And the winner is....

Hi! I picked the winner op my whale hand warmers at random ( from a hat to be precise, since it seemed to be the least original and easiest way to do it.)

And the winner is.... LAURA! I will be sending you an email to get your address :) I hope you love your new hand warmers.

Laura has her own blog as well, so please pay her a visit at theforgottenbrush.blogspot.com. She is also an artist, like me :)

Her etsy store is www.etsy.com/shop/laurart


This piece is "Speckles 'n Shapes" by Laura and you can get to her listing of it by clicking on the picture.



I love prints, and I really love this print "Brushes" by Laura. It is made from a wood block. You can go to this listing by clicking on the picture as well :)

Laura is also an animal enthusiast and 10% of her profits go to charity.

I hope everyone's holidays were as wonderful as mine, i will tell you more about them soon, I don't want to make this post to lengthy to be interesting :)

Also, I added the hamster widget. Isn't he cute? you can feed him.

I will Start a new next Monday.

My First GIVE AWAY and also a TUTORIAL: How to Make Hand Warmers

So, arm warmers are a pretty big seller in my store. I use old wool sweaters and I felt them by washing them and drying them. This creates a dense fabric with edges that do not fray, even when unfinished.



There is a limited amount of sweater that is usable for arm warmers, so I also like making purses, pouches, wallets, baby hats, baby shoes, and anything else I can think of with the remaining felt scraps.

I have a HUGE collection now, though many of the sweaters I have in my stash still have parts that are good for making arm warmers.

I also received a custom order for a pair of hand warmers this weekend, which seemed like an excellent opportunity to use some of the smaller scraps that I have.

So, to start out you will need some felt scraps from a wool sweater. If you need to make them, wash and dry a sweater on high heat a few times.



Trace your hand on a piece of paper to make the pattern, then add seam allowance. I used 1/4 of an inch. Draw a straight line with a 90 degree angle on either side across where your knuckles will be and also where your wrist will be. Draw a curve from the top of the thumb to the bottom. Then cut out your pattern.


Then pin your pattern to your fabric. You will need a total of 4 pieces. if your fabric is doubled just cut the pattern out twice. If it is not- for example I did not have enough of this black sweater to double it- then cut 2 with your pattern face up and then cut 2 with your pattern face down.


It is not necessary to put an applique on your hand warmers, but I think it looks way more awesome :). If you ARE going to put the applique on the easiest time to sew it on is BEFORE you sew up the sides of your hand warmers, but I usually do it after wards because I think that placement of the applique is easier after the hand warmers are sewn. I often wish I had done it BEFORE sewing up the sides when I am working on ARM warmers and my hands are cramping up, but since there is better access into the hand warmers it makes little difference when the applique is sewn on. This applique was made from my own original drawing of a heart, Iron-On transfer paper and recycled poly felt.


Sew up the sides with a regular stitch. Try them on and make sure you like how they fit. I made these smaller because they are really stretchy and they felt better that way. When you are happy with the fit zigzag stitch over your original stitches (make sure that you back stitch at the beginning and end of your seams so that they do not unravel) and cut off the excess fabric.




This is what the custom pair looked like when I was finished. Pretty awesome.

I shipped them out this morning. :)


SOOOO... I am pretty sure I said GIVEAWAY:

I have been meaning to have one of these for a while now, and have actually created my own arsenal of great AcrylicandSteel.etsy.com Items to give away. In Lu of the tutorial just given I decided to make a pair of hand warmers to give away.

one reader will receive these cute blue whale arm warmers . The felt on these is VERY dense making them a little tighter than the other pair I made using the same pattern, but they will stretch as far as you make them. I think a young girl... or even a teenage girl would just love these. I am 26 and I love them!




To enter:

1 entry- Follow my blog
3 entries- Go to AcrylicandSteel.etsy.com and post a link in the comments to your favorite item
10 entries- purchase ANYTHING from my store during the duration of this giveaway or ANYTHING from any of my friends at the christie cottage's buy and sell thread (There is a new one daily today's is http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6377432&page=26), the Booty buy and Sell Thread http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6363199or The Crazy buy and replace thread http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6377598&page=29. (12/14/09-12/28/09)

Please post a comment for each of the above ways to enter and provide your etsy shop url in the comment as well, or some other way to contact you if you win. If you make a purchase from any of these stores please also leave the transaction ID in the post.

A winner will be picked December 28, 2009. I will also Feature the winner's store on my blog, unless the winner does not have an etsy store or requests that I do not feature their store.