I felt Christmas

Ok, I have so much to catch up on, so I'll just jump in and show you my newest craftiness:  Felting.

First I did Felted Soap.  I did a lot of felted soap.  These were my go-to gift.  This picture shows the first half.  I used different soaps: Dr Bronner's, Kiss My Face, Goat Milk soaps, and one Old Spice for my Dad.  They all smelled great.

the Kiss My Face, though, discolored the felting after I was done (Jill, Amy, Sheena, & neighbors--this would be yours.  Sorry.  They aren't dirty, it's just the color of the olive oil from the soap, I guess).

Anyhow, its a fun, easy process and we may never go back to naked soap ever again! 
Here are the labels that I used:

Ok, next was felted balls (approx 4" diameter).  These are fun and easy too.  I made them for 3 little nieces, and am working on a collection of them for my living room.   I thought I took a picture of them, but it's nowhere to be found.  I followed instructions on youtube (video by crunchyparent.com)

Lastly, I had my first venture into felt food.  HH and I were giving the girls a shopping cart for Christmas, so I made them shopping bags and food.  

I'd read on other blogs that people were addicted to making felt food.  I can understand that somewhat--it's so cute and fun to make.  BUT it takes a fair amount of time.  So I won't say that I am addicted, but I will say that I'm not done.  I made two slices of bread, a slice of deli meat (ham? bologna? raw turkey?), a leaf of lettuce, two orange wedges, and five carrots.  That's all that I had time for.

The shopping bags have custom designed logos that I freezer-paper stencilled.  I'm pretty proud of them : )

I had never done any felting, so all of these projects were exciting.  It's a forgiving medium.