“The inner fire is the most important thing mankind possesses.”
- Edith Södergran

May you stoke your own inner fires this week,
and basque in the warmth of that which
ignites your passion and imagination.

Here’s the latest piece from Sheryl Smith, and she smells trouble!
She says, “A springer spaniel has discovered a nest of baby skunks
and is unaware that Mama Skunk is right behind.”

See many more photos of this sculpture on the Felting Friends Blog.


As always, we wish you happy felting, and let us know
if you have any questions or need any support by emailing us at
customer service@livingfelt.com

With Love,
Marie

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Winners Announced!!!

Doll Category

Childhood Fairy Tale Category

Visit the website to view this year's winners!
We are so amazed at ALL the entries this year!
Help us applaud the participants by sharing your comments
on facebook or the blog.

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Wet felting fall leaves is a fun and adventurous process!
You can mix colors in many different hues and create something
vibrant and life-like. This little tutorial should get you started!

Start with wool that will wet felt well in your chosen colors. I like a mixture of oranges, browns, greens, purple and yellows. Try our Fall Fun Pack, or choose more colors from our merino-cross felting batts.		A lid from a plastic storage bin is great to layout your wool, this makes it easy to flip over and transport before wet felting. Starting size was approx. 12" x 13". We created two layers by mixing up the colors, for a total weight of 1oz.
	....
Prepare your surface in layers: towel, bubble wrap, mesh, wool, mesh. Use hot water and an olive oil soap solution to fully wet the wool from the center out. The sponge helps press water though, and air out.		Use your hands to press, press, press. Gentle but firm pressure is used to ensure the wool is wet all the way through. The mesh on both sides of the fiber serves as a nice barrier to prevent wool from sticking to your hands and bubble wrap.
Once the wool is fully wetted, use a wooden dowel or pvc pipe as a core to roll up your package. Roll your package firmly, making sure not to wrinkle the fibers.Cut up fabric, and especially t-shirt material makes great ties for your roll.		Roll the package 50 times from finger-tips to elbows. Then untie and roll from the opposite end, rolling another 50 times. The wool shrinks in the direction it is rolled, so repeat this from all 4 edges, flip over and repeat from all 4 edges again. Adding a small amount of hot, soapy water to your fiber with each new roll may help speed the felting.
Check your felt. A "pinch test" will reveal if your felt is in the soft stage. The piece should slightly "tent" from the pinch, with the fibers holding together and not pulling apart from each other. If the fibers just separate, continue rolling as in the previous stage another 25-30 times from each side.		Once the fibers are holding together, roll your felt over your dowel again from all 8 sides. You can leave your bubble wrap down and use that as your rolling surface. You can continue to "full" your piece by rubbing with your hands, giving it hot and cold rinses, and adding soap and water and rubbing it on your bubble wrap. Get it as smooth and well felted as desired.
Here is our felt, a nice, thin piece, well felted and perfect for cutting! Time to rinse, SQUEEZE out the water (do not wring) and set it to dry so that it is flat. Final size was 10x11 = 2" shrinkage.		Click the image above for a template of leaves, find more on the internet or create your own free-hand! We simply cut out the desired shapes, laid them on our felt, and used tiny scissors to cut them out.
You can display your leaves after they are cut, or create a more natural look by wet felting them individually. Just wet them again with hot water and soap, and felt by rubbing them between your hands.		We also added some purple stitching for interest! One ounce yielded 5 larger maple leaves in the 3"- 4" range, and about 10 leaves in the 2"-3" range. Have fun and send us picture of your felted autumn leaves!

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100% Wool, 8 oz Batt of LIVING FELT Brand Super Premium CW-1 Core Wool Fiber for needle felting.

You will absolutely love how quickly and easily this merino-cross core wool needle felts!
The fiber has the perfect crimp and provide a wonderful base for your needle felting projects.

Many people use this core wool to create base shapes and then overlay dyed or bright white wool on top because it is so affordable.
This wool DOES contain vegetable matter and does have a natural wooly scent. It is not meant as a clean top surface wool.

We have specially sourced this fiber for its wonderful quality and supreme needle feltability!
We know you are going to love it as much as we do!

Made in the U.S.A. from happy sheep raised on U.S. Farms. Farm-Fresh!
Color - Off White / Aged White / Undyed / Unbleached / Natural.

Core Wool Batting

Mohair Locks in Many Colors! Dyed with the heat of the sun, local
source of Texas Mohair from a very healthy, happy farm!

Mohair Locks & Exotic Fibers

One of Marie's favorite tools!
If you haven't tried this yet, we highly recommend it!
We love the pen tool for needle felting in 3-D or on flat pieces.
You can use it with one or 3 needles, it sits great in your hand
and works well even with tiny sculptures!

Pen Style Felting Tool

It's not too soon to start on your very own
HEIRLOOM SANTA!

Get just the instructional CD with step-by-step photos
in PDF Modules (classes) or get the complete kit!

Learn More, read testimonials from others
and get yours here:

Needle Felting an Heirloom Santa

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Affirmations for Creative Success
Get Your Copy
On Sale for only $7.98!

This CD is filled with Beautiful Music and Affirmations to inspire, uplift and support your creative expression.

This CD is a wonderful way to find your creative flow and fall naturally into it.
It is also beautiful music for creative sparks and fresh continued inspiration.

This CD is a collaboration by Rodney and Marie Spaulding.
Affirmations are spoken by Marie, and all music is written and performed by Rodney Spaulding.

These will make great gifts for your creative friends and for your self! Enjoy!

"I was listening to the affirmations and music on my way home from work. It was very heartwarming
and just what I need to hear as I drove along the canyon road late last night contemplating events of the day.
Marie you have a beautiful, calming voice which carries strong encouragement and love in its tone.
The music is exquisite and I can't decide just yet which is my favorite. I guess I'll have to keep listening to decide."
- Susan Leigh Fremont, CA
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What are YOU Felting This Fall?

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:
Send us pictures of your felting projects!


(can be pictures, wearables, sculptures, etc. include details -- see below)
Send us a picture of yours for a chance to win
a Living Felt Gift Certificate!
send to: submissions@livingfelt.com

Just follow these 5 simple steps:

1) Take a nice clear photo with a complimentary background

2) Re-size to a maximum of 1000 pixels wide.
If you can’t do it with your own software, try this free tool: http://www.picresize.com/

3) Send your photo to submissions@livingfelt.com with Photo Entry - Item (hat, bear, scarf, etc.) in the Subject Line

4) TELL US SOMETHING INTERESTING about the piece:)

5) Tell us what supplies you used - be specific if possible

*Remember, every photo posted on facebook or emailed to us is entered into our Monthly Drawing for Living Felt Gift Certificates and Prizes!

facebook | felting friends blog

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Join us on facebook, and become a friend of LIVING FELT where you can upload your felted creations for all to enjoy!

Sending My Blessings,
Marie Spaulding
www.LivingFelt.com ~ Act on Your Inspired Ideas!

On behalf of all of us here at Living Felt, I thank you for your letters, emails, pictures, and facebook posts. We truly love hearing from you, receiving your echoes of joy at tapping into your Inner Creativity, feeling the wonder and exhilaration of expressing from your heart. All of us here read your notes, and we all give thanks that we can be of service in lighting up that brilliant, brilliant light within you, and reminding you that it was with you all along.