Tutorial of bonsai tree of beads and wire

Today, Natalia from NataliaDecor shop on Etsy is sharing a great tutorial how to make a bonsai tree of mother-of-pearl beads and wire. This wonderful tree will be a great piece of decoration for almost every house.

Natalia lives in Bulgaria and makes lots of pretty things using decoupage and other techniques. She also makes these adorable little trees made with wire and beads. All these items are perfect for gift giving so please stop by her shop to see if you might need anything for your perfect gift for many occasions.

 Now, lets make a tree.

Materials that are needed:

• Mother-of-pearl or other matching gems, 2-3 threads, each 30-32 inches long (80 cm) (number of those depends on the expected size of the tree)
• Copper wire, 0.012” thick (0.3mm)
• Copper wire, 0.07-0.09” thick (1.8 - 2.2 mm)
• Wire 0.12-0.20” thick (3-5mm)
• Cotton embroidery thread (brown or black)
• Plaster/Gypsum
• PVA adhesive
• Brown acrylic paint and acrylic finish 

First of all, we need to make small tree brunches as shown:

How to make a felted wool flower brooch

It's a perfect time to create a felted wool flower brooch. It will be a great addition to any party dress or holiday outfit. A felted flower brooch is not hard to make and it can be created at home using just soap and water.

First of all we will need felting wool in different colors. It can be purchased at either Ben Franklin or on-line at AshlandBay.


For a flower brooch I normally create a few layers of felt to make the brooch soft and fluffy. To create a layer we will need to lay wool flat on a plastic surface and wet if with warm water and soap. It makes sense to mix different colors of wool to create interesting combinations of new colors. Hand felting is a little bit like painting. You mix colors and get something amazing at the end!

For the wool to felt we will need to press and stroke it gently with our palms adding water and soap if needed. It will take a good 15 minutes for each layer to felt. When we cannot separate wool fiber any more and our layer is more or less intact it’s time to stop. Our wool has felted.

Let's rinse our layers with water and squeeze them gently so that all the water gets out. Now it's time to take a break and let our layers dry. I normally leave my hand felted pieces overnight to dry well.

Once our layers of felt are dry and soft we can start creating an actual brooch. For our brooch to be beautiful and unique we can use beads, felted balls, buttons, wood pieces and pretty much anything we can find in our home. I personally like to attach big buttons in the middle of my brooches to make them look more like flowers. Don't forget to attach either a safe pin or a special brooch pin in the back of the brooch. They could be purchased at Ben Franklin as well.

Felted flower brooches are great accessories. They add style and color to any outfit. I promise people will turn their heads when you wear a hand made flower brooch. It's so great to know that this pretty and chic brooch was actually created with your own hands!

As a member of Russian Artists Team I'm proud to present my amazing fellow artisans who create wonderful wool felted items:
AleksandraRoo
allmadewithlove
Beautyland
CityCrochet
dalmmar
frenchfelt
FunEmbroidery
galafilc
JaneBoFelt
jezek
JuliaFelt
manonknits
SilkMagic
soroka
Svetusha
VitalTemptation
YanArt
woolsolution

This post was written by TonyaUtkina at CityCrochet. You can read more about felting on my blog.

Interview with a Star - Inessa

As we all know there are so many different shops out there! Some are like a well trained platoon matching in front of its commander. All items in such a shop are alike. They are like cupper buttons on soldiers’ uniforms. Some stores are very cozy and welcoming. You want to stroll through them checking out every detail. You might even drink a cup of tea with a store’s owner and relax.

Some stores are like a cave with Ali Baba treasures. Every time you come in there you tremble. You never know what you are going to find in this treasure chest this time.
That’s exactly how I would describe Inessa’s shop called Vintageer


In her shop Inessa has gathered unique items: Home Decor and Linens, Kitchen and and Dinnerware items, Vintage Jewelry and even Christmas decorations. All these wonderful things date back to the last century. Every piece has a story behind it!

For example look at this set of salt and pepper shakers.

This rare set is approximately 100 years old. The pattern is a stunning gold gilt floral pattern with orange and blue flowers on a cream colored rim with a white background and gold trim.
The pattern is called #42200, but was referred to in the catalogs as "Raised Gold", and was made by Noritake (Japan). The pattern was discontinued Circa: 1918. Plates form this set were marked with a back stamp of the letter "M" encircled by a wreath, with the words "Hand painted".

Here is what Inessa tells us about her treasures:
“My fascination with vintage started from Christmas tree ornaments and decorations. I have a small personal collection of Christmas tree items made in Germany, Poland, Japan, USSR in 1920-1960. It’s amazing how such delicate and fragile pieces survived wars, relocations and cats’ curiosity!”


Apart from Christmas tree ornaments one can find adorable collectible plates in Inessa’s shop


Unique kitchen storage jars


and jewelry


All those exclusive and lovely items make our home cozy and our outfits unique and stylish. Thorough research into history behind every object in the shop makes our lives happier and richer.

Inessa was intervied by Lana at FineEmbroidery
Translated by TonyaUtkina

How to make felted wool acorns - Monday Tutorial

Felted wool acorns are ideal for decorating homes, offices, back yards and even a Christmas tree. They make our homes look cozy and welcoming. Felted acorns are quite popular and one can buy them either on the Internet or at a farmer's market. But how about creating a few wool felted acorns yourself?

A sunny winter day is ideal for a stroll in a park and almost every park in America has oak trees. Don't just spare your walk! Collect a few large acorn cups that will be later used for creating felted acorns at home!

So how do we start?
Since we already have a few acorn tops we will now need some felting wool. It can be purchased on the internet or in any Ben Franklin store in your city. Apart from wool we will need regular soap and hot water. I usually try to use wool of as many colors as I can find as it helps to create a whole array of multicolored, bright and vivid acorns.

The creation process starts with felting. I normally take a small piece of wool make it into a soft ball, wet it with hot water and add some soap to it. After squeezing and rolling the ball between my palms for good 10 to 15 minutes wetting it and adding soap from time to time I get a felted firm ball that could be gently squeezed into an oval to look like an acorn.

Hang on! We are almost done! The last step is to connect our acorn cups to felted wool ovals. To do this we will need to make holes in our acorn cups. To connect acorn cups I use a mercerized cotton thread. This type of thread is very strong. Chances are slim it will ever tear apart. The thread enables us to hang acorns anywhere we like.

I personally like acorns to be of different shapes and sizes. They look genuine as they pretty much are. Bright wool colors make them look festive and jolly. Felted wool acorns are beautiful, durable and could be used in many ways. They add color and style to one's house and make it look cozy and friendly. They are a perfect gift for anyone you love or care about!

If you like hand felted scarves, brooches, hats, jackets and home decor items you might want to check out these wonderful shops by our Russian Artists team members:
AleksandraRoo
allmadewithlove
Beautyland
CityCrochet
dalmmar
frenchfelt
FunEmbroidery
galafilc
JaneBoFelt
jezek
JuliaFelt
manonknits
SilkMagic
soroka
Svetusha
VitalTemptation
YanArt
woolsolution

This article was written by TonyaUtkina at CityCrochet