July Challenge Day #28

I made another felt badge! Why? Because I like working with wool felt!

July Challenge Day #24

I love making felt badges! I wanted this cupcake to have a crazy/goofy face; it didn't come out quite as goofy as I hoped, but I still like it a lot! The size is about 2" wide and tall.

July Challenge Day #18

Yesterday, as I thought about the mushroom badge I made, I decided to do another one...but instead of a face, I would turn the stem into a little house.  Here it is:

July Challenge Day #17

Another wool felt badge...the mushroom stem was looking a little plain, so I added a face! I know some people love this "kawaii" look, and others don't. I'm undecided.

July Challenge Day #14

I made another felt badge, but since I had more time I was able to do something very detailed. I saw something similar to this on Etsy and I love it! I can't decide if it looks more like a daytime or nighttime scene; since I used such a dark blue for the background, the orb in the sky could be either the sun or the moon.

July Challenge Day #13

I was so short on time yesterday, that all I could manage to make was this small and simple felt badge, similar to one I saw on Etsy.

July Challenge Day #6

With a "craft-a-day" challenge like this, there will certainly be days when I am short on time and the crafted thing I make will have to be small and quick--like today's wool felt badge. This happy cloud is finished on the back with a second piece of felt, so I can use it any way I want to--later I can sew it onto something, or add a pin back or a magnet. What I probably will do, though, is just leave it as it is and add it to my felt badge collection! (I had a badge similar to this one in my collection, but I gave it away, so this will take it's place.)

Master Craftster Badge

I really love working with wool felt and embroidery floss to create tiny treasures like the badges I've been swapping on Craftster.  I will have to wait until next week to show you the four I've made recently (two for an organized swap and two for a personal swap--they haven't reached my partners in England yet), but today I can show you one I made for myself.

I made this to look similar to a scouting merit badge, although it is bigger--about 1 3/4" in diameter.  This is to commemorate my participation in the Bernina Master Craftsters campaign that was revealed on Craftster last month.  That project was a lot of fun, but also a ton of work, with no remuneration other than the "glory" of basking in the Master Craftster spotlight for a while.  Because I am proud of my involvement with it,  I am using the Master Craftster logo as my avatar on Craftster now, and I made this badge to add to my collection.

The sewing machine was much easier to create than I expected it to be:  I just drew a quick sketch on paper, then held the paper against the light-blue felt and cut along the outline.  The details are bits of felt sewn on with embroidery floss. 

The words were the hard part...I decided to do block letters and started sewing without any kind of a guide.  I wish they were a little better.  I will keep my eyes and ears open to find good methods for transfering lettering to felt.  If you happen to know of one, please tell me!

Felt Badge Display

Here's what I made for my partner in the Felt Badge Swap at Craftster.  She likes trees, poppies, and the color orange.  I made this badge using wool felt, embroidery floss, and seed beads:

I loved it so much I decided to make one for myself in my favorite colors:

I'll tell you a secret:  every part of the felt is hand-cut, except the flowers.  I used a leather punch for those!  It is similar to a paper punch, but it has six different sizes of holes to choose from.  I don't think I would have been able to hand-cut perfect 1/8" circles!

The back is covered with a second pink felt oval, and the two are blanket-stitched together.

Now that I have a pretty good collection of felt badges, I need to display them.  I found this cool shadow box at a bookstore; it is really just a bulletin board under glass.  It measures 9" x 12".

The top swings open easily, and it closes with a magnet.  I just arranged my badges and pinned them in place.

All ready to hang on the wall (it has picture hangers already installed on the back.) 

I bought a larger one too, so when my collection expands, I can transfer them to a larger home!

Felt Badge Obsession

I've signed up for the Felt Badge swap on Craftster, and now I'm seeing ideas for badges everywhere!  I really want to stop doing everything else, and just sit in my chair with my felt and scissors and thread!  In the past week I've pulled out some things that I had started a while ago and finished them into badges, and I've made a few new ones to "practice" for this swap.  Here's my collection so far:

I made the little cloud (below) into a pin for my friend Susan last year, and I came upon this one, partly-finished, in a box of assorted projects; I finished it the way we are doing them for this swap:  flat (rather than stuffed) and with a finished, felt back, but no pin or magnet or anything else.

These four (below) are the ones I was inspired to make this week.  The carrot design came from a cookie I saw online.  The cat came from a piece of fabric; I looked at the fabric while cutting the felt (without tracing of the design onto the felt)--and by the fourth try, I had a cat I liked!  The cat badge is 2" square; the carrot is 2" x 1 3/4", and the birds are 1 1/4" square.

The bird and leaves were so small they were hard to hold onto while cutting and sewing them!  I love how they came out.

Cats are a common theme with me, and so are hearts.

I want to have a huge collection of these!  If anyone wants to swap one (or a few) with me, please send me an email!

When my collection is bigger, I plan to display them all together somehow.  I will show that to you when it happens!