betty cricket

  Newfoundland and Labrador is the "youngest" of the provinces, being a separate domain of the British Empire until 1949. Newfoundland is the large Atlantic island, and Labrador is part of mainland Canada. First described to Europeans in the Viking Sagas, this province boast rugged stunning cliffs and colourful sea side towns. Never met a Newfie I didn't immediately like (the people and the dogs) -maybe it's the accent. You may recognize the Purple Pitcher Plant from the animation at the end of the amazing Newfoundland and Labrador travel ads they air on television - beautiful but resilient flowers, pushing back against the wind. Here's how I made the Provincial flower: Supplies: wire (you will need a pretty thick gauge) burgundy (or dark purple) and light green felt (or muted yellow or a light tan) burgundy or purple embroidery floss glue gun glue fiberfill/ stuffing Tools needle for embroidery floss scissors wire cutter pilers  glue gun 1) Cut out the pieces - n...

  The Yukon Territory is our most westerly northern territory, and one of the most storied places in North America (I'm thinking of all the Jack London books we read as children). The Yukon's territorial flower is the Fireweed, and every time I see her (anthropomorphizing a plant), I sing to myself  " and she listens like her head's on fire " - a sort of raw happy feeling washes over, filled with excitement, adventure and danger, much like the Yukon wilderness itself. Supplies: a thick gauge wire, around 28cm long a thinner gauge wire around 13 cm long pink felt, and a dark pink/ hot pink/ fuchsia felt fabric covered wire - I used both white and green ( you can use bare jewelry wire, or embroidery floss stiffened with mod podge - use what you've got) 9 hot pink micro pom poms strips of crepe paper in green and white (use strips of paper bags or strips of pink felt as a substitute) If you already have pink crepe paper, just use that and skip the pink acrylic pa...

  This post starts a series of felt flower projects where I recreate all 13 provincial and territorial flowers of Canada. Starting with the heartland, well certainly my heartland, the center of Canada: Manitoba, and its provincial flower the Prairie Crocus. This fascinating flower is both very delicate, and very fuzzy - so I gave it a fabulous white collar in my simplified felt version. Supplies: purple, medium green, light green, yellow and white felt (if you don't have light green felt, use yellow felt) glue gun glue wire for the stem Tools: scissors glue gun 1) Cut out all the pieces. 2) Add glue to one side of the light green felt circle and cover the tip if the wire, pinching the sides down as best you can. 3) take the yellow felt rectangle and fold in half  height wise and, with scissors, make multiple horizontal cuts as shown, leaving the sides intact so just the center area has slits (which when folded make up the loops). Add glue between the uncut sides (not the area ...

Wanting to make a fabulous costume / outfit to go roller-skating in, I decided to make this Mother Goose headdress inspired by the beautiful pieces from  Animalesque . This will also make a great Halloween costume since there is nothing scarier than a cobra chicken. Here's how i did it: Supplies: Not pictured:  paper and pen to sketch out your pattern permanent marker iron tape, dustpan for picking up all the tiny stray feather bits black felt (optional) Pictured: thin cotton fabric felt fusible webbing fabric for the backside/ inside of the headdress fancy buttons for eyes needle/ thread black and white acrylic paint and paint brush scissors ribbon If you want to add feathers black and white feathers small amount of black felt glue gun and glue gun glue 1) Draw out your pattern. Note that my pattern is roughly one foot in length 2) Trace the pattern on to your cotton - remember you will need to reverse the image as well so you will have both sides of the headdress. If you are...