Fun with Balls! These 3 needle felted balls are fun waiting to happen. They are soft and great for indoor play.  Wet felt your balls by playing with them in hot soapy water and rolling them between your hands. Watch them grow firmer and stronger.  Children love to play in soapy water!  Bring them in the bathtub and felt them there! Perfect to store your ball treasures is a %100 cotton bag.

Your Investment: $26.00

 

Blank Photo Greeting cards - Enjoy saying thanks or expressing your love to people you care about. These photo greeting cards are all photos taken by me Annie Bananie.  They are shots taken from around the world and the Ottawa area.  These truly come from the heart. 

Your Investment: 3 for $10.00

This Ball felting kit is a unique gift for any family.  Each kit contains bright coloured wool and picture directions to make 3 large balls and wet felted rope. Children love watching and participating in toy making.  Balls can also be used as tree ornaments.  Gather with family and friends and get creative!

Your Investment:  $20.00

 Here is a sneek peak at what I have been felting for the Handmade Harvest Craft show in Almont next Friday and Saturday. I am really excited.

What is Felting?

 

Needle felting is easy and fun. It’s the art of sculpting raw wool with a barbed needle.  As the needle punctures the fibers the barbs pull the fibers upwards and they bind together.  It’s like magic!  There are no stitches to count like in knitting or a machine to contend with like sewing.  In this way projects are easy to put down and start again.  It is highly addictive and meditative. My first project was doll making.  I was so enamored with the art that I made 10 dolls in 1 week! Yes, I was felting all day and night. I could not put the needle down!

 variations of coloured Coriedale wool

 

Dear Reader,

So much has changed in the last 100 years; the invention of the car, electricity, the telephone, computers and the great world wide web.  All of a sudden our pace of life has changed.   No longer are we working together to grow our food, to preserve it and eat together around a big table.    Gone are the days where women sit by the fire knitting, doing needle point, hemming clothes while chatting with family and friends from the community. 

Call me old fashion but my dream is to bring some of that spirit back to our homes and community.   I propose to do this through felting.  Felting is the process of sculpting wool with a barbed needle or hot water, friction and soap.  It is easy, beautiful and fun.  Wool roving is very healing to work with and grounding.

I myself discovered the art of needle felting in the winter of 2007 when Zoe my eldest was 6 and Owen my youngest was 3.  I ran a daycare (still do) and was obsessed with the pictures of felted people, animals, and  felted mats in Waldorf books but didn’t know where to learn.  Eventually life presented me with the opportunity to take a workshop and I have been hooked ever since.   Since then I have been giving  workshops from my home and selling my wares at local artisan shows.

 Before I had children I never considered myself creative.  I always admired others who could draw, paint, play an instrument and believed that those artistic qualities lived in others but not myself.  Then I had children and started to make things with them and realized that I had been lying to myself.   I realized that I am creative and believe that we all are and to top it all off that it makes us happy. 

So here I am making things felt, giving workshops,  and loving it!  I enjoy the satisfaction and the smile on peoples faces when they leave a workshop feeling happy and satisfied.  I love the proclamations of “This is fun!” - “The wool just sticks together like magic”.  For these reasons I have founded a business called My Green ToyBOX.  My mission is to spread the joy of felting by giving workshops and selling felting kits that will encourage families and friends to gather in their homes and make things together. 

IF there is one thing that I have learned is that we are happy when we make things and even happier when we make things together.

Go out there be creative, I dare you!
Annie Bananie

Wire Tree

While figuring out my table display for the Urban craft Market I got inspired to make this tree.  I love trees and all that they represent; strength, wisdom, and healing.

First I created the shape of my tree using jewelry wire.

.

I then covered the branches with wool roving.  This part was difficult as the wool kept getting snagged into the wire.  With much patience and hope that it would be successful I persevered. 

 

My perseverance payed off because I really like the results.  To emulate fall colours I spread coloured mohair across the branches. 

Felting Kits 
Enjoy needle felting with My Green Toy Box felting kits.  Needle felting is the art of taking raw wool roving, a barbed needle and sculpting it into works of art.  It is fun and easy. It is a great activity to do alone or with family and friends.  Each kit comes with a 100% cotton bag, picture directions, wool roving in beautiful colours and 2 felting needles.  Each bag holds lots of fun and creativity. 

Ball Felting Kit 
Creating balls out of felt is easy and fun.  The balls you felt can make a great gift for any child or as an ornaments in your Holiday tree.  They also look pretty hanging from a window or make small ones and string them on a rope for a necklace.  The possibilities are endless! Each 100% cotton bag holds enough wool to make 3 palm sized balls or many small ones, picture directions and 2 felting needles. 

$20

 Here is a sneak peak at some of my felted goods...more to come...

Cutesie Owls

Moon Dolls