The Etsy Shop

This post isn't much to look at, but it is big news!!
Little brown badger has an Etsy shop. Indeed, now there are two places to catch the latest in LBB happenings and crafty outpourings. For the moment the Etsy shop is focused on bags and purses, wet felted merino wool and re-purposed leather goods. Come on over and check it out. There are still many things to be ironed out and many more items yet to be listed so keep checking back!!

Felted Stag Head.....?

Yeah, who knew. I was asked about a year ago to make a felted stag costume for my step-father in law. I said sure. The deadline was not for a year, LOADS of time. Naturally I didn't think anything more about it until the mad halloween scramble hit our house in September. At which time I also needed costumes for two small girls. Luckily for me the girls found princess costumes at a thrift shop and were quite happy for me to do nothing other than their make-up. I was pleased enough to be a witch for the third year running. Sadly for me (though a relief to him) I didn't have time to make or find Boss Hog a costume. I was thinking of Sherlock Holmes for him but will have to save that for next year.

I did manage to drag him outside to pose in the stag hat before we sent it off. It was about three degrees outside and the only white shirt he had was thin linen. Boss Hog was a soldier and let me pose him for about 15 minutes before the camera battery died and I let him go back inside. I am a cruel and unusual task master, no?

Nothing Like a Time Crunch

Nothing like a time crunch to make you try a new medium. My friend surprised us all by giving birth to a sweet baby boy three weeks early. Needless to say my powers of organization do not stretch quite this far. I had bought an organic cotton sleeper and a stuffy bunny (which Arlo was quite upset to have to wrap and part with) but had not had a chance to pick up a card. And thank goodness for that.

I searched about a bit on the net for inspiration and made myself a paper flower card. I have not given paper the credit it is due and for that I am sorry. I was telling my friend Robin about a book I was reading that took place in North Carolina before the Revolutionary war. I said the thing that struck me more than the wilderness in the book was the nearly complete lack of paper for people to write on. It made me take more care with recycling.

And from that I have progressed to a love of the beautiful Japanese papers. Another dear friend gave me a package of paper ends from Paper Ya in Granville Island and these bits are what I used for this welcome to the world card for sweet baby James.

Black and White, take 2

I saw angry chicken's post about chocolate covered shortbread a few weeks ago and thought it would be the perfect gift for going visiting during spring break. Our family went down to Vancouver and spent a few whirlwind days visiting the coastal clan members. We went with bags of these shortbread covered in either dark chocolate and almonds or white chocolate and pumpkin seeds. And we took some cinnamon, almond and chocolate covered biscotti which did not get photographed in the rush to pack up two kids intent on unpacking the tidy bags left in front of the door. Let me tell you, it took some will not to unpack the shortbread and eat it at the hotel before it could be delivered.