Needle Felted Toadstools

I am working on some more tiny needle felted ornaments. I can't get enough of the pumpkins I've been making, and I'm so excited to be creating new miniatures. So far I've developed these little spotted toadstools. The ones I have pictured here have brown tops, but I'm planning on also making red and green mushrooms for Christmas!

Halloween Prize Ribbon

Paper crafting is usually not my forte, but I did manage to make this fancy Halloween ribbon today. This will be the ultimate prize awarded to the best costume of the 2nd annual Schmit Halloween Costume Party. I'm pretty excited about how nice it accidentally turned out to be!

Christmas Gift Tag & Ornament Preview

Just painting up a little holiday cheer (I know it's a little early for this, but I wanted to get a jump start on all of my hand painted Christmas items!)

These will all eventually be wooden gift tags that can double as ornaments for your tree. I've chosen two different asthetics so far - toadstool Christmas, and snow mountain holidays. These will be hitting the virtual shelves of Tangents within the next week, so you can start that extra early holiday shopping that I know everyone has been looking forward to.

ZOOm Lens

This weekend I visited the wildest place in Omaha - the Henry Doorly Zoo. For the first time ever, I came equipped with my new (used) zoom lens, and I really felt like I got up close and personal with the animals. Here are a few of my favorite shots:

Show me your teeth...

He wanted to look extra tough in his latest Myspace photo

Gibbon Senior Pictures. Voted most likely to throw his own poo.

Eye of the Tiger

Hummingbird Moth

This summer Jason and I had plenty of visitors in our flower garden. Our front porch impatiens were the most popular (incidentally, they were also my most beautiful bed of flowers this year). We saw monarchs, swallowtails, honeybees, and, on one short and sweet occasion, a little green and brown hummingbird. Some of our most frequent visitors were hummingbird moths. I'm normally not a big fan of moths (to be honest I absolutely hate them), but there's something so unique about hummingbird moths that I almost find myself enjoying their presence, and I just had to capture them on film.

Unfortunately, taking a good picture of a hummingbird moth is next to impossible. I swear their wings move at the speed of light, and the only one I've ever seen sitting still was also dead. I did get some unique shots, though, and they definitely portray a sense of motion.

This series of photos cracked me up when I saw them, it seems like this guy was having a rough day - allow me to narrate for you:


Moth: "Well, this party is kinda lame..."

Moth:"At least the punch is spiked." *Glug* *Glug* *Glug*

Moth:"And, once again, I've fallen headfirst into the punch bowl. Ugh, why do I even show up to these things anymore?!"

A Witch's Hat

I got mail today and not just any ordinary mail - a package filled with craft supplies! I got some brand new felting needles (since I so mercilessly destroyed my first set), and some fluffy new wool batting. Of course, I immediately set to work on a needle felting project - some cute new miniature pumpkins and, in the spirit of Halloween, a witch's hat!

Halloween Welcome Sign

Last Christmas I received a beautiful handmade Welcome sign from my cousin Barbie Mully from Ta-Da Workshop! My family had a white elephant gift exchange, and it took plenty of trading/scheming/stealing to get it!

I hung the sign in my living room, and I loved the way it looked. I felt inspired, so I immediately made a goal to create some seasonal welcome signs of my own to decorate my house for different holidays. However, nine months later, this goal was still unfulfilled. Halloween is my favorite holiday for home decorating, so I finally gave myself a little kick in the butt and made my first seasonal welcome sign.

A little bit of moon light, a dash of glitter and a couple dozen bats later:

I like the finished product, classy and spooky. Hopefully I will stay inspired, and get a Thanksgiving/General Fall welcome sign made soon!

Needle Felted Pumpkin Ornaments for Sale

This morning I mailed out a set of my needle felted pumpkin ornaments. I love these adorable little miniatures. They take some time to create, but it's well worth it in the end. I know I've shown them off on my blog before, but here they are again - this time with packaging!

I have a limited amount of these available in my Etsy shop for the Fall season - so get 'em while you can! (Click here to see the listing)

Custom Toilet Sign

I mailed out a really fun custom order today. I'm sure this will hang in a spot of bathroom glory. It will soon belong to a man with the last name 'King'. The buyer was pretty clever - huh?

Are you in need of some toilet decor for your own restroom? CLICK HERE to check out what I have available, and remember you know the artist (me!) so if you'd like a custom sign just let me know!

Sleepy Little Hedgehog

This sleepy little hedgehog just hit the shelves of Tangents today! He would make a wonderful addition to anyone's office desktop decor (although he would also be an unfortunate reminder of the sleep you're missing out on.) We can't dock him any points for that, though - I mean just look at those adorable little 'ZZZ's'!