Hello Folks!

My ad for the Handmade 2014 issue of Folk Magazine

Maybe you are visiting here for the first time. If so, I want to offer you a warm welcome! If not, welcome back! I hope you will grab a cuppa tea, and stay & visit with me for a while.

In case this is the first time we've "met", I'm Val, and I am pretty much addicted to anything "woolie". I describe the woolen work I create "painting with fiber", because I love to mix and match natural fabrics and felted wool, onto which I jab wool roving with sharp barbed needles. It's a really fine way to work out my aggressions, let me tell you. And, as the mom of two teen boys, I do have my fair share of frustrations and aggressions! I find it's much more effective to act out upon a canvas of fabric and fiber than get in the face of a teenager, Lol!

My work studio

I live near the coast in San Diego, CA. My husband is a Landscape Architect and also owns his own business. This past year, we moved into adjoining work studios located close to Balboa Park. Our studios are in darling attached cottages built in the 1920s, which sit atop a canyon. We love living and working in San Diego. I invite you to stop by for a visit anytime you are in the San Diego area! We also bring Lola to work with us. She will be the first one to greet you, but please have no fear. She is extra friendly :o)

I have some really exciting felting adventures coming up, and I certainly hope you will join in. I am planning to launch an online class soon called "Hello Felt". I will be teaching basic needle felting and felt techniques, and more advanced projects as well. There will be a few add-on classes in embroidery, hand sewing and more. I'm sure you will want to stay connected so you can be among the first to know when my class launches (and find out about early discounted pricing!) Please click here to join my mailing list. And, just for joining, you will receive a free download of my favorite needle felting tools! Believe me, this list is invaluable, and one I would have wanted when I started to learn about needle felting. 

How else can we stay connected? Please join my Val's Art Studio Facebook page by clicking here. My super fun Pinterest page is here. And, please feel free to browse and shop my products by clicking over to my Etsy shop here.

I would love to hear from you, and find out what brought you here to my studio! Please feel free to leave me a comment, or send me an email here.

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope to see you again very soon!  =^_^=

xx, Val

Hello Cardinal!

Detail from a needle felted scarf featuring a male Cardinal (sold)

I had to fly off to North Carolina for the past few days. My dear Uncle Rich passed away. We had a beautiful celebration of life for him, and in the beauty of that, my brothers, sister, parent, aunts, cousins, nieces, nephews, and other extended family I hadn't met came together. Whew! It was a tribe, but it was so much fun! 

In all I experienced, what I brought back home was a reminder... A gentle nudge that our families are our everything. They are the glue that holds us together. The ones who have our backs when we falter, and the ones we care enough to hold together when their worlds fall apart (as worlds have a tendency to do). Life isn't cruel... it is a teacher to us. And our family are the ones who help us put the puzzle pieces together when we can't figure them out on our own. I do so love my family, and feel blessed to have been born into this group of like-minded souls. I feel truly lucky, indeed.

I couldn't resist posting one of my needle felted Cardinals today. I was fortunate enough to actually see a mated pair flitting through the natural gardens at Duke University. The formal gardens were spectacular, brimming with an array of the most beautiful flowering trees and plants I think I've ever seen together. Each one begging for attention, and demanding your eyes to linger there first, and the longest! Then, in homage to my Landscape Architect husband, I dragged everyone into the natural gardens, where we meandered amongst craggy, sloping walkways, with natural ponds filled with frogs, and places to set for a few minutes and watch the birds. And then... well, hellooo Cardinals! I felt like I was in paradise!

xx, Val

I love you, Bunny!

Oh, Honey-Bunny, how cute are you?

I love all your sweetness

And that neat pink box too.

You make my heart pitter

With the love that you bring,

Your expression, so honest

Why, you make my heart sing!

Thank you, sweet students, for all the fun and camaraderie we shared in our bunny class yesterday. And goodness! Aren't those bunnies adorable?! Each one came out so unique and loveable! 

And now, I must share a quote overheard during our few hours of needle felting:

"I just think (my bunny) is frikkin' adorable!" -Gay

Well, so do I! They all came out frikkin' adorable!

xx

Val