Focus: Felt

When I think of felt, I think of Sunday School felt boards and small crafts my mom made when we were little. She is a talented seamstress and, well, I’m not. So after I figured that out, I tried to stay away from fabric. But over the last few years I’ve seen the potential that fabric could have on my pages and I’ve tried a few things. I love depth and texture, so felt should be a material I use. But I was worried about this medium only being appropriate for little girl pages. My experience, and the layouts of so many talented women, proves otherwise.

Not feeling confident about creating my own embellishments for this one, I started looking. I found a felt pumpkin placemat 50% off and immediately knew what I wanted to do with it. Originally the pumpkin was quite a bit wider than this, so I trimmed it down to fit my page. I’m enjoying the texture and the materials I ended up using. When you start using fabric, you might find other new possibilities unfolding.

I think felt embellishments would be great for a mini-book. Used consistently they would make it easy to create unity among pages. Just the little details add so much. Kim S’s page is a great example of this with her corner, border, and heart. So cute. What Katherine did with borders is a great idea – they serve so many purposes here. Circles were all the rage this week, and I especially love Brae and Laurel’s – very different layouts that both utilize felt’s full potential to make a statement. Jenny T’s creative approach reminds us YES we can cut fabric with our die cut machines, so now what’s your excuse? J

Now that I’ve seen the potential of felt, I can’t stop with these great examples! I can’t resist pointing out Craftalicious Caper’s submission to this week’s challenge. These details are fantastic! I stumbled across the fabric queen Tinia Willis. Check out her creative ideas and sweet card here.

Felt frames, felt books – you can do about anything with this stuff. Of course, these aren’t really new ideas. Felt has been a favorite for decades. And it makes sense that a nostalgic hobby like scrapbooking would find a place for it. If you don’t have felt in your stash already, this is one week when I’m going to say – go get some! And if you do, let these designers inspire you. Enjoy your supplies!