I love you, Mom!

Mother’s Day is coming up and it’s a great reminder to tell your Mom that you appreciate everything she’s done for you.

I know we should not need reminders but we get so busy in our everyday routines that we sometimes forget to tell the ones we love that we really care.

So this time don’t forget to let her know how important she is to you.

If you live far away send her a nice card.

If you are able to visit you should plan to spend the day with your mom. Find her a nice gift.

Put the gift in a nice box that will become a keepsake and you are set!

There are so many wonderful gifts that the members of the Russian Artists Team have created for you to choose from. Head on over to Etsy and find something for your mom!


By Yana (WineCountryLife)

Fabric flowers DIY

Today, Tanya who runs Soroka shop on Etsy is sharing a great tutorial of a flower made of mesh fabric.

So how she came up with the idea:
"Recently I made a dress and had a lot of mesh fabric left over. It was all cut into strips. So I decided to make some flowers.

Tutorial How to make a felted flower brooch

Galafilc creates amazing and unique hand felted items. Today she will share her know-how on how to create a felted flower brooch.

To create a flower we will need about 20 gr. of white felting wool, plastic bubble wrap, soap, water, dye for coloring and a wooden roller.

The first step is to lay out pieces of wool on a bubble wrap. We will make six circles slightly different in size.

The second step is to wet our wool with soapy water. We spray the water evenly all over the wool and cover it with another piece of bubble wrap. Our wool is now ready for felting. At the very beginning we roll our wooden stick over the wrap once to squeeze extra water out of our wet wool. After that we roll our wrap around the wooden stick and start actually rolling it on a flat surface. I usually roll it about 100 times in one direction and 100 times in another direction.


Our wool is semi-felted now. We take it out of the wrap and gently squeeze and rub it in our hands until it is ready. Our pieces of wool should be pretty homogeneous with fiber intact and not separating. If the wool has felted well the original size of the piece changes. Our wool circles should be much smaller in size than the original ones.

Now we are ready to start creating an actual flower. We cut out a flower from each of the circles and felt the flowers a little bit for the edges to felt and become even. We rinse our flowers well and flatten them. It's time to form a flower now. We put the biggest flower at the bottom and the rest five flowers on top of it.

To dye our flower we will need to soak it in a vinegar first. For the final color not to be super bright I usually add a few drops of black dye to my dye mix. To prepare my dye mix I just mix dye with water. I soak my felted pieces into the dye mix and warm in up either in a micorwave or on a stove. I usually let my felt stay in the dye mix for about an hour. Finally I put my felted pieces into a vinegar once more to fix the color and let them dry afterward.

My brooch flower is almost ready. I assemble all the pieces into a flower brooch and attach a pin at its back. Our beautiful and unique hand felted flower brooch is ready!


translated by TonyaUtkina

Russian artists on Etsy front page!

This evening treasury collection made by our Russian artists team member Katrinshine was on Etsy front page! It was chocolate colored collection named "At my show on tuesday" and included 6 team members. It's so yummy!! Hope you like it! 
Congrats Curator and featured artists!

Inteview with Nataliya HansHolzkopf

Today we persent enother talented member of our Russian artists Team Nataliya. She has amazing shop HansHolzkopf.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself…


Hi! My name is Nataliya and I am 41 years old . I'm originally from the Crimea (Ukraine). 15 years ago I moved to Hamburg, Germany where I now live with my husband and our 11 year old son.
During the day I work at a high school and in the evening I am an artist :)))
I like to create something with my hands, paint, take photos, sew, decorate..
My hands are like a magician. They can make wonderful things.

How long have you been creating? How did your journey in art and creativity begin?

I grew up in a creative family. My father was a great photographer, scientist and entomologist and my mother was interested in Asian art. So I grew up between the complicated technical equipment, photos from around the world, butterflies and reproductions of Japanese and Chinese artists.


As a kid I painted a lot. As a teenager I started to make jewelry and gave away much of it to my friends. I have done a lot of experimenting with different materials. My first jewelry I made from wood. But the fabric has always fascinated me with its different colors and textures.


My first flower I made for the wedding of my friends.
After that I have received many requests for these flowers for the other weddings. So I started to create wedding accessories and jewelry from silk, organza, satin and lace. I opened my shop on Etsy three years ago and I am very happy to meet here so many talented artists from around the world.

How did you come up with your shops name?

"Hans Holzkopf " is a person from the fairy tale. "Hans" is an old German name, like Russian name Ivan.
"Holzkopf" means "wooden head". We all know the adventures of Pinocchio. He was not particularly clever, but he had a dream and a big heart. I love this story!

What is currently inspiring you?

I am inspired by the colors of nature, by the flowers in my garden, by children, simply by people, by travel in the other countries..

Do you take custom orders?

I love it!!! I love to realize the ideas of my customers. I love this process - from an idea into something what you can touch. If my customer is happy, I'm also happy.

What is the best reaction you have gotten from one of your pieces?

I have a regular customer. She has already ordered many flowers from me. And once she has written me... she suffers from a disease and depression..but if she gets my colorful flowers, then they make her happy and she feels better….
It means a lot for me..

Name 3 things you can’t live without?


Hmmm…Only three? :)))) Ok.. My son, my family and the colors of nature..and I can’t live without creating something with my hands.