boudica and it inspired me to make my own spirit hound

Read the books and you will understand :) and join me in platting kill feathers into your hair, grabbing your horse and calling your hound to battle

Teddy

The other weekend I did the Scottish Bear Fair again, so I thought I should make a few teddies

Not alpaca this time, regular merino, but he developed a great wee character while I was making him

He is falling back on his front paws with his little toes curling over

Another collie

I do love my border collies
I couldnt resist making another one
This is one of my smallest - she is actually dolls house sized (although her head is a little big - for detail and cuteness)

Tiny cat

This tiny cat is 1 inch to her shoulder
She is a custom order and on her way to Russia.

It is exciting to think how well traveled my little fuzzies are - they get to more places than me!!

Big head Westie dog

My mum was asking me what the difference between a Scottie dog and a Weastie was
Well the easiest way I could think of to explain was to make one of each

and for some reason I decided they wanted to have big heads :)

When will we three

The alpaca teddy animals all together

Alpaca Teddy leopard.

The final of the three

any idea for names?

Alpaca teddy lion

2nd in the series - a lion with a silky soft alpaca mane

Alpaca Teddy tiger

Using the lovely Alpaca fleece I found on my summer holidays I have tried a range of artist teady animals
The alpaca makes them silky soft

Dachshund

Trying to felt every breed of dog I possibly can
So any suggestions??

Also trying out photographing in my brand new dollshouse

New listing - PDF instructions!

As I know so many craft people want a try at needle felting I decided to make my own tutorial.

The 1/2 splat bookmarks are actually a great beginners project as they are built from basic shapes and a bookmark can be completed in around two hours.

This listing in my etsy shop is for a 14 page pdf file of step by step instructions and photographs to make one of my bookmarks.

This is something a little new for me :) hopefully it is something people are interested in. I shall also make up some kits at a later date

Alpaca

The alpaca fleece is lovely to felt with, silky almost soapy

Although the girls who donated the fleece to me were shorn when I was them I made my little fuzzy in full coat

To do that I firmly felted a short alpaca then added fleece ontop of that and softly felted it to give him his teddy bear coat, but a 'crust' of fibers needle felted ontop to keep him in shape. He feels lovely to hold, solid in the middle but sooooo soft and fluffy on the outside

Pomeranian

and a little happy pom

Sheltie

another of the long haired ones - a little Sheltie with a ball in his mouth

Monkey!

I have been practicing with longer hair on my fuzzies

So this little fuzzy (who reminds me a little of cuddles the monkey - or I am the only one old enough to remember him) has his lighter brown areas done in the new alpaca fleece and the rest is merino

Say hello to the ladies

Just back from holidays (will blog about it later) and went hunting for some new fibers

Found this stunning location

With these lovely lads and ladies

Are they not the cutest little things?

I have tried alpaca before but I guess it wasnt good quality because the fleece from these guys is totaly lovely

Smooth and silky, soft as anything with an almost soapy feel

and the great news is its also hypoallergenic

already tried felting with it and it is lovely

and mum is knitting socks :)

Mia

I have a little niggly feeling that Mia has been in the bin again

No trail of destruction - just a little fashion statement

Hopefully it is not a request!

Needle felted Boxer dog

Heres my latest felt

He stands a little taller than the others at about 6 inches and he is a brindle boxer dog

I tried again to give his nose more texture by adding nail varnish to it - Im much happier with the effect this time

He is solidly felted with just a little wire in his legs

any ideas for a name?

Ben agility, Prestwick

Our first agility show in almost a year

Our first show in grade 5

Errm and our last show in grade 5!! Ben only went and won out!

2 first places, a 2nd and a 3rd!!

Not the best handling by me but great running by my little boy.

Our speeds are getting much better as well - In jumping grade 1-4 combined we were the fastest of all the dogs by over 5s.

But we are a good way off the times of the grade 5 and 6 dogs - something to work on

So pleased by my little boy - and loving the more difficult courses

Donkey

Donkey has big dreams

He knows he is a little knock kneed

but he dreams one day he will be a great show jumper

All your pillows they will be mine!!

The little lady likes her comfort but I think she is taking things a little far nesting all the cushions together :)

A beardie splat

I was asked to see if I could splat a bearded collie

A challenge for a splat because they are a hairy dog and I try and have no loose hairs on a splat as it is designed to be used

Hope I captured the shaggy dog ness here :)

LoLaBuLand Drumming challange

If you havent been over there already you should really check out http://www.lolabuland.com/ for some amazing agility and tricks training.

She is running a competition just now so we decided to try entering

For it I had to teach the dogs to drum and then post a video and the one with the most likes wins one of her amazing training videos

So please please please go over here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDlwh0NLPT8

and if you like it 'like' it for me :)

Mia quite likes this trick - it involves her stamping her feet and being rude!!

Ben - hmm well we are working on it - he is so polite :)

The secret is out

Following on from my shhhh post - Pat was almost correct!

In my street there are three of us who train our dogs at agility, and of course we chat to all the other dog walkers while we are out and about.

Lots of people have expressed interest in teaching their dogs agility and we have given them the contact details of the clubs and classes in the area - but people have been coming back to us and saying the classes are all full.

So we decided to start our own dog agility training club The Phoenix Flyers for Paisley, Renfrewshire and the surrounding area

The support we have got from this venture has been amazing. We have already got and refurbished a set of agility equipment, a local business has given us access to a secure field to train on and a unit to store the equipment and another local business has offered to cut the grass and keep the field in tip top condition

and we have actually started getting interest from the website even tho I havent even launched it properly yet

So here it it :)

Please click to see The Phoenix Flyers dog agility training club We are still building it just now so bear with us :) but feedback would be welcome

Lynx

Another crazy challenge for me

A lynx

I have always loved these small big cats with their tufty ears

I decided no to leave loose fibers but to felt them solid more like a 3d cartoon

Not sure if it comes across in the photographs but as I was making him I kinda thought he looked like a cross between the pet from the cartoon thundercats and a kind of Manga sidekick

Why oh why do I keep going for the spotty ones? All those tiny spots have to be felted in individually - but I think it was worth it

Tiger

Tiger in the grass :)

We had a whole day of sun so I could do a photoshoot outside

I havent made a tiger for a while so thought I would have another go

The stripes took FOREVER but I am quite happy with how he turned out

For a change I used lovely green glass eyes - they were not easy to line up so he didnt look crosseyed!

Mias new trick

Just started a new trick for the dogs

Mia is really getting the hang of it - wrapping her paws around the pole. She can do left paw, right paw or even both paws

I haven't got any of it on verbal command yet but it is very cute

Bless Ben!!

He hasn't quite got it yet!

It took quite a while of getting him used to the pole for me to even get him to be anywhere close to the pole - which is interesting because if we are weaving or circling the pole Ben gets overexcited and headbuts the thing

So far he has got the idea that I want something to do with his paws, but it just makes no sense to him (check the face out)

I know I know - dogs should not play with sticks

But I didn't have the heart to tell Mia

I had a whole sackful of toys with me, even a ball with REAL rabbit skin stitched onto the end like a tail

But no the lady doesn't like any of them

and she was so happy with her stick!

Panda Splat

For some reason I just LOVE felting Pandas

I have wanted to make a splatted panda for a while but just never got around to it

So finally I indulged myself

As I figured he would be perfect for childrens books I only made him a 1/2 splat so he could fit in any sized book

He is also slightly thinner than usual splats, just thought he would look nicer that way

Basset Hound

My latest stabby critter

This time I went for a wrinkly Basset hound

She is a tricolour with biiig sad eyes, giant paws and lots of wrinkles

Took forever to add all the loose skin but it was a really good experience to try and get soft looking folds of skin - but make them very firmly felted