Wednesday, January 20, 2010

toadstools.

Mushrooms, and specifically toadstools, have always enchanted me. Their whimsical charm and natural cuteness—it's no wonder everyone likes to craft them! Since we don't get to see the real things too often, if ever, I thought I would gather some of my favorite toadstool crafts and share them with you...

I think it was the third time I was on Martha's show that I demoed how to make actual toadstools. It was certainly an involved craft and one of the bigger projects I have developed, but is definitely my favorite. I wound up making eight for Martha and I got to keep my prototypes, which I use as extra seating whenever I have guests.
How about an adorable felt toadstool brooch to adorn a sweat or a coat or a plush toadstools sweetly sewn with button dots?
I love the painted toadstool directly on a page of an old book and the neat little felt sculpture trimmed with a bit of green grass.
Hosanna, who I work with at Martha TV, also is infatuated with toadstools and obsessively felted a pin cushion for me when I was preparing my toadstool segment. Then, she used little bits of polymer clay to make the most adorable pinheads with hand-painted white dots—I snagged a couple of those to go with my pin cushion. She also has endless other mushroom paraphernalia, like the vintage pips that are kept above my desk.
Etsy is overgrown with toadstools in all different styles, shapes and sizes. Micro mini toadstools are perfect to make a terrarium playful and wooden toadstools would be fun to play with too.
You can find handmade toadstools in the strangest places—I bought ceramic garden mushrooms right off the sand in Laguna Beach! Martha sells a pack of stickers at Michael's that is woodland themed and includes a toadstool of course. And what is a toadstool craft if it is not done in paper, or quilled for that matter!
I heart toadstools! Don't you?

3 comments:

  1. Thank you for including my quilled toadstool! I'm so pleased and honored.
    You have a great blog here, I'll be following :)

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  2. Terrific toadstools! Is there anything happier lurking on the forest floor? I think not. Thanks for including mine here.

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  3. yes, enchanted by mushrooms . . . i know exactly how that is! thank you for including mine.

    nature is pretty darn amazing: it's next near impossible not to be inspired and moved. it really and truly is such a thrill to stumble upon amanitas in the wild, especially the bright red iconic ones. they don't call them magic mushrooms for nothing!

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