Merry-Making...with felt

Well, despite my best intentions, my blog posts have been fewer and farther between than I had hoped. But life has been busy, my kids have needed me more than usual, and I have been feeling down and dreary and plain 'ol stuck-in-a-rut. Much of that has to do with the month-long deluge we've been experiencing in Hilo...more rain than we've had in a loooooong time, and although it is much needed {we are in a drought}, we have seen nothing but grey clouds and rain puddles for far too long.

So last night, after putting the kids to bed after a particularly draining day, I sat on the couch with a quilt and a mason jar full of sweet tea, pulled out some felt, and started crafting. Christmas ornaments, to be exact. My tree needs them. And it was such a lovely, relaxing ME time...and I actually slept better last night than I have in DAYS.

I didn't have a chance to do tutorials on these little lovelies, but thought I'd share a photo or two...

This handsome couple is heading off to Honolulu to a friend who just so happens to love penguins. She is recently married and living a happy, creative life of her own!

These primitive hearts are a snap to make...just two layers of felt blanket-stitched along the edges and topped with a button. The hearts are a bit wonky in shape...part of the primitive aesthetic. I happened to have some white glittery felt, which I must have bought in a moment of madness, because I am not a glittery kind of girl...but they turned out sweet anyway.

The closer we get to the holidays the more I want to simply burrow in my house with fuzzy socks, layers of quilts, and jars of cocoa and coffee...I picture my ideal life as being like the illustrations from Beatrix Potter's stories, mama and her little one living in a hollow tree, with soup on the fire and an apron around her waist, sending the little ones out to play while she works inside. It's hard to be productive in other ways, but hopefully it will give my little monsters happy memories of holiday-making that they can carry through to when they become parents someday {eep! scary thought!}.

38 days 'til Christmas!