Felted love for your Valentine

 

Here is a sampling of some My Felted Valentine Bowls. Some have already sold and some are still listed in my Etsy store.  There is still time to order custom bowls for your sweetie. Drop me a message if you are interested and I will get straight to work on it.

Cheers~

In the Gallery

A Custom Tray

I have really been enjoying my custom projects of late and wanted to quickly share one with you. This lovely tray is hand-knit from 100% wool yarn then machine felted shaped over a form and air-dried. It measures 7" across and 1"deep and is a lovely addition to a dresser for those everyday pieces of jewelry you wear. I was contacted by the recipient of this bowl and we worked together to get her the colors she wanted. You too could own a just for me item from Gretchen's Creations.


I also listed these cute nesting bowls in my Etsy store. They are crocheted from the same yarn.


And last but not least these Springy Pale Blue Armwarmers are perfect for the chill of a Spring evening or when you are stuck working at the computer:


Thanks for looking and Happy Spring!

More Clover and an Anchor

Here is another Bowl I just listed in my Etsy Shop for St. Pat's Day:


And here is a bowl that is part of a custom order that I can't help but share because I am so excited at how it came out.

Clover all Over

St. Patrick's Day is coming and with a son named Seamus it is a fun holiday around here! We thought for sure he would be born on the 17th but I suppose 5 days after isn't too shabby! So let me reword: March is a big deal in our household since my little Irish imp is turning 6 this year! He loves St. Patrick's day since there is a parade with the crowning jewel the streetsweepers at the end and that everyone is wearing his favorite color. We also get a visit from the mischievous Leprechaun who turns our house upside down in the night! If you leave a treat for the ML he makes a bit less trouble ;-) I will post pictures~ I do have to give credit where credit is due and admit that I didn't come up with the idea single-handed. Greenstylemom actually told me about it a couple of years back.
I like to make Shamrock bowls for the season and here the first 2 in my series listed in my Etsy shop. These precious little ring bowls would make terrific gifts for your Irish sweetheart and I think would also make a wonderful alternative to a wedding ring pillow since everyone can use a little good luck on the big day!

Hiking Fun and more Valentine Goodness

Yesterday we went on a marvelous hike! There is a geocache Matt has been wanting to finish for some time that we knew took us to the base of Mt. Herman. It was a gorgeous day! Overcast with on and off flurries then progressing into snow in earnest but my favorite kind: big fluffy flakes falling gently down with little or no wind. Ahhh winter. The first leg of the hike took us into the burn area which takes me back to middle school when we sat in the western classrooms of LPMS and watched the fire rage over the mountain waiting to be picked up by our parents and hoping none of our friends that lived near there lost their homes. The picture of the burned fence shows the mountain in the background.
The second leg of the adventure took us up behind the mountain where we hiked down into snow filled meadows and aspen glades. This is also when the snow started falling seriously. But I do have to say that my new felted mittens were doing a bang-up job of keeping my hands warm and without painfully numb fingers from the Raynaud's to distract me I was euphoric over the beauty of winter and how much I love snowy hikes! The second picture is of my honey~
Please be sure and check in at our hiking blog Ode to Ormes as Matt will be posting in more detail about this hike
I also took some small bowls with me in the hopes I would find a nice natural setting to photograph them. I found the prettiest granite boulder covered in lichen and dusted in snow and I think it brings out just about every color I put up against it. Here are some new listings on Etsy some are photographed on the mountain and some are in my front garden today - the light was weak inside so I decided to brave the outdoors for good photos. Cheers~

What A Week!

I have been a busy bee this last week knitting and needle-felting. I received a custom order from the most wonderful return buyer. I just wanted to share her kind words as a testimonial of sorts for what I do. The first part refers to an overcharge on shipping that I refunded her for.

Gretchen,
Thanks so much for the shipping refund. So kind. :o)
I received everything yesterday and am thrilled beyond words. I can't even pick a favorite.
I love every single one of these bowls. All are for gifts to loved ones, but I
have a strong feeling that I will be back for more. ( For ME!)
Thanks so much for sharing your time and your talent!

As if that wasn't enough to make me feel so proud of what I do, one of my bowls was in a treasury that was featured on the front page of Etsy on Saturday afternoon! I almost sold out of My Felted Valentine Bowls. Have no fear though, I have been getting my shop restocked and there will be more coming for the next week or so. If you are wanting a Valentine bowl and want a specific color combo please contact me so I can make one up for you!

Here are a couple I have listed today but please check in at Gretchen's Creations in the My Felted Valentine section to see what is new.

Here We Are Again

Can you believe it is already another year? I can't! 2011 arrived quietly here at my house. The AdAmAn club had to turn back from their ascent of Pikes Peak; the weather was just that bad. With no fireworks being launched from the summit of America's Mountain I officially gave myself permission to go to bed and read. I was up at midnight to enjoy the arsenal of fireworks half of my neighborhood invested in - I am just glad there was snow on the ground!
New Years has never been a big one for me. I believe that resolutions shouldn't be restricted to one day a year. I do have a list of things I would like to accomplish: I am on a mission this year to become more fit, more productive but most of all more peaceful. I am also excited to take a more artistic direction in my felting and needle-felting and have a gallery show at the Bridge Gallery in October. As a gardener in Colorado, the off-season is a strange time. You would think 2 months would be this amazing window of opportunity to make major strides in say home organization but days are chopped up by drop-offs and pick-ups and that self-imposed exercise regimen. I am getting there though! I promise!

So with all that aside I have 2 orders of business. First of all, Matthew and I have set new loftier goals for our hiking year please take a moment to visit our blog Ode to Ormes to see what Shenanigans we are going to be up to in 2011. Last year I took a very passive roll with the blog because I felt that Matthew was doing such an amazing job telling our story, but this year he has asked me to contribute more of my POV to it and I have therefore promised to be more active with postings on flora and fauna and hopefully an occasional gear review. If you get a chance drop by and share in our adventure! See where we have been and where we are headed.

My second order of business is of course Etsy. Valentines Day is drawing close and I have once again launched the My Felted Valentine line in my Etsy shop. Instead of a card or a box of chocolates give something that will last beyond one day a year! One of my felted bowls holding a precious memento or filled with delicious chocolates for instance! Here are a few items I have listed so far with more to come in the following days and weeks.

























Thanks for stopping by! I am really looking forward to a great year of fiber goodness and creativity and would be thrilled if you will join me.

12.16.10 The Only

I obviously missed a day. Yesterday was a full one with spending time with a good friend I hadn't seen in awhile and once I get to picking up my son from school the day has already gotten away from me. The weather was ridiculously nice too and since the weather heads were predicting snow today a handful of other parents and I thought it best to let the kids play for awhile on the playground. It is trying to snow now but the main issue is the cold. 60 degrees yesterday and now 30s today. It is no wonder the illnesses are going around! Our bodies don't know which season to adjust to.
So enough of the excuses! I have sold out of my fingerless gloves, but have no fear! I will be knitting some fabulous new ones here shortly since The coldest months of winter are just around the corner and I know I am not the only one who likes my hands warm. So this morning I offer up for your viewing (and buying if you so choose) pleasure 2 sweet bowls.

12.11.10 Listings

Here are today's treasures just posted in my Etsy store:

Still Time to Shop

There is still time to order items from my Etsy store to get them for Christmas. I will be listing at least 2 items a day for the next 5 days so check back to see what is new! I am continuing to include a free ring bowl with every purchase of $50. As for today I have a couple of my favorite designs. Thanks for looking!

Winter?

Seriously! I logged in to blog and realized sheepishly that the last post was titled Fall! Oh how embarrassing. Once again, where do I begin? Fall was l...o...n...g around these parts. When the ground finally cooled enough to plant bulbs in early November we had 2 busy weeks of gardening. The funny part is that the trees still haven't dropped all their leaves so there is work to be done perhaps even into the first week of December. This week was a quiet one. It has been cold and although they were calling for snow and quite a bit of it we saw a skiff at the most. Someday I will learn to not put stock in the weather people. It is good that I was off work this week though for a couple of reasons.
The first is that my poor little guy is feeling the one down side of not going to daycare. Tuesday he developed croup! Poor little man had to get steroid shots on Tuesday night and then it morphed into an awful bronchial cough complete with hoarseness and low-grade fever which resulted in another visit to the doctor - I am pretty sure he has been to the doctor a total of 3 times this year and that includes this week. So I have been home with him catching up on laundry, playing games and complementing lego creations, making muffins from scratch, Sneaking extra garlic into everything I can, listening to podcasts of The Splendid Table, Radiolab and Story Corps and most of all getting caught up on my stitching! I am crocheting bowls constantly and when I can , needle-felting a whole lot which is where I am ultimately heading with this post. I have lots to share! All are in my Etsy store and as always you can reach the listing by clicking on the picture. I do want to stipulate that I do not decorate for Christmas until the first of December and after the very wonderful holiday of Thanksgiving is past, but I do need to start listing items in my Etsy so that people have a chance to shop for and receive these items with time enough to enjoy them for the season. :-) I say this mostly because I posted a semi-rant about the skipping over of Thanksgiving on Facebook today. Silly Me!

Fall?

It is nearing the end of September and here in Colorado Springs (and most of the front range of Colorado for that matter) it is HOT and DRY! No rain has fallen in 3 weeks and temperatures have been in the 80's and 90's. Instead of cutting back from frost and waiting until the right time to plant bulbs and garlic we are watering to keep things from dying before they have a chance to go dormant! You can almost feel Fall in the air but can't quite smell it through the dust.

I have been working away creating some fall inspired pieces and wanted to share a couple with you today. Hope you like them :-)

St. Patrick's Day and Spring on It's Way!

I am working at stocking my Etsy store with fun spring themed items right now: Bright cheerful colors, nests and blooming flowers all over to herald in a hopefully fabulous 2010 gardening season. Here are a few I have gotten up in the last couple of days~











As always, Thanks so much for looking~ I hope you are enjoying the birds singing and the crocus blooming as much as I am!