The only time it's okay to be Bossy!

I glaceed upon an adorable little felt piggy from Bossy Felt Works around the Holiday time and have finally wrote to the ladies to tell them how much i love their crafts! Bossy's is a three lady cooperative who's crafting lives make me envious. It seems that not only are all of these women incredible talented, but have such a wonderful friendship, and a great supportive family. It's a crafters dream come true!

Bossy Feltworks.

"On a good day at Bossy's, you'll find Amy, Kari and Mandy all gathered around the kitchen table, accompanied by piles of wool and cups of tea. Their four girls are playing upstairs, or maybe out in the play yard with the two puppies, while the two elder dogs snore under the table."

How long have you been crafting?

There's three of us in Bossy's Feltworks. Mandy and I have been crafting for as long as we can remember, and were both looking for a home based craft business. Amy has been crafting since we tried out making felt balls three years ago.

Did you always craft in this genre?

Amy is a specialist, having come into crafting via needle felting. Mandy and I have tried most craft genres between us. We both went to art school, but stayed more on the crafty side of things. I would say that we three are basically fearless in the face of craft materials. Between us we can figure out how to make what we're thinking of, whether it's for the business, for our girls, or gifts for family.

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Who or what inspires you?

First off, we inspire each other. We have bounced thousands of ideas off of each other in the last three years. We work together on Tuesdays and try to surprise each other regularly with a new product. Etsy inspires us immensely. We love seeing what other crafters are creating and reading about sellers in the Storque. Our girls (we have five girls between us) inspire us with their handmade requests. We must also say that a good cup of tea and some chocolate have done as much for our business as anything else!

What challenges have you found while taking your craft into the business world?


We came up with our craft specifically to start a business. Instead of morphing a hobby into a business, we were looking specifically to use wool from Amy's farm to make a product that could be sold at the local farmer's market and on the Internet. With three of us, we were able to not only divide the tasks of starting a business, but also to thoroughly discuss our decisions.

Our greatest challenge is time. We are mothers of small children, and many things in our lives come before crafting.


Other info

We started Bossy's Feltworks in March 2006. We are just about to have our third season as weekly vendors at the Orcas Island Farmer's Market. We joined Etsy in December 2007.

So head over to Bossy's, and check out their gorgeous felt pieces! Say Hello to Kari on Etsy, she's a doll!

Felt Brooches To Strike Your Fancy!

I can't express how much i adore Laura and her shoppe Lupin. She makes adorable felt pins and mobiles. Her work is just incredibly detailed! Laura also has a personal blog where she not only showed her work, but is also runs the crafting 365 group, where she and other amazing artists show us a photograph of their art 365 days a year.

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How long have you been crafting?

I've made stuff for as long as I can remember - I was an early upcycler, saving any interesting little box or piece of sparkly paper that I thought might be "useful". I've always had some kind of project on the go, and normally 3 or 4 half-finished in a drawer somewhere!

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Did you always craft in this genre?

My felt obsession only really began last year. Before that felt was just another material - I liked to use it to make handstitched card toppers, and when I was a kid it was my material of choice for making hats and other accessories for dolls. I sewed a little, drew a little, made collages and gift boxes, all sorts of things. Knitting was my way to relax for many years, but I was always dreadful at it and I never really progressed beyond simple blanket squares. We stay very warm in the winter, but it's not the most exciting crafty endeavour! Nowadays I have so many things I want to make out of felt that other crafts rarely get a look-in...

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Who or what inspires you?

I have found it hugely inspiring to connect with communities of crafters via the internet, on Etsy and on Flickr. Feeling part of a crafty community helps me feel like being this felt-obsessed is "normal", I get a huge boost from every comment on one of my Flickr photos or sweet message sent via Etsy, and seeing how high the bar has been set makes me strive to improve my own work. In general though I just like turning my various obsessions into felt - I look at things and think "how would I make that out of felt?", and sketch furiously until I find the solution.

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What challenges have you found while taking your craft into the business world?

The list of skills I've developed in my first year in business is very long! I design my products, make them, photograph them, list them, blog about them and promote them, package them, ship them and restock them... Selling on Etsy has been great as I've been able to start out very very small, and learn all these things gradually, but the learning curve has still been huge. I am trying to build on what I've done so far, to learn from any mistakes I've made, and to have the confidence to say "I make this, it is awesome!" :)

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Her work is great, so head over to her Etsy site to see all of her brilliant work!! She's very nice and would love to hear from you. :)

Made - with love - in Lowell.

Liz has a sweet gift shoppe on Etsy called Made in Lowell. When i started looking more and more at the work, i was quite intrigued. Not only were there unique jewelry pieces, hand painted eggs and barrettes, there were these incredible drawings on greeting cards. Which i later found out, were her mother's drawings. I was immediately drawn to learn more.

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How long have you been crafting?

1) I have made things since I could hold a pencil. My mom being an artist influenced me greatly, but I think I was born with the interest in creating and have spent the rest of my life honing my skills. When I was a little kid, my older sister showed me how to make miniatures for my dollhouse. I would make more than I needed and set up a table in the living room and sell the extras to my mom.

Did you always craft in this genre?

2) I’ve always refused to pick a medium, even in college I was considered unfocused because I took painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture, unheard of! I am always learning new techniques and media. I love applying my fine arts education to the creation of crafts. Currently I am interested in felt that I make myself and polymer clay which I have been working with for 20 years. I have a constant thirst to learn new skills.

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Who or what inspires you?

3) Well, my mom of course, in the greater sense. But on a practical daily basis, looking at pictures in craft books and magazines is very inspiring to me. If I feel at all blocked all I have to do is see an image that fires my neurons and I am off and running again. I don’t mean to say that I make copies of what I see in these pictures, it’s just something about the colors, the lighting, the idea that something is being made that gets me going. Going to craft supply shops too, wow! I have to bring a notebook to write down the ideas that flood into my brain.

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4) What challenges have you found while taking your craft into the business world?


The biggest challenge has been learning all the paperwork aspects; collecting sales tax, getting an account to accept credit cards, etc. Each of the tasks alone turned out not to be so difficult, but thinking of all the things you don’t know at once is very intimidating! I’m still in the start-up phase and setting up systems to keep track of the paperwork. I look forward to the day when it is all second nature!

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Marilyn Smith Rosenfeld’s answers:

I had been painting with oil on canvas for about 20 years, then, in 1984, I took a class with the artist Claire Walker Leslie, "Drawing from Nature." Her approach was, "Keep a nature journal, and just draw!" She inspired me to try pen, ink, watercolor, and colored pencils.

When my daughter began choosing pages from my journals to make into note cards, I was delighted. Liz's interest in my work inspires me greatly, keeps me drawing, gives me fresh ideas.

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There is honestly nothing i want more then to work with my mother in the future, so i quite envy Liz and Marilyn's work relationship. So, head over to Made In Lowell and shower them both with you love!