My Adventures in Needle Felting

One of Hazel's favorite books

So last spring I became fascinated with needle felting. I looked at the books and saw such interesting things you could make with them and really fell in love. I first found a little kit to make a fish. It seemed easy enough. I changed some of the colors so it would look more like the Rainbow Fish (from the book by Marcus Pfister which we highly recommend). I'm going to eventually make Hazel a magnet fishing game and make this fish as one of the catches. I also bought some silver sequins to make it more like the Rainbow Fish.I haven't added them yet or done the mouth.

My Rainbow Fish

Next I found Wool Pets by Laurie Sharp at the library. I tried a few animals from there without much luck. I showed my mother my attempts and we agreed I did not needle them enough.

Next I found this great book full of inspiration and know-how. I wanted to try to make everything. I attempted a bird, but again did not needle it enough. Then I put it all away for a few months.

The other day I pulled out my supplies. Actually I pulled out the roving to make the fairies and while it was out I decided to try some needle felting again. I started small. I made a flower (with a mold) to attach to the dish. I liked it and made some to go all the way around. Then I did a little heart for the spoon. I was very happy with the results.

The Dish

The Loving Spoon

After these successes, I decided to try a few from my book. I had fallen in love with the tea cup so I decided to be daring and try it. I liked the results though I did not have enough of the blue roving to make another cup and saucer.

Then I had seen on line at The Magic Onions a tutorial to needle felt a pumpkin. I did not have much orange roving, so I decided to hold off on trying this. However, I decided to try an apple on my own. I figured I had plenty of red and different shades of green to give it a try. I followed the directions in the book on how to make a sphere and expanded it into the apple shape. Then played with colors to get different shading and added a stem and leaves and even put a little dark brown on the bottom for the core/flower piece. I was very happy with it.

So I think I have overcome my fear of needle felting and am looking forward to trying more with it. First I need to get some more supplies. Enjoy your weekend!

My Apple Creation

Rainbows and Spring Hares/Bunnies

Disclosure: I was sent these books to review free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.  Some of the links are affiliate links where I will receive a small percentage of any purchases made through them at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

Last week Punxsutawney Phil and Massachusetts official groundhog, Ms. G, saw their shadows so apparently there are six more weeks of winter and if today is any sign they will not be nice weeks of winter. We have snow with blizzard warnings and requests to stay off the roads. This makes me want to think about spring (and somehow this time of year always gets me thinking about spring no matter what the winter weather has been). Today I am going to share with you two new books perfect for thinking about early spring and nice weather. The first is My Color Is Rainbow by Agnes Hsu an Yuliya Gwilym.

Virtual Book Club for Kids: Ava's Poppy by Marcus Pfister

It is time for Virtual Book Club for Kids again! For those that do not know about Virtual Book Club for Kids, I have joined with an amazing group of bloggers to present books from a selected author each month. We then host a blog hop for anyone to add a post with an activity or craft to go with a book by our selected author. This month's author is Marcus Pfister. The amazing blogs that bring you this fun book club are:

March Happenings

This month promises to be a good one. However the beginning is a bit crazy. A good friend has her young son (less than one) in the hospital, and I have been helping with her older son's care, so if I miss a few days this week you will know why. This month will be filled with fun activities, crafts and reviews plus a giveaway!! I know I am excited for spring and cannot wait for it to get here. We will continue our Hawaii escape posts until then. I am also looking forward to Easter and the preparation of it with Lent. We will also continue our Friday Fruit Explorations and Hazel has been asking to do some under the sea discoveries, so expect to see some of that as well. It is so fun to have her at an age where she is asking questions about things and we can do some research together on them.

Now for our monthly clubs and posts. This month  for Virtual Book Club for Kids, the author is Marcus Pfister. Do you know his books? They are amazing. The first book I was introduced to of his is The Rainbow Fish. My sister had given it to us as a hand-me-down. She had bought it for my nephew when he thought he should be given things by strangers because of his cute looks. It is the perfect book to deal with that issue. So many of Marcus Pfister's books help teach life lessons. A little about Marcus Pfister: he was born in Bern, Switzerland and still lives there. He became a graphic artist. In 1986 his first book, The Sleepy Owl, was published. Then in 1992 when The Rainbow Fish burst into the international book scene, he stopped his work as a graphic artist and focused solely on his book authoring career. (Source)

Hazel and I have been enjoying so many of his books and we are having a hard time choosing which one to pick for the club post. It will be one on this collage though.

Update: Here are our posts: Ava's Poppy and Hopper Hunts for Spring and an older one on Rainbow Fish.

March begins a new season for Around the World in 12 Dishes. It is hard to believe we have been through a year of it already. We had so much fun joining in this journey, that we have signed up for another year. Here is this year's schedule:

Our first stop is Iceland! This summer my sister happened to take a trip to Iceland, so I have a few of her beautiful photos to share!!

I also wrote an introduction to the country for the Around the World in 12 Dishes blog, so I will not be sharing as much of the country's background here and will just provide a link for you to the introduction. That will give me more space for our crafts and such. Here is the cover for this season's passport pages. You can begin your exploration of Iceland with the placemat and passport pages. Join us the week of March 17th to see our Icelandic adventures!

So stay tuned this month for St. Patrick's Day crafts, Lent crafts, spring crafts as well as our fruit explorations, under the sea crafts and explorations, Iceland, Marcus Pfister, and a few reviews including some on The Octonauts. I hope you will join us!!

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures: Angkat: The Cambodian Cinderella

I thought I would try to finish the fairy tales that I know of and can get for our series of Fairy Tales in Different Cultures. This one is Angkat: The Cambodian Cinderella and the version I used is written by Jewell Reinhart Coburn. Since i have been away this weekend and have had one of those days, I am going to skip giving you information about Cambodia. I also am using crafts we have shared in the past. To see the original post, just click on the picture!

A lonely fisherman lives with his daughter, Angkat, in Cambodia in a riverside home. Angkat (which means ash child) was dutiful and obedient. Beyond the fisherman's ponds lived a widow with her daughter, Kantok. Kantok was beautiful, but no redeeming qualities. The fisherman met the widow one day and shortly after they became married. The stepmother wanted Kantok to become the Number One daughter in the family. Angkat was upset and protested since the Number One daughter rightfully would be her. The stepmother proposed a test of fishing. The daughter who came back with the most fish would be Number One daughter. The Number Two daughter would have to serve the family without complaint. 

On the day Angkat took her basket and went into the cold pond and caught four fish. Kantok, who was lazy, dilly dallied along the way and arrived at the pond as Angkat was finishing. Angkat was cold and tired so she came out and wrapped her dry sampot around her. She wedged her basket with four fish in it between two rocks in the river and took a nap.

While Angkat slept, Kantok stole three of the fish from her basket and tipped the basket over to make it look like they escaped on their own and then ran home with the three fish. When Angkat woke up she found her stepsister gone and only one fish in her basket. She knew she was doomed to be the Number Two daughter. On her way home she let the poor little fish in her basket go in one of her father's ponds. While out doing her chores one day a shimmering fish came out of the pond and spoke to her. She recognized the little fish and saw a good spirit possessed it. She began to feed the little fish some of her rice. After this Angkat was no longer lonely. 

Blue Fish with Rainbow Fish Qualities

Kantok got suspicious of what was making Angkat so happy and followed her one day. She saw Angkat feed the fish some rice. The next day when Angkat was down the river fishing, Kantok caught the fish and brought him home for lunch.

Angkat was so upset when she realized her small friend was gone. She ran home to her mat and cried. The spirit of virtue appeared to her and told her what happened to her friend and told her to get the fishbones and put them under her mat that night. The next morning a beautiful pair of golden slippers were under her mat. The Spirit of Virtue told her to leave one that night by the open window and the other under her mat, and she did. She woke up to a large black bird carrying away the slipper. She was very upset.

Shortly after the prince was out walking in the palace gardens when a bird swooped down and dropped the golden slipper into his hands. At first he wondered why the slipper was dropped there, but decided that it was to help determine who his bride should be. He began the search for the woman who could fit the slipper. The stepmother, father and Kantok left to have Kantok try on the slipper telling Angkat she had too much work to do to try  it on. The stepmother took a bowl of rice and scattered it over the nearby field. She told Angkat she could attend the celebration after she had collected every single grain of rice. Angkat's father did not speak up for Angkat and left with his wife and stepdaughter. After they left a flock of chicken appeared and quickly filled her basket with every grain of rice, so Angkat could go to the celebration and try on the slipper. She quickly changed into her best sarong and hid the other beautiful slipper inside and set off to the palace. 

The prince was happy to see her when she arrived since no one had fit into the slipper. He insisted on having her do it right away and of course it fit perfectly and she pulled the other one out. He married her after the court women prepared her to be a princess with silk, fragrant oils and a multitude of flowers. The prince and Angkat were happily married and truly loved one another. However her entire family was very jealous of her and developed a scheme to get rid of her and have Kantok take her place. Her father sent a message to the prince saying he was gravely ill and needed his daughter home with him. Since the prince loved Angkat he permitted her to go.

When she arrived she was ordered to make her father hot soup. When she got close to the big pot on the fire, they knocked it over on her and killed her. They put sad looks on their faces and went to tell the prince of Angkat's death. They offered him Kantok as a substitute wife. The prince allowed her to stay at the palace to honor Angkat's memory. He was grief struck.

When the stepmother and father returned home they discovered a large beautiful red-leafed banana plant in the very place Angkat had been killed. The stepmother ordered the father to get rid of it since she feared Angkat's spirit had come back to haunt them. He got out his machete and cut it down in pieces then he went far into the forest and spread the pieces out. Everywhere a piece landed sturdy bamboo shoots rose from the ground.

The companions of the prince took him on a hunting trip to try to get his mind off Angkat's death. They decided to camp in a bamboo grove. While sleeping there he heard something comforting in the wind. He listened more closely and then ordered that all the bamboo be dug up and brought back to the palace. Then he sat in his bamboo grove each day.

One day he heard Angkat's voice telling him she was with him. The prince begged the Spirit of Virtue for the return of his true love. First he saw her faintly and then they touched hands. When Kantok looked out the palace window and saw this, she screamed and ran away from the palace. The family was banished from Cambodia and the prince eventually became king with Angkat his queen. They ruled over the kingdom in peace and joy for many years.

I found this version so interesting since the father was not just an invisible bystander or dead. He actually helped devise a plan to kill his own daughter. I also see so many ties to other Asian versions of the story. There is the fish which is in the Middle Eastern version, Chinese versions, Vietnamese version, and Thai version. Many of these also include the scattering of the rice with the aid of some birds. The Egyptian version has a bird that drops the slipper in the pharaoh's hands. You can see how the story has changed in different countries, but how it probably started as the same story at some point.

For more Cinderella in different culture posts:

• Abadeha:  The Philippine Cinderella
• Golden Sandals: A Middle Eastern Cinderella Tale
• The Golden Slipper: A Vietnamese Cinderella Tale
• Chinese Cinderella Tales
• The Korean Cinderella
• Kongi and Potgi: A Cinderella Tale from Korea
• Kao and the Golden Fish A Cinderella tale from Thailand
• The Gift of the Crocodile: A Cinderella Tale from Indonesia
• My Cinderella Pinterest Board

Gone Fishin'

Every time we go to Lakeshore Learning Store, Hazel becomes obsessed with their Magnetic Fishing Set (the store leaves toys out to be tried). I had seen one to make in Creative Play for Your Toddler: Steiner Waldorf Expertise and Toy Projects for 2-4s by Christopher Clouder and Janni Nicol. I had big plans to make really fancy fish. I even started them, but never finished. I did a needle felting kit of a fish that reminded me of The Rainbow Fish. I have to find where I put it so I can finish it for her. If you haven't heard of The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister, it is a wonderful book that teaches that being beautiful and having nice possessions is not the most important thing, but being kind and sharing will be more rewarding in life and bring you happiness. It is one of our favorites.

Then of course last weekend we went to our church's Easter Fun Day and they had magnet fishing which Hazel loved. There they did simply paper fishes with a paper clip where its mouth should be and a magnet fishing pole.

This got me motivated again. Oh, and Hazel was using cat toys with a plastic Easter egg stuck on the end as fishing poles and kept needing help when the egg fell off. It was driving me a bit crazy. So I decided instead of fancy fish to make simple fish. I cut them out of wool felt. Then I looked for some washers. I couldn't find the ones I had put away over the summer so I went to Home Depot. We have a friend from church who works there and always helps me find what I need, so it makes it easy to shop there. He found us a good package of washers and some super magnets. Of course we didn't get to Home Depot right away so we tried paper clips but the wool felt fish were too heavy and the paper clips too small. We did a few paper fishes that Hazel cut out herself.

So Friday afternoon and evening I spent sewing the washers on the wool fish. I used embroidery floss to sew them on.

Then for the fishing pole, I bought a wooden dowel and had Steve cut it in half. I tied a string to it and tied on one of the super magnets. I made two so someone else can fish with her.

Now we are ready to go fishing! She loves it and played for quite some time.

She even got out a basket to put the fish in after catching them. Oh, and brought out containers of food to feed the fish in case they were hungry. Guess she doesn't quite understand about bait yet. Oh, well.

Have to share this last picture. While I was typing this up, Hazel had her doll, Bella, as a fishing partner since I was too busy.

Well we are off to go fishing. Hope you are having a great day!!

This is where I link up....