Ornament craft for Christmas tree tutorial

PATCHWORK

Silk ball flower tutorial

Easy Key chain for kids

 

ornament can be hung on the bag, phone, clothes

Christmas Push Pin Starburst tutorial

The other day I was at Dollar Tree and came across multi-packs of little styrofoam balls.  There were three sizes (2 inch, 1 1/2 inch, and 1 inch)  and a total of nine balls for $1.  Who can pass up a deal like that?  I snagged a package, intent on making Christmas ornaments.  Taking a cue from the armored thumb tack Christmas ornament featured on DSC a couple of years ago, these push pin sunburst ornaments have a futuristic feel to them.  Use push pins in specific colors (such as alternating red and green pins) or paint the finished ornament in a uniform color.  You can also make an ornament using clear push pins for a crystal-like effect.

Project estimate:

• Styrofoam balls, $1
• Push pins, $1
• Glue, on hand
• Spray paint, on hand or $1 and up
• Ribbon,  on hand or $1

Total: $2 and  up

Apply a dab of glue to the pin portion of a push pin.

Press the pin into the styrofoam ball.

Continue adding pins in a straight line, working around the center of the ball.  (Imagine that the ball is the planet, and you are trying to mark the equator with pins.)

Keep going until the line of pins wraps all the way around the ball.

Add a second row of pins.  Place them as close to the first row as possible, offsetting each new pin between two pins in the previous row when possible.

Keep adding pins in this fashion until the entire ball is covered.

To give the entire ornament a uniform color, apply several coats of spray paint.

Tie the center of a long,skinny piece of ribbon around one of the push pins.

Tie the ends of the ribbon into a bow, and your ornament is ready to hang!

Source: dollarstorecrafts.com

Recycling paper for kids

hand painted buttons



here's what you need and how i did it:

scissors
cardboard egg carton
paint and brushes
sealer/varnish
sharp point to poke holes: i used a hammer and a tiny nail.
you could also use an awl, tiny sharp scissors, large needle

cut a variety of circles from the lid of your egg carton

base coat with one or 2 layers of acrylic paint and let dry



use contrast color to paint details and let dry

i also added spots where i planned to poke the button holes



coat with acrylic sealer. 1 or 2 coats. let dry.

this will really bring your colors to life and make your buttons super shiny and durable



poke holes so you can sew your buttons when they're all done

i used a small nail and a hammer to get them started and then pushed them through with my fingers to make the hole bigger



that's it, you're all done! now you have a brand new set of custom painted buttons.

i think they are durable enough for light use, but you definitely cannot wash them.

you could also decorate them with sequins, glitter and rhinestones or maybe paint your initials on them.

use your imagination and have fun!

Source:  http://papercakesfinds.blogspot.com

Kids crafts: Butterfly Mobile tutorial...

In honor of our first butterfly sighting of the year, I decided that a butterfly mobile would be the perfect way to celebrate the emerging of our fluttery friends!

   

Kids crafts:   Butterfly Mobile tutorial...

Paper crafts

You will need a butterfly template which can be found  HERE (I found this one doing a search for "printable butterfly templates...if you don't like it, then continue the search where I left off)

Origami paper, wrapping paper, anything with a colourful pattern, and also some solid coloured paper

Thread
The inside hoop of an embroidery hoop

Tape

Glue Stick

Cut out as many butterflies as you wish out of your patterned paper...using the template butterfly to trace around.  Cut out an equal amount of butterflies out of the solid coloured paper.

Cut your thread into various lengths...I did some 36 inches, some 20 inches...a nice variety of lengths is key.

Take your thread and patterned butterflies, tape the butterflies to the thread, on the backside of this, glue down a solid coloured butterfly...your thread will be sandwiched in between.  I left about 5 inches of space in between butterflies, but you decide how many you want per thread.

When  you have done as many butterflies as you wish, tie your thread onto your embroidery hoop at intervals.  Tie four lengths of thread to form a hanger, and hang!

Isn't it gorgeous??!!!  The perfect way to honour our butterfly friends...not to mention what a delightful home brightener!!!!

Source: twigandtoadstool.blogspot.com

Gifts for mum: Wet-Felted Acorn Cap Pincushion Tutorial

Here is the back story for this teeny-tiny project.  We have lived here for four years.  The ancient oak trees on the property have not yielded a single acorn in all that time.  This morning I spotted what I thought was a large wooden bead.  But it was not a large wooden bead.  It was one of these:

Look at them, will ya!  They are whoppers.  And so, I decided to make the wet-felted pincushion I've always had in the back of my mind.
The pithy directions, ala Elizabeth Zimmerman are:  make an acorn-sized bead out of wool fleece and glue on an acorn cap.  The step-by-step tutorial follows:
Materials:  Suitably colored wool fleece, water, liquid soap, tacky glue, large acorn cap
Equipment: Bowl, access to a sink




Take a fluff of suitably-colored wool fleece.  It measures about 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 1 inch.




Roll the fleece into a loose ball.




Dip this ball into warm water to which you have added a few drops of soap.  Now comes the only tricky part of the process.  Gently toss the sodden fleece from hand to hand.  If you are too vigorous at this stage, you will not get a nice smooth bead, you will get a felt brain.



After a minute or two of the gentle tossing, you will notice that a "skin" forms.  You can start rolling the ball between your palms, in the manner of rolling cookie dough.  The woolen bead is fairly malliable at this stage of the game, use enough pressure to compress the wool into an acorn size and shape.  Take this shape to the sink and rinse for a minute with alternating hot and cold water.  This process is called fulling.  You should feel the bead get slightly harder as you do this..




Put a squirt of tacky glue in an acorn cap and place the cap onto the woolen bead.




Can you spot the the imposter?



I think it makes a dandy little pincushion:

Source: yourstilniagarafalls.typepad.com

Paper crafts for kids

   
Paper crafts for kids
 
eve's partially finished finger puppets
the making began on our snow day wednesday and finished up a few minutes after bedtime thursday night. not the fastest valentines but easy and funny.
eve and ruth drew the hearts, i got busy cutting those hearts out and attaching them to the finger tubes, while the girls got busy turning the hearts into faces. ruth's process was simple; separate puppets into two piles (one for boys, one for girls), draw eyelashes on the girls and draw regular eyes on the boys. adding a little lipstick here and there, she was done with her 20 faces in no time. eve, however, went custom.. the boy who likes sharks got a shark-faced heart, the boy who makes everyone laugh by pretending to be a pig got a pig face. the girl who loves being fancy got a crown.. and on and on until all 25 of hers were complete. we threw on a little of eve's pretty tape to fancy them up (from christmas- office supplies were her main gift), and they were done.


to make sure all the friends knew exactly what they were getting (motherly nightmarish images of eve and ruth staring on, horrified, as their friends tore the puppets to bits looking for candy), rough silhouettes of each girl's hand were printed on cardstock, the outline of the first finger cut with an x-acto knife, and puppets slid over mr. pointer. unmistakeable heart finger puppet spreading valentine cheer.
addressed by little hands and sent off to school, these were, by all reports from little friends, received very well. good news.. it feels a little bit like we're pushing our luck with these candy-less valentines.. but happily pre-k-ers and kindergarteners can appreciate a lot even if they aren't packed with sugar. like the bookmark that eve got from a friend "you know, mom, it's really cool. it's the kind of thing from back in the olden days, like the 80's or 90's. like back from when before you were 50.." (i'm 30).
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