Spring Muses Russian Artists Team Contest

Spring is all about blooming trees and amazing flowers, first warm sunny days and positive attitudes. One of Russian Artists team members Lena Baymut came up with an idea of yet another team spring contest. The main idea of this spring content is to feature not only amazing items hand crafted by Russian Artists team members but to actually present the artists themselves. Every team member could submit a listing from his or her store featuring his or her muse.

We all love hand crafting and are always eager to share our new ideas and designs with the Intrenet community. Creating hand made items for spring is especially rewarding as spring is all about beautiful colors, flowers, rebirth and happiness!

All the submissions were available on Russian Artists Facebook Page for voting. It was again a tough choice to vote for one or another of our beautiful artists.

Russian Artists team is somewhat unique. We are all united by a common mother tongue that is Russia but we all live in different parts of the world. This contest was actually a great opportunity for us to meet each other in person. We now know the artists who create unique and inspiring art pieces in our team.

Every item submitted collected a great number of votes. Below are four who got the most votes.

1. Hand painted silk scarf Fishes by WoolGemArt


2. White mohair shawl by CozySeason


3. Medieval Style Dress by Katrinshine


4. Felted white scarf by LenaBaymut


Congratulations to our amazing winners!!!

You can check out all of the contest entries in our Team treasury.

posted by TonyaUtkina

Valentines Day Perfect Gift Team Contest

As Valentine's Day is approaching and so many people are looking for perfect gifts for their friends, co-workers, class-mates, neighbors and loved ones we decided to help all of them to find special and unique presents they are looking for. Russian Artists team held a contest among its members to select three wonderful gift ideas for Valentine's Day. The contest has got a huge support among Russian Artists team members. We had fifty nominations in total with every Etsy team member shop nominating one of its items. It's amazing how many beautiful items has been created by our talented team member shops on Etsy for this event!

Each team shop had a chance to cast its vote and select three items from a pool of fifty wonderful and unique hand made creations. Many shops shared their concern that it was actually hard to make a decision as all of the items in the contest were superb. Forty five member shops voted and three winners were selected.

SPA-CAT-THI LOVE - Cats with attitude by Catswithattitude
Original watercolor painting on high quality watercolor paper 7 x 9 inch


Garnet Fans earrings in oxidized sterling silver by NeroliHandmade


Fingerless mittens crocheted and knitted in cherry white by Lasunka


Although the original idea was to select just three items as ultimate winners, three more pieces pretty much shared the fourth place. They are definitely worth presenting as our fourth place winners.

Modern Garnet earrings hand made with argentums sterling silver by daimblond


A mixed media work Love Original by marina826


Vintage installation Art Heart by YanArt


Congratulations to the winners!!!
Thank you so much for participating in Russian Artists team Valentine's Day perfect gift contest!

All of the nominations for the contest made it to Russian Artists Team treasuries. You are always welcome to check out our Valentines Day treasuries as they are full of perfect gift ideas for Valentines Day!
Valentines Day perfect gift ideas by Russian Artists Team 1

Valentines Day perfect gift ideas by Russian Artists Team 2

Valentines Day perfect gift ideas by Russian Artists Team 3

posted by TonyaUtkina
Russian Artists Team captain

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.

Wonderful things Wednesday - Childhood memories

Once upon a time, when the air was clear and fragrant from the flowering white bushes right outside of our window, when the day was long and full of adventures waiting for you right in your own backyard, my mother made a wonderful party dress for me. It was sky blue with white embroidered flowers on it and I felt like a Princess wearing it around the holidays! I was pretty sure I was the prettiest girl around while wearing it!

So many years passed by and I had many other pretty dresses. They were store bought, big name brands and excellent quality but I still remember my first one, homemade with love.

I am sure each one of us has a similar story – we’d love to hear yours! What do you cherish through the years? What did you make for your child that she or he can feel special in? Please share with us!

Today we’d like to represent our Team members creations for the children – enjoy!


1. Baby dress crochet pink by Allmadewithlove
2. White Owl Coverall Hat (9-18months) by NYrika
3. Brand New Luxury Baby Natural Bedding - Blanket/Comforter/Quilt Transformer for Boy by Woolsolution
4. Crazy Frogs Baby Booties for 0-6 month by IraRot



1. Felted hair elastic Rabbir by Jezek
2. Crocheted elastics ponytail flower rose by FlowersbyIrene
3. Mommy and Me Cheerful orange matching set of two adjustable aprons by NStrelkova
4. Earrings micro macrame hemp turtle pink by GiftsUnder10



1. Two white flower daisy hair clip set by Cushyadornments
2. Hair Pin – BUTTERFLY by FunEmbroidery
3. Hand Crocheted Toy by OlgaAlmond
4. Crochet Knit Hat And Mittens Set PDF Pattern by FashionPatterns


Best wishes to You and Yours,

Tanya at Socksandmittens