Rainbow Headbands for St Patty's Day

When you are five years old EVERYTHING is beautiful!!

I made these cute and simple headbands for Matilda and her best friend…

they were well received with comments of "oh my gosh…those are SOOOO beautiful!"

To make your own you will need:

ribbon in rainbow colours

headbands

felt

glue gun and glue

Step one, (on left), run a line of glue on your headband with the glue gun

Step two, (middle), start wrapping your ribbon round and round

Step three, (on right), change colours to make a rainbow!!

Step four, (on left), admire your creation

Step five, (middle), cut out your shamrocks out of felt…if I don't know how to make a shape, I always use "google images"…type in shamrock template…you'll get loads of options!

Step six, (on right), glue it onto your headband with your glue gun

Last step…enjoy the reaction of your favourite "wee folk"!

Ice Caterpillar

Here in Ontario we are in the winter that will never end…

so, we've decided that it's time to submit and have some wintery fun!

Inspired by all the great "ice" sculpture crafts out there we decided to build an icy caterpillar!

To make your own you will need:

helium grade balloons

ice cube tray, (I had one that did little circle cubes)

water

food colouring

So to begin put a few drops of food colouring into your balloons…

fill them with water and tie them off.

Then put them into bowls so that their shape will hold…

put them outside to freeze!

Do the same with your ice cube tray…

a few drops of food colouring in each…then water…then outside to freeze.

We gave ours about 24 hours…

then let the building begin!

Place in a caterpillar shape!

Using a spray bottle with some water, spray your icy surface…

then take whatever shape you want to go on top and hold in place for a min or so.

Decorate to your hearts delight!  

And admire your icy creation!

Matilda and her friend so enjoyed this craft…it was magical to see something really cool

transform from these bits and pieces of ice.

(and it was talked about for days)!!

Really the possibilities are endless…do the freezing and see what the kids come up with…

this craft has inspired us to fill every container in the house with water…

they are currently freezing outside…can't wait to enjoy some icy art!

Owl You Need Is Love

My daughter Luna is an owl lover. I thought for valentines I would attempt to whip up some sweet owl love for her. This little owl is what came to life! It was really simple to make. Here's the how to incase you want to whip one up too!

For this you will need

felted sweaters in what ever colors you want your owl to be

small twigs

two buttons

glue gun (or sewing supplies if you prefer)

rice 

dried lavender (optional)

To begin

Cut out two matching rectangles from the felted sweater that you want to be the body of your owl.

Cut a small rounded strip out of the top of both rectangles to create the ears.

(Be sure to hang onto the strips ~ these will be the wings!) 

Cut a heart for the face out of a felted sweater (or any felt you have on hand)

Glue gun it on to your owl body.

Cut out to felt circles of the eyes and glue them on.

Glue your buttons over top.

Cut out a small rectangle for the nose and glue it on.

The sweet little face will then look something like this!

Glue (or sew) the edges of your body pieces together, being sure to leave one side open.

Fill the owl with rice and lavender until he is comfortably plump.

Glue the last remaining side up.

Break or cut six little twigs up and glue them together for the feet.

Glue them to the bottom of the owl.

Last but not least, glue the strips you cut to create his ears onto his sides... voila he has wings to fly! 

Here's a little extra love to brighten your day!

Pinecone Love Fairies

One of our friends came over with pinecones in her pocket…

thinking they would inspire a little "something or other"…and they did!

Pinecone love fairies…just in time for Valentines Day!

To make your own you will need:

pinecones, any size will do

wooden beads

paint and paint brush

wool felt in red & pink

scissors

glue gun and glue

To start, paint some faces on your wooden beads.

Someone suggested to me to use a toothpick for doing the little eyes and mouths…

it actually works!

Let them dry.

While your faces are drying, cut out some little heart shaped wings…

cut out small red hearts first, then glue them onto your pink felt 

and cut around them…

size your hearts according to your pinecone…

bigger pinecone=bigger heart "wings"

Now using your glue gun, glue the wings onto the back of your pinecone.

Thread a piece of yarn through your wooden bead "head" and glue into place.

Glue this onto the top of your pinecone.

Embellish to your hearts delight…we added a little pink crown and a heart on her belly!

After all she IS a little LOVE fairy!

I always like to add a bit of pink on the cheeks as well…I use a beeswax crayon for this.

And here's the end result…

a sweet little LOVE fairy who is sure to spread LOVE where ever she may be!

Happy Love day Crafting!!!!

Love Lanterns

It is mighty cold here in Ontario right now and it is all about staying cozy in this deep freeze! To bring some extra light to our evening snuggles by the wood stove, we created some love lanterns.  

To create you will need

pale pink tissue paper

mod podge

glass bowl

paint brush

pressed tulip petals

The wonderful thing I discovered with tulip petals is that they form hearts as they dry! 

To create these petal hearts, start by getting yourself a much needed of bouquet of tulips (ah.... spring in the dead of winter, medicine for the soul)!

 Press the tulip petals in a heavy book between two sheets of paper. Give them a week or so to dry and then voila... tulip petal hearts!

Cut or tear your tissue paper into strips.

Apply a layer of mod podge onto your bowl the length and width of a strip, place a strip on top and then apply another layer of mod podge.

Keep going until your entire bowl is covered.

Place it on a bottle to dry.

Next, add mod podge and then your hearts where ever your heart desires!

Finally mod podge very gently over top of your heart.

 Allow it to fully dry.

The tissue paper and hearts will remain fairly fragile until they are dry, so handle with care.

Light up your love lantern and find a snuggle partner to enjoy it with!

In love & light

A Warm Fuzzy for Valentines Day!

We just put Christmas away…now let the LOVE crafts commence!!!

Here is our latest craft over at the "gnomestead"…the WARM FUZZY.

(because who wouldn't want a warm fuzzy little pal to keep you company on a cold winters day)!

To make your own you will need:

white roving

pipe cleaners

needle felting needle

peg person

fake "fun" fur

wool felt

glue gun and glue

To start cut a pipe cleaner in half…now wrap a little bit of roving tightly around your pipe cleaner…needle felt it into place…this should take you a minute tops.

When both sides of the pipe cleaner are done, wrap it just under the "head" of your peg

(you can glue it into place, but I found it held just fine like this).

Now take a small rectangle of "fun fur" and wrap it around the base…

hot glue this into place.  

Do the same with a square of "fur" around the head…glue it into place…

glue all the seams down.

(the fur will cover up any weird spots where the seams have overlapped etc.)

Glue on a couple of googly eyes…just one eye…it's up to you.

And lastly, cut out a tiny heart from felt…glue it to your fuzzy monsters tummy.

Here's an example of the other warm fuzzy monster we made!  

And here are some cards…click on picture and enlarge however you wish…

I designed them on PicMonkey.  

I got the term "warm fuzzy" from my guidance councillor in elementary school.  

She used to call HUGS, "warm fuzzies"…one of those things that has stuck with me!

These might also just be nice for a day when your children just need a "pick me up"…

who wouldn't want a warm fuzzy monster to hang out with?!

Wishing you all a warm and fuzzy day!